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evangelism
A
tool for campus ministry from the Catalytic Ministry
of Campus Crusade for Christ.
What is a Focus Group?
Focus Groups have been around in the business world
for years. They are typically comprised of anywhere
from 5-15 people who are not involved with
the company or organization who attend specifically
to provide feedback and opinions to help the company
or organization learn and grow.
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Your Role
- to facilitate the discussion by asking carefully
crafted questions and then allowing the participants
to respond.
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Your Goal-
to build a safe environment in which the
participants will feel the freedom to say whatever
they are thinking.
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Your Job is not
to offer any answers, or even agree with any of
their answers (in fact, you should promise to not
say anything about what you believe), but rather
to get them talking and more importantly thinking.
Focus Groups as a Ministry Strategy
The focus group gives students an opportunity to voice
their opinions, feelings and thoughts about a wide range
of topics in an environment that is nonthreatening and
(usually) very interesting for the participants. These
groups will give you clearer insight into the minds
of non-Christian students.
From our perspective, as a Christian ministry seeking
to influence the campus with the Gospel, these groups
often draw students who
otherwise might not get anywhere near a Campus Crusade
for Christ event. Focus groups get them
thinking, and talking, about spiritual things, usually
leaving them hungry for more discussion and interaction.
Benefits of Focus Group Strategy
- Easy to set up, advertise
and lead.
- Do not demand a ton of
time, either from the leader or from the
participants, making it easy on you and more likely
that lost students will show up.
- You can tailor the format
to meet your needs
- Can improve the perception
of your group on campus
- Students will see you as willing to come onto 'their
turf' as opposed to inviting them to your meeting.
Asking students what they think breaks people's stereotypes
of Christians, and is very politically correct. Students
love to give their input and opinions.
- It will likely surface
Christians who are interested in getting
more involved with an on-campus ministry
- It can surface non-Christians
who are interested in the Gospel, or at least open
to talking about it
- Participants walk away
feeling listened to, valued for their opinions
and thoughts, and challenged to consider what they
believe because of the questions that were being asked.
- Builds bridges to future
interaction - Participants know that they
could come to the leader with their future questions
about spiritual things.
- It builds relationships
The Tool
Everything you need to plan, prepare for, advertise
and lead a focus group is right here, on Godsquad.
Guide contents:
- Focus Group Formats
- How Tos
- Top Ten Things You Need to Do
- Question lists
- Questionaire for participants to fill
out
- Publicity
Download the Adobe
pdf version of the Focus Group Leader's Guide
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