Spirtiual growth: Small groups and Bible study resources

Hello,

As you dive into the semester past the initial start up and gathering phase, you will want to focus on the spiritual development of those in your ministry.

Small groups are an excellent way for us to encourage one another in our faith. In Colossians 3:16 Paul says: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." So many elements of a small group in one verse! Wouldn't it be great if we didn't just know the Bible well or a lot about the Bible, but rather, that the Word of Christ dwells in us richly?

Here are some things to keep in mind about small groups:

• Small groups are about relationships! Ideally this is a place where students can come and grow. They can share about their joys and struggles, a place they can be real.


• Make sure it is a safe environment. Give people time to share and talk. What is shared in the group stays in the group (talk about that as a small group - people won't share if they are afraid others will talk about it). Be a listener more than a corrector!


• It's good to have a variety of ingredients in your small group time: prayer, ice breaker, vision and bible study.


• As a small group - plan a fun activity together and outreach event.


• Talk about evangelism in your small group! Talk about different people you are sharing your faith with, pray for students to come to know Christ.

We strongly encourage you to check out www.godsquad.com for great and easy to use Bible study materials. Here is a link to the bible study materials: http://godsquad.com/discipleship/biblestudy.htm There are many different kinds of studies, here are a few that are included on the site:

• "Freedom Is" study on Paul's letter to the Galatians. All the topics are related to the Gospel: "The uniqueness of the gospel" "the history of the gospel" "the life of the gospel" etc. There are 10 different lessons.


• 1.5 page studies which have 13 different ones with the theme of "Understanding God, Understanding Ourselves" covering topics such as: Perspective on sin, assurance of salvation, loving others, making right decisions, sharing your faith etc.


• "The God Who Is" with 9 lessons. "God is Love", "Holy, Holy, Holy", "Jesus, the Humble servant"are a few.


• Cru.Com is another series of Bible studies. There is a CD that you could purchase, but if you click on the free sample section there are many listed there that you can download for free.

The great thing about these studies is that they are designed just for you and your audience (college students!). They come with leader's notes, are biblically sound, cover critical topics, have good discussion questions and most won't take a lot of time to prepare. They can be adapted for small groups or larger groups - just break your big group into smaller groups for easier discussion.

First Six Weeks: New students & how to keep them

Hello,

We hope that by this point of the semester, new students have come to your meetings and activities. We trust that you understand the importance of reaching the Freshmen class and helping these new guests get involved in your ministry.

We don't want new students just to show up once or twice, and just fade away as the semester progresses. It's important help them KEEP coming. How will that happen you ask? The key is relationships. Lots of people will check out a club or ministry on campus once or twice, maybe even 3 times, but after awhile if they aren't connecting with others, getting to know people and feeling like they are wanted then they won't keep coming back. If they develop some real friends in the ministry then they will probably continue to come and assist with our mission on campus!

Here are some ideas that should help cultivate friendships and involvement:
Invite new students to meet you for a meal (guys invite guys, girls - girls, you don't want this to look like a date!). You don't have to go alone, you can invite other students to join you. Don't make it too many people, or someone could be overlooked in the conversation. You have to eat anyways and this is a great opportunity to really get to know someone. Get other returning students involved in this as well.

Share the gospel with new students! Don't assume they are Christians just because they come to your study, or they come from a church background. Go through the Knowing God Personally booklet with them. You can introduce it this way: "Just so you know what we believe...." This familiarizes them with who we are as a ministry, and to one of our tools. Plus if they aren't a Christian - you get to share Christ with them!

Ask new students to help out with an event or activity. Hanging posters, bringing snacks, helping to plan a social activity. This helps them to start thinking of the ministry as "ours" rather than "yours" and they get to know others as they work along side them. (Don't ask someone that is new to lead a bible study or some other spiritually significant responsibility without feeling confident that they are walking with God.)

