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Youth For Christ/USA
Youth For Christ Ministries
PO Box 228822
Denver, CO 80222
303-843-9000
CAMPUS LIFE OPERATIONS MANUAL
Fifth edition - February 2003
Version 1.0
President:
Roger Cross
Senior Executive Vice-President:
Paul Leroue
Vice-President of YFC/USA Ministries:
Dr. Dave Rahn
National Campus Life Director, YFC/USA Ministries:
Kevin Flannagan
National Campus Life Task Force:
Mick Baker
Trent Bushnell
Bill Eakin
Kevin Flannagan
Dave Fox
Jenny Morgan
Rick Selk
Kent Yost
Writers, Contributors and Editors:
Bobby Arkills
Mick Baker
Trent Bushnell
Matt Coppess
Brenda Dickman
Kevin Flannagan
YFC/USA Ministries
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Dave Fox
Jim Greene
Molly Gretzinger
Amy Hartman
Jennifer Hession
Pastor Greg McKinnon
Patti Meredith
Jenny Morgan
Dave Rahn
Dave Ramseyer
Chris Rickelman
Don Talley
Rick Selk
Kent Yost
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright
1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All
Rights reserved.
The Appendix section is a fluid work-in-progress that contains articles, sample flyers,
and helpful, practical tools for your ministry. With the exception of Dr. Dave Rahn’s
book chapter, you may edit, copy and use anything in this section for the purpose of
enhancing your Youth For Christ/Campus Life ministry. As of February 2003 the
Appendix contains 10 items.
1. Campus Life Club Curriculum Order Form
2. Recommended Reading List
3. Sample Flyers for Club
4. Sample Volunteer Application and Confidential Recommendation Form
5. Sample Volunteer Application
6. Sample Volunteer Confidential Recommendation Form
7. Sample Volunteer Interview Questions
8. Sample Volunteer Staff Evaluation Form
9. “School Community Involvement,” article by Mr. Kent Yost
10. “A Sociological Framework for Youth Ministry,” book chapter by Dr. Dave
Rahn
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Table of Contents
1. YFC Mission, Vision & Grand Goal
2. Discipleship Evangelism and YFC’s Ongoing Fruit-Bearing Conditions
2.1. Abiding
2.2. Faithful Missionary
2.3. Unified Believers
2.4. Spirit-led Intentionality
2.5. Spirit-led Spontaneity
3. YFC Campus Ministry
4. Campus Life in Perspective
4.1. A Common YFC History
4.2. Campus Life Defined
4.3. Campus Life Scope
5. Campus Life Staff
5.1. Full-time Staff
5.2. Part-time Staff
5.3. Volunteers
6. Campus Life Context
6.1. Mapping Your Ministry Context
6.2. Know Your Ministry Site
6.3. The Body of Christ in Your Ministry Site
6.3.1.
Strategy: Your Support Teams
6.3.2.
Strategy: Your Network
7. Campus Life Young People
7.1. Becoming Youth Culture Experts
7.1.1.
General Expertise
7.1.2.
Specific Expertise
7.2. A General Profile of Campus Life Young People
7.3. A Campus Life Ministry Site–Specific Profile of Young People
8. Campus Life Relational Ministry Actions
8.1. RMA: Contacting
8.2. RMA: Building Times
8.3. RMA: Appointments
8.4. RMA: Small Groups
8.5. RMA: Club
8.6. RMA: Strategic Relationships
8.7. RMA: Student Leadership
8.8. RMA: Trips
8.9. RMA: Events
9. Campus Life & The Relational Ministry Process
9.1. Three-Story Evangelism
9.2. Initiate
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9.2.1.
Initiate: How It Works With Kids
9.2.2.
Initiate: A Prayer Focus
9.2.3.
Initiate: The RMA Strategy
9.3. Involve
9.3.1.
Involve: How It Works With Kids
9.3.2.
Involve: A Prayer Focus
9.3.3.
Involve: The RMA Strategy
9.4. Inform
9.4.1.
Inform: How It Works With Kids
9.4.2.
Inform: A Prayer Focus
9.4.3.
Inform: The RMA Strategy
9.5. Invite
9.5.1.
Invite: How It Works With Kids
9.5.2.
Invite: A Prayer Focus
9.5.3.
Invite: The RMA Strategy
9.6. Invest
9.6.1.
Invest: How It Works With Kids
9.6.2.
Invest: A Prayer Focus
9.6.3.
Invest: The RMA Strategy
9.7. Investigate
9.7.1.
Investigate: How It Works With Kids
9.7.2.
Investigate: A Prayer Focus
9.7.3.
Investigate: The RMA Strategy
9.8. Infuse
9.8.1.
Infuse: How It Works With Kids
9.8.2.
Infuse: A Prayer Focus
9.8.3.
Infuse: The RMA Strategy
9.9. Inspire
9.9.1.
Inspire: How It Works With Kids
9.9.2.
Inspire: A Prayer Focus
9.9.3.
Inspire: The RMA Strategy
10. Campus Life Ministry Assessment
10.1. Focus: Every Young Person
10.2. Focus: God’s Word
10.3. Focus: How the Kingdom Grows
10.4. Focus: Campus Life RMAs
10.5. Focus: Review, Reflect, & Adjust
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Forward
The most important resource for a Campus Life minister is the Bible. You need to
be in it daily. After that, you must become well acquainted with the manual you now
hold. A former Campus Life staff person told me over twenty years ago that he read
through the entire Ministry Operations Manual twice a year and referenced its pages
regularly. I believe that, along with regular time in the Word, this manual will be
invaluable in helping you more effectively reach lost teenagers. You will experience
within these pages a multitude of situations and challenges from the world of
teenagers.
The authors of this manual have over 200 years of combined Campus Life
ministry experience. They represent young and old, male and female, as well as
geographic, social and cultural diversity. These authors include men and women who
were present when Campus Life was conceived in the 60’s, flourished and dominated
the youth ministry world in the 70’s and 80’s and was challenged in the early 90’s. It
has since re-established and solidified itself as the most widely practiced core ministry
of Youth For Christ in the opening days of the new millennium.
The authors of this manual also wrestled with the changing teenage community
through the radical 60’s, the birth of personal computers, the introduction of the
internet, the onslaught of MTV, the Beatles, Elvis, the Doobie Brothers, Dave Matthews,
and Phish. They are authors, radio talk show hosts, speakers, pastors, executive
directors, national board members, and parents of teenagers. They all share a
common ground-- experience and wisdom birthed in a love for Jesus and a walk with
Him, tempered by years of experience in front-line Campus Life ministry. Each of them
desires that every young person in every people group in every high school have the
opportunity to become a life-long follower of Jesus.
Finally, this is a living document. It will always grow and change, because,
although the mission stays the same, the world of teenagers never will. In being
“anchored to the rock and geared to the times,” your Campus Life leadership will
periodically send you updates and new tools to help you reach more high school
teenagers more effectively.
So, with your Bible open next to you and your heart open within you, start
reading and get to work! “The fields are plentiful and the workers are few.”
--Kevin Flannagan
Campus Life National Director, YFC/USA Ministries
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1. YFC Mission, Vision & Grand Goal
Within the organizational genetic code of YFC is a sense of direction that defines who
we are and what our particular niche is within the Kingdom of God. To clarify this
foundational purpose we have expressed it as our mission statement. Youth for Christ’s
mission is: To participate in the Body of Christ in the responsible evangelism of youth,
presenting them with the person, work & teachings of Christ and discipling them into
the Church.
For a mission statement to truly guide us it must be more than well-arranged words. It
must be IN us, providing us with a stable source of direction. This works to guide our
ministry together like the earth’s magnetic poles, supplying us with a fixed location
from which we can determine where we are.
In addition to our mission statement, there is another core organizational statement
that helps to supply us with direction, adding scope and boundaries to our purpose.
This is YFC’s vision statement, and our hope is that it guides us by painting a clear
picture of our ideal future. The vision of YFC is: As part of the Body of Christ our vision is
to see every young person in every people group in every nation have the opportunity
to make an informed decision to be a follower of Jesus Christ and to become part of a
local church.
How do YFC’s mission and vision statements help to locate our organization and set it
on a unique course amid the tremendous variety of ministry options that can be done
in Jesus’ name? Three important features serve as rudders steering us through the
waters of discipleship evangelism.
First, YFC is committed to the Church. Each statement offers a modest assertion that
we want to participate in the Body of Christ. We want to do our part and serve a
valuable role in the Body. As our task gets defined within each statement there is also
a firm conviction expressed. The young people with whom we work must be guided
into the Church if we are to consider our assignment complete. Taken together these
elements make it clear that YFC’s relationship with and service to the Church must be
a genuine value in how we operate.
It is also clear that YFC is a youth ministry concentrating on the discipleship evangelism
agenda. Our focus is on lost young people, though we know that there are many
others who need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. The scope of our vision
statement makes it clear that there isn’t a young person on the planet excluded from
our ministry potential. But we recognize in our work among teens the potential for
manipulation and even abuse. By being responsible with our evangelism efforts we
will help young people make informed decisions about following Jesus for a lifetime.
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And, ultimately, there must be no mistaking the fact that our evangelism efforts must
always synchronize with the larger purpose of making disciples among young people.
That’s why in this operations manual we will frequently talk about discipleship
evangelism in YFC. We have no intention of dividing God’s master plan for changing
a life. We will more fully explore this rich term in chapter 2.
Finally, there must be no doubt that our ministry energies are dedicated to making
Jesus known. This commitment aligns us with countless others throughout history who
have sought to glorify God by revealing him accurately in the world. There are plenty
of good social causes worthy of our efforts, but they can never be allowed to replace
Jesus as the center of attention.
YFC’s mission and vision have us committed to the Church, focused on youth
discipleship evangelism, and centered on the person of Jesus Christ. In addition, YFC’s
commitment to being a diverse and worldwide movement is a deep organizational
value that finds its home in these statements. These fixed points ought to come alive
for us as they help us decide when to adopt some ministry strategies and discard
others.
A recent addition to these core direction-setting documents is YFC’s grand goal.
Formally adopted at YFC’s Midwinter Conference in 2002, our grand goal is intended
to energize us with some specific, measurable ministry targets that are so huge that
they might be considered unreasonable. We acknowledge that if God doesn’t
unleash his power in an unusual way we will not be able to accomplish this goal, and
we have embraced it both as a long-range faith commitment and an articulation of
what—in our wildest dreams—we hope to accomplish through our work. YFC’s grand
goal is:
With God’s help and direction, we seek to engage 5,000,000 young people by 2010 in
a lifelong journey of following Christ. To do this we will:
•Pursue young people everywhere, including the hard-to-reach.
•Reach young people through 5,000 school and community ministry sites.
•Grow ministry to 300 strategic towns and cities.
•Resource and connect staff, churches and community leaders.
•Multiply our efforts through strategic partnerships with churches, Kingdom
organizations and the worldwide movement of YFC.
• Equip 600,000 young Christian leaders in evangelism and discipleship.
These documents have set our direction in YFC. They help us to know where we are
going. The rest of this operations manual is intended to increase the detail of this
direction and enrich our understanding of how we can be both faithful and fruitful in
our work.
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2. Discipleship Evangelism & YFC’s Ongoing
Fruit-Bearing Conditions
What do we mean when we use the term discipleship evangelism? We gain some
insights about why this term is important to YFC by exploring alternative descriptions
that are not quite adequate summaries of our mission’s focus.
For starters, discipleship evangelism is not decisional evangelism. We are very clear
about what the end results of our evangelism efforts must be. We want young people
to become disciples of Christ and not just make decisions for Christ. This clarity of vision
is critical to our ministry practice. We’re confident that when we train our attention on
making disciples we will consistently be freed up to encourage young people to make
good decisions. Since there is less certainty we will be able to start teens on a lifelong
path of following Jesus if we concentrate our efforts too narrowly on their initial
decisions to start their journey, we choose the discipleship evangelism paradigm.
Adopting the term discipleship evangelism is also a way to bridge the modern divide
between discipleship and evangelism. The separation of these two concepts is a
recent invention and one that cannot be found in Scripture. Biblical discipleship
begins in evangelism and seeks to establish mature followers of Jesus who will—in
turn—become evangelistically faithful in their own lives. Biblical evangelism has no
destination for its activity other than making disciples. By favoring one concept over
another too many ministries have excused themselves from the obligation handed us
by the Lord Jesus. If concentration on evangelism leads to the neglect of disciplemaking, the Kingdom’s growth-by-multiplication plan (2 Timothy 2:2) will be frustrated.
If focusing exclusively on growing Christians into mature disciples doesn’t include an
evangelism agenda, our Lord’s grand reconciliation plan (Colossians 1: 19-20) will be
subverted. Either focus out of balance will keep us from experiencing the lasting fruit
Jesus intended (John 15). We believe that incorporating the term discipleship
evangelism into our ministry vocabulary can help us avoid errors of imbalance.
The concept of responsible evangelism is enriched by the concluding phrase in YFC’s
mission statement, “discipling them into the church”. Without this clause, some might
mistakenly conclude that responsible evangelism only describes an ethical standard
for our missionary activity. We want to make it clear that we can’t be responsible in
our evangelism efforts if they are not aligned with discipleship purposes.
Some assert that YFC is committed to a kind of evangelism style, perhaps best
represented by the term relational evangelism, as opposed to something like
confrontational evangelism, or proclamational evangelism. In reality, however, as we
move aggressively to cultivate life-long commitments to Jesus Christ among young
people, YFC is free to consider relational, confrontational or proclamational
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evangelism methods as legitimate options for our outreach efforts. By choosing to
align ourselves with the standards and criteria of discipleship evangelism rather than a
single method as our only option, we are staking out an allegiance to biblical values
above all else when pursuing our mission. It is to those biblical values we want to turn
now to further unpack what we mean by discipleship evangelism in YFC.
The context and directive surrounding the Great Commission will adequately supply
the biblical insights we need to understand discipleship evangelism. Here’s the text:
“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them
to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came
to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’”
(Matthew 28:16-20).
Notice the preconditions that set the disciples up to receive their clear instruction from
the Lord Jesus. First, they proved they were ready for a new assignment by their
previous obedience. They showed up on location as Jesus had told them. And, as a
result of their obedience rather than as a condition by which they would trust him, they
saw Jesus. The reward of seeing Jesus clearly always follows our faithfulness. The
experience of following Jesus precedes the certainty of knowing Jesus. When they
saw Jesus they offered him the only acceptable faith response: they worshiped him.
Jesus then drew near to them, even to those who couldn’t purge the doubts from their
faith. There is no substitute for bringing an honest heart humbly to the Lord, even when
such a heart is deeply flawed. As Jesus came to them he reminded them of his
supremacy in all things (see also Colossians 1:18). When the King of All Creation
whispers such a truth into our spirits is there any doubt he is not also reasserting his
claim on our unconditional allegiance?
We have not yet begun to consider the ministry directives that Jesus uttered. There is a
reason for that. Discipleship evangelism is always done by people like us who have
stories of victory and failure in our own following of Jesus. Some of us would have
been late to the mountain in Galilee; others might even be no-shows. A lot of us
would have been so overcome by our doubts that we would wonder if our feeble
worship could even rise to an acceptable level for the Lord. Nonetheless, when we
even stagger and stumble in the direction of obedience to the Lord Jesus, he meets
us, strengthening our faith by reminding us that he has absolutely everything under
control. The first step in our ministry among young persons is our step toward Jesus. We
must trust him and abandon ourselves to completing the assignment (Acts 20:24) he
gives us all: to make disciples of all nations.
The disciples must have had questions about the task, but Jesus had—through these
words and his own example (John 20:21)—given them everything they need to
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understand what he was asking of them. This disciple-making assignment would be
accomplished during the normal course of life, literally while they were going among
all the nations. Discipleship evangelism begins when those sent by Jesus get life-onlife with those who have yet to discover Jesus. It would include incorporating these
new believers into the family of Jesus-followers through a common baptism.
Discipleship evangelism necessitates that this new life is experienced in the
community—or body—of Christians. And the task requires that would-be disciples
become students who adjust their lives according to Jesus’ teachings. Discipleship
evangelism expects that each life in submission to God’s word will be continuously
changed so that Jesus is revealed through them.
In YFC we’ve translated these three dimensions of discipleship evangelism—life-on-life,
Body life, truth-in-life—into a strategy we call THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS. While the
measurable ingredients of THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS will be discussed in chapter 9
of this operations manual, the foundational elements of this process must be
introduced now. And they are imbedded in the mystical words of encouragement
Jesus offered the disciples in Matthew 28:20.
When Jesus gave such a daunting assignment to the disciples, they must have
wrestled with the tremendous uncertainties about how they, inadequate as they were,
could possibly bring about a change in the lives of others that would be worthy of the
Lord Jesus. Jesus must have anticipated such a response. He promised that he would
be with the disciples every step of the way. Through Jesus’ ongoing presence the
disciples would experience the power to accomplish all that he asked of them.
Experiencing the ongoing presence of Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives is a condition
that is absolutely necessary to our ability to do discipleship evangelism among young
people. That’s why we have identified five ongoing fruit-bearing conditions as the
foundation of THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS. We are helpless to please God in our own
strength (Hebrews 11:6).
It’s not that we don’t bring anything to the table. As we learned from seeing the
disciples’ response in Matthew 28: 16-18, we sometimes get credit for just showing up!
Ministry that results in God-honoring fruit (John 15:8) is a combination of our best efforts
and the release of God’s power. A purely practical approach to ministry would have
us work hard, convinced that results are based entirely on what we do. A purely
mystical approach to ministry would have us wait and watch, convinced that results
are based entirely on what God does. Of course, ministry must never be such an
either/or proposition.
The bulk of the pages in this operations manual are devoted to helping YFC staff carry
out their work effectively. If you are a page-counter, you might mistakenly conclude
that YFC is primarily dedicated to practical ministry strategies as measured by
effective, measurable results. After all, this manual coaches us in the kind of hard work
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to which we must apply ourselves. Aren’t we just pragmatists who plan our work and
then work our plan?
If that’s all that can be said of us, we’re in trouble. We want to state unequivocally
that if the Lord is not in our work, everything is done in vain (Psalm 127:1). As
committed as we are to working effectively, we are even more convinced that we
must work faithfully. The former is what ensures that we are geared to the times. The
latter reminds us that our hard work will be so much useless floating foam if we aren’t
anchored to the Rock.
Consider the following parable of Jesus: This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man
scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed
sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces
grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the
grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come (Mark 4: 26-29).
What is our role in bringing about truly changed lives among young people? It’s clear
that as “the man” in the parable we are to scatter seed and then reap the harvest
once it’s ready. In between God is doing his thing, mysteriously growing his life in the
previously yet-to-be-born spirit of a teen. We must attune ourselves to God’s activity
so that we are ready to act when God says the soul-harvest of a young life is ready for
our attention.
In the remainder of this chapter we identify five continuous conditions that we want to
concentrate upon in order to be ready to act in the Holy Spirit’s timing, to experience
the presence of Jesus promised at the end of the Great Commission. We confess that
every lasting ministry result we seek is largely dependent upon how well we immerse
ourselves in these ongoing fruit-bearing conditions.
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2.1 Abiding
Everything about our discipleship evangelism efforts need to be Jesus-centered.
The hope of glory—understood as the revealing of God in this world—is not even
words about Jesus, but Jesus himself (Colossians 1:27)! He is our message. If the
gospel we preached was merely a set of propositional truths that need to be
understood and applied, it might be possible to segregate our ministry activity into
convenient categories. First we do something fun to address the social needs of
kids. Then we get them active because that helps people to learn. After which we
share some of ourselves with them to build our credibility as communicators. That’s
when we introduce Jesus…
If Jesus—the literal glue of all creation—is the message then our goal is to find
ourselves communicating him every time we draw a breath. Is it important to have
fun with teens? Do it in Jesus. Are activities strategic in our ministry? Figure out how
to do them as Jesus would. Must we develop credibility? Let Jesus teach us how.
We must abide in him constantly; we have no hope for any lasting fruit as a result of
our good efforts unless his Spirit empowers us (John 15:1-17).
We need to operate with the confessed conviction that Jesus Christ is our only
source of motivation and power. Without him we are thoroughly lost; that includes
our well-intentioned ministry efforts.
When we genuinely abide in Jesus a constant prayer bond allows Jesus’ words to
flow through our spiritual circulatory system. This illuminates Paul’s instruction that,
no matter what we believers are doing, we are to do it all in the name of the Lord
Jesus (Colossians 3:17) and to pray continually (1 Thessalonians 5:17). We are able
to access a life that is not our own and must learn how to discard the helpless and
hopeless way of living into which we were born (Galatians 2:20).
This learning curve is understandably steep. As brothers and sisters in Christ we who
are a part of the YFC family can be encouragers and examples to one another in
this great adventure. We understand that the fruit of our ministries are direct
extensions of the fruitfulness of our lives. As an ongoing fruit-bearing condition,
abiding plunges us deeply and consistently into Jesus’ life so that the glory of our
fruit is as great as he deserves.
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2.2 Faithful Missionary
Before we DO our missionary work among young people, we must realize that we
ARE missionaries with whole lives that are intended to declare the glory of God.
The first fruit with which we honor God is the good health of our own walk in him.
Among other things this means that we pursue emotional wholeness, not because
we can do our jobs better, but because we can live our lives better. And a life well
lived is our priority.
Such a life is lived from the inside out. God knows the nooks and crannies of our
hearts, from which our entire lives and ministries flow (Proverbs 4:23). Jesus’
declaration offers a simple checkpoint for our soul searching: If you love me, you
will obey what I command (John 14:15). Concentrating on loving Jesus in this way
will help us to be consistently faithful. That’s our target.
As followers of Jesus this on-going fruit-bearing condition calls us to an authenticity
that a skeptical world needs to see. Our Lord asserted that while he was in the
world he was the light of the world (John 9:5). The temporary nature of this
designation is a little confusing until we recognize that he gave his disciples this very
same assignment, making it clear that it is now our responsibility to live our lives as
open testimonies to the goodness of God (Matthew 5:14-16).
This crucial focus of our life and ministry naturalizes the fruit-bearing process. Think
about it. The opposite of something natural might be something mechanical or
even technological. We can’t create automatic systems that crank out fruit. This is
not an industrial strategy. Fruit is always organic and it will always be linked to the
mysterious growth process that we may be able to understand but will never be
able to control. That’s why an authentic life is never something we do
(mechanical) so much as it is someone we are (natural).
Look at how it worked in the apostle Paul’s ministry. He initially established an
example of Christ-likeness by living out his selfless faith among the Thessalonians
and then commended them for the far-reaching impact of their example (1
Thessalonians 1:4-10; 2:1-12). To illuminate his instruction to another church about
how to do all for the glory of God (1Corinthians 10:31), he invited them to, “Follow
my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). While he clearly
made no claim to perfection, Paul was confident enough in the process of Jesus’
growth in his life that he could offer his own faithfulness as a concrete illustration of
the character our heavenly Father wants to form in us all (Philippians 3: 12-17; 4:9).
This example-first priority is one that Peter also understood. He coached slaves as
well as wives married to unbelieving husbands to follow such a strategy (1 Peter 2:
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18-21; 3: 1-4).
In fact, the evangelistic impact of this second example helps us to understand how
being a faithful missionary must be an ongoing fruit-bearing condition for our
ministry. It is an ongoing condition because faithful is not something we do so
much as someone we are. Wives witnessing to their husbands through the integrity
of their lives will fail unless they display a measure of consistency. Our entire lives
are part of a collective evidence package that either points young people to the
one true God or deflects attention from him. This becomes a fruit-bearing
condition because when young people are satisfied that when we missionaries
utter words consistent with our lives, they will be drawn to follow Jesus themselves.
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2.3 Unified Believers
Jesus found it important in his last days to ask the Father to forge observable unity
among believers. He prayed this with an evangelistic strategy in mind; this was how
the world might learn of God’s love (John 17:23). Given the timing, purpose and
Author of this priority we dare not ignore it in our lives.
This is no small ambition, like it might be if we were only talking about getting local
church folks to join our YFC stuff. In fact, just cooperating around mutually
beneficial ministry events is no guarantee that we will meet the standard of Jesus’
prayer. Neither do our program collaborations automatically meet his
expectations that we display uncommon love to one another (John 13:34). Loving
unity takes concentrated effort. There is certainly nothing in the Bible that suggests
it will be attained as a side benefit to our ministry tasks.
Consider how much coaching Paul did among the churches on this very topic. He
taught the believers in Rome how to navigate their differences so that they could
preserve their love for one another at all costs (Romans 14). His beautiful
exhortation to love and unity is smack in the middle of his instruction to the
Corinthians about how to use their diverse gifts (1 Corinthians 12 – 14). While urging
the Galatians to live freely in Christ he cautioned them to not neglect serving one
another in love (Galatians 5:13). To the Ephesians he recited the basis of our unity
(Ephesians 4: 1-6) and to the Philippians he appealed to the humility of Christ as an
example for how we preserve unity (Philippians 2: 1-11). And he reveals to the
Colossians that it’s when they are “encouraged in heart and united in love” that
they have a chance to really know Christ (Colossians 2: 2-3). In praying for a dear
friend he makes this same point, asserting that koinonia will make possible “a full
understanding of every good thing we have in Christ” (Philemon 6). And there is
plenty more in the New Testament, from the pen of Paul and others.
In fact, unity is so often discussed in Scripture that we may have become dulled to
both its potential and its demands for our lives and ministries. Or maybe we are just
a product of our times.
The American entrepreneurial spirit that has contributed so many positive things to
the cause of Christ in the latter half of the 20th century may keep us from seeing
how essential this biblical value is to the cause of evangelism. It is not a pragmatic
option to be practiced when we get a break from our real work. It is not someone
else’s responsibility. It is part of God’s strategy for revealing himself in the world.
That’s why our work to unify believers is one of our ongoing fruit-bearing conditions.
YFC’s success in youth discipleship evangelism is inseparably linked to this biblical
value.
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In order to practice this value with clarity, YFC staff ought to cultivate servant
partnerships with local churches. This strategy testifies to the reality of how we’ll
build unity (as servants) and what the outcome looks like (ministry partnerships).
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2.4 Spirit-led Intentionality
There is a deliberative, strategic side to the discipleship evangelism process that’s
easy to see in the ministry patterns of Jesus. The dominant example of this is his
work with the apostles. After our Lord had a chance to see how responsive his
many followers were and spent considerable time in prayer he chose from among
them twelve men through which he could multiply himself (Luke 6: 12-16). What did
he have in mind when he made his selections? In one gospel we learn that his
purpose was that “they might be with him and that he might send them out to
preach and to have authority to drive out demons” (Mark 3: 14-15). His ultimate
vision for them included deputizing them as disciple-makers (Matthew 28: 18-20) so
that an endless stream of his followers would collect themselves in communities
throughout history, “for the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1: 11-12). Against such
groupings—known as churches—he promised that the gates of Hell would not
prevail (Matthew 16:18). And, as Jesus’ revealed in one of his last recorded
prayers, the salvation, preparation and commissioning of these twelve was the God
glorifying work that he had been assigned to do while on earth. It was a job he
stayed focused on until completion (see John 17, especially verse 4).
Sometimes we believe that in order to be led by the Holy Spirit we must have our
original plans disrupted. That’s certainly true if the Lord had no part in helping us to
establish those first intentions. But Jesus demonstrated a model of Spirit-led
intentionality that we would do well to copy in our own ministries.
Certainly Paul caught the pattern. He even coached Timothy to entrust the gospel
to reliable men who could faithfully pass it on to others (2 Timothy 2:2). And Paul’s
own missionary journeys were guided by a Spirit-led grand goal to preach the
gospel in places where it had not been proclaimed (2 Corinthians 10:16).
We must be biblically faithful planners, setting in motion strategies that are in
harmony with God’s master design of multiplying disciples and growing His Church.
Our activity must be discipleship-oriented, even when it is focused on the
evangelism of young people. Those are the instructions we have received from the
Lord, and we’re not at liberty to disregard them. Why would we even be tempted
to?
Here’s why: there are times that we have our hearts broken as we walk among the
lost masses of young people. The urgency of their need overwhelms us and tempts
us to find faster ways to do what cannot be hurried. But life change is a crock-pot
experience even in a microwave age. The pain of millions of lost teens does not
give us license to shift our attention from what must be our single focus: we should
be urgent in being faithful to Jesus. We get no bonus crowns for working ahead of
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the Holy Spirit’s perfect pace. When Jesus encountered such neediness, he, too,
was moved. But he instructed the disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send
out workers, and that’s a significantly different response than setting aside a
disciple-making agenda in order to give direct attention to the multitudes
(Matthew 9:35-38).
Spirit-led intentionality is based on the assumption that the Lord wants to give us
overall guidance and supply us with the direction we must follow if we will be
faithful to him. So much about the knowledge of his will—including his discipleship
evangelism values—has been supplied in the Scriptures. We submit ourselves to the
Lord when we study, pray, plan, decide, hire, write curriculum, and organize as if it
matters to God. It does. And he wants to bless us with the fruit that comes from
such ongoing faithfulness.
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2.5 Spirit-led Spontaneity
Having considered the steady and consistent direction that the Lord supplies us, we
also must acknowledge the flip side of the coin. The Holy Spirit doesn’t always
move in predictable ways.
After Paul wrote that the Colossians should devote themselves to prayer, he
asserted that they should be watchful; he then instructed them to “make the most
of every opportunity” (Colossians 4: 2, 5). As we move through our lives the Lord
would like us to be alert to how he might want us to act in ways we had not
anticipated.
Different from preparation in the Spirit, this is preparation for the Spirit. It is about
listening and being ready. As an ongoing fruit-bearing condition we have labeled
this Spirit-led spontaneity. It’s what we understand Paul to mean when he told his
young ministerial protégé, Timothy, to “be prepared in season and out of season”
to preach the word of God (2 Timothy 4:2). Likewise, it seems to be what Peter
meant when he wrote to “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who
asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).
Discipleship evangelism is every bit as much a result of our vigilance in active
listening and constant readiness as it is an outcome of our long range planning.
The latter helps us to set a clear course. The former helps us to respond to each
new moment faithfully. Perhaps that’s what Jesus intended when he attached the
participle modifier “going” to the imperative command “make disciples” (Matthew
28: 19-20). He certainly demonstrated how to pay attention to the Spirit while
moving through life with his disciples.
The Lord can and does indeed speak when our ears or hearts are clogged up… it’s
just more normal for Him to speak when His people are listening (Isaiah 6). For the
YFC staff worker, volunteer or student leader, our posture must be a daily seeking of
the Father instructions, “Lord, what do you want me to do; where do you want me
to go; to whom will you send me during the hours you have given me this day?”
Active listening implies that the listener is surrendered, humble and ready to
change his or her plans to accommodate the Lord’s leading in a given
conversation, meeting, event, or an entire day. The combination of active listening
and confident readiness is much like what Paul refers to when he instructs us to pray
without ceasing and to listen carefully to God’s Spirit (1Thessalonians 5: 17-22).
Active listening leads to readiness in the sense that the Holy Spirit will move in ways
that we can only prepare for under His sometimes unpredictable , supernatural
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touch. The active listener maintains a posture of waiting on the Lord, trusting that
when God is ready to speak, He will. At which point, but not before, the listener
moves into a renewed action plan. For example, look at how Paul changed his
intended course of action in order to live under the authority of the ongoing fruitbearing condition of Spirit-led spontaneity: “Next Paul and Silas traveled through
the area of Phyrgia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had told them not to go
into the province of Asia…they headed for the province of Bithynia, again the Spirit
of Jesus did not let them go. So instead they went on through Mysia to the city of
Troas…” (Acts 16:6-10).
Our work with young people must be opportunity-oriented, but it is always the Lord
who opens the doors for real fruit (Colossians 4:3). When the Lord whispers an
insight into our heart while we’re talking with a teen, we need to hear it. If he
nudges us to be bold, we must respond courageously. And if he cautions us to be
quiet, we ought to bite our tongues. If he prompts us to change our established
plans, we should act in accordance with his leading. Because we are learning to
constantly, actively listen in the midst of day-to-day ministry activity, we are able to
submit to Him and adapt accordingly.
That’s why as we train staff and teens for ministry we must go beyond preparing
people with tools for evangelistic dialogue. We need to help folks attune their lives
to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The great adventure of Spirit-led spontaneity is to
be surprised by the work God wants to do through us.
Taken together, YFC’s five ongoing fruit-bearing conditions are a reminder that our
lives and ministries serve One Master. The Lord Jesus wants to indwell us and wants us
to draw our life from him. As we do so, we will become increasingly faithful in every
area of life. Loving unity will be evident in our relationships with other Christ-followers.
We will be hungry to locate our plans in God’s will and excited to be available to him
each moment of the day. Jesus will be allowed to truly function as the Lord of our lives
and ministries.
And when Jesus is Lord, he brings forth lasting fruit.
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3. YFC Campus Ministries
There are currently five core ministry programs resourced by Youth for Christ/USA.
They have been organized within two divisions: Campus Ministries and Community
Ministries. This operations manual serves the Campus Life core ministry, one of two
current national ministry core programs located in the Campus Ministries division of
YFC/USA Ministries. These operations manuals—provided for each one of our
national core ministries—are intended to establish definitively what we mean by
Campus Life so each one of YFC’s local chapters may be aligned with regional
and national YFC service centers in their ministry expectations. By clarifying what
Campus Life is—and is not—we hope that we can establish strategies for more
effective ministry management, continued ministry improvement, and steady
ministry expansion.
YFC/USA Campus Ministries are those that meet the following definition:
Those YFC ministries that initiate relationships with lost students through
the secondary school environment for the purpose of seeing them
become life-long followers of Jesus Christ.
The other current core program located in the Campus Ministries division is Campus
Life MS. Each core program has been established as a strategic response to our
evangelistic mission in the world. Here’s how we define core programs: YFC/USA
Ministries’ core programs are clearly defined models, resourced and endorsed for
vision/mission effectiveness and proven to be transferable and viable to multiple
chapters.
All core ministries in YFC share a commitment to youth discipleship evangelism
through THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS. THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS includes
common philosophy combined with distinctive methodologies. The foundational
ongoing fruit-bearing conditions (see chapter 2) and the measurable relational
ministry ingredients (see chapter 9) combine to create our common YFC ministry
strategy. Each core ministry has also defined their own combination of relational
ministry actions (see chapters 8 & 9) that fit the particular niche of YFC’s mission in
which they are engaged. A comparison of the relational ministry actions that help
to distinguish our core ministries from one another is found in the table at the end of
this chapter.
The Campus Ministries division of YFC/USA Ministries is also responsible for the
development of new programs that fit under the scope of its ministry. We want to
both encourage innovation and test new programs, ensuring that they fit our
mission and vision, are exportable & transferable to other chapters, and have
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clearly established relational ministry actions. We call this stage of program
development incubation and it is officially defined as follows: A program in
incubation is a clearly defined test model with reliable measurement criteria that
could ultimately result in a refined, resourced and endorsed core program. The
Campus Ministries division has currently assigned student-initiated campus clubs to
an incubation status and is considering how to best develop target group ministries
for the future.
The earliest stage of program development is called ideation. It is characterized by
our discovery—whether by accident or intention—of what the Lord seems to be
doing in his kingdom and dreaming about what that would look like in YFC. Its
official definition follows: An ideation program is a yet-to-be-defined model that
emerges from Spirit-led innovation efforts in the Kingdom of God.
To summarize, the Campus Ministries division in YFC/USA Ministries includes the two
core ministries of Campus Life and Campus Life MS as well as any incubation or
ideation programs that fit under the Campus Ministries definition. The other branch
in the YFC/USA Ministries family tree is occupied by Community Ministries. Current
core programs of City Life, Teen Parents, and Youth Guidance, as well as any
appropriately targeted incubation or ideation programs, gather under the
following definition of Community Ministries: Those YFC ministries that initiate
relationships with lost young people found outside the secondary school
environment through the local community and its agencies for the purpose of
seeing them become life-long followers of Jesus Christ.
The following FAQs may be useful in clarifying how Campus Ministries ministry
programs move through the designations of core, incubation and ideation:
1. What are the key criteria for something becoming a core program?
Positive answers to the following: Can every chapter conceivably do it? What is
the viability for the entire movement? For example, what is the viability of a
Surfer-targeted program for the entire movement? By the time something
becomes core we want it to be clearly defined, well resourced, and easily
multiplied.
2. What if you have a model that is really strong in a particular region, but not
strong anywhere else? Can it ever become a core program for the entire
organization? How many chapters have to be doing a program in order for it to
become core?
There’s no firm answer on that, but the decision will be made by the YFC/USA
Ministries leadership team with substantial field input. Their role is to go through
the process of evaluating a program’s viability.
3. Is it the goal that we would always have something move towards core?
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We think it would be very healthy if there are always some programs in core,
some in incubation, and some in ideation.
4. Once core, always core?
No. There can be programs that fall out of core. Everything has a life cycle.
5. Can local chapters designate something as core, or incubation, etc.?
Not really. The core designation is a National Service Center function. YFC/USA
Ministries will serve the entire movement by assigning programs a status that
helps us to focus our limited resources. But it needs to be clear that we’re not
saying that just because the NSC doesn’t recognize something as core,
chapters can’t try something new. Some local chapters do ministries that are
critical to their effectiveness but are designated as incubation or ideation right
now. Foster Care programs may be good examples of this.
6. When something is in incubation, is it definitely going to core?
No. You might find out in incubation that you’ve created more problems than
you solved. Or, it might be too expensive to make it core. For instance, a
program can’t go to core if it’s not affordable. It’s also got to be sustainable
and transferable. Or, in some cases, a program may need to go through
several incubation stages before it goes to core.
7. Is there a place where we can include non-YFC people and organizations in
ideation?
Absolutely. One of the main things in ideation is trying to discover what God’s
already doing in a particular mission-related arena, and exploring how we can
grow something from this. This taps into the free, entrepreneurial spirit for which
YFC has historically been known. Practically speaking, we’ll look into undefined
ideas that are bubbling up from the YFC movement and the general world of
youth evangelism. Research and regular sharing of ideation-stage information
may also stimulate Ideation development. This forces us to be on the cuttingedge of what we do, and makes us people with a prophetic vision. Some YFC
people are really good at thinking like this and their vision and creativity are
welcomed and needed within this structure.
