The sound of several voices in unison came from a small Sunday school room: "During confirmation we are learning and growing in our faith as disciples of Jesus Christ. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we pledge to follow the teachings of Jesus through the following acts of compassion, justice, worship, and devotion."

"OK, this week let's start with acts of justice," said Dan. "Our first clause is 'We will be honest.' I think I was pretty honest this week. But since nothing really happened since last Sunday, that isn't really saying a lot."

"My turn," said Beth. "I have a question before I start. Is it being honest when you avoid telling someone something?"

"That's confusing. I don't understand what you mean," said Mallory.

"Ok. Let me try again," Beth continued. "My best friend and I had a big fight Friday night. I'm ok now, but I was upset all day Saturday. Mom knew something was wrong, but even though I really wanted to talk about it, I guess I was too upset or embarrassed so I kept avoiding her questions. I wasn't really lying to her, but it sure felt like a lie."

"No way was that a lie," blurted Dan.

"Wait a minute," said Mallory. "If it feels like you're being dishonest and both people are upset by it, you need to talk about it, whatever you call it."

"You're right," said Beth. "Mom knows something was bothering me and even though it's OK now, I think I'll talk to her about it tonight. Your turn, Mallory."

For the past three years I have been listening to and participating in conversations like this one at First United Methodist Church, Conway, AR, in small groups of seventh-grade students participating in our year-long confirmation class. After opening prayers and announcements, we spend part of each Sunday school hour in Covenant Discipleship groups working together on our Christian discipleship.

Sometimes the hardest things about Christian discipleship are the small ones, like Beth's struggle for honesty in her relationships with others. Our world is a busy place, and our lives are complicated. This is as true for youth as for adults. We not only do not always do the things that we know we need to do, but we do not even do the things we want to do. We need to be surrounded by a community of others striving toward similar goals; we need to help one another attain those goals.

Covenant Discipleship groups have helped youth and adults deal with these issues and have helped them focus attention on real-world discipleship. Some of our liveliest discussions have been about gossip and how we treat those outside our peer groups. The early youth groups were called Branch Groups (using images from John 15), and Lisa Grant''s book Branch Groups helped many congregations around the U.S. adapt the Covenant Discipleship model for youth.

Today, my book, Together in Love: Covenant Discipleship with Youth, continues that tradition and also shows how youth Covenant Discipleship groups can be integrated with confirmation classes and United Methodist Youth Fellowship programming.

David C. Sutherland is an Associate Professor of Mathematics, Hendrix College, Conway, AR, and author of Together in Love: Covenant Discipleship with Youth (Discipleship Resources, 1999).