starting a ministry > step 2: launching a Campus crusade ministry
transformational community
what will it take?
 Adobe
pdf of this article
God is raising up a network of student-led, staff-coached
Campus Crusade for Christ ministries at colleges across
the U.S. We are working to help leaders like you build
movements that will transform their campuses and make
an impact around the world.
Imagine a community on your campus
where:
- lost students are being transformed
by the gospel of Christ (Colossians 1:13-14)
- where Christians are being transformed
in 'grace and truth relationships' (Ephesians
4)
- where the campus and world are being transformed
by laborers who are sent
(Matt. 9:37-39)
Acts 2:42-47 describes this type of community
- Everyone felt a sense of awe because they saw God
at work
- Believers were devoted to biblical teaching, prayer,
and real koininia (fellowship)
- God was adding to their number daily those who
were beingsaved
That first community was a true movement of God's Spirit.
That is the kind of movement we are trusting God
to create on every campus. We are trusting God to
see a core group of committed studentsgrow to a size
of 50 or more students.
What
Is Your Dream?
As you look at your campus, ask yourself these questions:
- "What
would I like to see God do here?
- "What
is my dream?" If you don't know the answer
yet, it's OK. God will show you His desire for your
campus as you continue to trust Him.
Vision develops and deepens as students like you
pray and dream together, and reach out to others on
campus. There is room to fill in the specifics of
your vision over time to reflect the character and flavor
of your unique campus.
What Is the Campus Like?
Another important question to ask is, "What are
students like on my campus?" Kennesaw State had
its weekly meeting during the lunch hour. This works
best because its a commuter campus. Most campuses are
so multifaceted that many transformational communities
will be needed to reach them.
Ask
yourself these questions about your campus:
- What is the level of spiritual
interest?
- What keys will open doors for the
gospel?
- What is the ethnic diversity on campus?
- What do people do for fun?
Answering these questions will help you tailor-make
your ministry to your campus.
Who Are the Leaders?
A third question that must be answered is, "Who will
lead the effort on campus?" Within five miles of
every campus, we believe God has already placed the
people and resources to reach that campus for Christ.
We want to discover who that person is and help that
key leader gather the essentials needed to get started.
This is called assembling critical mass. In Mark 4,
Jesus talked about the small mustard seed, which, when
planted, grew into a huge tree. Critical mass is like
the seed; it contains all the future elements needed
to build a transformational community.
How do you know if you have critical mass on a campus?
One Campus Crusade metro director believes you
have achieved critical mass on your campus when four
things are in place:
- aligned leaders
- the mustard seed of community
- prevailing prayer
- students engaging the lost
In some cases, the best way to assemble critical mass
is to partner with a church or lay volunteer. Whether
you start with a key student (like yourself) or partnering
church, you do not have critical mass unless a core
group of students is poised to reach the campus.
How
Do We Go from 10 to 50?
Ask yourself, "How will I go about it? What will
it take to turn my dreams into reality?" There are
at least four critical path steps for building a community
to transform your campus for Christ.
Acrobat pdf Version
of Critical Path Diagram
Prayer
In Colossians 4:2, Paul encourages the believers to
"devote yourselves to prayer." We are engaged in spiritual
warfare, and prayer is critical. E.M. Bounds wrote there
could be no devotion without prayer, and no prayer without
devotion. A passion for God and His work is born
in prayer.
Be creative here. Plan a Jericho walk where
you walk around the campus seven times praying that
God will cause the spiritual strongholds to come down.
(Different variations of this can be applied to your
campus. Read Joshua 5:13-6:21.)
Other suggestions:
- You might try are morning prayer meetings
- Prayer in cell groups
- You might want to contact local
churches to ask them to pray for your campus.
In any event, prayer is essential for the advancement
of the kingdom.
Evangelism
Powerful biblical motivations for evangelism
are found in Luke 15:1-6 and Colossians 4:2-6. It is
to find ways of doing evangelism that are both effective
and student-friendly.
We need to unleash the power of the believers'
witness in natural relationships.
You have a natural network with students in
- classes
- clubs
- fraternities
- sororities
- with students you meet where you live
- and other places.
Your network of these friends, as well as family,
neighbors and co-workers provides the most natural and
potentially powerful context for evangelism.
You can also move well outside of your relational
networks by using simple tools such as freshman
surveys, which enable you to 'cast a big net' and gather
critical mass (Christians) as well as spiritual seekers.
Implementing a freshman strategy will enable you to
build the base for a future transformational community.
Beyond that, you can literally expose the entire
campus to the message of Christ through broad sowing
strategies such as Freshman Survival Kits (a giveaway
of quality materials presenting Christ in multiple ways)
and Every Student's Choice (media campaigns on significant
campus issues).
Several years ago, a student in Boston named Steve
Sawyer was led to Christ by a guy who got involved
in the ministry through a poster campaign at a campus
with no Crusade staff. Even though he had AIDS, Steve
traveled to campuses around the world, sharing Christ
with large audiences. When he died in 1999, he had
led thousands of students to Christ. And all of
that started with a poster.
Discipleship
Building transformational community requires more than
just prayer and evangelism; it requires the spiritual
growth and discipleship of both new and mature believers.
At times, our view of discipleship is mistakenly limited
to only using a one-on-one approach. However, much
of the New Testament describes life change happening
in the context of relationships and biblical community
(Ephesians 4; Colossians 3:12-17). God uses a variety
of means to transform a life, and this often occurs
in small groups where there is an environment of grace
and truth.
In a student-led cell group:
- believers can study the Bible
- pray together
- experience biblical fellowship
- be trained for outreach.
The cell group should also be committed to church
involvement. Training and vision can also happen as
you bring students with you to retreats, conferences,
and summer
projects.