8. So what’s the benefit of being an official core program of YFC/USA?
In a word: resources. We can afford to train mainly core programs. We’ll
develop fairly standardized job descriptions so that it’s easy to start a core
program. Ministry program components will be cleanly defined, resource and
operations manuals available, visibility tools developed, and curriculum can be
found. And there will be enough different folks doing the program well that
we’ll continually update a best practices list so field staff can get help from one
another. In making something a core program, we “wrap a fence around it.”
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We bring some cohesiveness to the program, but not so much structure that
people can’t be creative.
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CAMPUS
MINISTRIES
RMA
Campus
Life MS
Campus
Life
(going into the world of young
people in order to initiate new
relationships)
!
!
!
!
(meeting one on one to
provide individual attention
and focus on a young person’s
specific need)
!
(a structured interactive
meeting with 2-12 young
people)
!
Contacting
25
COMMUNITY
MINISTRIES
City
Life
Teen
Parents
Youth
Guidance
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Building Times
(spending time in shared
activities with young people in
order to build new
relationships and model
Christ-like behavior)
Appointments
Small Groups
Large Groups
!
(a structured meeting with
more than 12 young people)
!
!
Clubs
(a weekly large group meeting
of more than 25 students that’s
high energy, safe, and nonChristian friendly)
!
!
!
Mentoring
(a holistic, covenantal
relationship between a
Christian adult and young
person)
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
Student Leadership
(Christian students who are
committed to influencing their
friends for Christ through YFCrelated ministries)
!
!
!
(taking young people out of
their environment for a shared
experience)
!
!
!
(a YFC sponsored youth
activity that enhances the
ministry program’s image)
!
!
!
!
!
!
Trips
Events
Strategic
Relationships
(cultivating relationships in the
secular community with
parents and professionals who
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impact young people)
Support Team
(mobilizing Christian adults for
prayer, counsel, and financial
support of a ministry site)
!
!
!
!
!
(mobilizing Christian adults for
discipleship evangelism with
young people)
!
!
!
!
!
Ministry Team
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4. Campus Life in Perspective
4.1 A Common YFC History
Before we can understand and fully embrace the Campus Life concept, it is
important to first review our roots and beginnings in Youth For Christ. In the late
1930’s and early 1940’s, during World War II, many young men, mostly ministers and
evangelists, were holding large rallies in Canada, England, and the United States.
They were called by various names, including “Singspiration” (Kansas City), “Victory
Rally” (San Diego), “Voice of Christian Youth” (Detroit), “Word of Life” (New York),
“Jubilee” (Los Angeles), “Victorious Christian Youth” (Tacoma), and “Youth for
Christ” (Indianapolis), to name only a few.
In it’s early days, Youth for Christ was not the specialized youth ministry it is today.
The crowds were a mixture of young people, adults, middle-aged parents and
some older adults. The Youth for Christ rally was the place to be on Saturday night
if you were a Christian. Because of large attendance at the rallies, the media
coverage was overwhelming and very effective for the Kingdom. The Youth for
Christ story was shared in such a way that a stampede descended on YFC, hungry
for information on how to start more rallies in more cities around the world.
In 1944, at the Winona Lake Bible Conference in Winona Lake, Indiana, a group of
leaders including Roger Malsbury, Dr. J.Palmer Muntz and Arthur McKee, met to
discuss how to handle the requests for new rallies. Later that same year in Detroit, a
temporary organization was established, electing Torrey Johnson, a Chicago
pastor, as the chairman. At this meeting, a summer convention was planned for
1945.
In his new role, Torrey Johnson was flooded with more requests for help. He opened
a one-room office on North Wells Street in Chicago and hired a young evangelist
by the name of Billy Graham to be the first full-time YFC staff person. Graham
began to preach and develop Youth for Christ rallies around the country.
At the summer convention in 1945, Dr. Raymond V. Edman, then president of
Wheaton College, led the sessions. Youth for Christ International was formed and
Torrey Johnson was elected as the first President of the YFC movement. A sevenpoint statement of faith was adopted that remains to this day to serve as our
doctrinal platform.
Youth for Christ’s development can be divided into six historical periods. The
growth of our ministry philosophy over the years overlaps to some extent, causing
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the time periods to be approximate. Through out YFC’s history two common
threads endure: an unwavering, passionate commitment to reach “lost young
people,” kids outside the scope and impact of the organized Church and secondly
a desire to build the Kingdom by exerting focused energy and attention to bridge
those same kids into the Church.
THE FIRST PERIOD: The YFC “Rally”
From the first rally in 1945 through the early 1950’s, our ministry was essentially large
Saturday night evangelistic rallies. In large cities, auditoriums and stadiums seating
2,000 to 10,000 people were filled to capacity on a regular basis. One meeting in
Soldier’s Field in Chicago drew over 70,000 people! As a result of God’s Spirit
moving through nationally known evangelists and personalities, converted movie
starts, songwriters, musicians and gospel teams, many received Jesus Christ into
their lives. Youth for Christ rallies were formed all over America and in many other
nations.
From it’s birth through the mid fifties, YFC experienced phenomenal growth and
many new ministries became “spin-off’s” of Youth for Christ. The Billy Graham
Evangelistic Association, World Vision, Greater European Missions, Overseas
Crusades and Gospel Films were just a few examples of the new ministries birthed
by Youth for Christ.
THE SECOND PERIOD: The YFC “Bible Club”
During the second era, Youth for Christ focused our ministry efforts on adolescents.
The forerunner of the current Campus Life ministry was born in 1949, through the
vision and burden of Jack Hamilton. Jack pioneered the “Bible Club” concept in
Kansas City and called it YOB Clubs, “Youth on the Beam Clubs.” Using buses
equipped with pianos, the portable clubhouse moved from school to school, and
the club ministry was born.
Jack challenged YFC to take on the ministry of the high school campus; he was
hired by YFC as the first full-time club staff member. He moved to various cities
through the United States establishing ministries. In a few short years, 3,600 clubs
were in operation. These clubs eventually led to the birth of “YFC Clubs” which in
later years became Campus Life.
With the emphasis on personal evangelism, several thrusts resulted from the club
ministry. The development of local, regional and national Teen Talent and Bible
Quiz programs opening many new doors of opportunity for the development of
high school Christians. High Adventure trips and other special ministries attracted
hundreds of new students. An overseas ministry was developed as we sent teen
teams from the USA to countries around the world. In the early 50’s YFC staff began
to work with boys in juvenile institutions. The courts were faced with a backlog of
cases and they began to refer kids to YFC to work with during the summer months.
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In 1958, Bill Eakin, a Youth for Christ director from Akron, Ohio, became Jack
Hamilton’s Field Director for the high school ministry of YFC. That same year, Bill,
Jack and others wrote the first club manuals. The first Capital Teen Convention was
held in Washington, D.C. in December of 1959 with 10,000 in attendance. In 1961,
in Salt Lake City, Bill, Jack, Willie Foote, Bob Kraning, Ken Overstreet, and Bruce
Washburn met for one of the most important, defining meetings in the history of
club ministry. After two days of prayer and seeking the Lord, this team of YFC
ministers, received from the Lord the “teen to teen balanced life concept” that
became the backbone of our ministry philosophy. Based in Luke 2:52, “Youth for
Christ’s balanced life concept is committed to developing in the Christian
teenager a physical, mental, social and spiritual balance that will enable him to
properly and successfully communicate in action and in word his personal faith in
Jesus Christ to his friends, his campus and his world.”
In December 1963 in Washington, D.C. the Second Capital Teen Convention drew
over 12,000 teenagers. During the early sixties, a new kind of staff member
emerged. They differed from the leaders of the early days who were called upon
to promote, plan, and execute large rallies, booking speakers, and orchestrating
huge events. Now men and women were needed who could relate to teenagers
in personal ministry. This “new breed” was like coaches, encouraging students to
do ministry alongside the adult leaders.
Clubs were “teen centered.” The effective staff person was the one who enabled
his students to produce the total club meeting. The purpose of the “bible clubs”
was threefold: responsible evangelism, student leader development and fellowship
for students.
THE THIRD PERIOD: The Beginning of “Campus Life” & “Youth Guidance”
During the mid 1960’s and the early 1970’s, major changes took place in our club
ministry. To understand what caused the club transformation and the beginning
stages of Campus Life, three trends need to be examined. First, we were living in a
climate of change in the world. The advent of a technological era brought with it
the rapid acceleration of learning, the constant pressure of change as well as a
generation of young people who were aggressively seeking answers to the “why’s”
of life.
Secondly, there were major changes in the Youth for Christ structure. In 1962 major
changes in the constitution of Youth for Christ were made, involving more ministry
people in the decision making process. An authentically worldwide Youth for Christ
International movement was born in 1968 in Jamaica. YFC/USA became one of a
growing number of member nations, which made up the world organization of
YFCI.
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The third trend that needs to be examined is that America began to have a new
grasp on the religious make-up of teenagers. Christian teens made up 5% of the
nation, religious teens made up 35% and the unchurched teens of America made
up 60% of our nation’s youth.
It was apparent, after an honest evaluation, that YFC’s ministry was almost
exclusively with White Christian and religiously oriented teens. The large
percentage of students who had either dropped out of churches, or had never
attended, and could be best described as “pagan,” were not in any noticeable
way a part of our evangelistic outreach efforts. We were also lacking in ministry to
ethnic teens, kids who, at that time were described as inner city. Recognizing this
glaring weakness in the club ministry, the leadership of YFC, including Ken
Overstreet, Jim Green and Mike Yaconelli in San Diego, along with Larry Ballenger
in Fresno and Clayton Baumann in North Area YFC of Chicago, took on the
challenge of making some significant changes:
• YFC Bible Clubs became Campus Life. This less threatening name enabled us to
move into new ministry opportunities.
• Youth for Christ magazine was changed to Campus Life magazine. The content
of the magazine was built around the “balanced life” philosophy that out-lined
the four areas of a balanced life – mental, social, physical, spiritual.
• “Teen to Teen” and our “Balanced Life Philosophy” became the biblical and
philosophical framework for all of YFC ministry.
In 1966, Bill Eakin wrote and produced the first “2 plus 2” format also known as the
“Insight/Impact” plan. This simple plan used “Insight” meetings twice a month
targeted at teaching and equipping the Christian teenagers to share their faith.
“Impact” meetings happened twice a month and were designed to do
evangelism outreach.
In 1967, Sam Wolgemuth, the president of YFC/USA, appointed the first Campus
Division of Field Staff. This provided for a tremendous step in the development of
manuals and materials that were needed to develop the “Insight/Impact” plan.
These new formats took the pressure off of planning better meetings each week
and allowed the staff to concentrate on more significant times of ministry with
teenagers. Staff became less program-centered and more person-centered in
their approach to ministry, learning to listen and engage students effectively. We
began to understand the concept of “earning the right to be heard.”
At the same time changes were happening with YFC’s ministry to at-risk youth.
Initially, the main emphasis was summer camping. In 1963 the state of Indiana and
then Governor Matthew Welsh donated Camp Muscatatuck to YFC/Lifeline. Lifeline
summer camps became an exciting trend in YFC.
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During the mid-60s, a small group of staff began to realize that a summer ministry
with delinquents was good but the long-term effectiveness of such a ministry was
questionable. As a result, full-time Youth Guidance/Lifeline directors initiated
involvement with the summer camp young people during the school year in oneto-one, year-round relationships. Incentive programs for the young people were
developed, encouraging them to improve their behavior at home and at school.
Some Youth Guidance ministries even incorporated minibikes, donated through the
National Youth Project Using Minibikes (NYPUM) as part of their program.
In 1966, Michigan Teen Ranch was founded as a response to the growing number
of troubled male teens whose needs were more profound than we could be
addressed through the summer camping program. Even though services have
expanded through the years to include adoption and foster care, it is best known
for its residential programs for both boys and girls who are referred by various state
and county agencies in Michigan. In later years, other Youth for Christ-sponsored
“teen ranches” were developed, including O’Connell Youth Ranch (Kansas, 1976)
and Valley Teen Ranch (California, 1987).
Youth Guidance continued to grow and define its specialized ministry with troubled
youth. In 1968, several cities began experimenting with group home ministries and a
number of staff began ministering to court referrals through small groups. The first
Youth Guidance Operations Manual, containing a thorough explanation of
philosophy and program emphasis, was published in the summer of 1972.
THE FOURTH PERIOD: The Expansion of “Campus Life” & “Youth Guidance”
Beginning in the early 1970’s and moving through the 1980’s, Campus Life built
upon its new name and the strong base of ministry ideas that were developing
across the nation. A boom in attendance marked this period in club. Many large
clubs were developed and the emergence of multiple staff teams took place. The
“teen to teen” and balanced life philosophies were solidified. It was not rare to see
200 kids sitting in living rooms all over the nation on weekday evenings completely
enthralled in their school’s Campus Life Club. And it was not unusual to find staff
men and women around the nation directing 2- 4 clubs every week.
Midway through this “heyday” period, apathy hit our nation and it was especially
reflected in the faces of our nation’s teenagers. The Vietnam War, Watergate and
the unraveling of the Presidency affected Campus Life ministry. In many cities
attendance began to drop as the nation’s youth became overwhelmingly
preoccupied with self, and the desire to discuss important issues was diminishing.
In response, Campus Life staff continued to minister one-on-one, but also
developed special activities to attract students: ski trips, “stress” camping (to push
them beyond their self absorption, Project Serve (to provide cross cultural ministry
experience), and family counseling programs (to minister to the whole family). A
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new thrust of small group ministry strategies brought caring, support and a muchneeded sense of community.
In the early 80’s Youth For Christ also launched a new program called Junior Varsity,
which in some areas was called Campus Life / JV. There were chapters around the
country that had pioneered middle school ministry for years, but in 1983 YFC
consolidated its grass roots experience into a manual called Junior Varsity. Dick
Wynn, then YFC’s President led the campaign to develop the national ministry
division of JV. Youth For Christ recognized that middle school and middle school
young people were facing increasing pressures that had once been reserved for
high school and college-aged young people. Because early adolescents were
rapidly losing their childlike innocence, YFC moved aggressively to develop a
national program to effectively reach them.
As a result, many chapters around the country began to expand their outreach to
include middle school students. There were increasing requests for training,
meetings, ideas, and manuals geared toward middle school evangelism. Youth For
Christ published three manuals filled with meetings for a three-year cycle. A sevenpart video series was also produced which contained comprehensive training for
reaching middle school students for Christ. The end of the 80’s established middle
school ministry established as a prominent program of Youth For Christ. Training for
middle school ministry was offered on a regular basis nationally.
Youth Guidance was expanding as well. By the early 70’s, a significant number of
Youth for Christ chapters were developing ministry programs that targeted
“troubled youth” – predominantly those who were in jail, or those who lived in high
crime, low-income neighborhoods. In many juvenile detention centers, Youth
Guidance staff served alongside state and/or county funded Chaplains, and in
other situations, Youth Guidance staffs were the Chaplains.
Beginning in the mid-70’s, those incarcerated juveniles who worked hard to
improve their behavior while confined, earned special privileges and “temporary
release status.” Consequently, Youth Guidance programs, which had either access
to, or the equipment and training to incorporate some aspect of “wilderness
camping” (backpacking or residential), were able to take advantage of the
“system’s” willingness to try new methods of rehabilitation. For several years, Youth
Guidance offered a Junior Leadership School, which included various outdoor
“stress activities.” “Troubled” young people from various YG ministries across the
country attended the multi-week event. The program was designed to develop
leadership, communication skills, and other personal skills so that the Christian Youth
Guidance teen would become a leader among his or her peers and in the
community.
During this same period, Youth Guidance staff that worked with female offenders
and inner city young women found themselves in the midst of another ministry
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opportunity – an outreach to teenaged mothers. This ministry soon became known
as Teen MoMs, and in August of 1995 Laura Taylor, Lissa Qualls, Brenda Collard, and
Michelle Shewen met in Indianapolis to write the first Teen MoMs operational
manual.
As the ministry of Youth Guidance grew, national and regional leaders recognized
the urgent need to multiply ministry effectiveness throughout Youth for Christ by
utilizing volunteers. In 1981, under the leadership of Ron Nikkel, who was at that time
the National Youth Guidance Director, YFC produced the Volunteer Mobilization,
Motivation, and Management Manual.
In response to the need for ministry to “urban teens”, Russ Knight joined the staff of
Metro Chicago YFC. He conceptualized the new shape of the neighborhood
ministry in terms of "reaching urban teens.” Over the next sixteen years, under Russ'
leadership, a multiple ministry format for the urban community emerged: club
meetings for outreach, sports programs, discipleship programs for Christian growth,
music programs, after school programs, tutoring programs, mentoring programs
and gang ministry. Notable contributors to the urban format were Dr. Bill Pannell,
Cleveland YFC’s Pat Hunt, Calumet Region’s Bennie Simmons, and Pete Sjoblom.
In 1977, Dr. Jay Kessler, then president of Youth for Christ, appointed Glandion
Carney as the first National Urban Division Field Staff Director. This was a
monumental step in the development of multi-ethnic staff and increased urban
ministry .The new ministry emphasis allowed us to start spending significant amounts
of time with urban students. We became neighborhood centered, using multiple
ministry models.
THE FIFTH PERIOD: The Development of the “Relational Ministry Actions”
The early 1980’s reintroduced the terms like “recession” and “depression” into our
nation’s vocabulary. Our values and priorities were being reexamined. The “Me
Generation” began to evaluate themselves; soul searching produced some
tangible changes. News issues were being discussed like abortion, the AIDS
epidemic, abused children, the plight of the homeless, toxic waste and terrorism to
name a few.
Faced with the reality of limited financial resources and the staggering number of
unreached junior and senior high school students, YFC launched the “Evangelism
Strategy for the Eighties.” This “battle” plan emphasized volunteer mobilization and
the return to the basics of ministry. For Campus Life these basics were contacting,
building time, appointments, the Campus Life Club meeting and community based
ministry. For Youth Guidance the basics were contacting, building time,
appointments, small groups, and mentoring.
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Returning to the basics in order to reach a generation for Jesus Christ meant that
YFC was in need of focus. The National Ministries Division, facilitated by Bill Muir and
driven by the Campus Life Task Forces of the 1990’s, led the charge to redefine
what was non-negotiable about YFC ministry. Mick Baker and later Kevin
Flannagan served as the Campus Life National Director, while Bob Kraft and later
Louis Chaney served as the National Director of Campus Life JV. The work that
came out of this era allowed us to direct our attention back to pure relational
ministry through reexamining some timeless ministry principles. These became
known as the “Relational Ministry Actions.” The RMA’s were later adopted by and
adapted to most of the other YFC ministries including Teen Moms, Youth Guidance,
Urban Ministry and Campus Life JV.
In 1997 Lissa Qualls was hired as National Teen MoMs (now called “Teen Parents”)
Director. 1999 Luther Whitfield was hired as National Urban Ministries (now called
City Life) Director. These ministry departments were now equal with Campus Life,
Campus Life JV and Youth Guidance. This was done in order to better resource
those local programs that were developing unique ministries to pregnant and
urban teens, apart from Youth Guidance.
THE SIXTH PERIOD: YFC’S “Core Ministries”
YFC’s history is being written daily all across the world. The current expression of our
five core ministries—as well as a consideration of those that may be incubation or
ideation—is a reflection of the Lord’s leading in 2003. As the needs of a constantly
changing youth culture become clear to us we trust God will show us how we can
respond faithfully and effectively.
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4.2 Campus Life Defined
The following official definition of Campus Life is contained in four parts, each of which
tells some—but not all—of what Campus Life intends to be. The advantage of each of
these parts is that we may find it useful to employ only part of a definition when
speaking to a particular audience and another portion of our definition if we are
talking with a different person.
Campus Life is a core campus-based ministry of Youth for Christ.
The YFC Campus Life ministry combines healthy relationships with creative
programs to help senior high young people make good choices, establish a solid
foundation for life, and positively impact their schools.
Like every ministry of YFC, Campus Life seeks to engage these young people
wherever they are found as life-long followers of Jesus Christ.
Here in Mid-City we…..
The final portion of the definition is intended to provide local YFC chapters the
opportunity to describe specific ways that Campus Life operates in their communities.
Some of what follows may assist you to as you complete the definition with your own
local description of the Campus Life program.
Campus Life is more than a meeting! As one of the current five core ministries of Youth
For Christ, Campus Life is primarily defined by it’s eleven Relational Ministry Actions:
Contacting, Building Times, Appointments, Small Groups, Clubs, Strategic Relationships,
Student Leadership, Trips, Events, Ministry Teams and Support Teams. While Campus
Life seeks to reach every young person in every school in America, Campus Life is also
interested in the individual student’s needs, especially his or her need for a deeper
relationship with Jesus Christ. Some of the tension inherent in our Relational Ministry
Process is the push and pull between the “every” kid we are pursing and the “one” kid
who has specific needs.
There are other tensions and questions to be resolved and wrestled with in order to
effectively love kids in Jesus’ name. By way of overview, we want to begin this
chapter with Ten Frequently Asked Questions about Campus Life. Many of the
following FAQ’s will be elaborated on throughout this manual. What follows is simply
an appetizer designed to awaken taste buds for all the helpful tools in this manual. We
will then provide a brief understanding of the scope of Campus Life for the beginning
of the twenty first century.
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1. What is Campus Life?
Campus Life is a place for high school students to have fun, make friends and talk
about matters to high school students. Campus Life provides a balanced approach –
physical, mental, social and spiritual – to give teens the skills and
hope they need to live in a turbulent world. Campus Life club generally meets in
various homes each week, hosted by students. In some cities, Campus Life may own a
building they use to host club meetings, or have access to a school gym, cafeteria or
classroom, or, less frequently, churches.
2. How do you get students involved?
Often, a friend will personally invite a student to a Campus Life club meeting or event.
The Campus Life director might also design and distribute a flyer, advertising club
either via mail, email or as a giveaway at school. Most often, however, students get
involved long before they come to a meeting by being in friendship with a student
leader, an adult leader or through knowing a student already involved in the ministry.
3. Are Youth for Christ and Campus Life the same?
Youth for Christ is the umbrella organization. Campus Life is the name of YFC's high
school core ministry program geared toward 14 – 18 year olds. As Chevrolet is to
General Motors, Campus Life is to YFC.
4. If Campus Life is an evangelistic program why don’t we share the gospel at every
meeting?
We have to remember that Campus Life is more than a club meeting. Campus Life is
an environment in which relationships are developed and opportunities to share the
message of the gospel, “God’s Story,” are cultivated. There are many elements that
make up an effective Campus Life environment. The framework we use to define and
explain these elements is the Relational Ministry Process. If Campus Life consisted of
nothing more than a weekly club meeting, then of course, the gospel would be
shared at this meeting. Years of ministry have taught us that club is not the only ideal
setting for sharing the gospel. Small groups, trips and appointments also produce
authentic followers of Jesus. We are not ashamed of the gospel, but we believe we
are called to present the gospel within the context of strong, healthy relationships.
5. How is YFC funded?
YFC/Campus Life is funded by contributions and donations from individuals, churches
and area businesses. Many Campus Life staff members raise their own personal
support in order to receive a salary and benefits.
6. Is Campus Life associated with Young Life?
No. YFC works in cooperation with Young Life and other Christian based organizations
that share a similar mission. Our leaders, both nationally and locally, periodically pray
and worship together to support and encourage each other throughout the school
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year.
7. Do schools have a problem with Campus Life being a Christian organization?
The answer here depends on the school’s administration and any past experience
with organizations like Campus Life. Administrators realize that students today are
faced with a multiple of issues and many negative options that result in barriers to
learning. Therefore it is imperative that the Campus Life director and his/her staff
members present the program accurately to the administration. They must confidently
and truthfully introduce Campus Life, mentioning that it is a faith-based organization
interested in helping the whole teenager, and that the faith component is always
optional. If presented well, the school will see Campus Life as a resource, an asset,
and an organization that understands the boundaries of the public school system. It
should be noted that a direct approach is appreciated by the administration; there is
no need for Campus Life staff to attempt to be covert. We have nothing to hide. We
must also earn respect and work diligently at building strong relationships with
administrators.
8. What percentage of Christian vs. non-Christian kids are involved in Campus Life?
Campus Life is in hot pursuit of “lost” kids. While there isn’t really an accurate, proven
statistic to describe the various percentages of young people involved, most Campus
Life ministries work diligently at getting “lost” kids into the relational ministry process
(RMP). The first four ingredients (“I” words) of the RMP find their laser sharp focus on
non-Christian kids. Even though the second four ingredients focus on Christians, they
too are often geared toward teaching and providing experiences for Christian kids to
engage in ministry as they faithfully, authentically abide in Christ. A large number of
lost kids are involved because many authentic Christian students have been active
recruiters. Ideally the majority of students involved in Campus Life would be nonChristian.
9. Does Campus Life replace the need for church in a young person’s life?
ABSOLUTELY NOT!! The thrust of Campus Life, when all is said and done, is to help lost
kids find Jesus and plug them into a local church. We want “Campus Life kids” to
quickly become an active part of the Church, living out and expressing a genuine,
lasting, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ within the context of the Body of
Christ.
10. Is Campus Life the only way to reach students on high school campuses?
If executed properly (with great discipline and ceaseless prayer), we think Campus Life
is the best way to reach lost kids on high school campuses, but we are glad it isn’t the
only way. Many local church youth ministries are becoming more and more effective
at reaching out to the lost. Other good parachurch organizations are effectively
reaching young people in cities around the nation. Because there are approximately
33 million young people in America, the Kingdom needs all the ministry partners and
“harvest workers” available. We are eager to work in unity with any Christian
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organizations that will love teenagers in ways that draw them to Jesus Christ and into
His Kingdom.
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4.3. Campus Life Scope
The Challenge
In the midst of today’s youth culture, Campus Life seeks to bring significant Christian
adults into meaningful relationships with today’s teenager. As these adults, paid or
volunteers, authentically share their own stories, the essential truth of God’s story
becomes a source of hope, supplying teens with the missing piece of their own life
stories in the person of Jesus Christ. As part of our role in the kingdom of God, Campus
Life aims to help thousands of these young people join the Body of Christ as life long
followers of Jesus Christ.
Target Group
This core ministry targets those students in grades 9 - 12 who are traditionally found in
the rich and varied social networks surrounding senior high schools, private schools
and home schools.
Location of the Ministry
Campus Life programs occur in a variety of locations and settings. Some aspects of
the ministry happen on the high school campus, while others occur off campus in
community settings such as churches, clubhouses, community centers, drop-in centers,
private homes, school activities, malls etc. The setting is secondary to the relationships
being pursued and developed.
Timing of the Ministry
Campus Life isn’t just a meeting. It takes place whenever Campus Life adults build
relationships with high school students and the adults involved in a student’s world.
This can take place anytime: before school, during school, after school; during the
evening hours, on weekends and holidays. In fact, the most effective Campus Life
program features a number of different adults connecting at a variety of times with
young people. The social nature of the young people targeted by Campus Life
suggests that some features of the program—most notably trips, events and club
meetings—must take place during times that accommodates the social patterns of
students.
Elements of the Ministry
Campus Life programs have several elements that are essential for success. They are
adult driven, such that opportunities to initiate relationships with lost students are
pursued for the purpose of seeing them become life-long followers of Jesus Christ.
Campus Life adults intentionally practice vital youth evangelism Relational Ministry
Actions. These “actions” include contacting, building times, clubs and small groups,
appointments, student leadership, trips, events, strategic relationships, ministry teams
and support teams. It is also imperative that all Campus Life practices are filtered
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through YFC’s ongoing fruit-bearing conditions (chapter 2). Campus Life’s biblical
values are also expressed in the eight “ingredients” of the Relational Ministry Process:
Initiate, Involve, Inform, Invite, Invest, Investigate, Infuse and Inspire.
A well-established Campus Life ministry for any given high school will include the
aggressive, growing and balanced pursuit of each of these elements. It will also
include the very strategic mobilization of students to invite and influence their peers for
Jesus Christ. Adults and students who love Christ will work hand in hand to reach lost
teens. Their efforts will intertwine to form the evangelism strategy at the heart of the
Campus Life model. Simply put, Campus Life loves students, loves Jesus Christ, and
wants to get the two together as often and as quickly as possible!
Ideal Vision of the Program
Campus Life’s ultimate vision is to mobilize Christian adults and teens so that every high
school student experiences the kind of significant Christ-revealing relationship that
helps them become a life long follower of Jesus Christ.
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5. Campus Life Staff
There is no definitive formula for fruitful Campus Life ministry, however, the combination
of God’s Holy Spirit working on behalf of the lost plus called, well-prepared, humble
staff teams is a very good start to fruitfulness in the discipleship evangelism process.
And so, we begin with people, our most valuable resource. Campus Life teams are
made up of three types of members: full-time staff, part-time staff and volunteers. In
this chapter, we will briefly turn our attention to the expectations and job descriptions
of paid staff as well as the values that must be present in order to develop excellent
Campus Life volunteers. If you are hungry for the details of running effective volunteer
ministry, chapter eight discusses the actual skills necessary for developing a Campus
Life volunteer team through the RMA: Ministry Teams.
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5.1 Full-time Staff
Generally speaking, full-time Campus Life staff members are expected to work an
average of 45 – 50 hours per week. There are exceptions to this general rule,
however, to be considered full-time in YFC, a person must be working a minimum of
30 hours per week. The service they provide through Campus Life will vary a bit
from chapter to chapter. In spite of these variances around the nation, a YFC staff
person employed full-time must operate from a job description.
A written job description provides many benefits to the individual as well as to the
organization. First, a written job description allows the supervisor to evaluate more
fairly. We can objectively know how well an individual is accomplishing the mission
if there is a specific job description against which to measure their performance. A
job description also allows for honest affirmation and correction along the way. It
also provides clarification that can keep an individual and YFC focused on the
specific aspect of the overall mission which the person is assigned to fulfill. Knowing
how one should be spending their time is most often answered through a thorough,
written job description. A person can also be compensated and rewarded fairly
based on how well they perform against their job description. Should the need to
terminate a person be under consideration, the job description can also help this
process to unfold in a godly, fair manner.
Overall, job descriptions create clear, healthy boundaries. They should be seen as
a tool to help with the development of individuals in relation not only to the mission
of the organization but in terms of their calling and gifts. Job descriptions foster
longevity for all of us in YFC. They should be evaluated annually, with the option of
rewriting some or all of the content.
Veteran staff will be best served by allowing them to join in the process of writing
their own job descriptions, while new staff and younger staff will most often need
the supervisor to craft and put into writing their job description. We are
recommending that each person’s job description have an individual aspect to it.
Although most Campus Life job descriptions will have much of the same content,
each person we hire has different gifts, needs, goals and dreams that should be
considered.
What follows are several sample job descriptions and one suggestion for how a
Campus Life staff person should spend their time in the summer. There are two
ways to go about the task of writing job descriptions. We can create the job
description based on the number of hours the organization wants the staff person
to spend in specific areas or we can focus on the areas of responsibilities. Focusing
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on either hours or responsibilities is acceptable. We have included examples of
both.
CAMPUS LIFE SUMMER GOALS
Evangelism
*Two (2) extended trips (at least 3 days in length) targeting non-Christian kids.
*One group event each week targeting non-Christian kids.
*One building time each week targeting non-Christian kids.
*Ten (10) confrontational appointments (create target list)
*Thorough follow-up of new Christians
*Participate in any student community events in your area
(camps, church events, festivals, etc.)
Student Leadership Development
*Student leader meeting/event each week (6-8 total)
*Meet with each student leader 1-on-1
*Recruit new student leaders (create target list)
Other goals
*Continue to raise ministry underwriting and personal support goals.
*Meet with your volunteers once a month and send a letter to your college
volunteers that live out of town.
*Meet with 3-4 youth pastors from your area to develop relationships.
*Observe 2 student leader meetings of other staff.
*Have one support team meeting
*Recruit two (2) couples to be on your support team for the fall.
*Read 1-2 books for personal development
*Spend 2 hours each week dreaming/strategizing/planning.
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CAMPUS LIFE STAFF JOB DESCRIPTION
Ft. Wayne Area YFC
Ministry – RMA’s (Relational Ministry Actions)
Contacting
Building times
Appointments
Club meetings
Small groups
Student leadership
Trips & events
Total
Management
Administration (stats, letters, paperwork, reports)
Planning (weekly appts., clubs, etc.)
Projects
Total
Money
Kid fund-raisers
Ministry sponsorship
Banquet
Spring fund-raiser
Personal support
Total
Mobilization
Student leadership
Volunteers
Steering committee
The church
Total
The Minister
Accountability partner
Supervision
Observation
Attitude
Hours
5
3
3
3
2
3
2
21
3
3
2
8
1
1
1
1
1
5
(see above)
5
1
2
8
1
1
1
1
Total
4
Total Number of hours
46
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Job Description for Campus Ministry Director
Youth for Christ/Tacoma Area (2pages)
Purpose: To engage young people in the YFC area in a life-long journey of
following Christ.
Role: Working directly under the Area Director in directing Campus
Ministry for the YFC Area
Ministry Responsibilities:
•
Strategic Planning: Work with the Area Director to have a master plan of
reaching high school and middle school students in the YFC area.
•
Dynamic Planning: Work with the Area Director, volunteer staff and
Area Support Team (AST) on an ongoing basis to flesh out the working details to
accomplish the master plan.
•
Specific Duties:
Oversee the development of ministry to all high school and middle school
students in the area.
Utilize Campus Life and Campus Life JV ministry models, materials and training.
Supervise and oversee interns at local ministry sites in conjunction with the STAR
Center Internship Director.
Develop adult prayer/support groups for each ministry site.
Oversee the recruitment, training, and mobilization of volunteer and
student leadership teams.
Work is collaboration with local churches on developing and implementing a
strategy to reach all high school and middle schools.
Serve the local area as a catalyst for networking with local youth
workers.
Participate locally, regionally and nationally in Campus Life activities
and training.
Financial Responsibilities:
•
Personal Support: Amount covered on terms of employment contract.
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•
Area Campus Ministry accounts: Help staff utilize "STAR Center" events
(Run for Youth, auction, golf tourney) and other local fund raising events
to raise adequate funds for area Campus Ministry accounts.
•
MM Area Fund Raising: support the area wide efforts in fund raising
Personal Responsibilities:
•
Spiritual: Maintain a dynamic personal spiritual life that demonstrates the
gifts of the Spirit and is free from scandalous behavior.
•
Church: Maintain an active role in the local church.
•
Individual: Model a Biblical example of a godly person for all to see.
•
Career: Utilize the opportunities in YFC and outside YFC to develop
vocational skills and knowledge
•
Mentor: Mentor at least one non-YFC person in ministry.
Be mentored by at least one non-YFC person.
•
Education: Be in a constant state of learning in either an informal manner
or in a formal setting.
•
Kingdom Work: All YFC staff are to seek the development of God's
Kingdom over the development of YFC.
YFC/Tacoma Area's Commitment:
To provide a healthy and productive work environment.
To provide a sound organization in which to work.
To provide leadership that actively develops staff.
To provide limits which allow staff to maintain healthy family, church, and social lives.
To provide a dynamic mission and strategy from which all activities spring.
Benefits: See personnel manual.
Supervisor:
Area Director
Monthly supervisory check-in
Quarterly goals review and evaluation
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Greater Lansing YOUTH FOR CHRIST
CAMPUS LIFE -- FIRST YEAR STAFF
POSITION DESCRIPTION
HOURS
- 40 to 45 hours per week (25 hours with students)
CAMPUS LIFE CLUB DIRECTOR
- Direct the ministry for one area high school
- 11 Relational Ministry Actions per week
SUPERVISION
- Ministry Report Form filled out each week
- Weekly meeting with your supervisor
- Bi-Weekly Campus Life staff meeting
- Monthly YFC staff meeting
- Evaluation twice a year
OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES
- Participate in YFC fundraising events (i.e. fall banquet, golf tournaments, etc)
- As assigned: each staff coordinates or assists in at least one other task
(volunteers, Campus Life sales, media, events etc.) and/or assists in another
club.
- Maintain a positive staff support account including writing a monthly
support/prayer letter.
TRAINING
- Attend YFC's Summer Institute on Evangelism
- Attend YFC Regional Fall Classroom
- Complete other training assignments
SALARY/BENEFITS (2001-2002)
- $23,500
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance (Delta Dental)
- $25,000 Term Life Insurance
- Long Term Disability Insurance
- Two weeks paid vacation
- Work with a talented and fun loving staff team
- 403B matching 6% (available July 1st, following completion of 1year of service)
SUPPORT
YOU RAISE
- $1,958 a month for your salary
YFC PROVIDES
- Training costs
- Mileage reimbursement
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- Mailing, postage and office cost
- Insurance
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5.2 Part-time Staff
There is much more variance allowed for in the hiring of part-time staff than full-time
staff. Their hours can range from being paid to minister 5 hours per week to 29
hours per week. Since some of the part-time staff employed by Campus Life are
college-aged young people, we must be attentive to their needs and the
challenges they face ministering with us. Our expectations and the expectations of
YFC must be clearly stated. A job description is a great place to state in writing
those expectations.
Part-time job descriptions should reflect the number of hours expected along with
the areas of responsibility given over to the individual. We have provided one
example of a part-time job description for Campus Life staff below.
JOB DESCRIPTION
GREATER LANSING YOUTH FOR CHRIST
CAMPUS LIFE INTERNSHIP
JOB DESCRIPTION
- September 1st – May 31st
- 12 hours per week
- 4 RMA’S
- Club
- 3 additional RMA’s
- Training –
- Once a month Ministry
Team training
- Once a month “Rookie”
training
Relational
Ministry Actions
C_________
C_____________________
B______________ T_________
A______________________
S__________ G____________
S____________ L__________________
T__________ & E___________
S________________ R________________
S________________ T____________
M_____________ T__________
OTHER INFO:
- Club assignment - will be worked out on an individual basis, taking into consideration
both the need of clubs and the desire of the intern.
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- The “2 year” rule - College sophomores will focus RMA’s on 9th and 10th grade
students.
- Supervision - will mainly take place in the bi-monthly training meetings, but also
through working closely with the intern’s club director. You may be asked to focus on
certain RMA’s based on the training for the month and the needs of your club.
FUNDRAISING:
1] THE NUMBERS
You raise…
- $450 a month minimum = $400 salary and $50 towards office expenses (office,
mailings, receipting, social security (7.65%=31), YFC/USA (3%=12))
- Plus RMA expenses (i.e. Admissions, meals, bowling etc., .10 per mile)
- Plus funds to cover trips
- Pay Procedure: Paychecks are release on the 15th and the last day of the
month or as soon as your support account has enough to cover it. Expenses
are reimbursed monthly- your staff support account must have one paycheck
($225) balance before receiving expenses.
