THE HIGH SCHOOL MINISTRY OF CRU

Involving Adults in Ministry

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PLEASE NOTE

  • If you are a student, do yourself a favor and get an adult to take on this responsibility! In most cases, they will enjoy it and have more success. But even if you are able to delegate this aspect of your ministry you need to read this and understand how valuable adults are to reaching your school.
  • If you are an adult, prayerfully proceed!

PARENTS

It is important to understand that in every community a group of adults exists who care enough about their young people to get involved in the solutions to their greatest needs. In most communities, parents are your greatest allies and potential resources. For just a moment, imagine what parents are facing when their sons and daughters are approaching adulthood. They are doing the best they can in raising their children. They are looking for significant others to take an interest in their kids. Most parents of students today feel disconnected with how their son or daughter is really doing. When meeting parents you need to let them know, without apology, what you and your ministry are all about. The most important principle in working with parents is being confident. Remember names of other involved parents and community people as you meet new parents. One name dropped at the right time is worth a thousand attempts at describing what you do. When a parent has shown an interest in getting involved, give them something to do as soon as possible. And remember to pray for the parents!

TEACHERS AND OTHER FACULTY

Christian teachers, coaches and administrators can be a tremendous resource in trying to reach a campus with the gospel,especially if they are well liked and respected among the students and faculty. Many entered the field of teaching because they wanted to make an impact on the lives of young people. So, with the “perceived”legal limitations, what can they do?

  • They can be involved in prayer,individual and
  • They can be “salt and light” in the classroom. They are within their legal rights by having and defending a biblical worldview. They can be an official advisor for your outreach if you decide to make it an officially recognized school club. They can open their classroom up for students to have prayer meetings.

Here are some ideas for mobilizing teachers to be part of ministry to teenagers.

  • Participate In Education Sunday

    This commissioning service for students and school staff would be a great way to help the teachers and students see that they are Christ’s ambassadors to their campus, to help them realize they are on the same team, and to help the church to see how critical the public schools are in God’s plan.

  • School Staff Prayer Breakfasts

    Organizing prayer breakfasts for school staff is another way to encourage the churches, students, and mom’s prayer groups to support the teachers in the school and to also encourage them to become involved in helping to reach the school for Christ.

  • See You At The Pole

    Encourage them to take part in it. It typically happens the third Wednesday in September.

  • Encourage Christian Faculty To Join CEAI

    Christian Educators Association International (CEAI) is an organization which provides a subscription to Teachers In Focus magazine, encouraging literature on being a witness in your school, and insurance comparable to NEA, with a philosophy that supports their Christian stand. (www.ceai.org; phone 1-888-798-1124)

  • Utilize Key Times for Students To Encourage Teachers

    Great opportunities for showing appreciation to teachers include:

    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
    • Valentine’s Day
    • Easter
    • National Teacher Day (usually about May 7)Graduation (invite teachers to Baccalaureate)
  • Encourage Seniors to Witness To Their Teachers Before They Graduate

    The greatest need among educators is for appreciation, so encouraging cards sent to teachers (Christian and non-Christian) will go a long way in opening them up to Christ.

  • Help Inform Teachers and School Staff of Their Legal Rights

    Many school faculty have been intimidated into believing that they have no rights at all as Christians. Let them know that they do NOT have to check their faith at the schoolhouse door. A good resource for them is “Bible Clubs and Student Religious Meetings in Public Schools,” available in the Resource section of the 1x1x56k magazine.

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What they’re saying about Cru

Dare to Multiply

Let’s suppose that you and four other friends decided to spend the next 20 years of your lives reaching the world for Christ. You got your heads together, plotted your strategy, and laid out your plan. Each of you would commit yourselves to a plan of spiritual addition, setting up meetings or personally to share Christ with at least 25 people every day, for 20 years. That means that you would collectively share Christ with nearly one million people. Now that would be some kind of accomplishment.

But reaching one million people is never going to reach the world, so you decide to find a different strategy. Each year you and your four friends would select two individuals whom you would disciple, training them to feed themselves from the Word, showing them how to share their faith and how to minister to new Christians. At the end of one year each of your disciples would be ready to disciple two more Christians. There would now be 15 of you involved in discipleship ministries—not a big crowd, but it’s a start.

However, if each of you trained two more for a year, you would then have a total of 45, the next year 135, and the next year 405. You would have developed a multiplication network. In ten years there would be 295,000 in your multiplication network. In fifteen years you would have 71,744,535 and in 21 years over six billion— the present population of the world!