With the growth of the Internet, you, as a student
leader, have immediate access to a wide range of discipleship
resources. For example, a student anywhere in the world
can download copy-ready Bible study from this Web site.
In addition to the church, cell groups, and online
resources, student leaders can seek personalized
discipleship from a Campus Crusade staff member.
If that's not possible in person, then students can
receive discipleship over the phone by contacting the
Student LINC (Leaders in New Campus) ministry, in Orlando.
Sending
In Matthew 9:37, Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful
but the workers are few." He went on to say that we
need to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers.
College students like you can be used by God to
change the world. A global culture of common technology,
mobility, and even language makes this a time of great
urgency and potential for the worldwide spread of the
gospel. Student-led ministries often send laborers into
the harvest. They are part of a growing movement of
students who want to follow Christ wherever He leads.
At the 1997 Indianapolis Christmas Conference, more
than 700 students signed the Millennial Pledge,
a commitment to God to serve at least one year as a
missionary between now and the end of this century.
At the Northeast Winter Conference in Springfield, MA,
120 students signed the pledge. More than 1,500
students nationwide have signed the Millennial Pledge
so far.
With the increased opportunities available through
one-year internships students now have more
options to serve Christ and investigate using their
skills in full-time ministry after college.
In Philadelphia, one staff member is taking students
on a two-week mission trip to Spain to distribute
the "JESUS" film. Students from the Portland Metro ministry
joined with a local church to serve free coffee at the
Nagano Olympics. Of course, their purpose was
to share Christ with everyone they could, not just to
serve coffee.
Student
LINC has proven the effectiveness of long-distance
ministry over the years. Their student-led ministries
typically make a strong showing at Christmas conferences
and The Big Break. And many of these students are now
entering the mission field by joining the full-time
staff of Campus Crusade due in part to the effectiveness
of Student LINC.
In the summer of 1998, the Worldwide Student Network
sponsored 74 projects to various parts of the world.
As metro ministries and other Catalytic ministries mature,
the growth of summer projects and STINT (a one-year
mission overseas) will be dramatic.
Its happening now!
Through the pioneering efforts of metro teams, church
partners, Student LINC, and other field Catalytic staff,
student-led ministries have been planted on hundreds
of campuses since 1992. Still there are hundreds
of unreached campuses where we believe God has the resources
in place to reach a campus.
Our dream is a student-led
ministry team, not only for every campus, but also for
every group on every campus.
As we trust God to raise up leaders such as you, and
as we help you develop transformational community,
we can imagine a day when every
student will have the chance to be transformed by Jesus
Christ.
For
Further Thought
1. What are the three components of
a Transformational Community? How would you describe
each component in your own words?
2. What do we want to see God do on our campus?
- What do you want to see God do on
your campus?
- "What is my Dream?
....vision develops and deepens as students like
you pray and dream together, and reach out to others
on campus.
3. What is our campus like?
Ask yourself these questions about your campus:
- What is the level of spiritual interest?
- What keys will open doors for the
gospel?
- What is the ethnic diversity on
campus?
- What do people do for fun?
Answering these questions will help you tailor-make
your ministry to your campus.
4. Who is going to lead this effort to tranform
our campus?
"Who will lead the effort on campus?" Within five
miles of every campus, we believe God has already placed
the people and resources to reach that campus for Christ.
We want to discover who that person is and help that
key leader gather the essentials needed to get started.
This is called assembling critical mass."
5. Do we have critical mass yet for our campus?
If not, what do we need to do to get it?
One Campus Crusade metro director believes you have
achieved critical mass on your campus when four things
are in place: · aligned leaders · the mustard seed of
community · prevailing prayer · students engaging the
lost In some cases, the best way to assemble critical
mass is to partner with a church or lay volunteer. Whether
you start with a key student (like yourself) or partnering
church, you do not have critical mass unless a core
group of students is poised to reach the campus.
6. What are the next appropriate steps to take in
our ministry in the areas of:
- Prayer
- Evangelism
- Discipleship
- Sending
From the article:
Prayer: "A passion for God and His work is born
in prayer. Be creative here."
Evangelism: "Powerful biblical motivations
for evangelism are found in Luke 15:1-6 and Colossians
4:2-6. It is to find ways of doing evangelism that are
both effective and student-friendly.
We need to unleash the power of the believers'
witness in natural relationships. You have a natural
network with students in:
- classes
- clubs
- fraternities
- sororities
- with students you meet where you
live
- and other places.
Your network of these friends, as well as family,
neighbors and co-workers provides the most natural and
potentially powerful context for evangelism.
You can also move well outside of your relational
networks by using simple tools such as freshman surveys,
which enable you to 'cast a big net' and gather critical
mass (Christians) as well as spiritual seekers. Implementing
a freshman strategy will enable you to build the base
for a future transformational community."
Discipleship:
"In a student-led cell group:
- believers can study the Bible
- pray together
- experience biblical fellowship
- be trained for outreach.
The cell group should also be committed to church
involvement. Training and vision can also happen as
you bring students with you to retreats, conferences,
and summer projects. With the growth of the Internet,
you, as a student leader, have immediate access to a
wide range of discipleship resources."
Sending: "In Matthew 9:37, Jesus said, "The
harvest is plentiful but the workers are few." He went
on to say that we need to ask the Lord of the harvest
to send out workers.
College students like you can be used by God to
change the world. A global culture of common technology,
mobility, and even language makes this a time of great
urgency and potential for the worldwide spread of the
gospel. Student-led ministries often send laborers into
the harvest. Finish the study by reviewing the highlights
of the article and discussing specific action points
to take.
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Getting Started 
- - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
|