2] THE PROCESS
May – Call for interview
- Sign Acknowledgement of Internship Agreement
- Get a “Fundraising Packet” including article to read and sample letters
June –
Put together mail list and personal introduction letter from you to friends &
family
- Turn in list to Office Manager. Address envelopes by hand. Copy fold &
stuff
July - 1st letters out, 10 days later - Organizational letter including tear off “pledge
card.”
Monthly - support team letter or Frontlines (with receipt if they gave that month).
July & August - build your support base.
September – start the 1st if you have the minimum: $450 cash in your account and
$450 in monthly pledges.
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5.3.
Volunteers
As long as Campus Life has existed, we have been multiplying the fruit of our
ministry through volunteers. Mobilizing large numbers of adult volunteers can be
very effective and productive in accomplishing our ultimate goal of “reaching
every young person, in every people group, in our ministry site with the lifechanging message of Jesus Christ…”
Many national Youth For Christ programs around the world struggle with limited
resources. In fact in nations where YFC is experiencing abundant fruit (e.g. Thailand
YFC, Sri Lanka YFC, and many others!) it is not unusual to find one full-time staff
person leading and developing more than 100 volunteers in ministry. Since they are
committed to reaching “every” young person, they understand the value of
volunteers. Let’s begin our study of volunteers by taking a close look at the Biblical
value of volunteers.
5.3.1
Valuing Volunteers
The truest value of a volunteer is not seen in the number of lives they are
touching for the Kingdom, their upfront skills, nor the number of students they
lead to Jesus Christ in a given school year. Though we want a volunteer to
possess and develop certain skills, aptitudes, motivations and attitudes, we
place value on volunteer ministry because of three undeniable Biblical
principles: it is the norm for Kingdom work to multiply ministry through volunteers,
Jesus Christ modeled using volunteers Himself and with volunteers involved
better discipleship takes place. As you explore what the Scriptures say about
volunteers doing ministry, examine your own attitudes and behaviors with a
desire to adjust your life and ministry to embrace these timeless principles of
God’s Word.
Many of us are tempted to serve as “Lone Ranger” missionaries. Often times, we
perceive ourselves as the only ones who can accomplish the task of reaching
lost young people and discipling them into local churches. When we are most
honest, we admit that at times we believe we can do it better than anyone else.
The result can be devastating to an individual as we “use” them because to
hand out pencils, not to build significant relationships with students.
When we stop looking for good volunteers, stop asking for help, stop investing in
others in order to develop their relational ministry skills, we can begin to push
God out. His plans for reaching the lost and ministering to the needy always
include broken, struggling “volunteers” as His servants.
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The first Biblical Principle calling us to value volunteers is simply that it is the norm
for Kingdom work to multiply ministry through volunteers. From Genesis to
Revelation, God’s volunteer team includes Noah, Abraham, Lot, Isaac,
Rebekkah, Miriam, Moses, Aaron, Jethro, Joshua, Rahab, Deborah, Ruth, David,
Uriah, Solomon, Esther, Job, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Daniel, Jesus, the twelve
apostles, Timothy, Silas, Barnabas and many, many more. The service offered by
these men and women was voluntary; there was no salary or benefit package.
The only sure reward for each of them was His enduring presence. They were
rarely condemned for their failures and regardless of the results, they were
always loved deeply by their supervisor.
According to the scriptural account of God’s unfolding work on Planet Earth,
The Kingdom of God advances primarily through a volunteer movement. Isn’t it
interesting that it is more difficult to list the names of the “full-time paid” Kingdom
workers than those who volunteered their time, energy, efforts and resources. As
leaders called to a critical mission in the Kingdom of God, we must submit to the
Biblical principle, volunteers accomplishing ministry is the norm for all Kingdom
work, even if it means changing the ways we do ministry.
The second Biblical Principle calling us to value volunteers is Jesus Christ
modeled using volunteers Himself. Niteshet, the (volunteer) National Director of
Thailand YFC says, “Trying to reach your community without a team of
volunteers is like an ant trying to eat an elephant.” Niteshet believes he needs
100,000 ants (and then some) to eat one elephant. Jesus makes a similar
statement when he instructs us to pray for more workers. (Matthew 9:34- 38) The
world will not be won for Christ apart from larger, more effective teams of
volunteers.
Catch the heart of Jesus. He built His life and molded His heart into the lives of
12 men. He mobilized them. He developed them. He empowered them to do
the work of reaching the world with His life-changing message. And He
designed it so the 12 disciples (and now we) had to do it through the efforts of
others, namely unpaid, volunteers, who had little to give in terms of time,
resources and experience. Now it is our choice whether we do ministry His way
or make excuses to do it our own way! (It is noteworthy that these 12
“volunteers” moved to a certain kind of 1st century “full-time” status later in their
ministries. Volunteers to this day often rise up to become some of the Kingdoms
best ministers!)
The bottom-line according to the scriptures overall and to Jesus Christ’s ministry
specifically is, The Kingdom of God advances primarily through a volunteer
movement.
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The final Biblical principle driving Campus Life staff to value volunteers is with
volunteers involved better discipleship takes place. No one person has the
ability to reach every young person and yet the word “every” is at the heart of
our mission statement. We have the opportunity to strategically use Kingdom
resources by multiplying our efforts through adult volunteers. We have the
privilege of discipling people in their abiding walks with Jesus, which includes
learning how to do ministry. Take a look at Romans 12:3-8, Ephesians 4:11-15, I
Corinthians 12 and II Timothy 2:2.
“You have heard me teach many things that have been confirmed by many
reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able
to pass them on to others.”
The more committed we become to multiplying ourselves and our ministries into
and through the lives of volunteers, the closer we come to advancing God’s
Kingdom God’s way. The value of a volunteer is that they are called by God to
impact His Kingdom on earth. Our job, as Kingdom leaders, is to help volunteers
fit into the right places of ministry. Remember, The Kingdom of God advances
primarily through a volunteer movement. We have the awesome responsibility
of seeing to it that the Kingdom moves forward, advancing God’s way.
One of the crucial ways we can value volunteers is through being crystal clear
about our expectations for them. What follows is one example of a Volunteer
Job Description.
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YFC/Campus Life
Volunteer Job Description
Purpose
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
For staff to grow through leadership and ministry opportunities.
For YFC to reach more students through volunteer staff ministry.
Expectations
Growing relationship with Christ
Desire to be with students & influence them to know & follow Christ
Involvement in local Church.
Good reputation - positive example in speech, conduct, attitude, love,
& purity.
Understanding & appreciation of YFC/Campus Life’s purpose, goals, &
style.
Desire to represent YFC/CL on campus, at church, & in the community.
Willingness to listen, learn, and lead.
Duties
• Attend Campus Life meetings and events.
• Attend staff meetings Monday at 5:30 & one Sunday each month.
• Actively pursue relationship building with teenagers.
• Visit students for lunch & school functions - meet their friends.
• Lead discussions, skits, study groups, planning sessions as requested.
• Help with set-up, crowd control, & games.
• Complete a weekly RMA report.
• Meet with your CL director once per semester.
• Attend YFC Banquet, Go Mad, Spring Fling, and Volunteer Staff retreats
I understand the expectations and duties of a YFC/Campus Life Volunteer Staff and
agree to do all I can to comply.
Signed_____________________________________________Date________________________
Name _____________________________________________Phone_______________________
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6. Campus Life Context
By Context in ministry we are referring to the circumstances surrounding the
occurrence of Campus Life in our communities. Context is like the atmosphere in
which Campus Life breathes; it is the structure or parameters within which ministry must
function. For Campus Life to function best in our communities there are three ongoing tasks we ought to practice. We should first map our ministry site, which initially
involves the process of funding and later demands that we obtain a deeper grasp of
our community’s personality and characteristics. For a thorough explanation of the
later phase of “mapping” see the Appendix article, A Sociological Framework for
Doing Youth Ministry, by Dr. Dave Rahn. Secondly we must know our specific ministry
site, which begins by preparing to start Campus Life from scratch. Finally, to
thoroughly engage in the context of our ministry sites, we must strategize with the Body
of Christ. The two groups of believers to strategize with are our support teams and our
networks. What follows is a practical explanation of how to learn the context for our
ministries.
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6.1 Mapping Your Ministry Context
Funding a new Ministry
For ministry to develop a solid foundation in a community, raising money is very
important. In order for the ministry to continue for years to come, we need to practice
some solid fundraising principles right from the start.
To start ministry, we need to develop a start-up committee, which happens through
making connections with the school, local churches, and various people in the
community. Many people need to be invited to an initial meeting where the ministry
of Campus Life is described in detail. At this informational meeting people will acquire
a foundational education about YFC, including three commitments that are necessary
to the beginning of solid ministry.
" A certain level of money needs to be raised by the community.
" A Campus Life staff will be provided by YFC once the money has been
raised.
" A start-up committee needs to be developed, one whose members are
from that community.
This start-up committee needs to include 7-10 individuals or couples, many
representing many church denominations in the area. These start-up committees are
the forerunner to an ongoing ministry site support team. They need to begin gathering
1-2 times a month for the following purposes:
" Prayer for direction and God’s guidance
" Updates concerning the response of people who have been informed
about YFC since the last meeting. This would include faculty from the
school, churches, business people from the community, etc.
" Updates concerning the amount of money in pledges that has been
raised.
Funding begins as Campus Life informs the start-up committee about what level of
funds need to be raised before a full-time staff person can be hired for their ministry
site (school). A goal for our communities should be that they raise half of the needed
funds for that ministry. As this group gathers for their meetings, it is important to always
have pledge cards available for those who are in attendance. Money is often raised
through those who are involved as committee members in this beginning stage of the
ministry. It is also important to get into the churches in the community during this time.
Let the church community know what Campus Life/YFC is attempting to accomplish.
The role of Campus Life during this season of ministry is to serve as a resource to the
community. Attend all committee meetings, answering questions, and being
available to communicate the future vision. Be prepared to set up appointments with
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faculty at the school, business people in the community, and staff at local churches.
The community has to be active in opening doors to relationships in the new ministry
area. YFC has to be the ones to encourage and challenge the community to prepare
themselves for the birth of a new Campus Life ministry.
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6.2 Knowing Your Ministry Site . . . Starting from Scratch
To administrators, teachers and students it's a high school, but it's a mission field to us.
A majority of the students would love Campus Life and would be interested in our
message. They just don't know it yet. As we learn more about our community, we
(and Campus Life) become more a part of it. Every positive contact increases
Campus Life's visibility and opens doors for community support.
The following are important considerations in the start-up process, but there’s no need
to attempt a new start-up alone. Assistance is available from the National Service
Center and/or a chapter with a strong Campus Life history. We start from scratch only
once; let’s do it right! Not only will our ministries be stronger, the reputation that builds
from our clubs impact the entire area. Nothing helps start new school ministries more
than a successful club in another local school district.
6.2.1. HOW WE START A CAMPUS LIFE MINISTRY
A. THE HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Let’s talk to anyone who can tell us anything about the school. Students,
parents and alumni can give us valuable information about your school's unique
personality. We will also gain valuable allies who are excited that we are
starting Campus Life, which in turn lends credibility to church and administration
contacts. Knowledge of the school calendar, schedules for athletic events and
fine arts programs, and the major rivalries will better prepare us to be a part of
the life of the school.
B. THE STUDENTS
We ought to meet as many students as possible. It will be most natural for us to
meet the friends of the students we already know. We need to be careful,
however, that we do not end up contacting only within one clique or social
group. It’s a good idea to intentionally introduce ourselves to the key leaders in
each class and interest group.
A good goal is to know one hundred students by name before announcing the
first official meeting. Even in established clubs, a goal of meeting fifty new
students each fall before the kickoff meeting, will help Campus Life continue to
reach more groups within the school - especially the new freshmen class.
Christian students tend to bring other Christians. They have trained themselves
to think that their non-Christian friends would not be interested in anything
"religious." With encouragement they might invite non-Christians friends. We
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ought to make it a point to introduce ourselves to their friends whenever
possible.
A successful start-up meeting should include at least 50% non-Christian students.
We will need to take some initiative to meet key non-Christian leaders and sell
them on the idea of Campus Life. An effective brochure, defining Campus Life
as meetings, events and trips, can give new students a bigger picture of
Campus Life and will also answer some questions for their parents.
C. THE ADMINISTRATION
We need to make an appointment to meet with the principal. If a parent or
teacher, who is respected by the principal, can call ahead or go along, we
gain credibility. On the other hand, a parent or teacher who has been a
problem in the district or is perceived as particularly “religious” could bias the
administration against us from the start. Be wise here.
The primary goal of this appointment is to simply inform an administrator,
preferably the principal, what Campus Life is all about. They want to know that
we are accountable to a responsible organization, that we are not going to
create constant controversy for them and that we are not there to proselytize or
pressure students in any way. Principals do not like surprises. Leave an
attractive brochure with a non-Christian-friendly description of Campus Life,
endorsement letters from other area school administrators and a business card.
A secondary goal is to ask about school policy for clubs. We should try to
accomplish the following:
1)
Find out if we need to find a faculty sponsor, or fill out a form in the
student activities office. The more we function like the other clubs in
the school, the more quickly the school will accept us.
2)
Without assuming any privileges (because we are guaranteed
none) ask which channels of communication the school makes
available for clubs (P.A., posters, bulletin boards, newspaper,
yearbook).
3)
Request permission for staff to be in the building during lunch (runthrus). Our primary purpose is to remind students we already know
about club and other Campus Life events and trips. As club grows,
we will know hundreds of students. Being present in their world is the
best way to communicate with them.
If the principal is hesitant to allow run-thrus, we can offer to restrict
our contacts to only those students we know (and the friends they
introduce us to). This will alleviate any fear of us "pressuring"
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students. We can also offer to check in at the office, come in only
once or twice a week, and hang out in one or two designated
areas. None of these “concessions” significantly lessen the benefits
of run-thrus. It is always worth whatever process we need to go
through to end up with the privilege on being in the school. In the
worst case, an after school run-thru is better than nothing.
4)
Offer to assist at school events. Don’t expect them to start calling
daily, but we can offer our help anyway. Chaperoning dances,
taking tickets at a game, or working concessions all give us visibility
in the community. Helping out in an area or interest and expertise
such as sports, cheerleading, drama, music, debate or language
clubs can also be a great “in.” On the other hand, taking primary
responsibility as a coach or advisor can become a huge distraction
and confuse our role in a school. While discussing school events, we
will be smart to ask whom we should see about requesting an
athletic pass, whether it is free or if we need to pay.
5)
Encourage the administration to give us feedback throughout the
year. Make sure they feel free to call if they have questions or hear
of any problems associated with Campus Life. This lets them know
we want a good relationship with the school, and may enable us to
dispel a rumor before it grows.
D. PARENTS
There are likely two levels that we will meet parents. Depending on local
chapter structures, some parents will be involved as donors, and others as
support team members or a part of community support groups. We will want to
take advantage of every opportunity to meet other parents as we get to know
their teenagers. Parents, like administrators, want to know how Campus Life is
structured and supervised, and if we are affiliated with a particular church or
denomination. They also will ask what we are teaching their kids and who
writes our curriculum.
Use the portion of Campus Life’s definition (see 4.2) that you think is most
beneficial to positive communication with parents.
E. AREA CHURCHES
Visit the pastors and youth pastors of area churches. We can use a supportive
parent who attends the church to make the appointment, or at least open the
door for us whenever possible. A YFC brochure and a business card are great
tools to have available. We should always be ready to fill in the details of YFC’s
global or local history. Our primary purpose on our first visit, as with the school
administrator, is to share information. We want them to know what is going on
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with Campus Life and we want to discover what is going on in the church. It is
definitely NOT to ask them to support us financially! After thoughtful
introductions, we should find out what is happening in their church and begin to
build our relationship. We should be careful to address each of the following as
soon as we have opportunity:
1) Campus Life's mission of reaching unchurched students and purpose of
"leading them into the local church."
2) The potential of Christian students using Campus Life as a tool to reach
their friends.
3) The natural bridge into the church created when churched teenagers
are involved in their Campus Life club.
4) How Campus Life reinforces a youth group experience by giving
Christian students an effective way to live out their faith during the week,
in their world.
5) Having said statements 2 – 4, it is not our desire to compete for
leadership kids and we make every effort to not conflict with scheduled
church activities. When confronted with a choice between a church
event and a Campus Life event our staff will always say, “go to church.”
It’s smart to talk with the most supportive churches first as we build community
support. We should be prepared to offer YFC’s statement of faith when asked
and become aware of the doctrinal differences and potential questions
clergy may ask. Veteran staff may be a great help to those of us who feel illprepared for these meetings. We should never pretend to know something
we really don't know or try to make YFC fit theologically where we really don’t
fit!
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6.3 The Body of Christ in Your Ministry Site
Within the Body of Christ there are two groups of believers with whom Campus Life
staff need to strategize. To effectively engage in the accurate context of our ministry
sites, we should learn and follow these basic concepts. Keep in mind that context is
something one learns and adjusts to in order to operate within its parameters
effectively. So our goal is not to change the context, but to learn to breath the air that
makes up the atmosphere in our communities.
6.3.1. STRATEGY: YOUR SUPPORT TEAM
Your Support Team is made up of Christian adults whom you recruit through local
churches in your community. In our relational ministry strategy, a “Support Team” is
officially defined as “mobilizing a team of Christian adults for prayer, counsel, and
financial support for a ministry site.” This team is crucial to the fruitfulness and longevity
of the Campus Life ministry because they own the ministry at a level designed to
outlive any one individual Campus Life director. This team also supplies the major
manpower behind the process of funding the ministry. These team members should
become your greatest allies and advocates in the community.
6.3.2. STRATEGY: YOUR NETWORK - PARTNERING WITH CHURCHES
(by Greg McKinnon, youth pastor, network member and friend of Campus Life in East Alabama YFC)
What would the ideal relationship between Campus Life and local churches look like,
and how can you, as a YFC staff member, help develop these kinds of relationships?
These are important questions for every Campus Life director to ask because whether
you have worked with Campus Life one month or ten years you have probably
discovered that the relationship Campus Life has to the churches in the area can
either hinder or enhance your ability to reach kids for Christ. To answer this question,
we will look first at what the ideal relationship with a specific church might look like
and then we will explore ways that kind of relationship can be built.
Before we bring clarity to the issues at hand, keep in mind that the ideal relationship is
just that, an ideal. It is what you would like to see, what you will have as your goal, but
realistically it will never be the kind of relationship you have with every church in your
area. Chances are much greater that some churches (at least initially) will not even
know Campus Life exists, others will be somewhat supportive, a few will be partners
with Campus Life in reaching youth for Christ and a few might be antagonistic toward
the movement of Youth For Christ. Your goal is to start where a church is and try to
move them gradually toward a place of full partnership.
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The Ideal Campus Life/Church Relationship:
The temptation that confronts us when describing the perfect Campus Life/church
relationship is to consider it only from the Campus Life perspective. From this viewpoint
it is easy to describe the ideal relationship. The church makes a considerable financial
commitment to Campus Life, provides a pool of volunteers to recruit from, never
complains about church/Campus Life scheduling conflicts, and sends every Campus
Life staff member on a free vacation to the Bahamas once a year. But relationships
are not one-sided and the ideal relationship is not an “I benefit, you don’t,”
arrangement, but a, “We are partners” situation. The ideal relationship (our ultimate
goal) is to enter into a partnership with a church that will maximize the number of
youth who are reached for Christ and who are discipled in the faith.
What This Partnership Looks Like:
A partnership between a local church and Campus Life would ideally include all of
the following:
• The church furnishes leaders who work with their youth to help the Campus Life
ministry.
• The church provides youth to serve on the Student Leadership Team.
• Campus Life requires student leaders to be involved in a discipleship group in
the local church.
• As part of the discipling process, when students make decisions for Christ,
Campus Life makes every effort to help those students get plugged into local
churches.
• The youth leaders of the church cooperate with Campus Life on special
outreach events.
• Both groups communicate with one another to avoid scheduling conflicts when
possible.
• YFC provides resources (training, materials, etc.) for the church to better equip
its leaders and student leaders.
• The church makes a financial investment in YFC.
You will immediately notice that this is truly a partnership with benefits for both
partners. Campus Life gets leaders (adult and student), receives help with special
events, avoids scheduling conflicts and is supported financially. The church is given an
outlet for kids in discipleship groups to serve as “missionaries” to Campus Life, benefits
from new youth coming into the youth group and receives training and support. All
Campus Life staff members, as well as church leaders, would probably agree that this
partnership benefits everyone involved. So how can you develop these kinds of
partnerships? Or better yet, how can you move churches from antagonism toward
tolerance, or from mere tolerance to becoming genuinely supportive, and—best of
all—from being supportive to establishing true partnerships?
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Getting Started:
Your first step in forming a partnership with churches is to meet with every youth
worker. Invite them out to lunch so you can get to know them and let them know
what Campus Life is all about. If you have a hard time getting an appointment, try
getting a young person from the church that is involved in Campus Life (or their
parent) to introduce you. In your meeting you need to:
• Explain the purpose of Campus Life.
• Find out what is going on in their church.
• Let them know that Campus Life believes students who are not involved in a
church before they graduate from high school are in trouble.
• Invite them to “own” Campus life in ways that will benefit their ministries.
• Make it clear that one of your goals is to make them look good to their youth,
their pastor and their congregation and that you are available to help them.
• Assure them that you want to work together to reach youth for Christ.
Avoid Conflicts through Communication:
One of the quickest ways to cause a youth worker to be antagonistic toward Campus
Life is to plan a big event at the same time their youth group is having a big event. Of
course not all conflicts are avoidable, but many are through good communication. Email all the youth workers in the area and ask them for a calendar of their upcoming
events. Compile these along with the events that Campus Life has planned and email it back to everyone. Let them know that you want to work with them in case of a
conflict. They will appreciate your effort to avoid scheduling problems even when it is
not possible. The goal is to open up the lines of communication. Assure every youth
worker that you are available and want to talk to him or her if they have any questions
about anything Campus Life is doing.
Youth Workers Need Fellowship Too:
Many cities have local youth worker fellowships where youth leaders come together to
encourage one another, pray together and work together on special activities such as
an event before or after “See You At The Pole.” If there is a youth worker fellowship in
your area, get involved. It is a great way to get to know the other youth workers. If
there is not one, start one! It would be a great way to serve the youth workers in your
area and experience the benefits of the fellowship at the same time. Our local Youth
For Christ office keeps an e-mail list of all the area youth workers and when the
fellowship meets twice a month they send out an e-mail reminder and most of the
time someone from their office calls everyone to invite them to the meeting. I know all
the Campus Life folks are just as busy as I am, so I appreciate the extra effort they put
into getting us together and I try to help them out when they need it.
Youth Leaders Need Resources and Training:
One way to strengthen your relationship with the area churches is by providing them
with resources and training. The Campus Life office should serve as a resource center
for every youth ministry in the area with books on crowd breakers, games, skits,
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programming, Bible study and discipleship; video resources and much more. Let the
youth leaders know what you have available and that they are welcome to borrow
them. At the same time stay up to date on new resources and offer to order items
that people might be interested in. Our YFC Area Director made the pre and post
“See You at the Pole” devotional books available for us to order. I could have
ordered them myself, but I wouldn’t have without his help.
Not only can you offer youth workers resources, but you can also offer training for
them and their kids. If you have someone coming into town from the YFC National
Service Center or another expert coming in for some reason, set up a time for them to
meet with local youth leaders. I have received great input on youth culture and other
subjects through our YFC staff. Following one the of the DC/LA events, Campus Life
organized an area-wide training for students on how to share their faith using the “Live
to Tell” materials from the conference. By offering resources and training you
strengthen the church youth ministries and build a closer relationship with the youth
leaders.
Don’t be Afraid to Ask:
After you have developed a relationship with a youth worker and know that they
understand and appreciate what Campus Life does, ask them if they would be
interested in being a Campus Life partner church. Every partnership agreement can
be custom designed, but our church’s partnership with Campus Life means that we
furnish leaders for the Club, and provide youth to serve on the leadership team.
Campus Life requires youth from our group to be involved in one of our discipleship
groups in order to serve as a student leader and they try to get youth involved in either
our church or one of the other partner churches when they do not have a church
preference. We both agree to communicate with each other about planned events
and to work together on a few events during the year. Our church also makes a
financial commitment to Campus Life. We have a great partnership, but it would
have never happened if our Area Director had not asked us if we would like to
become a partner with them in reaching youth for Christ.
The bottom line is this – THE RESPONSIBLITY TO INITIATE CHURCH PARTNERSHIPS RESTS ON
THE SHOULDERS OF YOUTH FOR CHRIST. In many cities, towns, and counties, Campus
Life is in the best position to lead networking. One great resource to help you with
partnerships and networks is the National Network of Youth Ministries. NNYM can be
contacted at www.youthworker.net their address is 12335 World Trade Drive Suite 16
San Diego, CA 92128 or call them today at 1-800-367-6696. Joining is free! Many of
the regional and national leaders of the National Network of Youth Ministries are
YFC/Campus Life staff.
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7. Campus Life Young People
7.1 Becoming Youth Culture Experts
As missionaries who travel in the world of young people it’s not unfair to expect that
we bring some youth culture expertise to our jobs. Our mission assumes that we will
reach young people where they live. That assumption alone will require us to
become students of youth culture. It’s where they live.
If we take some time to reflect on just the language training foreign-field
missionaries do to prepare for their work we can appreciate our own need to
become fluent as “youth-ese” conversationalists and knowledgeable of the
specific dialects affecting teens. We need to study adolescent culture and
constantly be looking for ways to help young people bridge the gospel message
and lifestyle back into the world in which they live. YFC staff ought to become
both general youth culture conversationalists and specific dialect experts of the
young people among whom they work.
7.1.1
General Expertise
General youth culture expertise is that which can be learned through study and
mass media exposure. It is through such generally accessible information that
we may discover, for instance, that around 25% of our United States population
will likely be Hispanic in the year 2050 (US Census Bureau estimates). Or we may
become aware that media and marketing have contributed to establishing a
global youth culture based upon adolescent experience, where young people
from different countries may actually have more in common with each other
than with those from their native lands (Offer, et. al., 1988, The Teenage World.
Plenum Medical). We could learn through such means about phenomenon of
the Osbournes and how many young people watch them on MTV.
Is it important to know that 44% of high school seniors have never been involved
in a religious youth group during their adolescent years? (Smith, Denton, Faris, &
Regenerus. 2002. Mapping American Adolescent Religious Participation.
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41 (4), 597-612.) Or that among 12th
grade students “only the most frequent religious service attenders are
significantly less likely than non-attenders to have used drugs in the last year?”
(Smith & Faris. 2002. Religion and American Adolescent Delinquency, Risk
Behaviors and Constructive Social Activities. National Study of Youth and
Religion, Research Report #1, p. 18.) Would it be valuable to learn that frequent
Bible reading is one of the few strong predictors that a young person making a
pledge to remain sexually pure until marriage might be able to keep that
pledge? (Rahn. 1999. Youthfest Research Study. www.linkinstitute.com.) Much
of this information is a bit off the beaten path, but it is accessible for those
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hungry to learn.
Therein lies the key. We won’t become well-educated experts in youth culture
without being willing to dig out the available knowledge.
The bottom line is that we have to work hard at staying abreast of youth culture.
Some will find it useful to subscribe to newsletters or magazines that help
condense the volumes of information into usable forms. Christian and secular
seminars are also available to help us stay current. An occasional tour through
a bookstore can provide some illuminating insights; the same could be said for
video and music stores.
YFC/USA Ministries will regularly suggest sources that are either especially rich in
content or efficient in summarizing important information related to adolescents.
For the staff person committed to cultivating general expertise in youth culture,
it’s not that hard to find what we need.
7.1.2
Specific Expertise
Specific youth culture expertise is that which is largely learned through direct
experience and observation. It is based upon knowledge that can normally be
gained only through a considerable investment of time and attention. In many
cases, it is an expertise that we cultivate naturally because we have lived in the
culture in the past as teenagers ourselves. When we attempt to walk in this
familiar culture in the present we have the advantage of ministering in their
world with an insider’s expertise. For example, while there are not many YFC
staff who might understand a sub-culture of gothic young people, there are
likely some from our ranks who grew up among these dark, black-clothed teens.
This doesn’t mean that there might not be available material from general
sources that can be used to enhance our understanding of a specific
adolescent group. The richness of story in some movies or music videos are
often lodged in particular experiences. Some research is of the ethnographic
variety, allowing the researcher to plunge into a unique culture for investigation.
But none of these sources can automatically be labeled as authoritative when
we want to learn about, say, the backyard fight club culture that has emerged
in a small town in the Midwest. Or the gang activity in that same town. In fact,
prior experience in working with particular gangs is no guarantee that our
knowledge is sufficient for ministry to a different group of gang-involved teens.
We best cultivate specific youth culture expertise when we define the
boundaries of the culture and plunge in with eyes wide open. It may take some
“walk-around” time simply to figure out what sub-cultures even exist. That’s OK.
Our immersion does not only serve our cultural learning curve. It is also how we
build relationships of trust and rapport so that the gospel message might be
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heard and understood.
Our goal in becoming experts is in no way an arrogant attempt to gain
knowledge for the sake of knowledge. We seek to build significant, trustworthy
relationships that allow us to live and preach the gospel in relevant, credible
ways.
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7.2 A General Profile of Campus Life Young People
The young people involved in Campus Life are generally high school aged ninth
through twelfth graders who are traditionally encountered through the varied social
networks surrounding public senior high schools, private schools and home schools.
Their high school years are undoubtedly difficult and often confusing times that result
in the defining of key values, the establishing of relational patterns and the formation
of spiritual meaning and direction. The high school years therefore are also a strategic
time to help young people explore the great personal issues of life that impact the
course of their future. The decisions made during this four-year period have a
dramatic effect on the balance of their life choices. The end of their high school
experience often signals the beginning of their distribution throughout society—and
into its less distinct shadows of social life.
High school teenagers today find themselves in a frightening and turbulent world.
Many of their grandparents’ values are no longer observable in their homes and
communities. While the world testifies to economic and technological progress teens
often experience deep relational loss. Oftentimes their relationships have been
casualties of a success and achievement-oriented culture. The high school years are
a critical time for persons to both discover and truly own their relationship with Jesus.
We should expect that young people who are active in Campus Life come from all
walks of teenage life. They aren’t just the “jocks” or the “goths” or the “band geeks.”
Actually, they represent all of these groups and much more. In fact, in Campus Life
we want to find teenagers who cut into every social, academic, athletic, artistic and
religious portion of the life of a given high school. Because we are working toward a
ministry to a diverse and varied group of kids, we must become students of the young
people with whom we work.
An exact formula for staying current does not exist, however there are many resources
that can help us to stay fresh and well informed concerning teenagers and the
general teenage culture. One way to stay current is to read as much as your brain
can handle about the culture. Some current books that will enable us to understand
young people are
God at the Mall by Pete Ward,
The Bridger Generation by Thom R. Rainer
The Youth Builder by Burns and DeVries
Called To Greatness by Ron Hutchcraft
Contagious Faith by Rahn and Linhart
The Coming Revolution in Youth Ministry, by Mark Senter
Street Trends by Janine Lopiano-Misom & Joanne DeLuca
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Jesus for a New Generation: the Gospel in the Language of the Xer’s by Kevin
Graham Ford
A Primer on Postmodernism by Stanely Grenz
A Tribe Apart: A Journey into American Adolescence by Patricia Hersch
Understanding Today’s Youth Culture by Walt Mueller
The Appendix offers an extensive Recommended Reading List, which includes our Top
Ten Best Books for Campus Life Staff.
As you attempt to understand and know the young people you minister to in the
context of Campus Life, please don’t underestimate the power of knowledge secured
through the research and work of gifted writers who have made it their life’s work to
accurately describe and explain the evolving world of teenagers. Although there is
excellent work being done in the Christian sector (George Barna, Dr. Dave Rahn, Walt
Mueller and many others), much of the best work is also being done in the secular
world. Just as we should read critically, searching for the truth and not blindly
believing everything we read, we must also not disregard the writings of secular
experts. For a more extensive list of fantastic reading material on youth ministry consult
the appendix at the end of this manual.
Another way to learn more about the profile of the teenager is through research
experts. Walt Mueller is probably one of the best sources of accurate data
concerning teenagers today. His bi-weekly online newsletter is easy to find and free.
His organization’s (The Center for Parent and Youth Understanding) expertise both in
writing and in person is easily accessible to Campus Life staff. Through CPYU’s email
address you can receive lots of helpful information concerning today’s youth culture
[eupdate@cpyu.org]. Youth Specialties is another great source of ideas. YS can be
reached through their website [youthspecialties.com]. More and more organizations
are developing expertise and understanding of today’s youth culture. Since Campus
Life continues to serve on the front lines of the culture, we must make use of the
excellent work of other members of the Christian community. We might not have
time to do the actual research on youth culture, but we can learn from those who are
called to do it!
Other ways to stay current in your understanding of the youth culture is to watch the
movies and TV programs teenagers are watching, listening to the music they enjoy,
become a student of what they are drawn to. Stay as current with ‘where kids are at’
as you possibly can. The overall shifts and changes in the culture can often be
predicted by what occurs on the west and east coasts of our nation. What is
happening in Los Angeles and New York today are often the trends that follow for the
rest of the nation tomorrow. So, watch what is happening, read the newspaper and
popular magazines, become a student of teenagers so that you can love them more
effectively in Jesus name.
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Perhaps the best way to stay in touch with students today is to go where they are,
regularly asking questions of their likes and dislikes, etc. As you hang out with students
on their turf, you will easily identify trends in their culture. Then, you can let your
creativity take over!
We are called by God to serve in the trenches with kids, where they live and work and
grow up. In light of that calling, we must also responsibly understand them, their
culture and their needs. Being a student of the youth culture and understanding the
young people under our care means we have to use what is available to us to
become experts of teenagers from the vantage point of the front line battle zone.
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7.3 A Campus Life Ministry Site-Specific Profile of Young People
In many cities, towns and counties across America, the high school is often the funnel
of the community. (Nearly everybody goes through it!) It creates common ground
and common interest for almost everyone. Scan the pages of any neighborhood
newspaper and you will see that high school is one of the main focuses of community
interest. Parents, teachers, administrators and community officials who may other wise
be impregnable to almost everything else, have at least one common value with
Campus Life: they are concerned about teenagers, especially their own. High school
is also the last time a specific age group may be together. Once graduation is over,
the cohort splits forever. Distinctives blend in with the rest of their generation of young
people, while the group’s uniqueness is lost except to the wise student of the culture.
Campus Life ministry staff, paid and volunteer, must position themselves as students
not only of the general youth culture, but just as important, of their specific ministry
site(s). Developing a “Site-Specific Profile of Young People,” means that Campus Life
staff members work hard to know their campus and the community where the
campus exists better than anyone else. Your ministry site is the high school where you
work, where you are attempting to reach every young person, in every people group
in that community. Some of us in Campus Life have more than one ministry site. You
might have two or more schools you are responsible for reaching. What ever your
specific situation, each school represents a different ministry site to which God and
YFC is calling you to minister.
“Being a student of your ministry site” means you engage in at least five areas of
learning and research in order to more fully understand and connect with your
students and your community. The end result will be that you can earn credibility. You
are able to know your way around politically, religiously, relationally, spiritually and
academically. You can be respected and looked to for help and advise. To begin to
know your ministry site, you must engage in the first area of learning and research:
PRAYING FOR YOUR SCHOOL. Begin immediately praying for students, teachers,
problem areas in the school, the spiritual battle that is no doubt raging on the school
grounds as well as in you and the Campus Life volunteers. Pray that God would show
you areas that need His attention, people in need, situations that are too desperate
for human intervention. Begin to talk to Him about your ministry site often. Your
connection with Him and your intercession for the school is the best learning and
research yon can engage in!
OBTAINING AND STUDYING COPIES OF IMPORTANT PUBLICATIONS will serve as your
second area of learning and research. Order a school year book immediately. Get to
know the students and adults who work on this project. They are potentially the
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school’s best researchers! Once you have one, begin to study it, even going so far as
to learn student’s names and other information. (We suggest during your first year with
Campus Life or serving at a new ministry site, obtain a copy of last year’s yearbook in
order to get a start on your learning and research.) One ministry staff person we know
took the yearbook memorized dozens of names and initiated contact with those
students on campus at school events etc. Eventually some of those kids came to
know Jesus through the staff person’s disciplined use of the yearbook to help her “cold
contact” young people. By the Lord’s initiation through this staff person, students were
“wowed” that someone took the time to get to know them. Don’t forget the school
newspaper, the school district’s calendar of events and holidays, community
newspapers, and any underground newspapers written and printed by students for
students.
Third, STRATEGICALLY INITIATE CONTACT WITH KEY ADULTS IN YOUR SCHOOL AND IN
YOUR COMMUNITY. As you get to know students you should also get to know the
adults who lead and order the world of those kids where you hope to have an impact.
This area of leaning and research includes meeting and when the Lord leads,
extending an authentic hand of friendship to teachers, coaches, administrators
(especially the principal and the activities director), office staff, social workers,
guidance counselors, cafeteria and hall monitors, police officers, and anyone who
interacts with the students you want to reach in Jesus name. To initiate contact
strategically means you create a plan, perhaps over the course of a three-year
commitment to a specific ministry site, to initiate contact with every teacher and
administrator in your school. The outcome might be that you know the names and
areas of responsibility of all of these adults. We can only imagine how much credibility
this kind of learning and research will earn for the ministry of Campus Life and
ultimately for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You move from being perceived as a religious
person who very few people understand, to a trusted member of the community and
in some cases as a faithful friend. Be careful to initiate contact with as many nonChristian adults as possible. Please don’t play it safe by meeting only Christians.
Next, DISCOVER THE DISTINCTIVES OF YOUR SCHOOL. What is your school’s greatest
strength and greatest weakness? How is your school honored above other area
schools and around the nation? What reoccurring problems haunt the life of your
school? Which activities are “cool” to be a part of? Which teachers are most
respected and sought after? By answering these and a huge array of other questions
you can learn a lot about your kids and the environment they are living in. As you
initiate contact with adults ask some of these questions. Attend as many school
functions as possible, sitting with the people you are meetings and getting to know.
