THE HIGH SCHOOL MINISTRY OF CRU

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Group of Teenagers Volunteer Holding Hands in Circle for Teamwork

Choosing the Right People for Your Team

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“It was really easy to get others involved. We gave an announcement at our weekly college Christian meeting and said, ‘We are looking for help to work at the local high school.’ So, we started more on a personal level with our friends and then went to a broader audience to find help from there.” — Chris McClelland, Ohio

Expansion to a new school takes a team God never intended for anyone to function alone in ministry. He sent the disciples out two by two as a model for us. As a Local Leader, you need to put together a team of folks who can partner with you to take the gospel to as many students as possible in your area.

WHO CAN BE ON THE TEAM?

Before you ask anyone to help, take a few minutes to think through what you would say to them, how you would explain your ministry and the specific role you would like for them to play.

Helpful articles include “How to Explain your Ministry to Others” and “How to Explain Cru to a Student” …

Teachers

“Coach Garland not only opened the doors for us with the football team, but also the Bowling team and the Baseball Team!” – Hung, staff

Parents

“For me learning to work with parents has been a difficult hurdle. I still look like a high school student, and not have to interact with adults. But I am realizing that connecting with parents is a big part of ministry to high school students.” – Brooke, Intern

Youth Leaders

“As a youth pastor, you realize that teenagers don’t come to you. You have to go to them. That is where The Coaching Center and Cru High School have been great. Their strategy has helped us connect with unchurched teenagers we could have never met otherwise.” – Dan, Youth Pastor

College Students

Grab some Christian friends and commit to impacting a local high school for the glory of God.

Campus Workers

Cru and other groups are a tremendous resource to you as you launch a ministry with high school students (their work with college students translates easily to yours). If you are connected to a strong campus ministry, stay connected. If not, take the initiative to make contact with them.

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What they’re saying about Cru

CNN NEWS BULLETIN…

We are here in Orlando, Florida at the site of the most incredible news story in all of recorded history. If I wasn’t here seeing it with my own eyes, I would not believe it. People are walking around in a stupor as all activity has stopped for miles around and everyone is looking up in the sky to see a 14,000 foot mountain in the middle of Florida!!!!! I have with me a local high school student who has reportedly taken responsibility for this cataclysmic event. John, can you tell the listening world what happened?

“Sure, dude! Well, I was reading my Bible and I came across something that Jesus said, and thought if Jesus said it then I could believe it. It was the part in Matthew 17:20 where He said, “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you could move a mountain.” Well, I have lived in this town all my life and thought, hey, we could use a mountain around here so I asked God to move Pike’s Peak from Colorado to Florida, and here it is! It’s verse 21 that got my attention. This is where Jesus stressed the power of prayer and fasting. I hope people aren’t mad at me because I’m going to be praying a lot more now that I see Jesus was right!”

Do you feel like starting a ministry at your local high school campus is like moving a mountain? Well, without prayer, you might as well be moving a mountain. Here are some tips to help you get others to help you move your mountain! We are talking miracles here! Realize our work is spiritual. We work hard to make a difference in students’ lives and the world. But apart from God, we can do nothing of eternal significance. Prayer is absolutely essential if we are to see lasting fruit from our ministry efforts.

“…. apart from Me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5b Have you settled the issue in your heart? Are you willing to commit yourself to prayer?

RAISING UP PRAYER PARTNERS

As a leader, you need to be able to explain your vision to others. You are calling forth a team of people who will wage spiritual war on behalf of students and leaders. Here are a couple of principles you can use as you call forth those who will intercede:

  1. Clarify your vision.

    Know how to communicate it clearly one-on-one and to groups. Using “word pictures” will help people understand your mission, like moving a mountain, or bringing in a spiritual harvest.

  2. Call people to be intercessors on behalf of the students in their community

    Seek to find people who really believe in prayer. God has burdened some with an extraordinary calling to intercede. Find someone to serve as a Prayer Coordinator.

LET’S GET PRACTICAL – DEVELOP PRAYER STRATEGIES

Some strategies include:

  1. Use the school yearbook to pray by name for each student. Perhaps you could give the students and adults who are praying five or six specific students each.
  2. Assign each of your students, teachers or parents a set of lockers in the hallway of the school. They can pray for the students who use those lockers each time they walk down that hallway.
  3. Ask students and adults to make a “10 Most Wanted List” of students or families they would like to pray would come to faith in Christ. Encourage them to set a specific time to pray for them each day or week.
  4. Go to school board meetings. As you are listening, pray for each school board member and the issues they are discussing.
  5. o to the school in the morning before classes begin or in the afternoon. Walk around the campus, praying for students and school activities.
  6. Mobilize students to lead and participate in “See You at the Pole,” the national youth prayer rally that takes place each September.
  7. Pray through passages of scripture for the school and its students.
  8. Send a letter to every student in the school telling them your ministry simply wants to pray for them. Enclose a self-addressed envelope where they can include any specific prayer requests. Then be sure to pray for those requests. Ask God to give you opportunities to influence those students for Christ.
  9. Consider a 24-hour prayer chain where individuals volunteer to pray for a particular time slot during the day.
  10. Invite your prayer team to outreach sites to pray during the event.
  11. Call your team of student leaders and adult leaders together for a day of prayer and fasting.
  12. Begin or connect with a local mother’s prayer group (Mothers Who Care or Moms in Touch).
  13. Communicate, communicate, communicate. You must communicate requests and answers to prayer with your prayer team.
  14. Organize a clear prayer strategy. Some ideas are:
    • A prayer phone chain
    • A group of prayer partners who are communicated with via mail, fax or e-mail on a regular basis
    • A prayer team whose touch point is calling a local phone number with an answering machine updated regularly with requests and answers.