Adult Informational Meeting

You’ve read the article on “Involving Adults in Ministry” and know the importance of gathering a team to help you reach your campus. How do you start this gathering process? It begins with an Adult (Family Night) Informational Meeting.

Here’s what you do:

1. Have this meeting in a place where people will feel comfortable. Once you start, welcome everyone and introduce yourself. Let them know briefly how you came to faith in Christ and why you want to reach out to students at your school.
2. Talk about what it is like at the school, and communicate why this ministry is needed. Explain that it is more than a Bible club; your goal is to give everyone on campus a chance to receive Jesus. Share your vision with the people. An example of a vision statement is: “Our vision is to help fulfill the Great Commission among young people, giving every student the opportunity to respond to the salvation message of Jesus Christ, to be discipled in their Christian faith, and to be trained to reach others with the Gospel.”
3. Then go into more details of how you will do this – your strategy:
   • Evangelism – To win young people to Christ
   • Discipleship – To build them up in their faith through studying the Bible
   • Challenge – To train and equip them to effectively communicate their faith in Christ with their peers
4. Have a Christian student take a few minutes to share how God has used him/her to influence others at school.
5. Then talk about a process that will get other students involved:
   1. Start meeting regularly to pray for the ministry.
   2. Meet with and challenge as many Christian students as possible to commit to being involved in a discipleship group.
   3. Begin to disciple the students who respond to that challenge and train them how to share their faith in Christ with others.
   4. Organize creative evangelistic outreaches and follow up students who come to Christ.
   5. When enough students are involved, begin having regular weekly meetings.
   6. Bring students to conferences and retreats that can help them grow in their relationship with Christ.

   This may seem overwhelming to people who have busy lives (including yourself ), so you need to give them some choices. Let them know some of these specific ways to get involved. Remind them that every act of service, no matter how small, is significant.

Involvement Options

• They can help lead discipleship groups. They can provide transportation for students who can’t drive. They can open up their home for Bible studies or outreaches.
• They can make flyers, bring refreshments, buy pizza, form a prayer chain.
• They can form an Advisory Committee (like a board but with important legal differences), providing support and oversight for the local ministry.
• They can give money to support your ministry.
• They can give you names of students and other adults at your target school who may want to be involved.
• And other ways you haven’t even thought of yet!

GET A COMMITMENT!!!

You don’t want your time and effort to have been wasted. Pass out a response card and have them fi ll it out. Let them know that you will get back with those who respond. Then don’t neglect to get back with them! It’s very de-motivating when someone signs up to help and never gets called back.

Close in prayer and break out the refreshments!