Positioning yourself as a student means you learn to ask questions and listen as people
share their opinions and their history and their perceptions. In reality they are sharing
their story and the story of your school. Listen well!!!
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The fifth and final area of learning and research you must engage in is DISCOVERING
THE OTHER ORGANIZATIONS THAT IMPACT YOUR SCHOOL. Who else is attempting to
invest in the lives of teenagers at your ministry site? Are there churches, parachurch
organizations, or community organizations that have earned credibility? For example,
in one town where Campus Life is strong, the local atheist organization is just as strong.
Knowing who is impacting young people in your town, city or county will help you in
prayer; it will help you to know with whom to partner; it will help you to answer the
questions of concerned adults.
Lastly, in terms of developing a profile of the young people at your ministry site, the
best thing you can do is spend time in their world. Be certain that you and your
volunteers are gaining access to every crevice and cranny of the population of your
school. Be certain that a good percentage of your time is spent getting to the lost,
being where they are, in their world. Don’t be afraid to spend time with kids who say
the “F” word and don’t really care what you think about that. As you study the
remainder of this manual, you will gain the skills and information to help you stay on
the cutting edge of your ministry site and the specific young people to whom you are
ministering.
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8. Campus Life Relational Ministry Actions
8.1 Campus Life RMA: Contacting
DEFINITION: Campus Life defines Contacting as “going into the world of young
people in order to initiate new relationships.” In other words we are meeting students
in their world.
8.1.1. WHY DOES CAMPUS LIFE DEFINE CONTACTING AS AN RMA?
While each of YFC’s core ministries recognizes that initiating relationships with lost teens
is the essential foundation for their discipleship evangelism, Campus Life has also
identified the necessity of contacting as a distinctive RMA for this ministry model. The
biblical values behind contacting are well articulated under the relational ministry
ingredient, initiate (chapter 9). Let’s explore some of the Campus Life specific reasons
for including contacting as a separate relational ministry action.
One key reason for doing contacting is visibility. As a staff person visits the school on a
frequent basis they are seen by a large number of students, parents, and faculty.
That’s a good thing. A Campus Life staff person should be visible enough at their
school that the adult and student community recognize who they are. People are
curious and they are watching. They want to be familiar with the adults who are
involved in the life of their schools.
A second reason for doing contacting is that it creates credibility with students,
administrators, faculty, parents, and the church. A consistent presence catches
people’s attention. The ‘you’re always here’ mentality sets in. Again, that’s a good
thing. The more you are on campus, seen by students and adults alike, the more
credibility you earn for Campus Life. Campus Life staff who are consistent at doing
contacting, making connections with new students on a regular basis, do the best job
of reaching into a lost world. If done correctly, the staff person who does contacting
well has the opportunity to be the most-informed adult in the community when it
comes to knowing about the students of that school.
8.1.2. HOW TO DO CONTACTING
There are two necessary tasks for doing good contacting. The first is to pray. Because
we are about reaching ‘every young person’ in our schools, it is necessary to meet
‘new’ students on a regular basis. Therefore, pray that you can meet a new student
every time you step on campus. It is so important for us to pray that God would go
before us as we go to the schools for lunch, practices, concerts, plays, and sporting
events. Ask God’s Holy Spirit to help you as you initiate relationships with hundreds of
students at your campus. This is His ministry, so prayer is a great place to start when
you walk on the campus. Pray that God will help you to…
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*Meet lost students.
*Meet Christian faculty that could help you with the ministry.
*Meet Christian students who might want to be student leaders.
*Meet other adults who might want to help financially.
*Make students feel special and noticed in a positive way.
The second necessary task for doing good contacting is to pursue them. If we are to
make contact with students, we must pursue them.
*NOTE: When you are contacting during the school day, make sure you have
first secured permission from the administration to be on campus. It is so
important to build a healthy relationship with the administration of the school. If
you take the time to earn credibility, there are many wonderful privileges you
could receive.
Once permission has been granted by administration, staff must make sure they have
the right tools to get the job done. They are as follows:
*Small pad of paper and a pen that fits easily in your pocket
*School schedule
*Sports schedule
*Last year’s yearbook
Once the right tools have been collected, the challenge begins. To get off to a good
start it is important to begin meeting students as their school year practices begin.
When do fall practices for band, cheerleading, and sports get started? It’s important
to start showing up at those practices. On a weekly basis, a staff person should be at
10-15 different practices before school begins. It’s the only thing that is happening in
the life of the school at this time of the year.
Brainstorm some ways you can meet many of these students and coaches before
school starts. Offer to bring water, popsicles or watermelon for the breaks during
practices. Introduce yourself as the Campus Life director. Your goal is to wish the
teams a great season as their fall practices begin. Perhaps you were involved in one
of these activities or sports when you were in high school or college. You might be
able to get involved in helping the band, cheerleading squad, or one of the fall sports.
These are great ways to meet many students, parents, and faculty.
The purpose in doing this type of contacting activity during the fall is not to invite
students to your activity. The purpose is to initiate relationships, to pursue them in their
world. You are simply trying to begin building bridges with lots of students and adults
at your campus. Your goal is to get to know students. Do not push involvement in your
program. Students may eventually ask who you are and what you do, and they may
one day be interested in coming to Campus Life activities. The purpose of your
contacting at this stage of each year, however, is to BEGIN relationships. You are
trying to get to know names and remember them. You are making contact, initiating
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relationships, and not inviting students to programs. As you continue your contacting
and building relationships with students on your campus, an eventual natural next step
is to invite them to come to the Campus Life club. With the Lord’s guidance, carefully
decide when it is appropriate to begin inviting them to club. Students know when
someone is genuinely interested in them, or is only recruiting them to a program.
During early fall contacting, let’s err on the side of building relationships with students,
while we wait for God to show us His timing in a student’s life.
8.1.3. HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CONTACTING SKILLS
To improve your contacting abilities, the first step is to practice. You must discipline
yourself to meet new students on a weekly basis. In going to the campus, the idea is
to meet new students and remember their names. Be persistent and make this part of
your weekly routine.
While meeting new students on a regular basis, the toughest part can be
remembering so many new names. It’s important to create your own ways of
remembering their names. Here are a few ideas.
• Say a name three times during your first conversation.
• Write it down as soon as get around the corner.
• Create some kind of name for them based on a feature about them (Funny
Fred, Redhead Rosie, etc.)
• Use your yearbook, circle the picture, and write down something that you
learned about that student
• Next time you see them, use their name. Don’t just say, ‘Hey, how are you
doing’?
• Make a deal with students and with yourself. If you can’t remember their name
after a third time of asking them what their name is, take them out for a Coke.
We cannot minimize the importance of remembering names during every stage of
contacting!!
Once school begins, it’s important to be on school premises, if you have permission
from the administration. Brainstorm ideas of how to meet students when you are in the
school. Here are a few ideas.
• Use a survey to take to school with you. Whatever your topic is for club for that
week, create 4-5 questions that you can ask hundreds of students during your
run-thru. This is a great way to meet new students and get their input on the
next club meeting.
• As you get to know teachers, build enough of a relationship that you might be
invited to come to their classroom to participate in class.
• Get students involved with you. Take a few students with you to practices,
games, and plays, all for the purpose of meeting other students. What a great
way to meet lots of other students. The best way to meet the incoming
freshman class is to take a few sophomores to a football game and meet as
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•
many freshmen as possible. This is also a great time of building the relationship
with the sophomores who are helping you.
Train volunteers to do contacting with you. (Soon they will be able to take the
initiative on their own.) It teaches the value of contacting to your ministry team.
Teach them the same things you are learning about contacting. You might
learn a few things from your volunteers too!!
Whether you are with students or volunteers, you are modeling good contacting to
them.
As you contact at events, or in the school, or at the local mall, never underestimate
the value of meeting adults in those locations also. We are all about meeting new
students, but there is a tremendous opportunity at these same places to initiate
relationships with adults. For administrators to see you at many school functions helps
to create a trusting relationship. God has granted them the authority to hold the keys
to your involvement at the local school. Make sure you acknowledge them at any
location where both of you are present.
Whenever you see pastors, youth pastors, parents and faculty members, make sure to
work on building those relationships as well. They are future kingdom partners or
volunteers in reaching your schools. Parents could possibly be support team members,
donors or friends of the ministry. Work hard at meeting adults at all of these functions.
They are very crucial to the success of your ministry.
Since the vision of Campus Life is to reach ‘every’ student, then we want to get busy
meeting at least 100 new students during the month of August, every year. The object
is to create a broad base of students. Breadth happens through contacting, and
depth happens through the other RMA’s. Set a goal of trying to meet 5 new students
every week once school starts. Once those contacts have been initiated, work at
seeing these students in other settings and remembering their names.
Contacting is the key to creating a strong foundation for doing discipleship
evangelism. We can’t meet lost students if we aren’t out in their world on a regular
basis. Consistently pray, be bold in your pursuit, and contacting will work for you.
8.1.4. QUESTIONS TO HELP EVALUATE THE SUCCESS OF YOUR CONTACTING:
When you are at a contacting event/activity, what is your overall goal or strategy?
What events did you go to last week (Guy-Girl-Both)?
Tell me the names of three (3) kids you met last week that you didn’t know before?
What kids did you take extra time for and invest in during contacting?
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What relationship did you develop this past week during contacting?
What parents did you meet during this past week while contacting?
Describe a conversation you have had with a parent, teacher, and community person
in the past two weeks during contacting.
Did you promote club at contacting? Why? How? Why not?
Have you ever observed someone else at a contacting event? Explain what you saw.
Evaluate yourself this past week/month on how well you have done with contacting.
What do you do well? What do you need to improve on?
How are your volunteers involved in contacting activities?
What are you doing to encourage them and train them to be more successful at
contacting?
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8.2. Campus Life RMA: Building Times
Definition: “Spending time in shared activities with young people in order to build
new relationships and model Christ-like behavior.” Building times allow us to develop
meaningful friendships with students in non-threatening ways. It is the bridge between
contacting and all of the other RMA’s. It is how we get to know students and how
they get to know more about us. Students find out that we are real people who can
relate to them on other grounds than just religion.
8.2.1. WHY DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE BUILDING TIMES AS AN RMA?
Building times offer us an opportunity to move from contacting a new student to
“earning the right to be heard.” While we really have nothing to prove to kids, we do
have an obligation to break down religious stereotypes as we get to know them. We
want to “earn the right to be heard” because what God wants to say through us is
worth listening to! It is, however, very difficult for young people to listen to important
issues and consider taking steps toward God if the communicator of that truth has not
taken the time to know her, understand his world, and relate in ways that are nonmanipulative and authentic. More of a biblical foundation for building times is
established in the common core relational ministry ingredients involve and invest (see
chapter 9).
The natural opportunities contained within building times give us a chance to
demonstrate a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Whenever we spend time with
students in real-life situations (i.e. playing basketball, ordering fast food, shopping,
hanging out at home), students see us as we really are, not as religious figures that
lead meetings every week. They will see Christianity as credible and worthy of their
consideration; they can develop positive attitudes toward the Gospel and especially
get to know Jesus through us. After spending a few building times with Campus Life
staff members, the likelihood of a student responding to Jesus Christ at club, in an
appointment, at a small group or on a trip or event is much higher. If they have
experienced a genuine follower of Jesus Christ in us the likelihood is greater that they
can actually experience Jesus.
Building times are fun! We don’t necessarily do building times just for the fun of it, but it
certainly makes them easier to do. Young people are a blast to be around!! We
enjoy who they are and what they have to offer the world. We have high hopes for
who they will become in Christ. It is a huge privilege and high calling to be able to
hang out with students, trusting that God will use the fun, the investment and the time
to draw some of them to His Son.
8.2.2
HOW DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE BUILDING TIMES?
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To ensure that Building Times are as effective as possible be certain you follow these
simple rules.
•
Involve as many students as possible. Avoid spending all your time with only a
few students with whom you feel comfortable.
•
Plan for building times. Do not just expect them to happen simply because you
are “cool” or well liked by the students. Be intentional about how you spend
your time each week. (Most of us are not as cool as we would like to think we
are!) You should plan on including several building times in your schedule every
week. You should go to club ready to “set up” those times with specific students
whom you are trying to get to know. Teach your volunteers how to “set up”
building times with students too. The best way to teach others how to do it is to
show them and then take them with you before you send them out to do it
alone.
•
Plan the right kinds of activities. There are at least two criteria for the best
building times. The first is to simply do an activity that a group of students enjoys.
A building time will be especially memorable if the students experience
something new or unique, i.e. water skiing, paint ball, mountain biking to a new
place, etc. The second factor is to consider whether the activity actually affords
us a good opportunity to establish a positive example of Jesus Christ. As an
outrageous example, we could imagine that a group of students might enjoy
going “clubbing,” but such a shared activity may work against our ultimate
goal.
•
Set a good example. Just as being a positive example can “earn the right to be
heard,” setting a negative example often loses that right. Remember, however,
you are a friend, not a parent. Be careful to not treat them as though they were
your children; they are your friends. You happen to be older, more mature and
more like Jesus than they are, but you are more of a friend than an authority
figure.
•
Act like an adult. Even though you are a friend more than a teacher, parent or
police officer, there are in fact some limitations of which you must be aware.
Some of the activities students might enjoy (i.e. toilet papering, Chinese Fire
Drills, egging, snowballing cars, skateboarding in restricted areas, etc.) could
damage your reputation with parents, administrators, donors and churches. If it
is a Campus Life activity, adults expect you to be in charge and responsible for
the activity and the students.
•
Play it safe! Never take short cuts when planning potentially dangerous
activities for students. For example, rappelling, water sports, paint ball, winter
sports, biking, rock climbing, etc. should never be done without the proper
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equipment, training, insurance and leadership. If you cannot do it safely, do not
do it at all!!
From the very beginning we listen carefully and try to determine what our students and
their friends enjoy doing together. Whether we like an activity is not really relevant. In
fact, we don’t even have to be good at an activity to have a building time with
students. Some additional examples of shared activities with students are:
Hiking
Picnicking
Trips to “away games,” or tournaments
Beach trips
Trips to the city for shopping, dinner, games, etc.
Scuba diving
Sledding, tobogganing, cross-country skiing, ice skating, snowmobiling
Slumber parties
Shopping trips to the mall or outlet malls
Eating after games
Running errands together
Saturday morning pick-up games: soccer, basketball, football, etc.
Board games
Ping-pong
Video games
Ultimate Frisbee
Fishing
Working on a car together
Swimming
Working out with the school team
Play guitar or other musical instruments
Baking/cooking
Going out for a coke
Concerts
Attend their concerts, plays or games with their friends
Volunteering together
Sailing, boating, canoeing
Eat with kids at lunch
Have breakfast before school
Golfing or miniature golfing
Bowling
Going out for ice cream
During most building times, we do not usually plan to discuss anything spiritual. If
something pops up in the conversation, of course we would expect that God was
moving in a way that we would want to follow! Generally speaking, building times set
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up future conversations. They serve to soften hearts and open ears for later times
together with students when we will intentionally bring up spiritual issues and introduce
the person of Jesus Christ.
Building times serve to gather a great deal of information. If we are alert enough to
ask the right questions and listen in love, we will discover a lot of important facts about
student’s families, future hopes and dreams, fears, needs, plans, religious background,
opinions and attitudes. Eventually, if we are authentic, sincere, consistent, loving and
accepting, our building times will yield receptive hearts for responding to the lifechanging message of Jesus Christ.
A youth worker who lived near the mountains loved rock climbing, rappelling, and
mountaineering. He was very good at adventure sports and he wanted to equip kids
to enjoy the outdoors as well. All of these activities were great opportunities for
investing in building times with teenagers. This particular youth worker, however, was
so focused on what he enjoyed doing that he neglected many students who did not
enjoy the same kinds experiences. His ministry suffered greatly because he could not
break out of the cycle of only attracting students who were like him or who wanted to
be like him. The goal of building times is to build relationships with teenagers, not to do
the fun things we like to do in the name of “ministry.”
Beware of 4 potential dangers in building times:
1. We can focus too much on what we like to do rather than what students like to
do.
2. We can over-concentrate on one group of students whose company we really
enjoy and neglect other students.
3. We can use building times as a copout for doing appointments. If we never get
around to sitting down with a student and talking about Jesus Christ, we are not
accomplishing our mission.
4. Building times can also be used as an excuse for not doing the hard work of
contacting. We can easily fall into the trap of getting to know a few students
very well, but miss meeting the masses.
Remember we are called to reach every young person in our ministry site. If used
properly and in conjunction with the other 10 RMA’s, building times are a great tool
toward that end.
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8.3. Campus Life RMA: Appointments
DEFINTION: The formal YFC/Campus Life definition for an Appointment is “meeting
one-on-one to provide individual attention and focus to a young person’s specific
need.” In other words, we want to intentionally engage a student in a one-on-one
setting offering him/her an active listening ear and the willingness to point them
toward God’s story whenever it is appropriate.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
All 1-on-1 ministry is done MALE-to-MALE or FEMALE-to-FEMALE. When necessary to do
an appointment with a student of the opposite sex, take a volunteer staff or student
leader along or meet at a public place (i.e. restaurant). Make sure you are NEVER
alone in a vehicle with a student of the opposite sex. Just one accusation of
inappropriate behavior can destroy YFC ministry and damage the reputation of Jesus
Christ.
Maintaining balance and boundaries in your life is important to consider as you make
appointments with students. It is ok to say NO to a student, or to wait for a more
convenient time, unless the need is life threatening.
8.3.1. WHY DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE APPOINTMENTS AS AN RMA?
A. To get to know more about a student's story
Giving a student individual attention encourages open and honest
conversation. Students want to be known and heard and having an intentional
time to meet with them is powerful! You can learn more about a student's story
in a one-hour appointment, than you can from all of their involvement in
Campus Life weekly meetings and events. Remember you want to get to know
more of their story so listen, ask good questions, and give honest feedback.
B. To address a specific need
Appointments can address an issue raised by the student or personalize a
discussion from a recent club meeting or small group. This is probably the
easiest appointment to set up. When a student is having some sort of “drama”
in their life, it makes perfect sense that you would take a special interest in
wanting to discuss what is happening.
Some possible issues could be: a kid’s parent’s getting a divorce, not doing well
in school, conflict between friends, a recent break up with a boyfriend or
girlfriend, being cut from an athletic team, getting kicked out of their home, etc.
It is also appropriate to use appointments for follow up, checking up on a new
Christian, and the discipleship of growing Christians.
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C. To connect their need to Jesus' story
Listen carefully to what need they have in their life. Is that need forgiveness,
intimacy, love, healing, purpose? Listen and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you,
what is holding the student back from experiencing the power of God in their
life. Next, know scripture. Better yet, know the attributes of God and where they
are described in scripture. As they unfold their need, gently prod them toward
Jesus and who He was and is. Show them – don’t tell them – that Jesus knows
their trouble and has ultimate power to meet their need. Depending on the
situation, they may feel the need to respond in some way to what Jesus can
offer them. If, that is true, help them to respond to Jesus through prayer. Let
God (scripture) do the talking. Don’t manipulate or try to steer the conversation.
You are merely a tool, a mouthpiece.
8.3.2. HOW DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE APPOINTMENTS?
Remember the following as you use appointments to draw young people to
Jesus Christ.
A. Pray
Prayer, going into and during an appointment will remind us that God is at work
at changing lives. We are simply a vehicle He may use. Prayer allows us to be
sensitive to God's direction in responding to the student. We must stay obedient
to listen for His leading.
B. Select appropriate location
The meeting place should be free of distractions, or interruptions and allow for
relaxed conversation. A meal or a snack may provide the most comfortable
setting. Try not to go to places where other students will be, so there are fewer
interruptions. If you’re at your house – don’t answer the phone – that will say to
them that they are important. Also, don’t bring your cell phone into a
restaurant.
C. Assume nothing
Be careful not to guess what the student is thinking, project how they will
respond, or expect them to be as spiritually mature as you are. Also remember
that there are two sides to every story.
D. Listening skills
Just as Jesus listened to people, we too can become good listeners.
There is an art to being a good listener:
• Non-verbal communication - listen with your eyes, ears and heart. Focus
on them, and show your compassion and interest in what they are saying.
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•
•
•
•
Clarify - repeat something they have said back to them in a statement or
question, to make sure you heard them correctly. This also reinforces that
they are being heard.
People listen to people who listen - before you try to give your insight or
feedback, earn the right to be heard by first really listening to them.
Don't shy away from difficult issues, if you don’t know the solution don't
pretend to know -- be honest.
The focus is on them not you. Be willing to be real and vulnerable about
your own life without dominating conversation.
E. Be a question poser not a problem solver
Help students come to an answer without telling them the answer. Avoid this
temptation! It is easier to tell them what you already know, but the best kind of
learning is self-discovery. So, you must become the master of asking good
questions. Below are some questions you can use to begin conversation:
• So, tell me about your family? How many siblings? Are your parents
together or not? Get as detailed as you can with this question. Ask about
their names and try to remember them.
• Who in your family are you closest to and why?
• Who do you not get along with the most and why?
• What role do you think you play in your family?
• Who is your closest friend?
• How is school going for you? Do you enjoy it? Why or why not?
Depending on how much you already know about the student, you may be ready
to ask some deeper, spiritual questions. The following are some questions you can
ask when you feel the Holy Spirit leading you to ask more pointed questions.
• What have you been learning about God this year, so far, in Campus
Life?
• Do you have any questions about anything we’ve talked about?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, if you were to die tonight, do you think you would
go to heaven or not? Why?
• If God is an X in the middle of this paper, where are you in relationship to
Him? Where do you want to be?
• If you died and went to heaven and God asked you why He should let
you into heaven, what would you say?
• What holds you back from surrendering your life to Christ?
• Why do you think Campus Life exists?
• What do you think it means to be a Christian?
• What images come to mind when you think about God? Is He a judge
or a teddy bear or a vapor? Why do you think that is?
• If God could walk in the door right now and walk over to you, what one
thing do you think He would say to you right now?
• What one question would you ask God if He were here right now?
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•
Where does God fit into your life? Or does He fit at all?
F. Use unchurched-sensitive language
Don’t forget that you could be talking to someone who has never gone to
church. Be careful not to offend or confuse them by using words they were
never taught. Avoid words like: saved, justification, sanctification, dead in our
sin, cleansed by His blood, etc. Also, if you use words like sin or sinner, grace or
salvation, make sure to clarify what they mean.
G. Be honest
If you are not real and authentic with the student, how can you expect them to
be with you? Don't try to be something you're not just to relate to them. Being
real and honest will establish a real relationship.
H. Maintain confidentiality
Promise confidentiality except in cases of a student being hurt or threatening to
hurt themselves or others. Maintaining confidentiality builds trust and respect
between you and a student. Your chapter should have a policy that meets your
state’s requirement for reporting abuse.
I. Silence is okay
Don’t feel awkward when silence is a part of your appointments. Sometimes kids
need time to think and process, and so do you. Don’t be too quick to jump in
and rescue the silence. Let that become okay.
J. Follow up
The follow up process, will largely depend on the student, and can happen in
various ways. However, it is your responsibility to make every attempt to
continue developing the relationship with the student, whether a decision for
Christ was made or not.
Possible options for follow up:
• Set a time to get together for another appointment or building time
• Give the student an option to join a small group
• Ask if the student has a Bible (be sure to get them one if they don't)
• Invite the student to church
• If a decision for Christ has been made:
o Encourage them to share this decision with at least 3 people
o Follow up with them individually or in a small group (cover at the
least he basics of Christianity)
K. Call them the day before to remind them of the appointment
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Students often have a tendency to forget about your meetings. Don’t be
offended; this happens a lot. Just a quick email or phone call will help to cut
down on the number of “reschedules”.
L. Paying for a students’ meal
Be prepared to pay for the student's meal. This communicates your care for
them and that they are important. Don't let money be an issue. Talk to local
businesses or restaurants that could donate gift certificates or funds for the
ministry.
M. Car time is valuable
When it is possible offer to pick the student up. Conversation to and from an
appointment in the car is valuable. If you take them home, go in and meet the
parents. This gives you a chance to meet the parents and allows the parents to
know who you are and what you do.
N. Tips for how to set up a first time appointment & when:
• Set up appointments at club or in the lunch room
• Give away a free meal with a staff for a prize at club
• Examples of what to say to a student
"If you ever have some free time let's hang out this week, want to grab some
dinner or something?"
"I'd like to get to know you better, want to have dinner this week?"
"I'd love to talk more about what you shared in discussion tonight, do you have
time this week?"
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8.4. Campus Life RMA: Small Groups
Definition: A Campus Life small group is a structured interactive meeting with 2 – 12
young people. A small group can be formally defined as a “structured, interactive
group setting designed to respond to the individual, spiritual, and lifestyle needs of the
members”. In youth ministry today we are seeing an explosion of small groups not only
as a part of the program but in many places, as THE program around which the
ministry revolves.
Small groups provide opportunities for Campus Life staff to create a consistent sense of
community, safety, family-like belonging and openness. In Jesus’ ministry to the
masses He is seen interacting with the crowds of people who followed Him to find
healing, to listen to His messages and simply to be in His presence. He spent more time
with a mid size group of 70 or so followers (eating dinner, teaching, celebrating).
Ultimately the majority of His time was invested in 12 disciples and He specifically
poured His life into three followers: Peter, James and John. Jesus knew that real
learning and day to day life change would come best as they wrestled with his
teaching and commands in smaller, more intimate settings.
The growth of the early church sprung from the gathering, sharing, and community
living found in the book of Acts. In Acts 2:42-47 Luke tells us of a community of believers
who met regularly in the temple courts, ate meals, prayed together, shared
possessions and lived sacrificially with and for each other. This is a great picture of the
intimacy and trust that can be found in a small group! The fact that Jesus utilized small
groups in His ministry should be encouragement for us to do the same for the young
people with whom we minister.
8.4.1. Why Does Campus Life Use Small Groups As An RMA?
$ To address a specific issue.
Small groups can be tailor-made to tackle an issue that young people are
dealing with, to study a book of the Bible, or to take a first-time look at Jesus
Christ.
$ To create a safe place for honest sharing.
Students are longing for a place where they can open up and know that
what they have to say is valuable. This kind of affirmation and heart felt
listening is missing in the lives of many kids today. In an effective small
group, that is exactly what we can provide.
$ To provide personal attention and interaction.
Small groups allow us to build deeper relationships with students. We also
provide them the opportunity to ask questions of us and find out who Jesus
is in our lives.
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The concept of small groups has been interwoven throughout popular
culture throughout the past several decades in movies, corporate training,
novels, etc. We would highly recommend that you take a look at The
Breakfast Club, and watch the scene about two thirds of the way through
the movie where the group is sitting on the floor of the library. Notice how
they interact, their body language, and the depth of their sharing. Also, ask
yourself what you would do differently if you were leading this small group.
8.4.2. How does Campus Life use small groups?
The best answer to this question will come as we define the various setting in
which Campus Life makes use of the RMA: small groups. We outlined seven
excellent options for small group settings. There are certainly more. Be sure
to experiment with new ideas for small groups. Keep in mind the principles
that follow and you will be on the right track as you dream about how to use
small groups in your ministry.
8.4.2.1. Settings – where can it happen?
The beauty of small groups is they can happen virtually anywhere. A small
group can occur in a Campus Life club, in a school lunchroom, and at a
camp among many other places. Think “outside the box” and look at your
current ministry and ask yourself where small groups could occur and how
they would be best used. If you’re just starting out think strategically when
asking this question about small groups. Here are a couple of ways you can
use small groups in your ministry:
Club
So, you’re sitting in the middle of a group of students at a large group
gathering and you’re geared up for a great discussion and wrap up. But
looking at the crowd you just know that of the 67 kids sitting in the room many
won’t open up and give their opinions because they just don’t get into
talking in large groups. They’re intimidated and overwhelmed, the mere
thought of saying something (maybe something stupid or silly) causes them
to shrink from the spotlight. You also know that you want your staff and
perhaps your student leaders to connect with the other students and have
ownership of this meeting. So you decide to work small groups into the mix.
One place for small groups to take place in the context of a large group
“club” is following crowdbreakers and games and just before a club
discussion. Once the topic has been introduced (by survey, video, skit, etc.)
you can break that large group into smaller, more manageable groups of 4-8
students with a staff person or student leader as facilitator. Throw out the
same questions you’ll go over in the large group discussion that will follow but
allow 10-12 minutes for talk in the groups. “But this will ruin the flow of the
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evening,” you say, “My students just don’t like small groups, they won’t open
up!” This is a generation of young people who long for intimacy and to “be
known” and what small groups ADDS to your large group is that component.
So, rather than ruining the flow of the evening, you’ll spice it up with a
change of pace. And those kids who have “shown” you they don’t like to
talk in the large group, will be more likely to open up (even if only once, at
least this time the small group leader can manage 5-8 young people versus
67 in a large group) in a smaller setting. Allow small groups to tackle
scenarios, case studies, surveys, skits and commercials. Use the strength of
the small groups (ownership, openness, intimacy) to help create a more
dynamic large group discussion by referring to and drawing upon the
feedback from the small groups. The intimacy won’t be immediate in a small
group at club but there is a great chance for open sharing in addition to the
sharing that occurs in the club setting. Give it a try.
After school/morning small groups
Student’s schedules these days can be crazy! Often the best time to meet
with them is right after school (especially with middle/junior high students) or
in the morning. If you’re not a morning person then a 6 a.m. Denny’s
restaurant small group might not appeal to you but it is one of the quietest
times of the day for students. It’s just a matter of getting them there. You
may want to experiment with evenings from 7:30 – 9:30 or even Sunday
afternoons. Try a small group gathering at a local restaurant (get to know
the waiters/waitresses well, you might even get a “reserved” booth with extra
refills of java!), at a student’s house, even right on the school grounds
(lunchroom, classroom, etc). If you’re wondering how to get started with a
small group… hold on!! There are some helpful tips to come.
Camps/Retreats
Work small groups into your schedule at every camp/retreat/trip you do.
Small groups can be incorporated just after the speaker at a large group
meeting to debrief what they heard and to raise questions to chew on the
rest of the day or night. You could have a small group on the bus as you
cruise down the interstate to an amusement park. Be creative and look for
any excuse to create small groups in the midst of the adventure. You can
use the “Un-game,” or YFC’s “Hear-Me-Out” card decks of questions, or
make up your own “Question Games!”
Co-ed vs. single sex
If small groups are a place to create openness, intimacy and belonging…will
this happen with co-ed groups or should we keep the sexes separated? If
you are going to do co-ed groups they work best under the following
conditions: 1) high school students only—middle school/junior high students
find it more difficult to focus on the question at hand, over the fact that
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they’re sitting next to someone intriguing; 2) in a small group where
accountability is NOT required—to expect a girl to keep a guy accountable
for his spiritual life is one thing but if they are to share their deepest darkest
secret or struggle then the lines of communication are suddenly not so open.
Evangelistic
When kids are considering the Bible and Jesus for the first time small groups
are a great opportunity to relate God’s story to their individual lives as well as
have honest interaction and questions. Take a look at the first six chapters of
the gospel of John; write up 3-4 questions and see what they discover. Grab
some copies of a study on a Biblical character (David, Solomon, Peter to
name a few) at the local Christian bookstore and challenge the kids to go
through a chapter a week. Or simply gather 5-6 kids weekly and ask them,
“Who is Jesus to you?” “What questions do you have about the Bible?” A
young Campus Life director in the Midwest offered a “Read-thru-the Bible-ina-Year” small group to the students in her club. In May 15 students showed
up; by the fall 25 kids attended ever other week for 10 months. More than
half of them were not Christians; 4 of them put their faith in Jesus Christ, and
ten of them actually read through the entire New Testament! All of them
discovered more about God’s story.
Discipleship
Start a small group of guys or gals to go deeper in God’s word. The relational
ministry ingredients of investing and investigate are the focus of a discipleship
small group. Try giving some leadership responsibilities to your student
leaders (or student leader prospects) to “apprentice” with you in leading a
discipleship group. Take new Christians through the Totally True workbook or
set a consistent time with a group of Christian students to challenge them to
live out their faith by comparing their actions to Scripture.
Accountability
This can be one of the most difficult types of groups because of the openness
and transparency needed by the participants. It is easy for you as the adult
leader to model openness while at the same time sharing struggles and
temptations that should be worked through in a group of your peers, not
students. Be careful not to step over this line. If you start this type of small
group, make sure that you lay down the ground rules early that you are the
leader, you will be sharing, but your role is to keep them accountable and to
encourage and facilitate their mutual accountability to each other. Same
sex small groups are the best choice for this type of gathering.
8.4.2.2.
What you need to know
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So, you want to be an expert on small groups? Here are three principles you
need to know to facilitate great small groups:
1. Small groups build trust
For small groups to work, and for genuine trust to be built, there are some
basic rules that must be understood and followed by everyone in the
group.
• Be honest or silent (and silence is OK).
• All group sharing stays confidential. Make sure that what is said in the
group, stays in the group. There is nothing more defeating to a student
than to hear a rumor that started from someone gabbing about the
small group sharing. This is more difficult in a club/large group setting
where the students may be in that group for only one time (unless you
try to keep kids in the same small groups at club each week); but in
that situation you as the leader need to encourage (it’s harder to
require here) confidentiality. If a student begins to open up to a level
of intimacy that’s not healthy, take them aside to talk, either before or
after the group is done.
• Everyone commits to attending every meeting. Set a reasonable time
frame of 4-8 weeks for an initial commitment; this creates an ending
time and an opportunity to continue or disband.
• Be relaxed, plan for plenty of time to talk and listen. Curriculum is
important because it gives us a “road” to travel down but it should
never replace the laid back atmosphere of a small group and the
purpose of creating a place where students can share openly and
honestly. Realize the group may run over time, may end early and you
may never get past the opening, “So how are you guys?” to what
you’ve spent hours preparing. Ministry can happen in the small talk,
too.
2. Small groups must have relevant curriculum that meets the needs of teens
The curriculum you use must be adapted to the purpose of the group.
YFC has a great tool in the Honest to God book, designed to give you
some structure as well as the freedom to share your faith story with kids.
Look at the above settings and ask yourself:
• Is the purpose evangelism?
Then put yourself in the place of a student who has never heard the
gospel (remember, we minister to many young people who have
never heard the stories of the Bible) and be creative in sharing God’s
story.
• Is your purpose discipleship?
Find a curriculum that challenges your kids to grow more in love with
Jesus and moves them to live their faith out on a daily basis. You’ll be
challenged at the same time.
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•
Is your purpose accountability?
Since this accountability will most likely happen in a single sex setting
look for books/curriculum/study guides that ask the deeper questions:
“How is your thought life? What temptations do you struggle with?
What can this group do practically to encourage you and keep you
accountable to grow in Jesus?”
As you spend time as a small group working through curriculum, sharing
thoughts, you’ll also need to maintain an ongoing evaluation of how your
small group is doing. Here are a couple of questions to ask:
•
Are my small group members talking and responding?
•
Am I listening more than I talk? Look for teachable moments, but
take a hint from God—He created you with one mouth and two ears. Go
with the majority.
•
Is the material helpful to them? Check with the students outside the
meeting and ask this question. Head to McDs for a coke and listen to
their feedback.
3. Small Groups need reliable leadership
This is where you come into the picture: it’s your moment to shine. As
you set the pace, both in attitude and responsibility, your group
members will follow. Here are some keys to providing the most effective
leadership:
• Model healthy openness. Be real and genuine. A word of caution: this
is not your support group so don’t back up your emotional dump truck
(beep, beep, beep) and unload—that’s for your own small
group/accountability partners. Instead, show that you, too, have
struggles, you’re not perfect.
• Pray for the students regularly, consistently, and specifically.
• See them outside the small group meeting. Do appointments, take
them to games, have them over for a movie night, get out for paintball
(take on another small group), in order to grow relationships.
• Provide focus with flexibility. Keep the group on track but remain open
to mid-course changes.
• Affirm students honestly—keep eye contact with the one sharing, don’t
allow interruptive “cross-talk”, and openly encourage them with your
words and appropriate touch. You may be the only adult that entire
day or week or month that tells them how much you appreciate their
involvement and honesty.
8.4.3. For the rookies and new staff
Prayed, prepared for and done correctly, small groups can be an incredible
blessing to you and the students to whom you minister. However, because we are a
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fallen people saved by God’s grace we can make small groups a painful
experience for all.
So, let’s take a look at how NOT to develop and run a small group…
•
Don’t establish any rules or expectations: just ask a bunch of students to meet
for breakfast, tell them you just want to talk and let them go. Watch
sheepishly as they interrupt, cut each other down and then as you finish ask
them if they want to keep meeting. That way you’ll be spending $15 each
week on breakfast (of course, you don’t need the money) and students may
or may not come back—don’t worry you’ll get used to sitting at Denny’s
alone.
•
Talk a lot and listen as little as possible to the participants: After all, you’re the
“youth professional” and you’ve put blood, sweat and tears into this study so
you should get the most airtime. If they try to speak, remind them that you
know God’s Word and they will have time at the end of the group to
talk…the last five minutes. You have wisdom to impart, they can listen, after
all they’re used to it at school!
•
Prepare on the way to small group: How hard can it be to ask a couple of
questions to six 9th grade guys? It’s easy to ask a couple of questions and just
“get through it” but the students can tell and more importantly, without
prayer bathing your small group and preparation under girding it, all you’ll
have is a weekly gathering, not the spiritual impact you desire.
•
Invite lots of students: The more, the merrier, right? How can you possibly say
no to these kids’ friends? “Wrong” and “Yes, you should”. The optimal size for
a small group is 4-8 kids. With a small group of 1-3 kids if one doesn’t show up
then it might seem a little awkward for the rest; with 9 + students it’s very
difficult to have honest, open sharing…after all, many probably became part
of a small group because the large group is intimidating.
8.4.4.
HOW TO GET STARTED
So, how do you get your small group ministry off the ground? Here are four helpful
tips:
•
First—what is your purpose? Evangelism? Discipleship? Accountability? To
break down the size of a large group meeting? Consider the needs of the
group and what you and your leaders have to offer in terms of time, energy,
experience, etc.
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•
•
•
Second—Who is your target group? Is it junior high or senior high (it’s better to
not mix the two.)
Third—Whom will you pray for and pursue? Sometimes our pursuits can be
expressed as challenges to particular students. Then we partner with them as
we mentor them in reaching their friends for Christ and helping them grow in
Christ.
