FOR CHURCHES & PASTORS
A discipleship partner for your young adults.
We are not trying to compete with the local church. We exist to bless it.
GoodLion comes alongside pastors by giving young adults a place for serious biblical teaching, honest questions, spiritual mentorship, and community that sends them back into their churches more rooted in Jesus.
your students, more deeply formed for your church.
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the need pastors already feel
That transition is fragile.
Pastors are busy, and every church feels the difficulty of helping students move from youth group into adult discipleship.
Schedules change. Community gets thinner. Questions get heavier. Some students stay rooted. Others quietly drift. GoodLion exists to help churches care for that space.
We especially serve young adults, while also welcoming mature older students when a church believes they are ready for deeper formation.
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what GoodLion is
Closer to a seminary than a stage.
GoodLion School of Discipleship is not an attractional young adults night with a big stage, a band, and a speaker. It is closer to a Bible college, seminary, mentorship group, and discipleship cohort gathered into one local formation community.
Students gather for food, biblical teaching, Socratic discussion, mentorship, and community. The goal is not simply to give them more content. The goal is to help them become people who know Scripture, love Jesus, serve the local church, and practice the way of Jesus in ordinary life.
Aaron brings seminary-level theological education into an accessible, pastoral, discussion-based environment, drawing from Bible college, seminary, youth ministry, teaching, writing, and pastoral care.
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four ways in
How partnership can work.
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Refer students
You can send young adults who are hungry for deeper formation.
They remain rooted in your church. GoodLion simply gives them another room for deep biblical teaching, honest questions, mentorship, and community.
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Come with your students
This is the strongest partnership model. Send your youth pastor, young adult pastor, volunteer leader, or mentor with your students. They participate in the room, join the discussion, and help guide your students through what they are learning.
Aaron carries the main teaching load, but your leaders get to disciple their own students through the material.
That means the School serves both students and leaders. Students receive deeper formation, and your pastors or volunteers receive encouragement, theological sharpening, and a shared discipleship environment with the young adults they already love.
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Join the leadership and mentor community
Some pastors, youth pastors, young adult leaders, and spiritually mature adults may become part of the core mentor community.
They can help guide discussion, mentor students, lead small groups outside regular gatherings, pray with students, and help the School grow without losing personal care.
Aaron is a former church staff member. He knows how hard ministry is, and he wants GoodLion to serve not only students, but also the next generation of youth pastors, young adult pastors, mentors, and ministry leaders.
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Support the work
Churches can also support GoodLion by giving financially, offering meeting space, referring students, helping identify mentors, or inviting Aaron to guest teach for youth, young adults, or the wider church.
The goal is not to build Aaron’s platform. The goal is to build a formation community that blesses local churches.
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Send a future teacher
An intern, young leader, or alumni you’d trust to grow into co-leading. Some of our strongest teachers started as students in the room.
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younger students
Mature 16–17 year olds, with a representative.
GoodLion is primarily built for young adults, but we know some younger students are spiritually mature, hungry, and ready for deeper formation. Students ages 16–17 may be considered when they are recommended by their parent or pastor.
For minors, our preferred model is that the sending church also sends a same-gender adult representative, such as a parent, youth ministry volunteer, mentor, or trusted church leader. That adult remains connected to the student, represents the sending church, and helps provide appropriate care and accountability.
This lets us welcome mature younger students without blurring responsibility or treating the School like a replacement youth ministry.
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what comes of it
What your students and your church receive.
Your students receive
- Seminary-level biblical teaching in accessible language
- Honest space for questions and doubts
- A small community of apprentices
- A deeper understanding of Jesus and the biblical story
- Formation that strengthens their involvement in the local church
- Mentorship and personal care
- A room where theological questions can be discussed with conviction and charity
Your church receives
- A trusted partner in young adult discipleship
- A deeper formation environment you do not have to build from scratch
- Support for the transition from youth group into adult faithfulness
- Encouragement and theological sharpening for your leaders
- Students who return more rooted, not less
- A model for deeper formation you can carry back into your own ministry
What this is not
- A replacement church
- A competing young adult ministry
- A hand-off
- A degree program
- An entertainment-driven event
- A pipeline to pull students away from your congregation
GoodLion is a discipleship partner for local churches.
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fruit from the first cohort
We focused deeply on the twelve who remained.
After the first year, one partner church started its own college group. We celebrated that. GoodLion exists to strengthen local churches, not compete with them.
Students invited friends. Some invited non-Christian friends. People came from difficult spiritual backgrounds, including atheism and cult contexts. Students opened up about sin, doubt, pain, calling, and the real struggles of following Jesus.
We have seen students strengthened through seasons of deep discouragement, find courage to begin Bible studies on college campuses, serve in youth ministry at their local churches, and describe their time with GoodLion as one of the most spiritually formative seasons of their lives.
What Cohort 02 becomes, bigger, smaller, one church or several, depends partly on conversations we haven’t had yet. This site is our plan as it currently stands. We want to build the next version of it with the churches who step in.
GoodLion is currently pursuing full funding that would make this sustainable, dedicated work. Right now, Aaron carries the School in a tentmaker season, supporting his family through outside client work while continuing to teach, disciple, and build. Whether or not funding comes through, the School continues; funded, it grows faster and Aaron can give more focused time to the work; unfunded, it stays lean, but it does not stop. Support the work →
One partner pastor described the young adults connected to GoodLion as some of the strongest their church had seen in spiritual depth, discipleship, contribution, and service to the local church.
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who this is for
Especially suited for you if…
- Youth pastors
- College pastors
- Young adult pastors
- Senior pastors with young adults hungry for more
- Churches with mature older students ready for deeper formation
- Churches that want to strengthen discipleship without building a program from scratch
- Pastors who want deep teaching for students who stay rooted locally
Let’s build something that blesses the local church.
Bring your students. Come with them. Learn with them. Help mentor them. If you are a pastor or ministry leader who wants to help young adults grow deeper in Jesus, we would love to talk.