Personal invitation - invite students personally to come to a get together, help out with an outreach or to join a committee or small group. When you ask everyone in the setting of a meeting, usually, "everyone's ask is no one's ask".
We hope these tips help. Building relationships is really foundational for a fruitful ministry - just like this example from the book of Acts.

"Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Acts 2:46-47

Wouldn't it be great if our ministries reflected this scriptural picture of the early church?

Please take time to add comments listing an activity or two you have participated in or used in your ministry to have fun together and/or build community.

Thank you.

Have fun connecting with one another!

First Six Weeks: Sharing the good news of Jesus Christ

Hello, we hope you are enjoying the first several weeks of the semester.

As the activities of fall continue, we want to reach lost students with the good news of Jesus Christ. This is so vital to our mission and the students on our campuses who need Jesus.

Many of you have evangelistic materials and resources you can distribute on your campus. In most cases, now (the first few weeks of the fall) is the best time to use them. Set up your table in a high traffic area (like the Student Union, Campus center, dining hall, etc.) during a peak time (like just before and during lunch). Another good time to give them out is during an student activities or club fair.

While giving resources out, make sure you ask students to fill out some sort of survey or response mechanism before giving them a free music download card, candy or other item. If they don't want to fill anything out still give them the items you are offering but for those who do fill out a survey, you can get in touch with them afterwards either by phone or email to let them know about upcoming events and activities. You can also respond to their interest level depending on how they fill out the questionaire. You can go to the godsquad website to utilize a survey http://www.godsquad.com/evangelism/surveys.htm or http://www.godsquad.com/evangelism/quest.htm . Please feel free to copy these to use on your campus.

When students you meet express their interest in hearing more about the gospel it would be best to contact them personally and set up a time to get together with them to talk. Opportunities like this are so great, don't pass them up! If someone indicates a strong interest in hearing more about the claims of Christ, make them a top priority to meet with over a soda or cup of coffee in the Campus Center. While there, go through something like the 4 Spiritual Laws or Knowing God Personally which contains a 4 point outline of the gospel (let me know if you want more info on this).

"I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile." Romans 1:16

Sharing the Good New of Christ is what we are all about, don't miss out on the opportunity to have God's power working through you to bring the gospel to lost students this fall!

As a ministry, please pray for opportunities to share your faith and that lost students would believe in Christ on your campus this fall!

Trusting God for great things

The First Six Weeks: making your ministry known

The countdown for the First Six Weeks continues!

Think carefully about your ministry's publicity situation. If a Freshmen were to step on campus, who didn't know anyone and didn't know if there was a Christian group on campus, would he or she be able to find your ministry? Do the nonbelievers on your campus even know there is a Christian movement on their campus? You must make yourselves visible for new and returning students.

At all times, every day of the school year, we want to have posters up around campus. This is so essential. You can plan great meetings and outreaches but if no one knows you exist or how to find you, no one will come.

Some essentials to keep in mind in making up your flyer:

• your ministry's name
• day of your weekly meeting/Bible study
• time you meet
• room you meet in
• Easy to read from a distance (If they have to get right on top of it to read it, most likely it won't be effective.)
• Bright paper
• Posted in high traffic areas
• Keep it simple (so it will be easier to read)

If you want to communicate some sort of message about your group on the poster, try to focus on something to do with: love, friendship, acceptance, and community. You want people to be attracted to your group not put off by it.

At your first few meetings, it is great to pass around a sign up sheet asking for people's names, addresses, phone #s and email addresses. Create an email distribution list and keep people updated on coming events, announcements and reminders. Try to keep it free from forwards, they clutter up the inbox and if there are so many non important emails from members of your ministry, people are less likely to read the important ones.

Publicity is pretty simple to do, it doesn't take that much time or effort but for whatever reason we tend to neglect it quite a bit.

So, let this be the semester that everyone knows how to find you! Check out http://www.godsquad.com/posters/index.htm and http://everystudentpromotion.com for more publicity ideas and poster downloads.

John & Melissa Mitchell