Now, not everyone is going to become a multiplying disciple at one-year intervals. God works uniquely in everyone’s life. And of course there will be dropouts. But the point is still well made. If you want to reach people with the message of Christ you will want to do it through multiplication. It’s God’s idea (Genesis 1:27; 2 Timothy 2:2).

Paul’s Ministry Plan

  1. Personal Spiritual Growth

To be one who is giving out to others we first need to be taking in spiritual food ourselves. In other words, to be a disciple, you need to be discipled. You need to be learning from someone who is leading you. In 2 Timothy 2:2 we have four generations of spiritual multiplication. Paul is the first, Timothy is the second, faithful men are the third, and others are the fourth. Multiplying spiritual training from one generation to another had to begin with Paul and the specific things he taught Timothy. Are you learning?

Who has had the greatest impact on your spiritual growth?

What would you consider the most significant spiritual lessons you have learned?

What are the three most important things you would teach your disciples?

1.

2.

3.

  1. Discipling in Groups

The second principle in 2 Timothy 2:2 is found in the statement, “in the presence of many witnesses.”

This may seem like the most difficult part of this verse to understand. What is Paul saying? If we look back at Paul’s ministry with Timothy, we find that there were times when Paul taught and challenged Timothy in the presence of other Christians (1 Timothy 6:12; 4:14). The witnesses could have been those present. But Paul, in this statement, is also drawing Timothy’s attention to the fact that he discipled men in groups, a principle that we should take into consideration.

Why do you think it would be wise to have a group of disciples rather than just one?

In your opinion, what size group would be best, and why?

Jesus had all the spiritual gifts and resources possible, and still chose only twelve disciples. From those twelve He chose three with whom he spent most of His time. Why? Because the time He had would not allow Him to spend quality time building men if He worked with too many. He would be spread too thin; His multiplication ministry would have broken down.

This is a good guideline for you. Two to four disciples is a good number to begin with.

  1. Pass It On

The third part of 2 Timothy 2:2 is this, “these things [that you have learned] entrust to faithful men.”

The dictionary tells us that entrust means to invest a trust or a responsibility; To commit as if with trust or confidence. In this verse Paul is not talking about just casual communication from one Christian to another. He is talking about building leaders—people who will be entrusted with communicating the most critical message in the world, and that requires trust and faithfulness.

Think of an example of someone you know who is faithful. Describe why this person is faithful.

If you had the cure for cancer, who would you trust with the message? Why?

Paul is not talking about men and women who are just faithful believers, but faithful in the sense of trustworthy, true to one’s word, loyal, can be relied upon, thorough. So when Paul is talking about entrusting faithful men, he is talking about investing his time in people who are loyal. These people will take what they have learned and pass it on to others.

Paul was talking about people who were not quitters, but those who would stick with the job.

  1. Develop Leaders

The fourth thing Paul tells Timothy is that he is to enlist faithful ones “who will be able to teach others also.”

How would you describe a person who is able to teach others?

When Paul tells Timothy to invest his life in able men he is talking about people who will someday be able to lead, leaders of multiplication. Who is an able person?

  1. First, he is someone who has ability, but not unique abilities. Leading is something we can all do, whether we are leading large numbers of people or just a few. We don’t have to be exceptionally gifted.
  2. Second, he is a person who is learning from God’s Word, in order that he can pass it on to others.
  3. Third, an able person is one who is growing in character. This is primarily what Paul is talking about when he uses the word “able.” “These things commit as a trust to trustworthy men who are of such a character as to be adequate to teach others also.”

Character includes such things as honesty, humility, faith, confidence, teachability, selflessness. Qualities like this grow as we grow spiritually. It is character that makes us faithful.

As you lead others, why do you think your character is more important than your ability?

The purpose, then, of your multiplication ministry is to build up others and train them to do what you are doing. Leadership x leadership = the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20).

Selecting Potential Multipliers

Where do we find men and women to disciple? We are not looking for super-Christians. We are looking for people who simply want to grow spiritually, who want to be used by God, even through they might be young in their walk with Christ. Even if you are young, you can be a multiplier.

What, in your opinion, would be some indications that a young Christian is ready to be part of a discipleship group?

Putting it All Together

Have you thought about your life objective? How do you want to your life count? Describe any goals you have for your life and the type of ministry you want to have.

What is the most significant thing you have learned in this study?

Remember, multiplication is the key to reaching your campus, and the world.