Finally—When and where will you meet? There are two ways to go about
this: 1) pick a time and place and have students sign up for small groups
based upon their availability, or, 2) ask your prospective small group what
works best. The second works best unless it’s a general sign up at a Campus
Life meeting or at camp. Schedules may be difficult to juggle (working
around practice, work, laziness…both yours’ and your students’) and
you/they may have to bend a bit but it’s worth it.
Small groups can be a great place to model relational ministry to your volunteers.
Invite a volunteer to participate with you in facilitating a small group. After she has
experienced one small group, you can challenge her to lead her own group.
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8.5. Campus Life RMA: Club
DEFINITION
A weekly large group meeting, of more than 25 students, that is high energy, safe, fun,
and non-Christian friendly.
“He welcomed them and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:11
This chapter focuses on an overview of Campus Life club, including important
information on Campus Life crowd breakers, discussions, wrap-ups, an explanation of
crowd control (Campus Life style), an overview of the first few fall meetings of club
and finally the all important “Fall Check-List” to help you start your Campus Life career
off right.
8.5.1. WHY DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE CLUB AS AN RMA?
A. GIVES IDENTITY
The Campus Life staff person understands that club is just one Relational
Ministry Action in their weekly schedule, but it is one of the first contacts with
Campus Life for most students. The craziness of the weekly club meeting, and
its lively discussions, creates our image and is what most students know as
"Campus Life." It is, therefore, worth the effort it takes to make club the most
creative, well planned and most talked about meeting possible. To the
student body, Campus Life is the place to go.
B. CREATES COMMUNITY
One of the biggest challenges for high school students is finding a place
where they can just be themselves. At Campus Life, they can fit in without
feeling pressure to participate in activities they know are not in their best self
interest. The acceptance extended by the staff and the club's nonthreatening atmosphere gives students a place to “belong.”
C. PROVIDES OPPORTUNITY
After experiencing a meeting, students are more likely to participate in other
Campus Life activities, events, and trips, making Campus Life a place to get
involved. Club is the regular point of contact around which the other RMA's
naturally revolve.
D. ALLOWS DISCOVERY
Campus Life meetings give students a chance to discuss important issues
(club is a place to be heard), and to learn how a relationship with God
affects all areas of life (club is a place to get answers.)
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E. OFFERS CONTINUITY
Students may attend over 120 club meetings while in high school and will
learn to trust Campus Life as a safe place to grow in their relationship with
Christ. Student who stay at area community colleges and universities are also
the best candidates for volunteers and part-time staff which extends our
involvement in their lives for at least four more years.
8.5.2. HOW TO DO CLUB
A. PREPARATION
CURRICULUM
Knowing that meetings are well planned, socially safe, and consistent in
style and content gives students the confidence they need to invite their
friends. Not taking preparation seriously, therefore, is one of the biggest
mistakes a staff person can make. Staff can meet a bunch of students
and spend a lot of time getting to know them, but something is missing if
those same students don’t look forward to the weekly meeting, and do
their best to involve their friends.
Staff should select the topics for club meetings at least a few weeks in
advance. This gives them time to find relevant crowdbreakers and
illustrations from current events and the media. It also allows time for
better publicity, and for staff to think of the little extras (i.e. music, props,
decorations). Using a yearly curriculum helps organize issues into month
long series, leads naturally to gospel presentations, and saves staff from a
ton of last minute panic. We recommend the Lansing YFC Club
Curriculum as a great option. The Appendix contains an order form.
LOCATION
Meeting in a different student's home each week helps build relationships
with parents and makes it easier for the host student's friends to come
check out club. On the other hand, using the same location each week
makes publicity easier and gives students a place of their own. An
effective compromise is to use a "house of the month." When considering
a new location, be sure to visit the location to ensure the available room
will work for a meeting, before agreeing to have club there. In some
areas, the need for larger space will require giving up the benefits of
homes and finding a community room, or space in the school. Plan
ahead as club involves more students and don’t allow it to stagnate in
growth because you are out of space. Always be sure the location is safe
and non-Christian friendly.
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HOST HOME
Call your host/hostess the day before to make sure they are still expecting
you and will help the meeting run smoothly by eliminating distractions:
- Keep pets and younger children out of the room.
- Keep nearby radios, stereos, and televisions turned off.
- Have parents listen from another room if they are interested in what is
going on. Students share more honestly without parents present.
- Prepare for refreshments in another room to not distract students
during the discussion and wrap-up.
Always check with your host/hostess before moving furniture, using TVs,
VCRs and stereos or hanging anything on the walls. Plan ahead for
parking, offer to have students remove their shoes and always leave the
room as cleaner than you found it!
CHECK LIST
A couple days before club start a list of items needed including
crowdbreaker props, first timer cards, music and video equipment, paper,
pencils, flyers, trip registration forms, posters, banners, and prizes. Doing as
much advanced preparation as possible takes a lot of pressure off of club
day. It also allows you and your volunteers to be more focused on the
students rather than the show.
B. PROMOTION
SCHEDULING CLUB
WEEKLY
Ideally, meeting every week provides a consistent place for students
to belong, and keeps them involved and interested. Promotion is
easier because one meeting can build on the next and students don't
have to ask, “Is there Campus Life this week?”
EVENING
Evening is the time of day usually associated with social events.
Students are ready to relax after the day's pressures, and usually don't
have something else scheduled afterwards.
TIME
Years of experience have proven that a unique starting time, such as
7: 27pm, helps publicize club, and add to our creative image. The
club meeting should last between 75 and 90 minutes, allowing you to
tell parents you will always be done by 9:00pm.
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PUBLICITY
Although publicity alone rarely brings a new student to Campus Life,
good publicity does provide information about our meetings, events
and trips, and continually creates our image. Creativity and quality in
all our printed materials is important, but checking for accurate and
complete information is even more important. The Appendix contains
several great sample Club Flyers.
Keep a quality control checklist and be sure someone other than the
designer proofreads all materials. The checklist should include:
[ ] Accuracy – Look for correct dates, times, days of the week, year,
phone number, address. Also check for correct grammar and
spelling.
[ ] Directions/ Maps – Good directions can save you from dealing
with very frustrated parents. If a map is included be sure every
street name and number is correct, and use familiar landmarks to
help. Try using “N – S - E – W” as indicators.
[ ] Timeliness – You can tarnish your image quickly by sending out
last minute information, or promo for events that have already
happened. Your staff should plan the year out in advance as far
as when to have flyers for club as well as registration forms for
events and trips.
[ ] Design – Don’t be afraid to have someone on staff invest a little
bit of time in attractive layout of printed material. Again, it
constantly contributes to your image. Keep in mind that
professionalism is important. Publicity done right, lets the
community know you are serious about what you do.
School Policy varies as to what kind of publicity is allowed. Never
come close to even appearing like you are taking liberty with what
you’ve agreed to. As important as publicity is, it is never worth
creating bad relationships with the administration. Even when nothing
is allowed in the school, students can pass out flyers, and you can do
attractive mailers to regular club attendees. Shirts worn by staff and
students, stickers for notebooks and cars and whatever other printed
product your students will buy, all add to the Campus Life story, image
and name.
DEFINING CAMPUS LIFE completely in a printed brochure is a trick. A
standard statement to use in print, or conversation is: “Campus Life is
really impossible to describe. You really have to experience it for
yourselves. The meetings include a lot of fun, a discussion on a topic
of interest to high school students, and a short talk by staff relating that
topic to basic Christian principles.”
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OPEN "MEMBERSHIP" - Students can't “join” Campus Life and there are
no dues or membership fees. Everyone is welcome to come
whenever they can.
C. PRESENTATION
SET UP
Get materials together early in the day, or even the day before, and
arrive at least 60 minutes before club starts. This allows time for the staff to
review the meeting, get set up and be relaxed and ready to greet
students as they arrive. Some specific considerations:
- Informal Setting - the meeting happens, whenever possible, in a home
rather than a school or church. The seating is on a carpeted floor rather
than on rows of chairs. Although the meeting is carefully planned and
prepared (staff know exactly what is going to happen), there is a
structured casualness to all we do.
- Hang posters, banners and pictures of recent events and trips.
- Make flyers and registration forms available for all upcoming
events.
- Play popular music as students arrive to help them feel
comfortable and to provide a background of sound. Pre-recording
the background music allows you to select songs that fit with the
topic and don't include objectionable lyrics.
- Arrange the room so that students will feel like "this place is packed".
- The "front" of the room should be opposite the main entrance to reduce
the distraction of latecomers.
- Remove breakable items and extra furniture. Keep only furniture that
can help form the back row.
- Consider the use of a P.A. system with crowds of 50 or more.
- Turn on all available lighting.
- The temperature will inevitably rise 5-10 degrees when students start
packing in. If possible, start cooling the room if it is above 70 degrees.
- Ask the host student, student leaders or a volunteer staff members to
meet students at the door, take their coats, and direct them to the
meeting.
- Staff members or student leaders should also direct parking to keep cars
off lawns etc.
- Staff members or student leaders should welcome students, have them
highlight their name on a sign-in sheet and have first timers fill out an
address card. It is effective to have the sign-in sheet have four columns
(one for each class) and empty spaces for new names. The names of first
timers should be added each week so when they return their name is on
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the list. Some staff casually recognize first timers (“Jon’s here for the first
time let’s give him a hand”) and give them candy. One chapter puts a
“Campus Life” wrapper on a Hershey bar with a $10 coupon good for
any Campus Life trip.
LOGISTICS
Ask “who, will be where, to do what, when.” It’s one thing to say, “then
we’ll show the video” and a completely different thing to have staff (or
student leaders) all in place to turn off lights, turn on the TV or projector,
turn on the VCR or computer, turn on the sound if necessary and do the
intro. Advance preparation makes a much better show.
EFFECTIVE USE OF STAFF
You should do your best to involve as many staff as possible, as their
giftedness and training allows. Although you cannot afford to have an
important part of the meeting totally bomb, even new staff can prepare
and effectively handle a small assignment. Take the time to create
transition statements to draw attention to the next staff person. Often staff
will finish a part of a meeting, sit down and let the next person come to
the front and continue. Instead, say, “We thought it would be a good
idea to hear from someone with a lot of dating experience tonight, to
help us address some of the issues we discussed tonight. But we couldn’t
find anyone, so, instead, here’s Aaron.” This adds fun, keeps the meeting
moving and really hands the crowd off to the next staff person.
NON-CHRISTIAN FRIENDLY
Our goal is to have at least 50% non-Christians in attendance and to
create programming that communicates at their level. Avoid “churchy”
language and never assume any knowledge of the Bible. To say, “we all
know what happened to Noah,” makes those who don’t know feel totally
left out.
INVOLVEMENT
Campus Life is not a lecture series or just a staff performance. Meetings
need to allow students to laugh, be actively involved, and express their
opinions and ideas. Most meetings include crowdbreakers, discussion,
and a wrap-up (developed in the following chapters).
HANG-OUT TIME
Be careful not to overlook the importance of hangout time before and
after club. This is prime time to meet students, get to know them better,
and interact with them in a safe, non-threatening environment. You
should know your week’s schedule and intentionally seek out students to
set up appointments. Video games, a pool table, ping-pong, basketball,
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volleyball, etc. are great extras. Many clubs make good use of a local
pizza parlor or fast food spot as an after club hang out or to have students
meet you there because they could not make the club meeting.
SEE THE “GENERAL CLUB PREP CHECK LIST” attached at the end of this section.
8.5.3. WHY DO CROWDBREAKERS?
Crowdbreakers are activities designed to mix up the crowd and have fun. They are a
Campus Life trademark, and include everything from games involving everyone to
individual stunts, skits, fun songs, and creative media presentations. Few things about
Campus Life are as memorable. The 20-30 minutes of crowdbreakers are a critical
piece of creating a relaxed, welcoming environment.
A. BREAK DOWN BARRIERS
Crowdbreakers serve as "clique-breakers." Students will discuss more openly
having first experienced something fun together. Crowdbreakers get things
moving right away, gain the group's attention, and help students unwind after a
busy day. (Never forget all the positives that come from laughter!!)
B. BUILD IMAGE
Many students think of Campus Life as a “religious group” and may be turned
off by negative stereotypes and experiences from their past. The
crowdbreakers they hear about strongly refute that. Campus Life not only
sounds like fun, they find themselves wanting to check it out. Since there are
always new students coming, crowdbreakers are an important ingredient of
club throughout the year.
C. BUILD RAPPORT WITH STAFF
Crowdbreakers are not only fun for students, but also show that staff can have
fun. Staff are seen as part of the group rather than as adult "chaperones."
Crowdbreakers help staff build rapport - "relationship, especially one of mutual
trust or emotional affinity" (Webster).
8.5.4. HOW TO DO CROWDBREAKERS
A. PREPARATION
Standards:
When selecting crowdbreakers we must be careful not to violate our own
standards of good taste just to make students laugh. Also, they should
never humiliate or belittle a student. We also need to be protective of our
reputation knowing that crowdbreakers are reported (and even distorted)
to parents. (Sometimes it is better to embarrass staff instead of students.)
Selection:
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Instead of just being warm up exercises, crowdbreakers can often set up
the topic of the evening. Thoughtfully select the activities and use
creative introductions and transition statements. For a drinking meeting
crowdbreakers become a sobriety test, for a meeting on sex,
crowdbreakers can be a battle of the sexes, for a meeting on dating do a
take-off on the current TV dating show. Avoid the trap of only doing the
games you like best. A good mix of crazy stunts, messy games, surpriseending “burns”, game-show adaptations and large group mixers make
the best meetings.
Flow:
Although variety is the spice of life, and we like to mix things up and keep
students guessing, the order in which you do crowdbreakers is important.
Often this means:
- A quick opener to get everyone laughing
- A game that involves everyone and gets them moving. Beginning a
meeting on time with a crowdbreaker that someone can walk in on
and quickly join in on is a great way to keep kids coming on time,
while at the same time not making those students coming in late from
another activity feel like they shouldn’t come at all.
- An up-front event that begins to focus their attention for the
discussion starter
Staging:
Be sure to give some thought to how you set up the front of the room. If
you expect the crowd to respond, they need to be able to see and hear
everything that is happening.
Logistics:
Be sure staff or student leaders are ready with appropriate props, and
know their cues for lights, media, or music. Use a floor covering for any
potentially messy games, and remove messy props immediately after the
crowdbreaker (if you set a shaving cream pie off to the side thinking you
will get it later, you will “get it” later!). Plan ahead for any restrictions in
your meeting room such as low ceilings and nice carpeting to modify the
crowdbreaker, or even replace it with something that would work better.
Anticipate what could go wrong, and try to keep it from happening!
Music:
Having a recent graduate volunteer as a DJ is one of the best moves you
can make. They know the popular music, and enjoy selecting songs to
match the various parts a meeting, especially the crowdbreakers.
B. PARTICIPANTS
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Choose students who are willing to participate, and are from different cliques,
classes and personality types. Be sure to consider the type of crowdbreaker,
especially if it needs an outgoing student who will put on a good show. Be sure
to involve as many different students as possible from week to week, but never
pressure someone to be involved. An easy response to a student who hesitates
is simply, “that’s fine – you never have to do something you don’t want to at
Campus Life.” You definitely don’t want crowdbreakers to scare students away.
A good introduction encourages students to get involved. Instead of saying, “I
need three volunteers for another dumb Campus Life game,” say, “I need the
three bravest students here tonight” or, “I need the most verbal person in each
class,” or, “who would like to win…”
Thanking students for participating, making a big deal over how well they do
something, or even giving prizes for being a good sport, all encourage
participation, and create a culture of having fun together. Especially when a
“burn” is involved, make them the hero for getting burned not yourself the hero
for burning them.
C. PRESENTATION
If you believe a crowdbreaker is dumb and will never work-it probably won't! On
the other hand, if you're excited about it, almost ANYTHING can be fun! Your job
is simply to sell it. You will be more relaxed, confident, and effective selling if you
are well prepared. Here are some important selling tips:
Know the crowdbreaker
Surprise the students -not yourself! Carefully read the directions, and even
test it with a couple of friends if you’ve never seen it.
Explain the crowdbreaker completely
If students do not understand what to do, the crowdbreaker will not work.
Be sure to have everyone’s attention to avoid the frustration of repeating
directions, and to help keep the meeting moving. Practice giving the
directions out loud to make sure the right words come out to match what
you’re trying to explain. Practice on a friend and ask them if they would
understand what to do. Explain the crowdbreaker completely before
handing out props, or before students begin moving around. It is much
easier to talk to the entire group than to get the attention of several
groups spread out around the room. Say, “what you are going to do
when I say GO, but not until I say GO, is…”
Demonstrate what you are explaining
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Demonstrate the crowdbreaker whenever possible rather than just
describing it verbally. A picture paints a thousand words, and could save
you that many in your explanation of a game.
8.5.5. WHY DO DISCUSSIONS?
The discussion may be the most difficult 20–30 minutes of the meeting. Staff usually
become skilled at leading games, and public speaking, before learning to effectively
moderate a discussion. A good discussion is not a series of five questions with obvious
answers.
A. INVOLVES THE STUDENTS IN THE TOPIC
Students feel good about themselves when they are able to contribute and
others listen to their ideas. Staff giving genuine feedback can also encourage a
student. When students have the opportunity to put their rambling thoughts and
opinions into words, it often helps to clarify what they really believe. Discussions
demonstrate our commitment to allow students to decide for themselves, as
opposed to only listening to what we believe is true.
B. ENABLES STAFF TO "WIN THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD"
By listening first, staff discover what students are thinking and earn the right to
share their thoughts later.
C. BUILDS THE CREDIBILITY OF THE GOSPEL
Discussing a felt need of teenagers can lead naturally to a thought about how
Christian principles relate to that topic. The accumulative effect of the Bible
always having something relevant to say builds credibility for the relevance of a
personal relationship with Christ.
8.5.6. HOW TO LEAD DISCUSSIONS
A. USE DISCUSSION STARTERS
The discussion starter is the HOOK to get students thinking about the topic and is
the most important part of the Campus Life meeting. If you find yourself saying,
"My kids won't talk," you are probably not giving them something to talk about.
Good starters are creative (get their attention) and relevant (get them talking).
Use a variety of methods from week to week (keep them guessing):
- Skits
- Role-plays
- Media (T .V./ movie clips, short movie, music video, song lyrics).
- Initiative games/group experience
- Small Groups
- News items
- Original videos
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- Short stories, poems, readings.
- Questionnaire or survey
B. ASK EFFECTIVE QUESTIONS
Avoid questions that are too broad ("what's wrong with the world?”) or too
narrow ("do a lot of students in your school drink?"). If too big, it’s hard to know
how to respond; if too small, the answer is so obvious it’s not worth a response.
Screen your questions by asking yourself and others, “what are the possible
answers?"
The sequence of questions is also important. Start with general questions to get
the topic (including both sides of the story when appropriate) on the table. Ask
the why questions next, to better understand all sides of the issue, and end with
personal questions allowing for their solutions, or personal choices.
C. LET THEM TALK
The discussion leader's comments should be kept to a minimum. When asked a
question try to redirect it by throwing the question back to the group. Try to
involve as many students as possible and keep a few students from dominating
the discussion. Don't be shocked by what you hear and do not respond to,
correct or put down a student's opinion. It is the students' time to talk. If you find
yourself wanting to respond, instead ask, "who agrees or disagrees with that
statement,” or “does anyone see any potential problems with that position?” or
the least threatening, “what would those who disagree with that statement
say?”
D. KNOW YOUR SUBJECT
Choose topics well in advance and keep your eyes open for relevant news
items, statistics, quotes, or examples in the media and popular music. Although
the staff are careful not to answer questions, an occasional juicy fact or
example makes them a part of the discussion and can fuel further discussion.
E. KEEP IT MOVING
A good discussion is usually fast paced, but don't be afraid of short silences,
especially after a heavy discussion starter or a more personal question. Try to
take a question deeper by asking students:
- For further clarification
- If others agree/disagree and why
- To consider the other side of the issue
- For evidence or proof for their position
Don’t be afraid to move to the next question, when you need to, even if there
are several hands still in the air. Say, “two more comments.” A good discussion
ends with students still wanting to talk, so cut it off while it is still hot.
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F. USE HUMOR WISELY
Appropriate use of humor by staff and students helps keep club relaxed,
informal and fun. The staff needs to resist the temptation of becoming the
center of attention and keep students from competing to be the funniest in
club. Too much humor can make the discussion fragmented, frivolous and out
of control. On the other hand, too little humor will make a meeting academic
and dry.
G. KEEP CONTROL
Crowd control is often toughest during a good discussion. In addition to the tips
found in the Crowd Control section later in this section, make the following a
regular part of your discussions:
CAMPUS LIFE RULES OF DISCUSSION
Say “Campus Life has only two rules: 1] One person talks at a time
(after raising their hand). 2] You can disagree with someone's ideas
but don't cut on them, (or their mother, or the way their mother
dresses them)”.
“THE FLOOR”
Write the words “THE FLOOR” in large letters on a Nerf soccer ball. Say,
“To help you remember the first rule of discussion – “one person talks
at a time,” - the only person who may talk is the one who has “the
floor” (holding up the ball). Right now that person is me.” (Pause for
attention) “When you are done speaking you toss it carefully to the
person I select, who right now is _______” (toss the ball to student). The
floor works well only if you enforce both the careful toss and that no
one else talks. It is also most effective when not over used. Use it to
regain control. Don’t use it every week or even for every question
when you do use it.
8.5.7. HOW WE DO WRAP-UPS
The wrap-up does not try to “summarize” a 30-minute discussion. The students have
had the chance to express their opinions, now you have 6-8 minutes to share yours.
The wrap-up should feel like you have thought about this topic and have something
worthwhile for them to think about. It should not feel like, “now I’m going to give you
the correct answer.”
The wrap-up includes a practical plan of action and a verse or example from the Bible
that teaches a basic Christian principle (i.e. love your neighbor as your self), or shows
the relevance of a relationship with Christ. Ask yourself if the students have learned
something about the person, works or teachings of Christ.
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A. PREPARATION
- Using a monthly theme (i.e. “I’ll Be There for You”) helps publicity and allows
you to develop three or four issues related to the theme instead of just one.
Instead of one meeting on all relationships, a month on relationships allows
you to talk about peer pressure, friendship, family, and God. The
importance of relationships in our lives is enhanced, and God is addressed
as a natural part of our lives.
- Write it out word for word. Short talks are actually harder than long talks. In
written form, you can more easily edit unclear or unnecessary sentences.
Seeing the words will also help you begin to learn the wrap-up.
- Always memorize at least the first and last lines. Know where you are
starting and get started immediately without small talk. This grabs the
crowd’s attention and saves valuable time. Knowing your last line will
probably make the action plan, or major point more memorable to the
crowd, because you made it memorable to yourself.
- Limit notes to the major points on a small note card. Memorization helps
ensure that the wrap-up makes sense to you, let alone the students. It takes
time, but you will gain confidence and communicate more effectively.
- Practice stories, quotes, jokes and illustrations. Be careful that they illustrate
the wrap-up and don't become the wrap-up.
- When using or referring to a Bible verse or story, recognize that many
students have little Bible knowledge and need a full explanation. Avoid
saying, “We all know what happened…”
- Include an application. Ask yourself "What am I asking them to do? How
can they apply this thought to their life?”
B. PRESENTATION
- Be sure to leave enough time for the wrap-up. It is important! You don't
want to rush it and you don't want students leaving during it.
- Keep it simple (say one thing loud and clear). Although it is just one part of
the meeting, recognize its importance. You have the opportunity to share
something significant with a group including non-Christian students.
- Keep it short (6-8 minutes). Occasionally you may do a shorter discussion to
set the stage for a longer wrap-up where the topic begs for more than just
one point (how to have a relationship with Christ, abstinence, etc…) but
this should be the exception.
- Illustrate with current events, recent articles and media, or a particularly
good comment from the discussion. (Say, “I really agree with what Dave
said about _________.”) When using a provided curriculum, this will really
help “make it your own.”
- Speak as naturally about Christ, or the Bible, as anything else. The spiritual
truth is part of the content not a P.S.
- Handling interruptions during a wrap up – You’ve worked hard to make a
succinct, important, clear point that will almost always be compromised if
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you allow a student to interrupt with a question. Unless it’s relevant and
won’t sidetrack your whole point, say, “let me finish my thought right now,
and I’ll answer that question as soon as I’m done.”
- Usually (unless it detracts from you memorized final line) end with, “if you
want to talk more about this or anything else be sure to let the staff know,
we’d love to get together and talk.”
C. GOSPEL PRESENTATIONS
Emphasizing the relevance of a relationship with Christ from week to week
naturally leads to using the wrap-up to share the gospel a couple of times a
semester. It should feel natural to say something like, “If you’ve been to several
meetings you know each week we include a thought on how a relationship with
God relates to the topics we discuss. Some of you may be wondering ‘how do
you start a relationship with God in the first place?’ Three or four times a year
we answer that question.”
"React cards” are probably the best way to discover what students are thinking.
A “react card” should include: Name, space for comments or questions, four
choices for them to indicate their current relationship with Christ (1. I prayed
tonight to begin a relationship with Jesus. 2. I already have a relationship with
Jesus. 3. I am not ready to begin a relationship with Jesus. 4. I recommitted
myself to really follow Jesus), and a box to check if they want to talk with staff.
With everyone writing something, non-Christians have time to write their
questions, or check a box indicating they prayed to receive Christ and/or that
they'd like to talk further with staff. Christian students often write revealing
statements about their relationship with Christ or how effective the presentation
was from their perspective. In large clubs it may be effective to ask students
who accept Christ to move to another room for initial follow up.
8.5.8. HOW TO “CONTROL” THE CROWD
Campus Life staff often surprise adults with their ability to have a good time with
teenagers without tearing up the place. How do we do it? Our secret is a
combination of careful planning, a well-run meeting, and an attitude that allows
spontaneity but not anarchy. A high energy, safe, fun meeting will frequently require
crowd control skills.
A. QUALITY "SHOW"
"The best defense is a good offense." Put time and energy into preparing and
presenting a good show, and you'll spend less time and energy on crowd
control. The staff person upfront should be able to do their part without
interruption. Other staff and student leaders should be prepared to handle
props, clean up, turn lights and media on and off etc.
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THE LAW OF MEETING DYNAMICS
Do it, don't tell them what you're going to do! Don’t explain what is going to
happen and lose the crowd’s interest. Don’t waste words explaining,
rationalizing, or apologizing for what you are about to do. Dive right in, keep it
moving, and create the feeling that they dare not turn away for a minute or
they’ll miss something important. Throughout the meeting:
Say, "I need two volunteers from each class..."
NOT - "Now we are going to play a really fun game that you all will
really like..."
Say, "What are the issues the key character had to deal with?"
NOT - "Now it is time to do a discussion and get your answers to
these three questions..."
Say, "Picture this..."
NOT - "Now I'd like to wrap up tonight's meeting with some of my
thoughts to relate the topic to Christian principles.
B. STAFF TEAM
Staff should sit in the crowd near students that might cause disruptions. Remind
volunteers and student leaders to be part of the solution instead of part of the
problem. Because student leaders know you best they are actually the most
likely to create disruptions. On the other hand, if they respectfully stay tuned in
to what is going on their friends most likely will follow their example.
C. SURVIVAL TIPS TO KEEP CONTROL
- Stand as close to the students as possible. You should be close enough to
easily kick the foot of the person in the front row.
- Don’t start until you have their attention. If you don’t require their attention
to begin with you will never get their attention. Don’t talk if students are
talking. There may be a few uncomfortable pauses at first, but a totally out
of control club isn’t particularly comfortable either.
- Make good eye contact. If nervous, or not well prepared you will find
yourself looking over the crowd while trying to remember what to say next.
If relaxed and prepared you will more naturally make eye contact with
different students.
- Be natural, using a normal or slightly louder than normal voice. If you find
yourself shouting over the noise, it’s probably mostly because you’re
shouting.
- Refer to students by name. This makes the tone of club more relational and
we all love to be recognized by name.
D. SURVIVAL TIPS WHEN YOU LOSE CONTROL
As club approaches the point of out of control, (which a good club will regularly
do), there are still effective responses other than yelling or coming across like an
irritated adult authority figure (even if you are one at the moment).
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- Use a long "pause,” then continue talking in a softer voice.
- Casually request their attention. Say, “Hey, listen up everyone” or “Help me
out.” Train student leaders to respectfully respond when they realize
you’re trying to regain control.
- Use a quiet “shhhhhh" which can be strengthened when joined by a few
student leaders.
- If a regular student is causing the disturbance give him/her the "look"
(usually followed by a smile).
- Direct attention to one student (“Patti has a comment and I want everyone
to hear it. Ready…? O.K, Patti” or “That was a really good point would
you please repeat it as soon as every one is listening”).
- Refer to an area of the room and ask for their attention, which will usually
get everyone else’s too. Say, “As soon as the girls on the blue couch are
with us (pause, continue in quieter voice), we’ll continue.”
- Single out a student by name, only if you have a relationship with them and
are confident of their positive response. Even then, use this sparingly,
quietly and when they are really being a major distraction.
- When a student is consistently a crowd control problem, they need to be
confronted one on one outside of club. Acknowledge the good energy
they bring to club, but also the specific behavior that is unacceptable.
Include the fact that they will have to be asked to not come if they can’t
fit in and be a positive part of the meeting.
8.5.9. STARTING CAMPUS LIFE MEETINGS
8.5.9.1.
THE ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
WHEN:
Begin as soon as you have enough contacts to make it happen. You should know
100 students by name and be fairly confident that at least 25 will show up. (As a
general rule, for every student that comes to club, you will know at least two other
students who are interested, but unable to attend for various reasons.) If less than
25 show up, postpone the Kick Off and schedule a second organizational meeting
a week later, challenging students to bring a friend with them.
WHERE:
Use the home of a student well accepted by the majority of the student body and
that is easy to find. It will help you, for promotional purposes, to have the first
regular meeting, following the Kick Off, back at the same location.
WHY:
Although you tell students the Organizational meeting isn’t a “real” meeting, you
give them the flavor of a club meeting, while building enthusiasm for the next
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week's Kick Off and motivating them to bring friends. You are battling the
assumption that Campus Life is only for a certain type of student. Make the
evening fun and let them see it is safe to bring anyone.
WHAT:
CROWDBREAKER
One or two of your favorites including a good mixer which lets them get up
and meet other students and feel like they are a part of the group.
DISCUSSION
Existing Campus Life yearly curriculums include organizational meetings,
which introduce a theme for the year through a creative discussion. You may
also discuss the school, and what topics would interest their friends.
VIDEO
Show a Campus Life promo video (if available use the previous year's video and
save the new one for the "Kick Off"). Make your own or use someone else's even
if their events and trips are different than yours. Following the video, emphasize
the trips and events you will be doing and make a flyer of major trips available.
WRAP-UP
Your talk should include a brief description of Campus Life and a challenge for
them to help make it happen.
“Campus Life is really impossible to describe. You really have to
experience it for yourself. Our weekly meetings will include games, just
like tonight, and a discussion of an issue important to you like: peer
pressure, self-image, dating, sex, family, or friends. Staff will usually share a
few thoughts as well. Everything we do emphasizes having a balanced
life: mentally, physically, spiritually and socially. One thing's for sure Campus Life will be the most unique club in your school."
“Here are three ways you can help Campus Life be the best it can be.
INVITE – How many of you came the first time (or “tonight” if a new club)
because a friend invited you? (Pause for a show of hands.) It’s true over
90% of the time! Students come the first time because another student
invites them! Even better than just inviting them, try to actually BRING them
with you. It can be a little scary to walk into a club setting alone the first
time. You can make it much easier if you are with them. And better yet,
when you get here make them feel WELCOME. Don’t leave them standing
in the corner alone and run off to talk to your friends. Hang with them and
introduce them to people if they don’t know them.”
“Invite, Bring, Welcome. If that’s what it takes, let’s all do it!”
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KICK OFF PROMOTION
"Next week is the opportunity for every student at _________High School to hear
about Campus Life at the official Campus Life 'Kick Off. ' Here's how you can
help get as many students as possible there. (Announce kickoff details.)
POSSIBLE PROMOTIONAL TOOLS:
- Flyers
- Announcements
- Posters
- Tickets - Using tickets gives the Kick Off visibility and helps students commit
to being there. Encourage students to sell tickets by entering their name
in a drawing for every ticket they sell. On the other hand, tickets could
keep some students away because they think they have to buy one in
advance, or because they don’t have money.
- Informational booth during lunch
- Article in school paper
8.5.9.2.
KICK OFF
WHEN:
One week following a successful Organizational meeting.
WHERE:
The same home as the Organizational meeting may work if it is large enough. For
students to really believe you expect a bigger number, however, and to make it as
easy as possible for a new student to come, it is usually best to move to the school
cafeteria, or a popular local park.
WHY:
To let as many students as possible experience the unique atmosphere of a
Campus Life event and let them know that Campus Life has begun, and is open to
all students.
WHAT:
CROWDBREAKERS/GAMES
The Kickoff is basically a high-energy show with several crowdbreakers, mixers
and skits taking up at least 45 minutes. Careful preparation and execution is
important to make the kickoff a good experience. Class competition is a good
way to build enthusiasm and encourage participation.
VIDEO
Show a Campus Life promo video and highlight events and trips planned for this
school year.
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SAMPLE WRAP-UP
“Hopefully tonight gives you an idea of what Campus Life is all about. We will
do some crazy activities, like tonight, and also give you a chance to talk about
an important issue in your life like: self image, peer pressure, love, sex, family, or
friends. Campus Life also does incredible trips and events. Through the
meetings, trips and events, our goal is to help you develop a balanced life.
There are four areas to a balanced life: Mental, Physical, Spiritual and Social.
You will be challenged mentally as you express your opinions and listen to
others; You will be challenged physically with everything from Jel1o bobbing to
mountain climbing (or use a couple of local examples); Since the spiritual area is
often the most ignored, we are not afraid to consider what God has to say
about the topics we discuss; And socially, well, that's what most students say
keeps them coming back.
Campus Life happens from 7:27 to 8:57 each week. I hope you'll make it a
regular part of your schedule and encourage your friends to check it out too. Be
sure to let them know you can't join Campus Life, just come whenever you can.
Next week we start our first series of the year called ……”
DOOR PRIZES
Use the tickets to give away as many prizes as you can get donated. (Include a
spot for name and phone number on the tickets to follow up new students. Do
not add them to a mail list until they actually show up at a meeting.) Also draw
for the winner of the ticket sale contest if you did one.
Announce the winning team and let them eat first.
FOOD
Although Campus Life made the "Burger Bash” famous, Pizza is much easier to
plan for, less expensive and better to promote. Although food is always an
asset, consider free food, like a cookie buffet, as an alternative if you’d rather
not charge for your kick-off. Get key students and supportive parents to donate
the cookies.
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GENERAL CLUB PREPCHECKLIST
At least Two Weeks in Advance
[ ] Nail down club location
[ ] Recruit adult volunteers (if additional volunteers are needed)
To Do The Week Prior To Club
PROMOTION
[ ] Poster at this week’s club for next week
[ ] Posters up at school
[ ] Announcement to the school at the end of this week
[ ] Contact key kids and encourage them to bring friends
FOOD
[ ] Line up students/parents to bring snacks next week
CLUB PREPARATION
[ ] Check for any preparation that needs to be done before day of club
[ ] Meet with volunteers and assign (explain) meeting parts
[ ] Line up students if there is a skit that needs to be rehearsed
DAY OF CLUB PROMOTION
[ ] Walkthru at school, (hand out flyers)
[ ] Make sure announcement is in and posters are up at school!
CLUB PREPARATION
[ ] Props, make a list of needed items and make sure you have them ALL
[ ] Make sure you are well prepared to do your part of the meeting!!!!!
[ ] Set-up club room
[ ]First timer cards/pencils
[ ] Campus Life brochures, latest student mailing etc.
[ ] Upcoming Trip, Event, Activity information/permission slips
[ ] Campus Life T –Shirts, hats, stickers, etc
PRE-CLUB STAFF MEETING
[ ] Critique last week's club (what can we do better tonight?)
[ ] Go over next week's meeting and assign parts
[ ] Review tonight's meeting
[ ] Pray
[ ] Make sure you're done before kids start arriving
AFTER CLUB
[ ] Intentionally set up RMA's for the week i.e. appointments, small groups,
lunches, etc.
[ ] Props -make sure to take everything you brought.
[ ] Attendance -as soon as possible write down attendance (or look over your
sign in sheet to make sure everyone is on it, especially new kids).
[ ] Clean up -leave club location as neat and clean or cleaner than when you
arrived.
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[ ] Post-Club building time- arrange with local restaurant to provide food
discounts and a good hang out place.
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THINGS TO DO
118
WEEK
Last week of
August
CLUB MEETING
Student
Leadership
First week of
September
(Labor Day)
No club
[ ] Prepare for Organizational Meeting (see
General club prep)
[ ] Start on Kick Off preparation
- Tickets (optional)
- Arrange for Pizza deal (or other food)
- Purchase supplies
- Line up prizes (donation/coupons from
local restaurants and businesses)
- Line up additional adults (if needed)
[ ] Volunteer staff meeting
- go over up-coming meetings
[ ] Student Leaders call to invite students
involved in Camps Life last year to the
Organizational meeting
[ ] Continue 50 new kids list
[ ] Relational Ministry Actions!
Second week of
September
Organizational
Meeting
[ ] Finish Kick Off prep
- Circulate flyers/poster
- Ticket sales (optional)
[ ] Paint a Campus Life banner with students
[ ] Line up club location for October meetings
[ ] Continue with 50 new kids list
[ ] Organize Student Leaders to personally invite
students not at Organizational Meeting
[ ] Relational Ministry Actions!
Third week of
September
Kick Off
[ ] Complete 50 new kids list
[ ] General club prep for next week
[ ] Relational Ministry Actions
Fourth week of
September
First club
[ ] General Prep for this week and next
[ ] Post photo’s from the Kick Off
[ ] Announce give away at next weeks club
(Registration for your winter trip)
[ ] Relational Ministry Actions!
[ ] Begin list of 50 new kids
[ ] Attend first football game
[ ] Make administrative contact
[ ] Finish screening/recruiting student leaders
[ ] Finish screening / recruiting volunteers
[ ] Nail down locations for September club
meetings
[ ] Relational Ministry Actions
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8.6. Campus Life RMA: Strategic Relationships
Definition:
The phone rang on Saturday morning and the familiar voice on the other end of the
line belonged to a Campus Life student. “There was another party last night… a big
party… probably 500 kids.” The call reminds us that the drinking problem in local high
schools is at an epidemic level.
