Spirtual Transformation: Small groups & Bible study resources

Hello,

Now that the initial start up and gathering phase of the fall semester is over, it is wise 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 involve 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 quick to listen and slow to correct others!



• 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 fun activities and outreach events together.



• 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 either at this site or at another hyperlink included below:

• "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.

How can you help new students feel welcome and included?

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 to cultivate an environment that will encourage them to 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 the 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 responsibility that requires spiritual maturity 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 your large group meeting, normally, "everyone's ask is no one's ask". I 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!

Praying for the mission

Hello,

I pray that you are doing well now that the semester has started. We know that there is so much to do - both personally and for ministry. In the midst of all your activities, I want to encourage you to slow down and take time to talk with our heavenly Father about your semester and the year ahead.

Some ideas to help prayer happen for you and others in your ministry:

• Gather with other ministry leaders for a special time of prayer. Pray for His leading, wisdom and direction. Pray for unity for the leadership team. Pray for the incoming freshmen class. Pray for students to come to Christ.


• Prayer walk - go out on your campus and pray as you walk. Pray for what you see. Pray for administrators as you walk past an office building, pray for the athletes as you cross the playing fields. Pray for freshmen as you walk past the dorms. Prayer walking is powerful!


• For the next few weeks, send out a daily email to others in your ministry asking them to pray for a specific topic or aspect of your ministry. (keep it short or it won't get read!)


• Ask your church or Sunday School class to pray for you and the ministry on campus. Give them specific prayer requests.

Prayer is a wonderful privilege, how amazing that we can approach the God of the universe and talk with him telling him our desires, wants and needs and asking him to give these things to us. It is so amazing and wonderful that he listens to us and cares about our needs and desires! Praise God!

Philippians 4:5b-7 "The Lord is ever present with us. Don't be anxious about things; instead pray. Pray about everything. He longs to hear your requests, so talk to God about your need and be thankful for what has come. And know the peace of God (a peace that is beyond any and all of our human understanding) will stand watch over your hearts and minds in Jesus the Liberating King." (from The Voice Reader's New Testament)

I'm Praying for you

Welcome back!

We pray that you are doing well and that you had a great summer. It may be hard to believe, but the beginning of the school year is already here! Hopefully you have been looking forward to it.

Welcome back to your campus! We pray that this fall semester will bring glory to God and bring you closer to Him. We also pray that this fall many students will have the opportunity to hear about Christ on your campus.



Here are some thoughts in regards to starting the semester well as a ministry:
Prayer, be in prayer for the fall semester. Some things to pray about: your own academics, walk with the Lord and ministry to others.
Take time to dream and to ask the Lord about the "immeasurably more" He'd like to do on your campus and in your life this fall.

Ephesians 3:20-21 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

As you dream, please take time to check out Campus Crusade's godsquad website for additional ideas and resources for the first six weeks of the fall. Also, please think carefully about how to welcome new students and welcome back returning students to your campus and to your activities and meetings. One way to do this is by considering 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.

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.