by Olivia Green | WeINSPIRE Reporter

HERCULES, Ca. — Like many kids that grew up in the 80s, James-Michael Smith, M.Div began his martial arts training after watching The Karate Kid. Later in life, he took his passion one step further and created the Disciple Dojo, a place to empower people both physically and in their Christian discipleship. 

The Disciple Dojo found its genesis as a blog during Smith’s time as a minister at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church. As it transitioned into a website, Smith continued to share his teachings to equip disciples, engage culture, and empower the vulnerable.

As a master of divinity and Bible teacher, Smith equips others with the knowledge of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and the ways that faith should play a role in their lives outside of just going to church on Sundays. He encourages his community to engage the world around them positively rather than in a combative way. These intentions are present in the weekly Ruth’s Chris ministries that Smith conducted until the start of the pandemic. Despite current limitations, Smith adapted his ministry by using Facebook live as a means of teaching in addition to the creative resources available on the Disciple Dojo website and YouTube channel. 

“We want to give people an example of how to reach across religious lines, political lines, and ethnic lines,” Smith said. “For all of the things that we put up boundaries in our lives, we want to create people that intentionally seek to tear down those boundaries and step across and shake hands on the other side and say, ‘hey, how can we work together for the common good of our culture even though we don’t have the same beliefs and we don’t pretend to have the same beliefs?’”

The dojo also connects with the Charlotte community through its RefugeeJitsu program. While visiting the West Bank in 2015, Smith was struck by the lives of displaced children as he noticed that many did not have an outlet or anything to rally around. This experience would become the spark for the program that would lead the Disciple Dojo’s most extensive form of non-Biblical outreach.

According to Refugee Support Services, 17,000 refugees have been resettled in the city of Charlotte since the mid 1990’s; however, this number was at its peak during the height of the Syrian refugee crisis. Smith offered his services as a Brazilian JiuJitsu instructor to a refugee support organization in the area in order to give an outlet to any child who may need it. 

“I heard Christians speaking about refugees in ways that were completely dehumanizing and it really broke my heart because we worship a Middle Eastern refugee” Smith said.

According to the University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, martial arts has the potential to help practitioners reduce anxiety and boost confidence, two things that most children struggle with on a regular basis. Smith considers himself to be a product of empowerment through martial arts and considering some of the unimaginable situations that many of his students have experienced, they are equipped with tools that encourage them to hold their heads high. The RefugeeJitsu program gained popularity as it spread by word of mouth throughout the community and soon, Smith was empowering up to 30 kids a week of all ages with anti-bullying tactics and self-defense.

In addition to teaching martial arts to refugee, immigrant, and underserved children, the program has allowed Smith and dojo volunteers to make meaningful connections with their families. This way, the dojo acts as a support network for anyone who may need to make, what Smith calls, the “3 am phone call”.

“We all just need help sometimes,” Smith said. We’re creating an environment where our students and their families know that there’s at least one or two people in this city who they can reach out to with an emergency.”

COVID-19 interrupted the weekly RefugeeJistu classes for most of 2020 but thankfully, the program was able to resume again at the end of last year while following state guidelines.

Smith wants all to know the dojo is here. As a small non-profit organization, they do run into obstacles in regards to funding and volunteer help but years later, the good that it does for the community has proven to be indispensable.

For more information on how to donate or volunteer, check out the Disciple Dojo website.