Like any good youth worker you hurt when you find out who attends these parties and
you become upset at the people who provide the alcohol. In this case it so
happened that a local quick mart had been named as the source not only for this
particular party but for many others as well. It is amazing, the amount of information
freely given to Campus Life directors. Students sometimes forget just whom they are
talking to when they offer information. Within a few short weeks this quick mart lost its
liquor license and other stores in the area were given warning that sales to minors
would not be tolerated. This action would not have happened if it had not been for
the relationships built between Campus Life and local authorities including school
administrators, parents, civic clubs and others who all care about kids in their
community.
As you know, Campus Life is a relational ministry. But our relationships do not stop with
students. In actuality you will find yourself surrounded by opportunities to develop
strategic relationships, as both a professional and a minister, which will challenge and
assist you in the development of your ministry. We define strategic relationships this
way:
"Cultivating relationships in the secular community with parents and professionals who
impact young people.”
8.6.1. WHY DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIPS AS AN RMA?
You may be asking yourself “Did I read that right? In the secular community?” Yes
your eyesight is fine. It is very important for us to realize that we are not the only
people in our community who care about kids. Many other adults care very deeply
about their community and about their neighbors. Though they may not always
engage in issues of faith, they are concerned that students develop character, a
sense of belonging and the ability to make good decisions. We care about these
issues as well. Therefore, the students in our communities become the common
ground upon which our strategic relationships are built.
There are two main reasons why building strategic relationships is important. First, we
are ministers. And although we gravitate toward young people we need to
remember that Jesus has called us to reach the lost... wherever they are and by all
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possible means. The Biblical implication is that the janitor at our local high school or
the parent of one of our club kids could be someone Jesus wants to use us to reach.
Secondly, we are youth experts. We have something to bring to the table. We are an
organization with an incredible history and an organization with very gifted people.
Strategic relationships will not only benefit our ministry but could also provide the
opportunity for eternal benefit to those with whom we partner.
Seeing individuals as opportunities instead of obstacles is key to our success. Some of
the best proponents and partners of Campus Life are those willing to stand behind the
Campus Life director and the program. Many of these men and women come from
the secular community. Whether he/she is a principal who holds the key to our
gaining access to the campus, or a Jewish parent of a club kid, or the owner of a bus
company we are called to love and to serve, these are incredible opportunities for us
and for the Kingdom.
8.6.2. HOW DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE STRATEGIC TRALTIONSHIPS?
When we go to find strategic relationships there are two natural, logical locations: the
campus, or the public schools, and the community, those around us. Naturally,
schools become the number one site for which strategic relationships can be found for
Campus Life. Let’s first discuss the strategic relationships at your local high school.
8.6.2.1.
AT THE LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL
Campus Strategic Relationships: Educators, for the most part, are some of the best
unsung heroes in our society. They are dedicated youth workers, whose passion for
youth drives them out of bed every morning.
The School Administration: There are two very distinct groups here. There are the
school administrators (principals, vice principals, superintendents… etc.) and those
who work in the schools administrative office (secretaries and janitors.)
Administrators have no problem with Campus Life being a Christian organization as
long as they know we are willing and able to honor limits and boundaries in regards to
our conversations about faith with students. A few years back, Mike, a Campus Life
director from California, met with a high school Vice-Principal to discuss coming on
board as an assistant wrestling coach. The administrator told Mike he would be
watched very closely. A few years earlier, the school had to escort a parachurch
worker off campus because he overstepped his boundaries and began proselytizing
on campus. Mike explained that this would not be a problem, so he began coaching.
Within a few months, Mike was not only coaching, but he was also invited to visit the
campus regularly during lunch and to chaperone the school dances. Soon he was
also a guest speaker in health classes concerning teen suicide and was called upon to
assist the guidance counselors during a school tragedy. In the nine years Mike worked
with that school, he never shared the gospel on school grounds. But the relationships
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he made with administrators and students helped grow his club to over three hundred
students, many of whom did hear the gospel through Campus Life. Mike’s story
teaches us that administrators are quick to trust us when we display a respect for their
boundaries and when we have no hidden agendas.
The next group found in the school administrative office is the school secretarial and
maintenance personnel. These people are very hard working and very under
appreciated. As you continue your involvement with the school you will find that most
of your face-to-face dealings will be with these people.
It is extremely important that we care for those we are in contact with. A gift, card or
even just an out of the way “Thank you” goes a long way in showing care and
concern for those in the schools administrative office.
Teachers & Coaches: One veteran Campus Life director has been working with the
Student Activities Director at the local high school for almost three years. The Student
Activities Director knew a lot about Campus Life. The Campus Life volunteers
chaperoned dances, helped with float building for homecoming, and overall became
a vital part of the schools activities. The SA Director had booked a motivational
speaker for a school assembly program. Early in the morning of the scheduled event,
he got word that the speaker was unable to come. He immediately called on
Campus Life for help. Within an hour and a half the Campus Life director was speaking
at the school assembly. Campus Life was viewed as an asset to the school because a
relationship had evolved into a partnership.
Evolved… kind of a weird word, but one that is important in building relationships.
Relationships take time. In the beginning, very few schools will permit access or allow
our programs to be a part of the campus community. However, in time, with much
patience and due diligence you will notice just how much Campus Life is welcomed
as an asset to the school. See the Appendix for a great article on serving your school
community.
Other Campus Relationships: There are other strategic relationships very helpful in the
public school system. There may, for example, be councils made up of selected
representatives from the school, law enforcement agencies, the school board, the city
government, parents and clergy. This can be an invaluable forum to work along side
some wonderful and passionate people who care about kids.
The school transportation director for a local school district is another significant person
in the lives of teens. These folks may be willing to consider contracting with an outside
agency for trips and events during non-school times.
8.6.2.2.
WITHIN THE COMMUNITY
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We have been discussing relationships that are found in and around the public school
campus; however, there are many strategic relationships to be found within the
community as well. Community people include pretty much everyone: local business
owners, parents of club kids, law enforcement officers and possibly other youth
organizations with which a collaborative relationship could be built. What do these
relationships look like?
Parents: Probably no other strategic relationship will bring you the greatest joy and
sometimes, the greatest pain than with the parents of Campus Life kids. Check out
the following story as an example of what can happen when things go good:
Pete was the father of two girls involved in Campus Life. He and his wife were
un-churched but great people none-the-less. Pete was a “God bless America,
Good ol’ Boy.” He was a good man and had a belief in a higher power. He just
wasn’t sure he needed to acknowledge that God wanted to have a
relationship with him. He loved his girls and he valued what Campus Life stood
for. He wanted to serve Campus Life because of his daughters’ involvement.
He attended some trips, helped provide security at events, offered his home for
team meetings and small group gatherings, provided recommendations about
Campus Life to school officials and other parents. Pete and the local Campus
Life director became good friends, enjoying fishing, having lunch, and watching
football games. He even attended a Campus Life trip serving as the cook!
During the trip both of his daughters made commitments to Jesus Christ as Pete
watched from the back of the room. With tears streaming down his face, Pete
wondered, “Is this friendship-thing with God real?” Today Pete’s daughters have
graduated from college, one from a Christian university. Pete and his wife are
attending church and Pete still lives as a faithful “Good ol’ Boy.”
Pete’s story brings up a few lessons that we can learn regarding strategic relationships
with parents. First, reaching the student may also provide opportunity for you to reach
the whole family. It is imperative that we schedule specific events, which can include
parents or even the entire family. Try hosting a few “Parent Night” clubs or even a
“Help, my child is a teenager!” seminar. These types of events help initiate
relationships between you and the parents and serve to assure them that you are
connected to a solid, useful organization.
Second, it is okay for us to involve pre-Christian parents in our ministry. We are not
suggesting you hire pre-Christian adults for ministry staff or volunteer ministry positions.
Rather we hope you will allow secular adults the opportunity to serve with Campus
Life. It gives you another pool of resources to accomplish the ministry. It can also open
their hearts to the life-changing message we proclaim.
Business Owners/Managers: Businesses and business owners or managers can be a
vital and strategic relationship for Campus Life. Many businesses view students as
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potential customers. That’s why Nike, Blockbuster, Old Navy and others target their
marketing to teenagers! Teenagers have the cash and they spend billions each year.
Other businesses view Campus Life as a potential consumer and boy do we spend. Ski
trips, pizza bashes, banquets, and transportation -- It amazes me just how many
businesses we actually work with.
Check out this example from the field…Jim owned a charter bus company. We
needed one bus and decided to hire Jim for the trip. We had a good time together.
He allowed us to be flexible with our departure times and he never got too concerned
or stressed about having 40 kids on a bus for nine hours. We would definitely use him
again… and again. All in all we were one of Jim’s best customer for nine years. We
used his business six or seven times each year, recommending his services to others.
He always gave us the cheapest rate even when we needed more buses than he
owned. Campus Life involved and appreciated Jim. Kids loved him. He skied with us,
he rafted with us, and he went to Mexico with us. We allowed him the opportunity to
serve and serve he did.
This is more than a good business story. This is about friendship. Partnerships or “cobranding” is also a good thing in developing a relationship with a business. It’s a “you
scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” kind of scenario. Another example: A local juice
smoothie company was the newest and hottest hang out place for catching a quick,
nutritional snack or lunch. Kids were always there. We would meet there all the time
and the management would get used to seeing Campus Life staff members with kids.
Eventually we approached the manager and suggested that Campus Life could
provide her with quality leads on potential employees. She was thrilled, and a
partnership was born. We helped her staff her business with the brightest and best
students and the Campus Life Staff received free smoothies. About a month went by
and she came up with a proposal of her own for Campus Life. It was about “cobranding” her company with Campus Life. She saw that the core values of her
company matched many of Campus Life’s values. She then proceeded to create a
way to communicate our partnership with the public: the smoothie card. It was a
plastic card that would fit into a person’s wallet. On one side it talked about her
company and about the importance of “living right” nutritionally. One the other side it
talked about Campus Life and the importance of “living right” through a balanced
lifestyle. The owner of the card would receive a dollar discount every time he or she
presented the card in her store. We would sell the card for ten dollars, which we then
used to help raise money for trip scholarships. This also translated into free advertising
in the school newspaper and yearbook for Campus Life.
There are many ways and opportunities to meet and develop strategic relationships
with business owners. Being a frequent consumer is one, much like the relationship
described above with Jim. “Co-branding” is a definite possibility with businesses in
your area that share core values. Getting involved with Rotary, Kiwanis or other
service clubs is great as well. Many business owners and managers care about kids
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as well as the community. Step out a bit and give them the opportunity to care in
partnership with you.
Strategic relationships are vital to the success and longevity of our ministry. Whether
you are looking to build a partnership with the school or a business or you want
parents to see you as an asset to their family, relationships take time. Be patient,
prayerfully consider each opportunity and move forward… you’ll be glad you did…
and so will they!
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8.7 Campus Life: Student Leadership
Definition:
Christian students who are committed to influencing their friends for
Christ through YFC-related ministries.
8.7.1. WHY DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE STUDENT LEADERSHIP AS AN RMA?
•
SHARED OWNERSHIP OF THE CAMPUS LIFE MISSION
When it comes to reaching students with the gospel, our mission is to be about
reaching “every”. A Campus Life director alone can impact only a limited
number of students during a limited number of hours. Student leaders are in
school five days a week and can greatly multiply our presence and enhance
our efforts. A very high percentage of their time revolves around the mission
field!
•
POSITIVE PEER INFLUENCE
It is always easier to take a stand when you’re not alone. Student leadership
serves as a place for Christian students to encourage one another, pray for one
another, and build positive relationships with each other. The positive
relationships that are established will in turn attract other students to Campus
Life. “Your strong love for each other will prove to the world that you are my
disciples” (John 13:35, LIV).
•
TRAINING AND EQUIPPING STUDENTS TO REACH THEIR FRIENDS FOR CHRIST.
Many Christian students have a desire to influence their friends for Christ.
Student leadership takes this a step farther and provides encouragement and
training on how to effectively reach their friends for Christ.
8.7.2. HOW DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE STUDENT LEADERSHIP?
Use the following six principles to create an effective, efficient student
leadership team in your Campus Life ministry.
8.7.2.1. ESTABLISH YOUR TEAM
When pursuing students to be involved at the leadership level, it is important to
look for students who:
1. Have a growing relationship with Christ.
2. Exhibit positive moral character and are respected by their peers.
3. Have a heart to see their friends come to know Christ.
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RECRUITMENT STRATEGY: Where do I find these kinds of students?
The Church
•
In theory, ready-made Christian leaders can be found within strong evangelical
churches and youth groups in your area. Area youth pastors can recommend
the names of solid student leaders. Communication with the area youth pastors
is key not only for providing names of potential student leaders, but also to
explain that Campus Life uses student leaders for evangelism, and is not trying to
steal kids from their youth groups.
Inside/ Outside Recommendations
Other sources of student names are:
•
•
•
Adults (parents, teachers, volunteers). Any adult aware of the mission of YFC
and who knows Christian kids with the potential to become leaders on their
campus.
Current student leaders. Student leaders who understand the mission can be
given the opportunity to refer their peers to you as potential student leaders.
Home grown students. Look for those students who have become Christians or
have been discipled directly through the ministry of YFC.
RECRUITMENT STATEGY: When should I recruit student leaders?
•
Student leadership recruitment is an ongoing process, so always be on the
lookout. However, there are specific times of the year that are key to student
leader recruitment.
1. Spring and Summer: These two times of the year are critical when it
comes to student leader recruitment because both give you
adequate time to build your group dynamic in preparation for next
school year.
2. January: Right after Christmas break is a good time to add those
students whom you may have been discipling over the past few
months and feel that they are now ready to step up to the
leadership level.
RECRUITMENT STRATEGY: How can I make sure I’m getting the right kids?
•
SCREENING/ INTERVIEW PROCESS (See appendixes A and B at the end of this
section)
•
CONNECT WITH YOUR TEAM
How can I build a strong bond with my leaders?
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•
CONTACTING: As we visit school, go to practices and ballgames, we always
need to be working on our relationships with student leaders.
1. At School: connect with your Leaders during lunch, before or after
school to talk to them, and to meet their friends.
2. Practices or Games: attend activities they are involved in or take
your Student Leaders with you when you go out to various events.
This can be a great time with your leaders as well as a great way to
meet other students.
•
BUILDING TIMES: These times are designed to be more intentional times with your
student leaders with the purpose of sharing an experience and building a
memory. The following are just a few suggestions of some creative and
memorable building times:
- Overnighters/ Getaways
- Paint-balling
- Eating out
- Game nights
- Shopping at the mall…
•
APPOINTMENTS: Appointments provide the opportunity to meet with student
leaders individually and find out more of their story. Appointments are great for
finding out more about your student leader’s spiritual journey and where they
currently are in their relationship with Christ. Appointments are also a good time
to strategize with them about impacting their friends and their school for Jesus
Christ.
8.7.2.2. ESTABLISH ADULTS AS MINISTRY PARTNERS
Research continues to point out the necessity of adult involvement in the
development of our student leaders. Adults are essential to the fulfillment of our
purpose in discipling and training our Student Leaders effectively.
Research has established that adults function in four ways that contribute significantly
to the evangelistic effectiveness and development of student leaders (see Rahn &
Linhart, 2000, Contagious Faith: Empowering student leadership in youth evangelism.
Group Publishing).
•
Visionaries: they understand that student leaders are persons worthy of disciplemaking investment themselves BEFORE they are the means to get evangelism
done. The best adults invest considerable energy in their student leaders.
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•
Models: they recognize that they have a catalytic role in modeling evangelistic
values among their teens. Research shows that student leaders who saw adults
lead others to Christ most frequently were more likely to be the most effective in
their own evangelism. This result dramatically multiplied if student leaders saw
other teens model this kind of evangelism. Thus, adults need to recognize that
their students need to see models and be willing to be their first models they
observe, recognizing that they won’t be the most influential models once teens
“catch evangelism” from their peers.
•
Programmers: adults should create structures that guarantee a mature adult is
meeting at least weekly with each student leader. These meetings do not
necessarily need to be individualized, but one of the strongest research findings
links the frequency of these life-faithfulness coaching times to the fruitfulness of
student leaders in evangelism. Adults also take on the responsibility of providing
consistently appropriate, distinctly Christian programs, which their students can
have confidence in as they invite their friends to hear the gospel.
•
Resources: adults function to teach the Bible to their student leaders, and
create structures for their continued growth and development in the faith.
8.7.2.3. ESTABLISH STRUCTURE
Now that you’ve established your team, the next important step is to establish
what your meetings will look like.
Where Should We Meet?
Location is a key decision when establishing the structure of your student leader
meetings. Your location should be large enough to accommodate your group
and it should allow for growth as well. Another important aspect of your
meeting place is that it should give you an element of privacy that keeps you
away from potential distractions. Finally, look for a location that will allow you
to be creative in your programming. The following are a few suggestions:
1. School: Meeting at the school is usually considered the best option
because students are planning on being there already.
2. Church: Meeting at a church can be a good option in that it can often
be a place away from distractions.
3. Homes: Meeting at someone’s home can be good in that it gives a
comfortable feel to your meetings.
4. The Campus Life Building allows you to have ready access to resources.
When Should We Meet?
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The time of your meetings is also an important factor to consider. In considering
the time of your meetings one of the most important questions to ask yourself is,
“ What time will enable me to have maximum participation from my student
leaders?” The following are some suggestions:
1. Before School: Mornings rarely are filled with potential activities that
would conflict with a student’s participation.
2. After School: After school may mean your students are more awake, but
the potential for conflict is extremely high at this time.
3. Evening: Evenings are an option, but again, it may be a time that is filled
with more potential for conflict.
4. Lunch Time: Lunch Time can be a great option if you can find an
appropriate room in which to meet, e.g. the choir room.
How Often Should We Meet?
Student leadership should be done on a weekly basis. Having weekly contact
with your student leaders gives you the opportunity to build your team, to
provide accountability to your mission, and to adequately train your leaders.
How Long Should The Meetings Last?
The length of your meetings will probably be directly affected by where and
when you choose to meet. The suggested length of a Student Leader meeting
is anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Make sure when determining length
that you give yourself plenty of time to be creative and to accomplish your
intended purpose. Make sure you don’t error on the side of making your
meetings too long either. Don’t try to do so much in your meetings that you
need any more than an hour to accomplish it.
8.7.2.4. ESTABLISH A GAME PLAN
Structure answers the questions “where?” and “when?” while a game plan
answers the question “what?” Establishing a game plan means establishing a
purpose and a direction for your meetings.
PURPOSE
A purpose can be specified for your group as long as it falls within the realm of
the overall purpose of student leadership. Developing a purpose for your group
helps you to begin with the end in mind.
DIRECTION
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Once you have your purpose in mind, you can begin to map out how you will get
there. Establishing your direction requires three important elements. 1) goal setting
2) developing curriculum and 3) developing a calendar. (See appendix D)
AGREEMENT ON PURPOSE & DIRECTION
Finally, it is important to get your student leaders on the same page. To help
them understand and embrace the purpose and direction you will take, it is
important to establish a written contract or covenant to which they can agree.
8.7.2.5. ESTABLISH TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Throughout the year it is important to provide opportunities for your students to
find real, practical, hands on training on how to effectively reach their friends for
Christ. Opportunities like this can be found in student leader getaways,
conferences or retreats.
WHY GETAWAYS?
Student leader getaways are smaller events such as camping trips, out of town
excursions, overnight hotel stays, lock-ins at a church, or even sleepovers at
home. These smaller getaways offer opportunities that help build strong and
effective student leader teams. The extended time you get to spend with your
leaders affords you the opportunity to zero in on spiritual issues, build team unity,
and provide practical training in a variety of areas.
WHY CONFERENCES & RETREATS?
Conferences and retreats are larger scale events often done in cooperation
with other student leader groups from other schools. These types of events
create a bigger picture and provide a variety of training for students on different
levels. Conferences and retreats provide a place to build enthusiasm. The
enthusiasm and training help encourage the student leaders to go back to their
schools, share their faith with their friends, and make a difference on their
campus.
8.7.2.6. ESTABLISH “OUT REACH” OPPORTUNITIES
Our overall purpose is to develop and train students to be influencers in their
schools. In order to help them actually reach their friends for Christ we need to
provide them with opportunities to do that. The following are some
opportunities you can provide your students.
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HEALTHY CLUB
One of the best things we can do for our student leaders is to provide them with
an exciting, safe, non-threatening place where they can invite their friends to
hear the gospel presented. Club should be a place where our student leaders
feel comfortable and excited to invite a non-Christian friend to on any given
night.
PARTICIPATION IN RMA’S
Our student leaders should be given the opportunity to join us as we carry out
some of our relational ministry actions.
- Small Groups: student leaders should be given the opportunity to
participate in or lead a small group that is designed to reach their friends
for Christ. (See Honest to God material by Bill Muir & Dave Bartlett)
- Appointments: encourage student leaders to be a part of appointments
you may have with their friends. Make them a part of the evangelism
process.
- Club: give student leaders an opportunity to share their story within a
club setting.
- Building Times: use building times as an intentional way of connecting
Non-Christian students with student leaders.
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8.7.
Appendix A
THE
STUDENT LEADER SCREENING PROCESS
INFORMATION SHEET
Name: ____________________________________________ Phone: _______________
Email: ____________________________________________ B-day: _______________
Please answer the following questions (use another sheet of paper)
•
What activities are you involved in? (School, church, etc.)
•
What has been your involvement with Campus Life?
•
When did you ask Christ into your life?
THE
STUDENT LEADER SCREENING PROCESS
APPOINTMENT/ INTERVIEW
•
When and how did you accept Christ?
•
Have you been growing spiritually?
•
What has been your involvement in Church?
•
What has been your involvement in Campus Life?
•
How do you feel about sharing your faith?
•
Have you told anyone about your relationship with God recently?
•
What area holds you back from spiritual growth?
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8.7.
Appendix B
THE STUDENT LEADER SCREENING PROCESS
Student leadership is an essential part of any successful Campus Life ministry. All of the
Relational Ministry Actions (RMAs) hold equal value so each RMA including student
leadership, should have a well thought out plan for development in our campus
ministries.
As Campus Life directors, we at times err in taking on too much ourselves and not
sharing the ownership with student leaders, volunteers, and other adults. It is
imperative to share ownership of ministry so that we can have a broader foundation
and find longevity in ministry.
If we are to share the ministry, especially with students, there must be a strategy so that
the students have: 1) clear expectations, 2) knowledge of the importance of their
involvement, 3) accountability, and 4) their relationship with Christ as the most
important thing in their lives.
As we consider meeting with a potential student leader, it is vital to start with the
basics. Let each student share with you about his/her life, family, interests, how and
when they became a Christian and why he/she wants to be a student leader. Also
vital is sharing your vision for student leadership and the Campus Life ministry.
An effective way to cover the basics is to use a student leader contract. A contract is
a list of expectations and a basis for accountability. The signature on the contract
shows a commitment on the student leader’s part, which we need to view as binding.
A student leader contract also serves as a job description for the student,
communicating clearly the job’s expectations. Be sure that both you and the student
have a copy of the contract.
The follow-up to this process is to conduct a year-end evaluation of the student leader.
If the evaluation is satisfactory, have the student sign a new contract for the upcoming
year. Note: Have student leaders evaluate you. This increases their ownership and
seriousness of their commitment.
Lastly, the Lord desires for us to do our best in all that we do because we do it in the
name of the Lord, (1 Colossians 3:17.) “And whatever you do, whether in word or
deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through
him.”
It might help to remember the process this way:
C.O.D.A. OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Commitment: What are you asking the students to commit to? This should give
the students and us clear expectations, and a job description, and something to be
held accountable to.
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Ownership: This screening process and time investment should give students a sense
of ownership. If they don’t feel ownership, is it your fault or theirs?
Demand Excellence: The Lord would want nothing less
Accountability: The process, contract, and evaluations show the students what they
will be held accountable to.
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135
YFC/Campus Life
Student Leader Expectations
•
Purpose
For student to grow through leadership and outreach opportunities.
• For CL to grow through student leaders’ influence
•
•
•
•
Expectations
Growing relationship with Christ
Desire to influence friends to know and follow God’s ways
Involvement in church and school activities.
Good reputation - positive example in speech, conduct, attitude, love,
& purity.
• Understanding & appreciation of YFC/Campus Life’s purpose, goals, &
style.
• Desire to represent YFC/CL with friends at school, at church, & in the
community
• Willingness to listen, learn, and lead.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Duties
Attend Campus Life meetings and events.
Attend Student Leader meetings.
Invite everyone you know to CL - pass out flyers weekly.
Carry announcements and posters to school when asked.
Invite CL staff to lunch & school functions - introduce your friends.
Lead discussions, skits, study groups, planning sessions as requested.
Help with crowd control, set-up, and games.
Attend YFC Banquet, Go Mad, Spring Fling, and Student Leader
retreats.
I understand the expectations and duties of a YFC/Campus Life Student Leader and I
would like to be a Student Leader.
Signed______________________________________________Date_______________________
Name_________________________________________Phone___________________________
Address ______________________________________________________Email___________________
Parents’ names: ____________________________Church_______________________________
School: __________________________________Year of Graduation _____________________
School Activities: _______________________________________________________________
Sports/Music commitments & season: _______________________________________________
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8.8. CAMPUS LIFE RMA: TRIPS
Definition: “Campus Life trips take young people out of their environment for a shared
experience. Trips provide an environment where God transforms lives through
memorable experiences, authentic Christ-centered relationships, and a clear
presentation of the gospel.”
8.8.1.
WHY DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE TRIPS AS AN RMA?
There are many reasons we use trips as an RMA in our relational ministry
strategy. Here are just a few.
•
•
•
•
•
To share Christ with lost young people. Campus Life wants to clearly
communicate the message of Jesus Christ to every young person. The first
and foremost purpose for doing a trip is to provide yet another
opportunity for students to hear the gospel message.
To enable Christian students and staff to use their life to present Jesus. We
should all be living representatives for Christ in our daily lives, but trips allow
us another place to display our walk with Christ. Christian students don’t
often consciously think about using their life to “speak” Christ to their
friends. As staff, we can facilitate the practice of that on a trip.
To build a relationship with a student (listen to their story and connect our
stories). Trips are ideal fro providing concentrated time with students. You
have 24 hours a day, for 2-10 days to get to know someone’s story. That
can happen on a bus, while you are getting ready for bed, over a meal,
or anywhere. But, you have to be intentional about building that
relationship. We are always stressing to our volunteer staff that they must
be WITH the kids wherever they go. This can be uncomfortable for them
at times, but is necessary in order to build relationships. As you establish
and build relationships, it will become clear how their stories can connect
with God’s story.
To create positive memories. Many kids have never been away from
home and have very few positive experiences in their life. A Campus Life
trip can be the first time that they do something for themselves or have a
positive experience without doing anything illegal. Any memory you build
on a trip will last for years. Kids will very often go back and laugh or talk
about what happened on a trip. They in turn become your best
marketing effort fro the trip next year.
To work together as the body of Christ (volunteer team). Trips provide a
chance for so many different people to come together to pull off a
successful trip. You will learn who is good at what and how to motivate
and equip your volunteer leaders. When they are able to practice their
area of strength, they will engage and feel fulfilled. Examples are: know
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•
•
who is good at mechanical things in case of a break down; know who is
good at details and can make sure each person is counted before
leaving a location every time; know who is the jokester and put him/her at
the back of the bus/van and let them have at it! When students see a
team of Christians working well together, it is such a testimony of God’s
body of believers and kids will be attracted to that community.
To build momentum for CL in the school. Everyone will be talking about
the CL trip before you depart and long after your return. If you go on a
trip with 15 kids and they come back and are saying positive things, your
numbers will surely increase the following year. Repetition in trips is very
wise, because then people will begin to expect that trip each year and
can plan for it and look forward to it.
To reach some kids who would never otherwise be interested in CL. Trips
are a selling point. Once a student goes with you on a trip you will always
have a connection point with them. You will also get some students to go
because they especially like the trip you are offering. For example:
camping and hiking, an amusement park, lying in the sun in Florida, etc. If
the student likes the trip, he/she will be much more apt to come to other
CL events.
8.8.2.
HOW DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE TRIPS?
8.8.2.1.
THE PRE-TRIP
PLANNING
• Transportation/drivers. You must make sure you have enough
drivers per vehicle and that they all have their YFC application
turned in and accepted. They also must have 100/300 insurance to
drive a vehicle with students in it and must be at least 21 years old.
Do not ask volunteers to drive who are uncomfortable or feel they
are poor drivers. You must stress the importance of safety to each
driver. Make sure they are closely following each other and have a
mode of communication, i.e. walkie-talkies, cell phones. The lead
vehicle will make all decisions about where and when to stop.
Each vehicle should also have written directions of where you are
going, in case of emergency. Always stop together and never
leave any one vehicle behind. If you traveling by bus and have
more than 3 busses, then break into groups of 2 for quicker stops
and faster travel. Also, if you have any hesitations about your bus
driver, have a Campus Life staff stay awake with that driver
throughout the night. We recommend having one staff person
serve as your “bus captain” or liaison with the bus driver in each bus
of your convoy. Thoroughly look over any rental vehicle before
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•
•
•
•
existing. Write them down and make sure the company is aware of
those before you leave!
Budget (Trips Appendix A). After you have decided what exactly
you are going to be doing, make a list of all of your projected costs;
transportation, activities, food, equipment, speakers, etc. If you
want to charge your staff less, add that into the students cost. Then
add up all your expenses and divide it by the number of paying
people. That will give you how much your trip will cost per student.
NEVER BUDGET TO LOSE MONEY!! Always have an overage of at
least 5 – 10 % on the total expenses, just in cases of emergency.
Student fundraisers (Trips Appendix B). You should consider
providing 2-3 different fundraisers for your students who might
otherwise not be able to afford going on the trip. . Typically, we
don’t let kids start fundraising before their deposit is in, because
they may not go on the trip and then they have raised money that
isn’t going toward him/her trip. If, for some reason, that happens,
where a student raises money and then doesn’t go on the trip, we
hold their money in an account for them to go on a future Campus
Life trip or they can transfer it to a friend who is going on the trip.
Don’t let the kids turn in tons of cash to you or tons of pennies. Tell
them to have a parent write one check to Campus Life for the total
amount, to eliminate confusion. Campus Life then writes the check
out to pay the company, i.e. Pizza Hut. That way, the student is
making a profit. You, as the Campus Life director, decide how
much each student will make on each sale. You can also have
then raise money for your staff to go through the fundraisers.
Parent meeting (Trips Appendix C) You want to create excitement
for the students at this meeting, as well as to inform and calm
parents. This meeting usually happens 2 weeks before the
departure of the trip. At that meeting they turn in their final money,
decide rooming lists, fill out any remaining sheets, get packing lists,
etc. If you are leading a small trip (under 10) then do this
information over the phone. Set up a registration table and make
sure everyone feels like they know what is happening next. Tell
them it is a mandatory meeting, if they want to get in a room with
their friends. (That always makes them come.)
Plan the itinerary (Trip Appendix D) Don’t fill up your schedule just to
have something to do. First think about what you want to
accomplish in the kids and staff and then ask yourself, “what could
we do that would foster that outcome?” Activities without a
purpose are not worth doing. Keep in mind, the purpose could be
to have fun or to have a shared experience, but make sure that
someone knows WHY you are doing anything. Give enough time
for the kids to just hang out – caution against over programming.
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Remember that your objective is to build relationships, not just to do
activities. Make sure to find time for the staff to get away and have
alone time with God, and find time for the staff to pray/worship
together. That is the fuel that makes the week keep going
smoothly. Have a mix of things to do that will be enjoyable to
different types of kids – not just things that you like to do. Make it
easy for staff to hang out with kids – don’t pull the staff out of
activities to help you (if you can resist that). Give your most time, or
best time, to the things that are most important to you. I.e. don’t try
to do small groups at 12:00 at night after a super long day and
expect that to be the best part of the day.
PROMOTION
• Posters/ Announcements – There are many ways to promote a trip
you are going on. The more ways you promote, the better off you
will be. Don’t just use flyers, or just use phone calls. Use all of these
combined. 6-8 months before your trip, you can start hanging up
posters in visible places for students/parents to see. Make sure you
check with your school to see if they will allow you putting up
posters are school. Also see if your school will allow you to put in an
announcement to the entire school about your trip. Some schools
will allow this. Make it creative and “ear-grabbing”. Put one in
every week for a month before you start promoting heavily.
• Flyers/registration form (Trip appendix E), sign up sheet – We have
enclosed a sample flyer and registration that you could use as an
example for passing out flyers. It is also helpful to take with you (to
club or to certain contacting times) a clipboard and pen and have
kids who are interested in going on the trip to sign their name and
phone number on your sign up list. That way, you have a list to work
off, when you start phone calling.
• Phone calls – Once you have a list of potential names, pick a night
or two and get all your volunteers together at a place with lots of
phones. Divide up the lists; make sure they know all the info to
answer questions with; and set them loose. You can have all your
kids called in 2 hours or less! As the Campus Life Director, wander
around and answer questions your staff may not know. This is a
huge step, because you will have a much better idea of who is
going after phone calls to parents are made.
• Video – This has been a great tool! If you know someone, or even a
student, who can put together a 3-5 minute video of your last CL
trip, then ask if you can play it at school. Sometimes, schools do
video announcements and will allow this. If not, show it at your
clubs or anywhere else that kids are. If you would like to see an
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example that is already made up contact Grand Rapids Youth For
Christ.
TRAINING
• Recruiting and screening staff/ training day (Trip appendix F) – Every
staff you have go with you on a trip must have already filled out a
volunteer application form before leaving on the trip! We would
suggest that you meet one on one with every new staff you may
have going on trip to find out their interests, as well as to be aware
of any potential problems. Don’t be afraid to ask people NOT to
come on the trip if you are in any way unsure of them. You do NOT
want to risk the kids being misled. God will provide all that you
need! We suggest getting all the staff together about 1-2 weeks
prior to leaving on the trip so that they can meet one another and
so that everyone is on the same page before leaving. We have
enclosed an agenda for you to look at to see what things need to
be covered at this meeting. Don’t assume that your staff knows all
that is expected! Go through everything very thoroughly. The
biggest thing they need to know is how to run an effect small group
as well as how to articulate the gospel to someone. Also, give them
the names of specific kids that they will be responsible for so they
can call them and introduce themselves and begin praying for
those students by name.
• Student to staff ratio – Ideally, you should try and have 1 staff for
every 4 kids. This allows for more personal contact between the kids
and staff and also cuts down on disciplinary problems. Practically
speaking, 1 staff for every 7 kids is safe and acceptable, but less
staff begins to become potentially dangerous.
• Placing kids in rooms- This can be tricky! You need to pray very
much over these decisions. You will have the feedback from the
kids about who they will want to be with; but you ultimately make
the final decisions. Try not to put all the kids who are Christians
together – but rather, separate them somewhat to allow them to
evangelize to new people. They may whine about this, but it is
worthwhile in the long run. There are so many variable with this; so
just make sure you bathe this one in prayer!
8.8.2.2.
THE TRIP
VOLUNTEER STAFF
• Staff Meetings - Have regular staff meetings while on a trip. These
meetings should provide a time for your volunteer team to pray,
share frustrations /concerns, and be informed of the daily schedule
and possible changes.
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Meetings could include a devotional time and worship. Staff
pastors to lead devotional and prayer time could be useful with a
large number of volunteer staff.
• Play it safe - Remember you, and your volunteers are the
responsible adults for a group of teenagers. Don't compromise
safety (especially driving) or credibility with parents just because
your students will think it is fun. When in doubt… DON'T! Remember
to leave a good reputation wherever you go.
APPOINTMENTS (ONE ON ONE)
• During the trip each student should have an intentional
appointment with a staff. The desired outcome of an appointment
is that every student on the trip has the opportunity to hear a clear
presentation of the gospel and is asked to respond one way or
another. Secondly, that every student is sent home with a deeper
understanding of God. (See Trips appendix G, small group booklet,
page 6-7 for tips on how to do an appointment)
•
These appointments should be started a few days into a trip (once
relationships have been built) and completed before returning
home. The ideal ratio for students to staff is 4 to 1.
•
Before the trip is over, each staff must turn in a completed
appointment form (see Trips appendix H for appointment form) for
each student to the director. These forms will be very useful as a
follow up tool to track each student's story.
SMALL GROUPS
•
Small groups, as defined in the RMA's, are an effective way to
address specific needs, create a safe place for honest sharing and
provide personal attention and interaction.
•
Refer to Trips appendix G for an example of a small group
curriculum for a weeklong trip. Pages 4 and 5 of the small group
booklet have helpful rules to make small group as effective as
possible.
LARGE GROUP MEETINGS
• Large group meetings create an atmosphere for community,
evangelism, fun, and even corporate worship. The numbers of
large group meetings on a trip and the content for the speaker are
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dependent on the trip focus/purpose. Meetings could include:
video, skits, student speakers, special speaker and worship. An
“open mic” night at the end of a trip for students to share what
God did in their heart is a great idea!
8.8.2.3.
THE POST TRIP
THANK YOU NOTES/GIFTS
• Be sure to send thank you notes or gifts to anyone that has served in
unexpected ways to make a trip possible.
COLLECT ALL FORMS
• Evaluation Forms (from staff and students, Trips appendix I)
Having staff and students evaluate a trip will give accurate
feedback on the success of the trip. Go through evaluations to
determine possible changes to make and things to do the same
because of effectiveness.
• Appointment Forms (Trips Appendix H)
FOLLOW UP PLAN AND MATERIALS
(Establishing the basics of the Christian life with a new believer.)
• Assign a staff to follow up with a student. If the staff from the trip
cannot commit, find another volunteer, parent, or youth pastor
who can follow up with that student.
• Contact should be made in the first 2 weeks following a trip.
• Follow up should consist of meeting with the student at least 6 times,
taking them to church, and making sure they have a Bible.
• Follow up can happen in the form of one-on- one discipleship or in
the venue of a small group. Small groups are a great way to
involve Student Leaders in the follow up process.
