THE HIGH SCHOOL MINISTRY OF CRU

Main Menu
Multi-ethnic group of young students sharing and having fun at a university campus.

Gathering Students

Twitter
Facebook
Email

Have you ever been in a club that was trying to recruit new members? You may have had a party and invited other students to come check your club out, or you may have had a sign-up table at a student event. Gathering students to your ministry is like this. You want to meet students, let them know about your ministry and get them involved. This can be really fun. You can be as creative as you want to be. Gathering lets you find a group of students who want to grow in Christ, and reach others with His love and forgiveness. As long as you keep gathering new students into your ministry, it will continue to grow and reach more and more students for Christ.

THE FOUNDATION FOR GATHERING IS BASED ON THE FIVE PRINCIPLES LISTED BELOW:

  1. Pray

    Your best preparation for gathering Students is seeking God. Get some friends together and pray for direction for your gathering plans. Ask God to show you the best way to do it. Pray for students to come to Christ. Specifically, pray for students you know. Ask God to introduce you to students you wouldn’t normally have contact with and ones who He has already made hungry for truth (remember, you would like to see every student on your campus come to Christ, not just the ones you know personally).

  2. Meet Students

    Ask these questions:

    • Who do I know that might attend an event because I ask them?
    • Who do I already know that is involved in a different circle of friends?
    • Who are some of the leaders on campus, and how can we get them involved?
    • What would make these people feel comfortable (welcome) in our ministry?

    Again, the key to gathering students is relationships. Go out of your way to meet people and get to know them. People are starved for others who care about them. The more people you meet, the more will be involved in your campus ministry.

  3. Share Christ

    God has chosen you to help reach your campus. A personal relationship with Christ is the only thing that truly changes a person’s life. Anyone you meet is someone who you can share Christ with. God will empower you and wants to use you. Take the first opportunity you get to share Christ’s love with them. Find a tool that you feel comfortable using to share the gospel and become very familiar with it. You will also need to train those who work with you to use the tool.

  4. Challenge to Growth

    God’s Word tells us that He wants every Christian to grow in their faith. Since this is true, we need to put together a plan for helping students grow. Two things to remember are that growth happens quicker in groups, and growth is an ongoing process. Take advantage of the natural groups that students are part of (teams, clubs, etc.). The rate of growth is quicker in a group setting since they learn from each other. It is also more fun for them to get together when their friends are involved. Create opportunities for them to grow, and they will respond. Regularly give them chances to trust God. Let them open the group in prayer or share their testimony. Take the group out to share their faith, involve them in an outreach, involve them in leadership. Continue to challenge them to grow in their faith.

  5. Evaluate

    It is wise to evaluate your progress. If involving new students in your ministry is foundational for success, then you should measure whether you are accomplishing that goal. Ask yourself these questions:

    • Are new students becoming involved in our activities? Discipleship groups? And in leadership?
    • Am I building relationships with new students regularly? If not, why not?
    • Is the entire campus being represented in our ministry? If not, why not?
    • What changes are needed?
    • What is needed to increase the level of growth of the students involved?

Gathering and involving new students in the ministry is one of the most important parts of your campus ministry. It takes planning to make sure it is taking place. Pray, develop your plan and go for it!

You May Also Enjoy These Articles

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.