• Possible follow up material:
Any 6-week Bible study covering the basics of Christianity
Suggestions: Getting Started by Barry St. Clair or Totally True by
YFC
REUNION PARTY
• Purpose of reunion party is to re-connect with the students and staff
within 2 months following a trip. This could include a highlight video,
pictures, food, and provide a second opportunity to follow up with
students who have been otherwise hard to make connections with.
8.8.3
What are some different examples of trips?
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WEEK LONG TRIPS:
1. High Adventure/Wilderness Trip
2. Missions Trip
3. Spring Break Trip
4. Student Leader Trip
5. Conference (DC/LA)
WEEKEND TRIPS:
1. Shopping Trip
2. Winter Ski/Snowboarding Trip
3. Camping/Backpack Trip
4. Amusement Park
5. Sailing/Canoeing Trip
8.8.4. Trips Appendix Summary
A. Sample Budget
B. Student Fundraisers
C. Parent Meeting
D. Itinerary
E. Flyer/Registration
F. Staff Training Day
G. Small Group booklet (student and leader guide)
H. Appointment form
I. Evaluation form (staff and student forms)
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8.9. Campus Life RMA: EVENTS
Definition: An event is a Campus Life sponsored youth activity that enhances the
ministry program’s image. During events, we take students out of their normal
environment for a shared experience that creates memories and provides
opportunities to share Christ.
8.9.1.
WHY DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE THE RMA EVENTS?
A. Evangelism
One way to use events is strictly for the purpose of reaching the unchurched
students in your community, and sharing the life-changing message of Jesus with
them. This might be done through a concert, a speaker, etc. The focus here is
that it’s probably a one-time activity.
A second way to use events for evangelism is to use them in the club settings 3-4
times a semester in order to bring lots of new students out for a meeting. This is
their introduction to Campus Life. They will hopefully return for future clubs
where they can hear about the message of Christ.
B. Discipleship
Events can be used in the same way for growth, or discipleship efforts with your
students. They can be set up for one-time activities, or can be used throughout
the year. This would be especially beneficial if working with the churches in your
local area.
C. Publicity
The third reason we use events is simply for the publicity (positive image builder)
that might be given to Campus Life by doing an event. The purpose is to use an
event to inform as many people as possible about Campus Life.
8.9.2. HOW DOES CAMPUS LIFE USE EVENTS?
We have included a “question sheet” at the end of this section to guide you as
you plan events. As you plan to use Events to draw young people into God’s
story, think about three key issues.
A. Purpose
Before drawing up the plans for an event, a purpose must drive the event. Ask
yourself, “Why am I doing this event? (When I finish this event, I want to be able
to evaluate the effectiveness of the event.) “Did we accomplish what we drew
up on the chalkboard? Did we work with the churches? Did we reach lost
students? Did lots thousands of people in our community get informed about
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YFC through this event?” I must establish what the purpose is from the
beginning. The one question I want to keep asking myself over and over is,
“who is this event intended to reach?”
What is my purpose statement? In one sentence, create what the event is all
about. For example, “The purpose of this event is to introduce as many high
school students to Campus Life as possible.” OR “The purpose of this event is to
reach lost, unchurched, high school students in our community.” OR “The
purpose of this event is to connect with as many churches in our community as
possible.” Don’t be elaborate. Just state your purpose.
In one local high school, the athletic director came to the CL staff person and
had the idea of doing a winter sports pep rally. The purpose became simply to
get lots of students out to the rally. The AD’s purpose behind it was to get
students excited about the winter sports’ teams, and the CL staff’s purpose was
to introduce Campus Life to as many students as possible through this event.
B. Goal
As with any type of ministry activity we plan, we must set goals. If evangelism is
the purpose, what kind of goals should be set to make sure our purpose is
accomplished? This is the place where we put numbers. How many kids do we
want to reach through this event? How many churches do we want to work
with? Set goals that are lofty but achievable. Create goals that are God-sized,
not just easy to reach.
In looking at the example above, the goal for the event was to try and get a set
number of the student body out for this event. In a school of 2100 students, the
numerical goal was 525.
C. Logistics
In looking at the logistics, there are many issues at stake. We would like to
suggest four important categories to consider.
1. The budget. (See the event budget at the end of this section).
• The types of questions in this category are as follows:
• How many students are expected?
• Do we need to make a profit?
• What could be donated?
• Can we pursue someone to underwrite the cost of the event?
• What are the fixed and variable expenses?
• What price tag keeps the kids away?
• Have we itemized a budget?
These are the types of questions that must be answered. As you create the
itemized budget, you must make decisions on where location will be and the
cost included, will there be special music or speaker and their costs, will there be
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refreshments, etc. Transportation, rental fees, postage, and many other detail
questions need to be asked as you create this budget. There are two concerns
at this stage.
• Make sure we don’t lost money in doing events.
• Finances get out of hand with last minute spending.
2. The promotion.
Decisions will need to be made on how you will get information into the hands
of those who you want going to this event. If your focus is an event where you
want churches participating, there needs to be letters, flyers, phone calls, and
appointments made to make sure that every church in your area knows what is
going on with this Campus Life event. There are so many details at this juncture
to deal with, but the bottom line is: it is imperative that much thought has gone
into the promotion of the event.
3. The planning. (Planning involves the who, what, when, and where.)
• Who is in charge of the event (who has to make the tough
decisions)?
• What staff will be doing which responsibilities?
• What does the schedule look like for the night?
• Who is taking care of the entertainment for the night?
Someone must be making sure that the plan will happen. There needs to be a
person who is in charge, but there must also be those who are helping to make
sure that the whole plan happens. This takes teamwork.
4. The safety. (In this area we must answer important questions.)
• What if…
• Do we need parent release forms?
• Do we have our medical insurance information with us?
• Do we need medical staff on hand?
The biggest factor to be remembered on safety is that we are the adults. We
are providing an opportunity for students, but at all times we are the adults. If
someone needs to step up and make a decision, it must be our staff.
This is not a comprehensive list, but it helps all of us to be thinking of the many
details that go into a successful event being pulled off.
In reviewing the event mentioned above, the “winter sports pep rally,” a
partnered effort between Campus Life and a local high school, concerning the
budget, there was none. There wasn’t a cost to the students, and it was hosted
by the local high school. Many things were donated by local businesses that
were given out to the students as door prizes.
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Concerning planning, the athletic director and the CL staff met 3-4 times before
the event happened. This was more of a program that got pulled off, so there
wasn’t much large group participation. Many students participated in games
that happened on the gym floor, but most of the students were seated in the
gym to watch the event happen. Two adults (the Campus Life Director and the
school’s Athletic Director lead the program for the event.
The promotion was done through announcements and word-of-mouth. There
wasn’t much that had to be done to inform students on what was going on.
They simply had to make a decision to attend or not.
Safety did become an issue, as someone came into the event and pulled a fire
alarm, and students had to be ushered out of the gym for a short time. The
athletic director took care of the concern, and students were quickly brought
back into the building and the event continued.
There were between 450-500 students who attended that event on that
evening. Because of the success of this event, the school was excited and
open to many more events with Campus Life.
Whether an event is designed to reach 200, or 20,000, these are the types of
questions that need to be tackled. Don’t sell yourself, or your staff, short on the
value of events. They can be a tremendous asset to the ministry in your local
community. Events demand much preparation and hard work in order to be
successful.
8.9.3. EVENT QUESTIONS
(Tailor this to your specific event)
PURPOSE
What do we want to accomplish with this event?
How will we know if we’ve been successful?
If God blesses and we have many decisions for Christ, is follow-up in
place?
PROGRAM CONTENT
What are the ingredients of the program?
Speaker
Order of ingredients
Media
Stage
Audience participation Music
BUDGET
How many kids are expected?
Do we want to make a profit? If so, how will it be spent?
Who pays for staff?
Who is responsible if the event loses money?
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Have we taken the time to itemize a budget?
SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
How much time will be allotted for each activity?
What is the order of activities (i.e. games, program, food, etc.)?
PROMOTION & PUBLICITY
What will be included in the brochure/flyer?
How will this brochure be distributed?
What are the best avenues to advertise?
FACILITY
Is there a contract necessary?
Is a site inspection required?
Is a rooming list prepared? (for overnights)
Do you have an alternative if the weather changes?
How far away is the facility?
FOOD
What meals need to be covered?
Who will prepare the meals?
What kind of snack/refreshments are needed?
TRANSPORTATION
Do we need to transport kids?
What is the most cost effective way to get there?
Are extra drivers needed?
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8.9.4. SAMPLE EVENT BUDGET
Event______________________________
Income:
Gross income
____ students @ $_____
$__________
Less refunds
(__________)
Net income
Expenses:
Transportation:
Bus/Van
Gas
Guests
Speaker
Band
Food
Facilities
Overhead
Film & development
Promotion
Postage
$__________
$__________
$__________
$__________
$__________
$__________
Other expenses
$__________
Total expenses
$__________
Net gain or loss
$__________
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9. Campus Life & The Relational Ministry Process
Building on the foundation of the five ongoing fruit-bearing conditions (chapter 2),
YFC’s RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS involves eight ingredients that clearly define how we
will practice discipleship evangelism within the movement. There are three values that
have contributed to the formation of these ingredients.
First, we want to be able to steer our energies ruthlessly toward accomplishing our
mission. Our mission statement articulates what we understand to be our focused
assignment in the Kingdom of God: To participate in the Body of Christ in the
responsible evangelism of youth, presenting them with the person, work & teachings of
Christ and discipling them into the Church. The eight ingredients help all of us in YFC—
regardless of our core ministry affiliation—to stay focused on this mission.
Second, we want to be able to align our ministry activity with our best understanding
of how change actually takes place in the life of a young person. Three-Story
Evangelism is the roadmap we use in YFC to describe this change process, and the
ingredients of the RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS supply focus points that help us to see
actual progress in a young person’s life.
Finally, we want to be able to evaluate ourselves honestly and accurately. Each of
the eight ingredients is connected to a measurement strategy that will allow us to
assess how well we are doing as we pursue our YFC mission, one story at a time.
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9.1 Three-Story Evangelism
Under the leadership of then Vice-President, Bill Muir, YFC’s National Ministries
generated an approach to evangelism called Three Story Evangelism. Like much of
what happens when God’s people brainstorm ideas, this was a truly collaborative
effort. People who were both inside and outside of YFC’s formal organization
contributed to its design.
One way to describe Three Story Evangelism is to state the obvious. It’s about stories—
connecting stories, in particular: God’s story, my story and others’ (their) stories. The
more these stories connect, the more the gospel seems to take root in a person’s life.
In the end, the goal of TSE is to help people make life-changing connections to God
Himself.
Traditional evangelism practices often push through a series of sequential steps for a
decision. Three Story Evangelism recognizes that in a postmodern world “stories” are
more powerful with young people than “steps.” And stories—rather than “Listen to
what I say, believe it, say this prayer, and you’re a Christian”—are what get people’s
attention in such a world. Teens respond well to honest, real, living, hopeful, and
authentic stories about life change. That’s one of the reasons that Three Story
Evangelism seems to resonate well today.
There are several core beliefs at the heart of Three Story Evangelism. Foremost is that a
Christian should move first to Jesus before moving into a lost world. We move our life
into his by learning from him, learning about him and experiencing his life as a fresh
new story theme in our own daily lives. Only then do we carry a story of hope to an
unbelieving world.
Another critical belief is that listening has become more powerful than telling. If we
want people to listen to us, we must first listen to them. People listen to people who
listen. And that, after we’ve listened to them and they want to hear our story, they will
listen only as long as we are real and authentic.
Additionally, we believe that people become interested in the gospel for different
reasons. To illustrate, consider how just a few of the following desires supply different
motivations for considering Jesus: purpose, love, family, heaven, community, and
fulfillment. When we listen to their stories in conversation, we can reveal at the right
moment the part of Jesus’ story most relevant to our lost friends. After securing their
initial interest in Jesus we can look for ways to explain more of Jesus’ story, including
the salvation offered through his death and resurrection.
By helping others make critical story connections Three Story Evangelism makes a
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difference. TSE’s ultimate goal is to help connect an unbeliever’s story with Jesus’
story, and eventually the unbeliever with Jesus himself.
Still, Three Story Evangelism resists common classifications.
For instance, while skills related to Three-Story Evangelism can be taught to others—
thus making TSE a wonderfully transferable tool—it would not be accurate to label it as
simply an evangelistic method or tool. One might use tools like a gospel tract or a
particular favorite illustration while involved in TSE, but this is more than an evangelism
method.
As a description of the process of transformation that God seems to use in our lives, TSE
is a powerful model of simplicity and clarity. Napkins in fast-food joints can be
employed to illustrate the three circles in this model: God’s Story, My Story, Their Story.
The circles might be drawn to represent the movement in a persons’ life. Is a
relationship growing between two people? Then draw My Story and Their Story to
represent more overlap between the circles. The same could be done with regard to
either person’s relationship to God.
Three Story Evangelism offers something more than simply a post-modern friendly
proclamation strategy. It is an organic model for understanding the processes of
spiritual awakening and growth in a relational context. And because it satisfactorily
describes how growth actually takes place, we can use TSE as a way to think about
ministry.
We should not underestimate the significance of such breakthroughs in our
understanding. Each time modern medicine has learned more accurately how our
body heals we all benefit. There is a fundamental truth that is readily grasped by the
simple act of drawing three intersecting—or nearly intersecting—circles. Three Story
Evangelism is a great model for describing the give and take that naturally take place
among persons, including what happens in our own relationships with God.
Three Story Evangelism helps us to understand and embrace the natural and often
non-formal ways that the gospel gets proclaimed and understood. This is a particularly
appropriate strategy in a world dominated by postmodern thinking. It helps locate
evangelism in the discovery and exchange of stories, and notices when a story
changes because of the activity of God or another in someone’s life. Sensitive to the
natural rhythms of life, Three Story Evangelism helps us to understand the dynamics of
gospel proclamation when exploring stories becomes our strategy.
And Three Story Evangelism forms the backdrop against which YFC staff practice and
monitor THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS. The eight ingredients to which we will now turn
are intended to help us focus on the Spirit-empowered movement that takes place in
a young person’s life when our stories begin to converge with God’s.
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YFC/USA Ministries hopes to be able to develop further Three Story Evangelism training
resources as soon as possible.
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9.2 Initiate
One of the most remarkable and head-shaking realities about the love of God for us is
that Jesus showed up in our world and died for us “while we were still sinners” (Romans
5:8). If God hadn’t taken the first love-motivated step to send Jesus into our world we
would still be lost and headed for hell – or – on a path to eternal separation from God
(John 3:16).
That’s why it’s so important for us to initiate loving relationships with lost teens so as to
reveal Jesus to them.
Someone always needs to make the first move in a new relationship. Armed with the
love of Jesus, that’s what Christians must do to initiate new relationships with lost teens.
We must take the first step.
Where do they hang out? We need to show up there. Where do they work? We
need to drop by. If they’re into school activities, we should show up to encourage
them. If a destructive lifestyle leads them to an encounter with a judge, we ought to
be in the courtroom. We meet lost kids in their world. It’s important for us to leave our
world and move into their world in the same way Jesus left His world and moved into
ours, as seen in Philippians 2:5-7.
Taking the initiative to meet someone you don’t know can be intimidating. It is even
more uncomfortable when your worlds are different. The world of a lost teenager is
very different from the world of, say, a 42-year old Christian adult. But the margin of
difference can’t be any greater than what Jesus experienced when He left heaven to
mix among us sinners.
Jesus’ love for us was initiated when He dwelt among us (John 1:14). That’s the same
pattern needed to carry the love of Jesus to teens today. We who know Jesus’ love
must take the first step to initiate relationships with those who don’t yet know about
Jesus’ love. The remarkable thing is that taking the first step is, all by itself, perhaps the
most powerful and authentic way we have to communicate the love of Jesus!
So we need to go into the world of lost teenagers and get to know them on their
“turf.” Jesus came to “seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). We’ll imitate
Jesus’ pattern when we seek out teens and get to know them as individuals. We
initiate contact so we can introduce young people to the love of Jesus, a force that
can change their lives forever.
9.2.1 Initiate: How It Works With Kids
Lost people need help. Sometimes they don’t know how lost they are or
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don’t recognize the consequences of the path that they are on. They often
don’t know how to even ask for help.
Millions of teens are lost in multiple ways, the most significant of which is their
cluelessness about the love that God has for them. They simply don’t know
that they were created to enjoy a relationship with God that is intended to
affect every fiber of their life.
Jim Petersen has written that one of the flawed assumptions churches
operate under is that we can get the masses of lost people to come to us
(Church Without Walls, chapter 10; Navpress, 1992). Evangelism needs to be
delivered from this paralyzing falsehood. YFC’s commitment to initiate loving
relationships with lost teens embraces the reality that because they need
rescuing, we believers must position ourselves for timely help—in their world.
It may be fair to say that the first strategy in helping a lost young person
become a life-long follower of Jesus Christ is to be in the right place at the
right time in their lives. We intentionally bump our stories into the stories of
spiritually blind teens, building rapport and looking for the right time to offer
direction. We initiate relationships so that we can begin to understand
something of their story and open up a window on God’s story through the
transparency of my story.
It’s difficult to measure when a relationship actually begins. While we
acknowledge this limitation, we are nonetheless committed to using
measurement indicators that will help us stay focused on THE RELATIONAL
MINISTRY PROCESS. So—for our tracking purposes—we will consider that a
relationship with a lost teen has been initiated when we can identify both the
name of the young person and some fact we have learned about their story.
9.2.2
Initiate: A Prayer Focus
What’s going on in someone’s life that might make him or her receptive to
starting a relationship with a Christian adult? On the one hand, it seems that
timing is everything. On the other hand, it seems that location is everything.
Where can we find teens so that we might establish our first relational
connection?
Like street-savvy narcotics police, seasoned YFC staff learn a lot about the
where and when of connecting to kids. This competence is critical to
develop in our jobs. But it takes more than skilled job performance to
accomplish our mission. The reality is we can’t really connect to needy
people without God’s help.
Teens are lost in part because Satan has blinded them and works actively to
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keep them estranged from God. When we attempt to initiate relationships
with lost teens, we are moving in on the enemy’s territory. We need God’s
wisdom, His sense of timing, His direction in locating the right kids, His
protection as we risk something of ourselves to reach out to others.
Toward that end we need a prayer strategy that helps us gain the Lord’s
help. This means we need to learn to pray continually, so that we are alert to
opportunities all around us. And we ought to be sure that our routine efforts
targeted toward initiating relationships with lost teens are bathed in prayer.
Do you visit a key ministry site each week at the same time? Then secure the
prayers of others as you go.
Remember, the loving relationships that we wish to initiate with lost teens may
likely be the first step in revealing Jesus to them. While we may make social
connections with people because of our own relational skills, our ability to
reveal Jesus depends on the work of the Holy Spirit through us. We have to
pray!
9.2.3
Initiate: The RMA Strategy
How do the Campus Life RMAs help us to initiate loving relationships with lost
teens? We must not go on our own strength! We must go with incessant
prayer, with moment-by-moment consideration of what God is doing, with
trust that the results are up to Him.
There are nine Campus Life RMA’s offer us plenty of opportunities to initiate
relationships with young people. Let’s examine these RMA’s in three broad
categories. First, we can initiate new relationships with countless lost young
people as we go onto their turf to meet them. Contacting a student at their
school, work or anywhere they hang out, will provide more opportunities to
develop deeper relationships with an increased number of students.
Second, we can directly initiate friendships with lost teenagers through
building times, small groups, clubs, trips, and events. In these five settings we
must always keep our eyes and ears open to discover who in the room does
not know Jesus and who in the room we do not know. Our aim must be to
know every young person who attends our ministry activities. We must also
teach our ministry teams and student leaders to do the same. In fact,
ultimate aim with initiating can be (with the combined effort of our ministry
teams and student leaders) to learn the names and begin hearing the stories
of 10% of the students in our schools the first year we minister, then 20% the
second year, 30% the third year, etc. We can use this knowledge to deepen
friendships, discover the layers of “their” stories and share “my” story, all the
while preparing to share His story through every opportunity God provides.
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We have already alluded to the third grouping of RMA’s that allow us to
initiate with young people: Student leadership, ministry teams and strategic
relationships. Since many of the people serving on our teams, with the
exception of our strategic relationships, are believers, we are simply
embracing the ongoing fruit-bearing condition of unified believers as we
equip and support the efforts of others to initiate relationships with teenagers.
We accomplish this effort through training, mentoring, and consistently
demonstrating the skills necessary for mobilizing others to initiate loving
relationships with teenagers. Through the people who serve on these teams
and the strategic relationships we develop in the community, we can equip
hundreds of people, both student and adult, to accomplish the “going” into
their world for the purpose of initiating loving relationships.
Let’s mention a word about divine appointments. Although we have not
mentioned the RMA appointments in our strategy for initiating relationships
with list kids, we would be remiss to deny that God at times provides divine
appointments. For example we may meet a lost young person at a football
game and connect with her or him and “their” story in the course of a brief
conversation. This connection may lead to initiating a friendship that leads to
an immediate appointment. Should God lead one of us down that road, we
must not miss the opportunity to participate with Him in forming a new
friendship with a lost teen through an appointment.
As we engage in the process of relational ministry directly as well as through
the efforts of others, we have the privilege of initiating relationships with lost
young people almost everywhere we go. Our highest calling, other than
inviting a young person into a relationship with Jesus Christ, is to introduce
them to be a living, breathing, and authentic follower of Jesus Christ. When
we, or someone from one of our teams, connect with a non-believer, they
are connecting with Jesus Christ, their creator, sustainer, lover and friend.
Because He lives in us, inhabiting our very soul, body, mind and spirit, they
begin to meet Him when they meet us!
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9.3 Involve
Andrew, the brother of Peter, must have had some interest in spiritual things. It was
while following John the Baptist that he heard the great teacher make a reference
to Jesus that was irresistible. When he followed up by asking Jesus the simplest of
interest-showing questions (Where are you staying?), Jesus responded with an
invitation that resulted in their spending the day together (John 1:38-39). Little did
Andrew know that such a day would be the first of many. Or that his life would be
changed forever.
Our relationships grow as we spend time together. When we begin to accumulate
a common pool of experiences we establish a common base to build upon. Early
in Jesus’ ministry He performed his first recorded miracle by turning water into wine.
The disciples were present as invited guests with Jesus (John 2:1-2). They would
have been able to share in the mouth-dropping fun as Jesus upgraded the
refreshments. Afterward the Bible indicates that they spent a few more days
together in Capernaum (John 2:12).
What’s going on here? And is this a pattern that’s necessary for serious life change
to take place? Jesus must have thought so. When He chose the twelve disciples
from among those who had been following him for over a year His mandate was
that “they might be with him” (Mark 3:14). If the disciples were to develop an
authentic life-changing faith in Jesus it would need to be built on the most powerful
of all learning methods: personal experience.
That’s why the second ingredient in THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS is to involve lost
teens in shared experiences to show them something of Jesus’ unconditional love.
How can we hope that lost teens really learn what Jesus is like if they don’t
experience His grace in an unconditionally accepting relationship? By spending
time with young people we can show them Jesus alive in us. Our shared
experiences build a bridge of trust across which the gospel message will be finally
understood.
That’s how it worked in the apostle Paul’s ministry. In his letter to the Thessalonians
he reminded these believers that they knew “how we lived among you for your
sake” (1 Thessalonians 1:5), and freely built upon their common knowledge of
shared memories as a basis for further instruction (1 Thessalonians 2:1-12).
So we need to move among lost teenagers and look for ways to involve them with
us in a great variety of common shared experiences. Jesus came to live among us
(John 1:14) and He developed relationships with us. That’s a pattern we need to
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copy. The fact that Jesus did so when we were undeserving of His attention only
reinforces the fact that His grace is a real life changer. Lost teens need to
experience Jesus’ gracious love as we involve ourselves with them.
9.3.1 Involve: How It Works With Kids
The closer we can come to helping young people actually experience the love
of Jesus the more likely it is that they will understand who he is and what he
wants to do for them.
Words alone are inadequate to communicate such a mind-blowing possibility.
In fact, Jesus’ transforming love is disfigured beyond recognition when verbal
strategies alone are used. We involve ourselves with lost teens so they see
modeled in front of their very eyes the love of Jesus that resists adequate
explanation. Our unconditional loving relationships with them are lost teens’
introductory experience to Jesus.
How do these dynamics of influence work? Significant impact happens when
a) we perceive that a model is like us; b) we have a loving relationship with the
model; c) we observe a model in a variety of circumstances and d) over a long
period of time; e) models reinforce the overall message of an attractive group
of people; f) models make it possible to know what they are feeling and g)
explain their actions. (Richards, Christian Education: Seeking to become like
Jesus Christ, chapter 8; Zondervan, 1975)
It’s clear that if we want young people to see us—and Jesus—as relevant to
their lives we need to do much more than share religious activities with them.
The more time we share together, exchanging natural conversations and
getting to know one another, the better the chance there is for influence.
That’s because when we involve ourselves with lost teens we establish the kind
of common ground that helps us really understand each other’s stories. And
because my story points to God’s story young people will get exposed to the
truth that can change their story forever.
Since we believe that life-on-life time is necessary in THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY
PROCESS, we will keep track of how much time we are involved with non-Christian
young people. The accountability and focus we’ll gain by using this involve
measurement strategy ought to be useful in helping us direct our ministry efforts.
9.3.2 Involve: A Prayer Focus
While we want to avoid involving ourselves in experiences that seek only to use
relationships as vehicles to stretch young people, we do want to challenge a
young person to grow. We need the Lord to give us his wisdom in achieving this
balance.
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Some young people bring out the best in their friends; others have the opposite
effect. It can be extremely frustrating to have set up a group experience that
has great potential for growth only to have it thwarted by poor interpersonal
dynamics. Again, we need the Lord to give us his wisdom.
Some persons may feel inadequate for modeling Jesus to another. But if God is
at work in us, he will display himself naturally while we involve ourselves with lost
young people. Let’s always commit the integrity of our own lives to the Lord.
Above all we must remember that our involvement goal is to help lost teens
understand the love of Jesus. This is fundamentally a matter that must be
undertaken by the Holy Spirit. Only he can remove the veil of confusion that
keeps young people from recognizing the truth. He may use unplanned
conversations that require us to be alert to God’s movement. In any case we
must ask the Lord to help us be ready for our role in his work. He often acts in
ways that we can’t possibly anticipate to bring about an outcome that we
can’t possibly accomplish. We have to pray!
9.3.3 Involve: The RMA Strategy
What are the practical ways the Campus Life RMAs can help us to involve lost
teens in shared experiences? We can begin with our own efforts toward
involving lost young people through building times, small groups, clubs, trips and
events. In addition, we can increase the impact of Campus Life’s RMA strategy
by also engaging others in involving lost teens as a part of the RELATIONAL MINISTRY
PROCESS through student leadership, ministry teams and even strategic
relationships.
Most critical in this phase of the RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS is that we proactively
involve lost teenagers in our relational ministry activities. We must direct a large
portion of our energy and attention to developing the skills of our team
members. We want to help them involve lost teens through the RMA’s. With the
exception of activities exclusively designed for student leader development, the
razor sharp focus of almost every building time, small group, club, trip and event
must be to involve the non-believing young person.
The environments where these five RMA’s take place, (living rooms, malls,
McDonald’s, van/bus rides, auditoriums, beaches, amusement parks, ski slopes,
movies, etc,) must feel, look, sound, and be non-Christian friendly. The
programming we offer, the words we use to promote activities, the words we
use to offer invitations for involvement, the ways we listen to stories and express
our own stories must be done with the purpose of attracting someone who does
not know Jesus, someone who does not speak the “Christianeese” language.
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Take this gentle warning!!!!! Please do not minimize how you and your team
engage and invite young people to participate in building times, small groups,
clubs, trips and events. As the Spirit of God woos them toward the cross He is
using you and your team members to draw lost young people closer to Jesus.
Your initial involvement with a lost young person must be covered in prayer. AND
you must be disciplined to use words and activities that will not be foreign,
overly religious, or alienating to the lost student. As we involve students in shared
activities, we will be awarded the greatest opportunity of being a living,
breathing example of Jesus before a young person.
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9.4 Inform
Evangelism has always been at the heart of God. He wants everyone to be
reconciled—or put into a right relationship—with Himself. Since the first time sin
entered the world we have all been stuck in the same dilemma: our sin cuts us off
from God and alienates us from the sort of fulfilling relationships for which we were
created (Romans 3:23). It is incredibly good news (the literal meaning of the word
gospel) for everyone who has ever taken a breath on the planet that God has
been the pursuer in attempting to bring people back into relationship with Himself.
The incarnation—when God showed up in Jesus Christ—demonstrates that God
seeks out people in a relational way so that broken relationships can be restored.
YFC’s Relational Ministry Process has thus far called us to initiate relationships and
extend them through meaningful personal involvement. If, however, our
relationships with young people become ends in themselves we will ignore the
reality that without God every relationship is genuinely incapacitated. We humans
were created for relationships of harmony that are anchored in our first relationship
with God himself. We really believe that it is necessary for lost and hurting young
people to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. Like Paul, we aren’t ashamed of this
gospel; it reveals the possibility of salvation that has the power to make relationships
what they can be (Romans 1:16).
And so it makes sense that we now turn the corner to inform lost teens about Jesus
so that they might put their faith in Him.
Let’s understand that evangelism doesn’t begin when we proclaim the words of
the gospel. It has begun with every loving effort we’ve taken so far with lost young
people. But we will be mistaken if we conclude that informing people of the
gospel of Jesus isn’t absolutely essential to their understanding of God’s story
(Romans 10:14). We are told in Mark 16:15 to, “Go into all the world and preach
the good news to all creation.”
It is a great calling to talk about Jesus to young people. God’s story is genuinely
powerful, containing the hope for new life. By informing lost teens about Jesus we
can help them to discover His forgiveness, peace, meaning, freedom, joy and
eternal life. And the good news is that this salvation is a gift of God through Jesus
Christ (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9).
9.4.1 Inform: How It Works With Kids
When we help young people to locate their own loneliness or feelings of
inadequacy with the words we use we are effective communicators. When we
help them understand that these very same troubling thoughts are the natural
consequences of being lost without Jesus we become effective preachers.
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While we’re not called to be “preachy” there should be no mistake that we are
called to preach the gospel.
Preaching the gospel has one goal: to deliver the story of Jesus Christ accurately
to those who have yet to put their faith in him. If the Bible emphasizes getting
the truth of God’s story in front of the right people—and it does—then we had
better make sure we know what we’re talking about when we inform lost teens
about Jesus.
Why is it so important for us to have a full understanding of God’s story?
Because we will draw from that knowledge when we choose which part of
God’s story to reveal. Our previous efforts at initiating relationships and involving
ourselves with young people will help us connect God’s story to their story. We
will have insights into their struggles that will help the gospel to be heard.
Ultimately we want to inform lost teens about how their current experiences can
be understood relative to the truth about Jesus Christ. Our faithfulness in this
assignment depends on how clearly and consistently we point young people to
Jesus.
What we intend to measure in our efforts to inform lost teens about Jesus is how
many times and the variety of locations in which the gospel story is told.
Consistent with our understanding of Three Story Evangelism we will not insist that
all of the highpoints of the gospel are always shared in order to count it as an
inform occasion. Our intention is to use this measurement indicator to remind us
of how important it is to sow God’s word accurately and often if we want to
reap a great harvest in evangelism.
9.4.2 Inform: A Prayer Focus
Paul’s prayer request from the Colossians gives us a great model to shape our
prayer focus as we inform lost teens about Jesus (Colossians 4: 2-6).
First, we need to pray for God to provide opportunities. Notice that this sort of
request acknowledges that a real opportunity is one in which God has opened
doors, prepared receptive hearts, and laid foundational understanding. When
we act as though it is our duty to create opportunities we reveal our own
ignorance of how God works and become ministry bulls in a china shop of
young souls. It is God who clears the path for the gospel to be heard; we need
to pray for his leading.
Then we need to pray that God helps us to make the most of the opportunities
he provides. This includes translating the mystery of life in Jesus to uninformed
young people. God must help us be clear in our explanations. It also includes
being alerted by the Holy Spirit to the particular ways that God is already at
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work, providing us with a sort of super-relevance that we can only attain when
God whispers his insights into our minds as we look for the right words. We’ve
got to pray!
9.4.3. Inform: The RMA Strategy
By practicing the Campus Life RMAs we will be able to take advantage of
numerous opportunities to inform lost teens about Jesus so that they might put
their faith in him. In fact, good planning will help ensure that we tell God’s story
often. By extension, young people ought to have lots of different venues where
they have learned something about Jesus. Here is how we see the Campus Life
RMAs help us.
Appointments with lost young people, although they are often the most fruitful
RMA for informing a student about “God’s” story, are also, for many of us, the
most threatening RMA. If we are intentional in our use of time and attentive to
the relationships we are developing, we can set up appointments with lost
young people every week, as a natural outcome of our initiation and
involvement with lost teens. In our hearts, most of us are eager to meet one-onone with teens in order to hear more of “their” stories and express the various
components of His story. The discipline to make this happen is simple. When we
are at club or any other ministry activity, we should have in mind several time
slots for the week where we can meet with a young person to swap stories and
continue the process of revealing “God’s” story in all it’s glory over time. Don’t
leave small groups, clubs, trips or events without loading your calendar and the
calendars of your team members with appointments for that week.
The RMA’s club and small groups are prime settings to inform young people
about Jesus Christ and the cross. Done over time, with careful consideration of
the larger picture of an entire school year, clubs and small groups can be a
wonderful place for young people to come to a clear, truth filled, relevant,
biblical understanding of the Cross, the Gospel and much of the rest of “God’s”
story.
Some events and most trips offer us great opportunities to inform teenagers
about their need for Jesus Christ and His ability to meet that need with grace,
love and forgiveness. Also connected to these is the infamous bus or van ride,
which is also a great place for lively discussion where information is naturally
shared back and forth from the smelly seats of a near broken down vehicle.
Remember also your student leaders and ministry teams. These leaders need
our attention, focus and training in order to be affective at multiplying gospel
efforts. We want these team members to be fully capable of informing young
people of who Jesus Christ is and how His coming for us, dying for us, rising for us
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and inviting us into relationship with Him can change every part of our lives for
the better.
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9.5 Invite
An earnest man—of considerable wealth—thought he had put it all together. His
questioning of Jesus started to confirm his hopes and revealed to Jesus that he was
a decent man. In Mark’s gospel we see that Jesus “looked at him and loved him”
before he delivered the bombshell: “Go, sell everything you have and give to the
poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” (Mark 10:21).
The sad result is that this good man, personally and clearly challenged by Jesus,
made the choice to walk away from Jesus rather than walk away from the wealth
he had accumulated.
It’s especially revealing to note that Jesus did not stop him from leaving or adjust
the commitment for which he was asking because of the man’s response. Having
been clear about what was required, the man made the wrong choice. But it was
a choice made honestly, with deliberation and without manipulation. And Jesus let
him walk away.
When lost teens have had the chance to understand Jesus’ story—they’ve seen its
impact in Christian lives and heard the words to explain it’s hope—they need to be
asked to make a decision. And so the next ingredient in THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY
PROCESS is to invite lost teens to make a decision to put their faith in Jesus Christ.
When Jesus calls persons to follow him—to become his disciples—they respond one
decision at a time. It’s always been so, and it will always be so among the young
people with whom we work. To invite someone to make a decision to follow Jesus
today is to invite that person to take the first step in becoming a lifelong follower of
Jesus. This long-term perspective is terribly significant with regard to how an
invitation is framed.
Consider an illustration. Imagine that a three-story (no pun intended!) building is on
fire and a man appears in the window of the top floor, flames all around him.
Rescuers below have positioned a landing pad and now urge him to jump quickly
to safety. Their pleas are urgent and direct and impassioned; this man’s life is at
stake if he doesn’t make the choice to leap right now! They are calling him to a
decision with consequences that will be experienced totally and immediately.
Some have appealed to this same sense of urgency with regard to our evangelistic
invitations. Lost teens who die without knowing Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord
are destined for hell. Compelled by the finality of such consequences, why
wouldn’t we urge people to put their faith in Christ with every word we utter?
The answer is simple: because Jesus didn’t! He invited people to follow him and
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demonstrated that he was worth following. Jesus wasn’t interested in people
taking a momentary leap; he wanted them to become his lifelong followers.
For that very reason he did things a little differently than what is often practiced in
youth ministry. With large crowds following him he didn’t seek to gain lots of
decisions so much as clarify what he was inviting them to do. Using the tough
language of “counting the cost” his goal was to help them make the decision
today that would sustain their journey with him tomorrow (Luke 14:25-33).
That’s why we concentrate on decisions that are made in a relational context. We
challenge those that have been informed about what it means to become a
follower of Jesus Christ to make the right choice. It does not surprise us that today’s
“no” may turn into a “yes” in a few months. We continually invite lost teens—
lovingly, patiently—to put their faith in Jesus. The more time we have to involve
ourselves with them and inform them of Jesus’ story the greater the likelihood that
they will discover what we learned: that putting our faith in Jesus Christ is the best
decision we ever made. And that it’s the most important decision we still make
every day.
9.5.1
Invite: How It Works With Kids
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Young people are great
“intenders.” Most are not deliberately dodging responsibility. They really believe
they eventually will act as they intend. But they often don’t understand that
until they crystallize their intentions they may be operating with the sort of vague
hopes that are powerless to actually change a life.
They simply don’t recognize how great the distance can be between the words,
“I will” and “I do.” We do young people a great service when we impress upon
them the utter necessity of responsibly deciding whether or not they will
become followers of Jesus Christ.
Of course, the ultimate goal is not to secure isolated decisions from young
people, but to help them choose to act and then behave consistently with their
choices. Making sure that teens understand the cost and commitment involved
in following Jesus is part of the help we ought to provide.
Our role in providing this assistance must also be governed by strong ethical
standards. We respect the dignity that every human being has been given by
the creative hand of the Lord of the Universe. One of the key attributes that we
have all been given is the freedom to choose whether or not we will submit our
lives to our loving Creator. And so we ought to do whatever is necessary to
ensure that the decisions young people make to follow or not follow Christ are
made freely and without manipulation.
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When we invite lost teens to choose to follow Christ we can keep track of the
decisions that each young person makes. Some young people obviously make
choices about becoming Christians of which we are unaware. But in THE
RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS we believe it is both natural and responsible for us to
walk with teens, helping them to make timely and well-informed decisions about
Jesus. Obviously, we’re hoping that every decision made is a positive one. But
we’ll keep track of each young person who makes any choice about following
Jesus (yes, no, not yet). The invite measurement indicator allows us to focus on
that for which we are responsible: bringing young persons to the point where
they can decide for or against Jesus Christ.
9.5.2 Invite: A Prayer Focus
There is perhaps no more holy ministry experience than the moment after which
we have issued an invitation to lost young people and before which they have
chosen whether they will begin to follow Jesus. It feels like all of heaven is
holding its breath and eternity is hanging in the balance. And, of course, for
those young people making a decision for Christ, such a dramatic description
has a deep ring of truth.
Every day we each make hundreds of light-hearted and relatively
inconsequential decisions. A decision to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ
couldn’t be more different from these sorts of choices. It must be made deep in
the heart and with honest awareness of how far-reaching its consequences will
be for the one making it. Only the Holy Spirit of God has access to the inner
chambers of a person’s heart; prayer is necessary for the Lord to do this
awakening work. We must pray!
We simply can’t recruit enough prayer for these sorts of ministry moments. Every
YFC staff person would be well served by having a ready-response prayer team,
available on short notice for the work of spiritual warfare. We desperately need
to recruit dedicated SWAT-team-types who will plead with the Holy Spirit to do
the heavy lifting in the persuasion process while we invite young people to trust
Jesus for the first time.
9.5.3. Invite: The RMA Strategy
Are some of the Campus Life RMAs able to help us invite lost teens to make a
decision to put their faith in Jesus Christ? Absolutely. Here are the ways to make
them work for us. Appointments, small groups, clubs, trips and events are
excellent vehicles to invite young people to follow Jesus Christ. We are wise to
strategically determine, through Spirit-led intentionality, when and how to invite
teens to make the most important decision of their lives.
We are suggesting a Spirit-led combination of urgency without desperation be
sought after as we plan the school year of invitations. In the club setting, inviting
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teens to follow Jesus Christ should happen approximately four times per year:
around thanksgiving or Christmas, during Easter season and prior to the end of
the school year with one additional time during the summer or one other
strategic time. The small group setting can follow a similar plan. Almost every
Campus Life trip should be built around a formal invitation time either during the
program or in scheduled appointments between leaders and students. Events
that are built around the intentional purpose of inviting students to respond to
Jesus’ invitation should include a formal response time as well.
We are suggesting a variety of response options. There is no value in inviting
teens to follow Jesus Christ the same way all the time. There is, however, great
value in trying to relate to the different ways that a young person might be most
engaged in responding to Jesus. Make use of “response cards,” where students
are asked to answer a simple, direct question in writing on a card. Make use of
inviting a response through raised hands, standing up, coming forward, talking
with a leader immediately following the program, setting an appointment with a
leader for later, praying a “salvation” prayer right then and there, looking up at
the speaker immediately.
Don’t forget your student leaders and ministry team members. They too are
eager to help their friends respond to the invitation of Jesus through Campus
Life. Be certain to engage them in the work prayer. Teach them how to lead a
friend to Jesus Christ, include how to answer questions, how to “pray the prayer”
with a friend, how to make use of Three Story Evangelism and how to recognize
when and where God is moving in someone’s life.
As we invite lost teenagers to find Jesus and allow Him to find them, we cannot
forget the importance of two Biblical principles. First, YFC’s ongoing fruit-bearing
condition of Spirit-led spontaneity is absolutely non-negotiable in the inviting
stage of our relational ministry process. God is at work in the lives of lost teens
long before Campus Life enters the scene. Since it is wise to trust this principle,
we must always have one eye on Heaven as we have one eye on the lost kids
whom we are pursuing. Each day is an opportunity to ask Jesus, “Where are
You at work and how might I and my team join You?” This is the leg of the
relational youth ministry journey we cannot plan for, strategize or anticipate. But
The Lord God loves working all around us. He is enduringly hopeful that we will
recognize Him because then He can include us and include our team members
in His work on Planet Earth. Watch for Him!!! He wants you to recognize His work
and join Him as He rescues Kids.
Secondly, keep in mind the “not-throwing-pearls-before-swine-principle”
(Matthew 7:6). We are called upon to bear fruit in many forms, but Jesus warns
us that some are ready while some are not ready. We do not want to be known
for inoculating young people to the life-giving truth of the Gospel by inviting
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them to follow Jesus too soon. When we move too fast, out of an over zealous
urgency, we can become guilty of alienating a young person from Jesus rather
than attracting her or him to Jesus.
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9.6 Invest
Earlier we noted how important it is to involve ourselves with lost teenagers so they can
see firsthand the evidence of Jesus’ grace at work in our lives. We observed that
Jesus’ call on the disciples’ lives included the expectation “that they might be with
him” (Mark 3:14). This same principle of with-nessing is every bit as necessary for a new
Christian as it is for a non-believer. When it comes to powerful learning, nothing packs
as much potential for serious life change as does personal experience.
That means we ought to routinely ask the question, "What do the new Christians we're
working with need to see or experience in order for them to take the next step in their
new faith journey?"
So, as part of our Relational Ministry Process, the next ingredient is to invest in Christians
with our time and lives so they can imitate us as we follow Jesus.
Jesus must have routinely operated with this principle at work. For example, in Luke
11:1 we read that Jesus withdrew by Himself to pray. Upon returning to the campsite
where His disciples were waiting He found that His example had provoked an interest
in them. "Lord, teach us to pray...," they asked. Jesus responded by offering them the
model we have come to call The Lord's Prayer. It's fair to conclude that Jesus could
have sought out enough of a private space for His personal prayer time that the
disciples would have had no clue about what He was doing when He was off by
Himself.
Lest the disciples miss the intentionality of Jesus’ efforts, He sometimes called explicit
attention to His teaching agenda. In a dramatic memory-maker on the eve of His
arrest, Jesus demonstrated the importance of servanthood by washing the disciples’
feet. His post-experience instruction leaves little room to dispute what He wanted the
twelve to learn: “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for
you” (John 13:15).
Paul knew that his own example was critical for believers to understand how to better
copy the life of Jesus. To one young church he wrote, “Follow my example, as I follow
the example of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). He reminded Timothy that his young
protégé had been given a clear picture of how to live for Jesus (2 Timothy 3:10). His
letter to the Philippians was similarly instructive when he coached them, “Whatever
you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice…”
(Philippians 4:9).
Some of us may not feel we have progressed far enough in our own Christian walk to
be an example to someone else. That perspective is understandable, but it places
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undue pressure on us. Paul made it clear to the same Philippians that the example he
offered to them was not of one who had already “arrived,” but of one who was
fiercely committed to following Jesus with integrity (Philippians 3:12-15). He knew
enough to invest himself as an example for those who—if they didn’t see how to live
the Jesus life—might not learn what they needed to. That’s the sort of investment
every Christian teen—especially those new to the faith—needs.
9.6.1 Invest: How It Works With Kids
What are the alternatives to investing time with Christian young people so that
they can be rooted in their faith? Our worst practice is to do nothing at all.
Feeling like our work is accomplished when a young person puts their faith in
Christ we shift our attention to the other lost teens needing to hear the gospel.
Another approach might be to have an initial meeting with a new Christian
where we supply them with some follow-up material and a few words of
encouragement. Then, for a mix of reasons, we simply don’t continue to
connect. We still offer words of guidance when we have a chance, but our
pattern doesn’t reveal a deliberate plan to establish their faith.
Historically in YFC we have conceived of follow-up as a series of appointments
with a new believer where we work through a specific curriculum (Totally True)
before we usher them into a church where they can get further instruction.
While these efforts are more honorable than anything so far described, they still
seem to fall short of the biblical pattern.
Christian teens need to see how to follow Jesus by walking with others who
follow Jesus. And because this is simply a fact of learning-life, it stands to reason
that the more compelling our example and the more time and conversation we
can invest, the greater the impact. In Three Story language, our circles must
experience an ever-greater overlap.
It is true that some activities may be more important to model than others. Like
Jesus, we need to show Christians how to pray. We also ought to demonstrate
how to receive instruction from the Lord by reading the Bible. And, of course,
how to immediately respond in obedience to what God asks from us.
It must also be true that if we can help establish new Christians in the faith by
showing them how to live for Jesus, we can also help Christian teens to share
their faith with their friends by showing them how to do so. Student leadership
research has confirmed that when Christian teens have observed others doing
evangelism they are dramatically more effective in their own efforts to win their
peers to Christ (Rahn & Linhart, 2000, Contagious Faith: Empowering student
leadership in youth evangelism; Group Publishing.)
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When we invest time with Christian teens we will keep track of how many hours
we spend with them. As with our earlier involvement efforts with lost teens, this
measurement indicator is imperfect at best. We know that simply keeping track
of hours doesn’t account for either the quality of time or how well we actually
model Christ with our lives. But we believe that the measurement indicator will
be useful in reminding us about the necessity of life-on-life time with Christian
young people.
9.6.2 Invest: A Prayer Focus
Like our efforts of involving ourselves with lost teens, our time investment with
Christian young people seems so natural that we might not feel the urgency of
needing prayer. But as the Scripture clearly represents and we have already
discussed, the non-formal nature of this way of learning is what makes it more
transformational, not less.
With such potential virtually hidden in common shared experiences, we must be
alert to what God is doing, or might want to do, in a Christian young person’s
life. As we have routinely confessed so far, we need the Lord’s wisdom. By
humbly asking God for help when we hang out with Christian teens we will
prepare ourselves to see an opportunity that we might have otherwise missed.
It is not selfish for us to concentrate our prayers on the vitality of our own life in
Christ. Being an example to others is not something we can turn on and off, like
some sort of performance. Our true character will ultimately be evident to all.
No small prayer energy should be spent on helping us to love Jesus more
faithfully, every day.
While there are no doubt many more ways to pray as we invest ourselves with
Christian teens, there is one that is critical to mention here. Each of us possesses
only limited time. We will learn best how to invest our time as the Lord guides us.
For instance, he knows when a small investment in the right person will help
produce another fruit-bearing worker for the harvest. We must ask the Lord for
access to these sorts of insights. We must keep praying!
9.6.3 Invest: The RMA Strategy
Which Campus Life RMAs are particularly helpful to us as we invest in Christians
with our time and lives so they can imitate us as we follow Jesus? Appointments,
small groups, trips, building times, events, student leadership and ministry teams
are perfect platforms for investing in Christians. Since the vehicle through which
we invest in Christian teenagers is time, we should make use of every RMA
available that allows for focused or spontaneous time spent with them.
For example appointments and small groups with Christian young people are
great tools fro discussing the questions and struggles of Christianity and to model
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prayer, Christ-centered living and dependence on Him. Trips and events can
be used to demonstrate and experience Christian values through worship,
mission trips and service projects.
Student leadership is probably the most life-changing tool available to us for
investing into the lives of believing Christians. In the midst of student leadership
we are modeling and teaching many Christian values including training for
ministry and evangelism training. Through student leadership we are potentially
making the deepest investment possible into the lives of young believers as we
disciple them and train our ministry team members to also multiply their
evangelism efforts through discipleship. Building times are gently woven in to all
the above opportunities. Any chance to spend intentional time with a group of
Christian students gives an occasion to mold and disciple future Christian
leaders.
Though club is a great place to spend time with Christian teenagers, our focus
at club must be on lost young people. Through this focus we can model a
commitment to and a “seeking after the lost” to our Christian teenagers as they
watch and learn from us. Later we can invest time with them as together we
evaluate how the ministry is doing at initiating with lost friends.
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9.7 Investigate
We might think that those who spent the most time with Jesus would have a benefit
in knowing him and following him that is not accessible to those of us who have
lived after he walked the earth. But Jesus’ teaching was apparently not complete
at the point of his death. In fact, the risen Christ had to “open the minds” of his
closest followers so that they could understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:45).
Just prior to this Jesus fell in with Cleopas and a friend while they were hiking to
Emmaus. He listened and learned a lot about what these two still needed to know
for the life journey that was sure to follow the day’s journey. Concealed by a
resurrection-altered body, Jesus “explained to them what was said in all the
Scriptures concerning himself.” When they later realized that this was the risen
Christ who had given them their own private tutorial, they simply geeked out:
“Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and
opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:13-32)
Understanding and obeying God’s word has always been an essential ingredient to
spiritual growth. Jesus pointed out in the Sermon on the Mount that after hearing
his words only a foolish person would refuse to adjust her behaviors (Matthew 7:2427). Perhaps Jesus’ brother James had this teaching in mind when he declared a
similar thought in his practical letter to the young church (James 1:22-25). We’ve
got to learn God’s word. But we don’t get the value intended from that learning
until we put it into practice.
The Christian young people with whom we work—especially those who are new to
the faith—must become students of God’s word. That’s why the next ingredient in
THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS is to investigate the Bible with Christians so they
discover how to apply God’s word to their lives.
Please notice that this is about forming disciples. Jesus made it clear in the Great
Commission that the point is “teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you” (Matthew 28:20). YFC’s sixth ingredient would be unfaithful to
Jesus’ directive if it were shortened to read, “investigate the Bible with Christians.”
Our attention must be on helping young people apply God’s word in their lives.
Paul’s passion for the growth and maturity of young Jesus-followers is instructive for
us. Speaking of Christ to the Colossians he writes: “We proclaim him, admonishing
and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect
in Christ. To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works
in me” (Colossians 1:28-29). His focus is on those with whom he works, and his
efforts are heroic. Embedded in THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS, our efforts to
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investigate the Bible with Christians so they discover how to apply God’s word in
their lives are similarly focused and heroic.
He also issues a personal reminder to Timothy, appealing to the relational
trustworthiness his young apprentice had learned along the way: “But as for you,
continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you
know those from whom you learned it and how from infancy you have known the
holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ
Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped
for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:14-17). THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS helps us to
issue our appeals to young people on the same basis that Paul uses.
Wouldn’t it be great if more Christians knew the Scriptures from their infancy? The
modern reality is that this is likely not even accurate as a description of YFC
employees. Our world is increasingly disconnected from God’s word, and
experience-only approaches to youth ministry do not help young people to bridge
this growing gap.
We must help the church to recover the “anywhere” nature of investigating God’s
word. Formal times to study the Bible more closely approximate an English class
novel discussion than they do the sort of riveting life relevant give and take that
Jesus modeled. Remember his experience with the two guys walking to Emmaus?
Doesn’t it make you wonder how Jesus could have possibly taught them the
Scriptures without benefit of handouts or a/v equipment? He intends the Bible to
be applied to life; that’s why he taught it so near to where people actually lived!
God’s word must be turned loose again. When we investigate the Bible with young
people with obedience as the goal, YFC will be doing its part to recover this critical
need in the body of Christ.
9.7.1 Investigate: How It Works With Kids
Biblical content is important for us to pass on to young people. Which content?
The early church formulated creeds that helped define a core content of
common understanding for believers. To align YFC with this historically rich
curriculum, we will soon develop or adopt materials that can be used as our
common core of instruction for new believers.
But what we want to accomplish when we investigate the Bible with Christian
young people goes far beyond passing along a body of knowledge. We want
teens to develop lifestyle patterns that have them routinely searching the
Scriptures so that they can obey the Author of the Book. There is an abundance
of research to support the idea that young people who engage in regular Bible
study are more likely to display moral strength of character and also influence
their friends for Christ (see research links at www.linkinstitute.com).
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So we must pass along Bible study skills that teens can use throughout their lives.
As we teach these skills, we should be able to pull out our Bibles in the middle of
any conversation and lead young people to an inductive discovery of truth by
asking three critical questions: What does the text say? What does it mean?
What does it mean FOR ME? Learning how these questions work together will
help teens to unlock any portion of Scripture for practical application.
We should also be careful to remind students that we study the Bible to hear
from Jesus himself. This means that how we investigate the Scriptures is unlike
how we might extract good advice from any other source of wisdom. And by
encouraging a frequent return to the study of the gospels, we can help others to
freshen their relationship with Jesus. Two simple discovery questions can guide
this process for anyone, regardless of their spiritual maturity: What does this
passage tell me about Jesus? What does he want from me?
God’s story is a rich treasure, and if we study hard for an entire lifetime we will
not exhaust the possibilities for understanding and obedience that are
contained in the Bible. When we investigate God’s story with young people we
put them on this most important path for a lifetime of following Jesus.
We’ll attempt to measure how well we investigate the Bible with Christian
students in much the same way we are doing with involve—our other focus on
the ministry of God’s word. We will count the number of Bible studies done and
track the settings in which the studies take place. This indicator also testifies to
the reality that we can’t get too much Scripture into the spiritual formation of
young people.
9.7.2 Investigate: A Prayer Focus
Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will both teach us and remind us of his words
(John 14:26). That makes our prayer focus fairly uncomplicated when we
investigate the Bible with young people. We must ask the Holy Spirit to open the
eyes of every heart so that we can see what Jesus wants to teach us.
Our prayers will also give us the humility we need to guard against the danger of
prescribing the sequence of Jesus’ priorities for changing a particular young
person’s life. For example, it’s not always true that the first thing a new believer
ought to do is quit some of their destructive habits. How can that be? Because
some young believers may get so discouraged by the mounds of instruction
they are given that they lose sight of Jesus himself. Only the Lord knows what
each heart needs to have his or her faith strengthened.
That’s why we pray—as always—for the Lord to do what we cannot do as we
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investigate the Bible with young people. So we keep on praying!
9.7.3. Investigate: The RMA Strategy
It might be surprising to discover how many Campus Life RMAs can help us to
investigate the Bible with Christians so they discover how to apply God’s word in
their lives. When it comes to teaching the Bible we’re often stuck in a schooloriented paradigm. But what if we learned how to turn God’s word loose
throughout the Campus Life RMAs? It might look something like this.
The RMA’s most suited to investigating God’s word with teenagers are
appointments, small groups, trips, events, student leadership and ministry teams.
That’s a long list!! To prepare ourselves to use these RMA’s for investigating
God’s Word, we remind ourselves of YFC’s ongoing fruit-bearing
conditions…especially abiding. In order to be effective as a Campus Life
leader, we must never lose sight of our need to abide in His Word for the
purpose of being and remaining close with Jesus Christ. Because we cannot
give to students from an empty soul, continually keeping our hearts and minds
connected to Jesus through the Scriptures is a prerequisite to allowing God’s
Word to infiltrate our relational ministry activities. We will be much more
effective as communicators of God’s Story through His Word, if we are preoccupied with His Word to begin with!
An appointment, whether it occurs on a trip, in a van ride after an event or
through a scheduled formal time with a student can often lead to the Bible as a
source of truth, dialog and hope. Carrying a Bible with you, in your car, to
McDonald’s, or on the van ride, implies that you are ready for God to create an
opportunity to move and allow you to bring up an important passage, story or
verse that He wants to use in the life of a Christian young person. The practice
of having a Bible accessible also demonstrates to the Christian young person
how important it’s content for real life really is!!
Small groups, and programming on trips and events also offer us wonderful
opportunities to teach, discuss, read and ask questions using the Scriptures as
the foundation for life. We can teach young people and help them experience
the principles of follow-up as new believers, thus introducing them to the basics
of Christianity. Most importantly we want to use these RMA’s to model to kids
the reality of the life-changing relevant words of God’s Story through His written
word.
Finally, let’s mention a word about club. The Campus Life club RMA is primarily
used to attract lost teenagers toward the Lord. That is not to say that we do not
mention the Bible during club. Remember our distinction between intentionally
reaching lost teenagers and then intentionally developing Christian teenagers?
Club primarily serves us by allowing us to initiate, involve, inform and invite the
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non-believing young person into a relationship with Jesus. We present the truth
about God’s story in such a way that a lost student can find Him. Does the
potential exist for Christian teens to learn something new about the Bible and
God’s Story through club? We hope so, however that is not our goal. What we
really want them to learn is how to share Christ more relevantly and more
authentically with their non-believing friends through club.
Which brings us full circle to the RMAs student leadership and ministry teams.
These team members can serve a role in the investigating phase of the
relational ministry process by learning to offer truth in relevant, genuine, nonpreachy ways to their friends. Their ability to investigate God’s word with other
people in part will depend, as it does for us, on their abiding relationship with
Jesus. We serve a role in holding them accountable for both their relationship
with Christ and their ability to communicate and use God’s word properly.
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9.8 Infuse
YFC is a man-made organizational enterprise, raised up during a particular time in
the history of man's relationship with God. We are specifically dedicated to helping
the body of Christ be faithful in her responsibility to make disciples from among the
millions of lost young people scattered everywhere. As a parachurch organization,
we in YFC get to embrace the freedom to specialize, focus, and limit the allocation
of our resources toward our particular mission niche as catalysts of discipleship
evangelism among young people.
On the other hand, our membership in a parachurch organization never excuses us
as persons from the rights and responsibilities that all Christians possess as members
of the body of Christ. Our primary identity and allegiance must be to that which
God has created--the Church--rather that which He has allowed us to create.
Jesus' priorities must be our priorities, and we must be careful to establish Jesus'
values as the foundation for our work.
The church is Jesus’ idea. He assembled the first group of those who would
dedicate their lives to him. He commissioned and empowered the first leaders
(Matthew 28:19, 20). He still assigns leadership roles—and other gifts—to the church
as he chooses (Ephesians 4:7-13). Jesus is in charge, the unquestioned Head of the
church (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22-23). It is Jesus’ plan that “the whole body,
joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in
love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16).
So, when we are effective in accomplishing our Jesus-assigned role in the body of
Christ, we will have helped lost young people become followers of Jesus. Then
what? The seventh ingredient in THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS answers that
question. We will infuse new Christians into a church so that church leadership can
report that they have been assimilated.
There is not supposed to be division in the body of Christ. Jesus’ prayer for unity
(John 17:23) and Paul’s appeals (Ephesians 4:1-6; Philippians 2:1-2) make this
abundantly clear. But unity is not so easily achieved, and to those of us involved in
important evangelism efforts with young people, to work for unity seems a
wearisome distraction from our real mission. Why spend the energy?
Because disciples of Jesus Christ are ones who have been “baptized”, or
assimilated, in his name. They are to join the body of millions of others throughout
history and across cultures who adjust their lives around the rule of Jesus. And they
are to do the work Jesus has in mind for them. If they do not, we all suffer
(Ephesians 4:16). It’s part of Jesus’ plan.
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When we refuse to cooperate with Jesus’ plan we rebel, plain and simple. We may
believe that we are right and others are wrong in the creeds we affirm or the
practice of our faith. But the bottom line is that Jesus set up the church, and he
warns us to let him sort out the good guys from the bad in the end (Matthew 13:2430).
So working outside the church is simply not an option.
This Relational Ministry Ingredient embraces the necessity of cultivating close
working relationships with church leadership within our communities. In fact, it
postures us in a submissive role (Philippians 2:1-5). We want to earn the respect of
churches as they see formerly lost young people join in the activities of their
fellowship as new Christ-followers.
The body of Christ in our communities ought to become increasingly invigorated as
we infuse it with young, energetic Christians. The new believers who have come
through YFC’s ministries will have experienced the power of unconditionally loving
relationships. They will also benefit from the impact of seeing God’s word turned
loose in natural settings through our inform and investigation efforts. The Church of
Jesus Christ will become healthier, more responsive to her Head, and more
equipped to glorify His Name.
Sounds like a plan.
9.8.1 Infuse: How It Works With Kids
Up to this point in THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS we have been able to focus on
the ministry activity we engage in with specific young people and God’s word.
This ingredient in the process has a prerequisite that we have yet to talk about.
It assumes that we have cultivated relationships of trust and service with church
leadership.
Notice that these relationships are founded upon our need for church leaders’
expertise rather than our self-promotion. It’s not that we don’t bring some
needed specialization to the church. It’s just that we don’t highlight what we
offer in our introductory handshakes. We assume the posture of a humble
servant. When we ask for help we acknowledge that we can’t even serve the
church adequately unless they enter into a true mission partnership with us.
Around what will we base such partnerships? First, we share a common
commitment to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and reveal him to the young people
in our communities. Second, we agree that the ultimate goal of YFC’s mission
ought to result in lost teens becoming faithful followers of Jesus Christ and
infusing churches with their new life. We do not shy away from declaring such a
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commitment.
And so our strategic partnerships begin with our confessed submission to the
church. We must infuse new Christian teens into the church to their satisfaction.
Do you see why we can’t possibly be successful without forging relationships of
trust?
Our collaborations must focus on particular young people. We’ll find some
common programs to share together, but that’s not a necessity. Even financial
support of YFC’s mission is not our ultimate goal. Like case-oriented social
workers we must work together so that specific previously lost young people join
church families in their lifelong journey of following Christ.
Our measurement standard for infusing new Christians into local churches is
intended to ensure that we will truly practice collaborative partnerships with
church leadership. We’ll know a particular young person has been infused only
when someone from a local church indicates that they have become active
and assimilated into their fellowship.
9.8.2 Infuse: A Prayer Focus
A whole batch of new prayer concerns emerge from our efforts to infuse
churches with new Christians. In many ways our world gets considerably more
complicated than the already challenging mission to which we are committed.
We must work—and prayer is a form of work—for the health and unity of local
churches in our communities. As if engaging lost young people with the gospel
isn’t tough enough!
This ought to become a natural concern as we build relationships with churchbased co-laborers. We’ll ache with those whose work is discouraging and
celebrate each church’s victories because of their benefit to the King we serve
and love.
More particularly we will find it useful to pray through particular relational
connections that young people experience as they get assimilated into a
church. This can be an awkward time for newcomers and established church
members alike.
We can never recruit too much prayer from among churches. But the active
prayers of God’s people for the successful infusion of new Christians into their
fellowships has the added benefit of keeping our important mission fresh in their
hearts and minds. We gotta keep praying!
9.8.3 Infuse: The RMA Strategy
Campus Life RMAs have typically been most productive on the front end of THE
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RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS. It doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some ways
to employ the Campus Life RMAs to help infuse new Christians into a church so
that church leadership reports that they have been assimilated.
Infusing new believers into a church happens most often through ministry teams
and student leaders who are regularly attending local churches. As these team
members grow in their ability to invest in new believers relationally, they serve as
the best bridge to the Church. Our role, as the Campus Life leader, is to teach,
train, mobilize, motivate, and encourage our team members to engage in the
relational ministry process through infusing.
We are most apt to prepare others to do the work of infusing when we are
committed to living out the YFC ongoing fruit-bearing condition of unified
believers. Our commitment to the growth of the Church and the growth of local
churches will be seen through how we use our RMA strategy to infuse young
believers into local church bodies even at the expense of young people leaving
our ministry activities in order to have time to make deeper commitments to a
church.
Appointments and small groups are other excellent vehicles to raise the
expectation that new believers in Campus Life move toward the Church as their
ultimate spiritual home. Club can also be used as we encourage local youth
pastors to attend and even volunteer in club. Our goal should be to make
youth pastors look great and present them in such a way that young people are
drawn to them and their ministries.
These Campus Life RMA’s can pave the way for new Christians to have a great
attitude about the Church and be attracted to Her. We can raise their level of
understanding of the Church and help them see how they can find a more
permanent place to worship, serve and get to know Jesus Christ far beyond
Campus Life. We have the privilege of influencing young people through
modeling, teaching and challenging them to make life-long commitments to
Christ’s Body here on earth, His Bride, the Church.
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9.9 Inspire
Take a few minutes to review the seven ingredients that have thus far made up
YFC’s Relational Ministry Process. They have focused our efforts in measurable ways
upon helping lost teens become contributing Christians in local churches.
We have accepted the responsibility that the first step must be ours, and so we
initiate loving, Christ-revealing relationships, expanding their impact as we involve
these same teens in our lives and involve ourselves in theirs.
We look for as many opportunities as possible to inform these young people about
Jesus, and—without ever compromising the respect due to one for whom Jesus
died—we persistently invite them to join us as Jesus’ followers.
And when they say, “yes” to our invitations, we invest the time that’s necessary to
show them how to live for Jesus. That will inevitably include investigating the Bible
with them, so that they can learn how to apply God’s word in their lives.
These believers we infuse into local churches and—when church leadership is
satisfied that they have really joined the body as disciples—we turn our eyes to find
other lost young people who might make the same journey.
Whew! As time-intensive as THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS is, it will take a long time
to reach the kids in our communities who are lost without Jesus. Unless…
What if we could inspire Christians to help us multiply the people involved in
discipleship evangelism? This final ingredient in THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS is not
simply a YFC brainstorm. It, too, is part of God’s master plan.
Think about it. We are Christians today because someone was faithful long ago.
And—when we get to heaven—if we are deliberate enough in tracing our spiritual
genealogies we should be able to trace our roots back to someone who actually
walked with Jesus while he was on the planet. How many did he leave behind to
start this incredible movement? Not enough to fill a good-sized church today.
Paul had the plan in mind when he spelled it out for his young disciple, Timothy:
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust
to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). But the
contagious nature of Jesus’ life need not be limited to one-on-one strategies. Paul
also commended the Thessalonians for becoming “a model to all the believers in
Macedonia and Achaia” (1 Thessalonians 1:7). When we follow Jesus’ master plan,
we can expect to see “much fruit” (John 15:8) and the harvest will require a
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calculator to measure its impact (Matthew 13:23).
Let’s play with the math for a moment. Ten workers start an effort, praying
modestly that the Lord will double their number in the first year. He answers this
prayer and rewards their faithfulness by giving them greater opportunities. The
workers—now twenty in number—repeat the pattern and become forty in their
third year. This continues so that the 40 grow to 80 (year four), the 80 to 160 (year
five) and so forth.
Ten years after starting this process there are now over 5,000 Christians who have
been inspired to join in the discipleship evangelism of youth. They may have been
scattered throughout churches and across the country, but that’s God’s business,
not ours.
Can’t happen? Before scoffing at this vision notice what God has done within YFC
where there has been a legacy of faithfulness for a long time. Multiplication is
inevitable!
It’s simply time to make sure that we are clear about identifying our multiplication
target. We want to inspire other Christians to join us in our discipleship evangelism
efforts among young people. Our primary focus in this effort is neither to multiply
YFC chapters nor YFC programs. Instead, we want to equip countless numbers of
disciples who can contribute to THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS. We want to multiply
the number of God’s people who are both energized by our mission and
committed to working with us in some portion of it.
If we’re at all successful, the whole Church ought to benefit, inspired to greater
faithfulness for Jesus’ glory.
9.9.1 Inspire: How It Works With Kids
Who are the people most likely to be inspired to join us in our work? YFC
professional staff and adult volunteers are our obvious partners in mission, and
this operations manual has been written largely with these folks in mind.
But we have also identified the critical role church leadership will play in helping
us accomplish our mission. Many from among these ranks, especially youth
pastors, will hold the key to multiplying our efforts.
Christian professionals who work with young people may also be able to
contribute significantly to the formation of young Jesus-followers. Likewise,
Christian parents may be enlisted to join us in the cause. In any case, those who
can offer help with only one of the ingredients should not be turned away
because they can’t work in the entire process. We must cultivate teams of
people who are deeply committed to doing their part in youth discipleship
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evangelism.
Finally, we dare not overlook the potential contributions that Christian teensespecially those who have become Christians through our ministries-can make.
Young people who learn the joy of being used by God to reach their friends for
Christ are among those most inspired for a lifetime of service. And whether or
not they ever serve in a YFC-sponsored work later in life, they can invigorate the
body of Christ with a lasting legacy, the extent of which we'll only understand
when we get to heaven.
The kingdom value of such work is truly immeasurable. But we will measure our
YFC progress against such a focus by asking those who are inspired by our
mission to also join us in submitting to the discipline of accountability that has
been identified throughout this description of the eight relational ministry
ingredients.
9.9.2 Inspire: A Prayer Focus
We’ll take our cues for the sort of praying we must do as we inspire others to join
us from the Lord Jesus himself: “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.
Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field”
(Matthew 11: 37-38). Now, as then, the opportunities far outweigh the human
resources committed to working with young people. We pray urgently for new
workers, and stay alert for how the Lord will answer those prayers through all sorts
of means.
Notice that the Lord is both in charge of the harvest and that he owns the fields
where the harvest will take place. How should this affect the way we pray? The
answer lies in the nature of the harvest.
Even with modern technology, there is some produce that still requires human
hands for the harvest. In such cases the only way for the large harvest to reach
its potential is to have more workers on the job. The Lord of the harvest would
remind us that we can’t reap the fruit he intends by using means—even
accelerated means—that he hasn’t certified.
This means that when we look at the great field of unreached young people we
dare not panic and abandon the strategy God has given us. Feeling
overwhelmed by the vastness of the need, we may be tempted to make
urgency-driven strategy decisions. Such choices are shortsighted at best and
unfaithful at worst.
If we allow that our prayer focus may well be spent listening to the Lord on this
matter, the Father will certainly reassure us about how to faithfully inspire
Christians to multiply discipleship evangelism among young people. We must
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continue to pray!
9.9.3. Inspire: The RMA Strategy
It’s recycle—or maybe review—time. How does the clarity of our Campus Life
RMAs help us to inspire Christians to multiply THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESs? Try
practicing these suggestions.
Our best efforts to multiply ministry efforts and therefore multiply lasting fruit are
null and void and not at all of eternal value if we are not living a life that
assumes and faithfully walks out all five of YFC’s ongoing fruit-bearing conditions
(see Chapter 2 for a full explanation of these conditions). We can only multiply
or reproduce who we are. In other words, if you are developing yourself as a
faithful missionary, who abides in Jesus Christ, unifies with other believers and
lives life from a Spirit-led place both with intentionality and spontaneity, you
have a great chance at multiply those same fruit-bearing conditions in the lives
of your student leaders, and ministry team members. If on the other hand you
primarily operate on your own strength and through your own talents, you will
probably not multiply fruit-bearers who yield lasting fruit (2Timothy2: 2).
Inspiring other believers to multiply ministry through bearing fruit that reproduces
more fruit that produces more fruit that produces more fruit etc., is one of the
most complex ingredients in YFC’s RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS. It takes more
prayer, and focused use of our RMA strategy than any of the other seven
ingredients. We can use appointments with adults and small groups with
Christians. We can inspire them through teaching, sharing stories and exposing
them to young people whose lives have been dramatically altered by the
Gospel.
Frankly speaking, it is often easier to invest time in young people and enjoy the
fun and growth and important decisions they make than it is to inspire other
Christians to embrace this same eternally significant work. We cannot, however,
reach every young person without the help of the other committed believers.
Often, we are called upon by the Lord to inspire others because we have
experienced such an incredible work of His love and grace in us and through us.
He is really the One who wants to multiply and reproduce lasting fruit through us.
We must allow Him to do just that so that Youth For Christ can be positioned in
His hand as His tool for reaching every young person, in every people group, in
every nation, as we inspire others to initiate, involve, inform, invite, invest,
investigate and infuse young people to be life-long followers of Jesus Christ.
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CONCLUSION
We have simply scratched the surface concerning all the practical connections
that exist between our RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS ingredients and our Relational
Ministry Actions. While we hope this strategic look at the RMA’s in relation to the
RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS is useful, we are certain you will have many more
creative ideas and applications of YFC’s ingredients. Don’t hesitate to dream
and experiment with all eleven RMA’s in order to accomplish the outcomes of
initiating, involving, informing and inviting lost young people into the sphere of
influence God has given you and your teams for the Gospel as well as investing,
investigating, infusing and inspiring believers. God is eager to use you and
Campus Life in your area. By making yourself wholly available to Him and giving
your time and energy to the RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS, we are hopeful that He
will use you for great accomplishments in His Kingdom.
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10. Campus Life Ministry Assessment
Let’s consider our motives for assessment. Are there biblical ministry values that go
beyond the practical worth of doing assessment in order to meet someone else's
accountability demands? In other words, should we practice good ministry
assessment because it’s really important to God?
Doing our ministry evaluations because they are due to someone else testifies to the
reality of interdependence of which the scripture speaks. It suggests that we
appreciate the call of scripture to submit ourselves to one another, particularly to
those who have authority over us (Ephesians 5:21; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 2:17). We
recognize the kingdom value of having our work scrutinized today, because we know
it will be judged in the future (1 Corinthians 3: 12-14).
The practical reasons we assess our youth ministry may include the need to meet YFC
obligations, but submission will only benefit our souls when it reflects a value that
comes from inside us. We must be convinced that interdependence is a necessary
reality. Unlike independent and self-reliant structures, the metaphor of the body
suggests that we truly do need one another. Unlike dependent and other-reliant
structures, the body of Christ imagery also testifies that we have been uniquely
designed to make original and meaningful contributions, without which others will
genuinely be impoverished.
Deeply beneficial assessment can take place only when honesty and humility blaze a
trail that honors truth above all else. This isn't always easy; it's the same sort of posture
that earned Socrates the label as the "gadfly of Athens" (see Kreeft. 1987. Socrates
meets Jesus. Intervarsity Press.) In the service of the truth, any question was fair game
for this ancient philosopher.
Douglas Hyde reported that a similar attitude provided the climate for continuous
improvement among Communist Party members as they critiqued their various
campaigns (Hyde. 1992. Dedication and leadership. Notre Dame University Press.)
Knowing the truth was more important than protecting someone's ego from being
bruised. Isn’t it great that Christians don’t have to choose between caring for others
and loving the truth? These two values are not incompatible in the economy of the
Christian faith. Paul insisted that the Ephesians should contribute to one another's
growth by "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15).
Honest evaluation can help us understand the true state of health in our YFC ministries.
It can also reveal something about our own biases and ill preparedness to make
important judgments about ministry effectiveness. We can always see what needs
cleaning up better when the lights are on. Assessment helps us to make sure that
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we've got enough candlepower pointed in the right direction to really improve our
ministry effectiveness. Continuous improvement is a worthy, even holy, goal. As John
Wesley wrote, "It is a great thing to seize and improve the very now” (as reported on p.
55, Dean and Foster. 1998. The Godbearing life. Upper Room Books.) (NOTE: This
entire section was excerpted and adapted from Rahn. 2001. Assessing honestly:
Continuous improvement. Chapter 27 in Dean, Clark & Rahn (eds.), Starting right:
Thinking theologically about youth ministry. Zondervan/Youth Specialties Academic.)
We have committed ourselves to THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS as has been described
in this operations manual. This process includes practicing the eight ingredients
described in chapter 9, the relational ministry actions described in chapters 8 & 9, and
the five ongoing, fruit-bearing conditions described in chapter 2. Taken together, they
ought to help us focus our ministry on the discipleship evangelism of young people.
Diligent assessment will help us pay attention to that which is important to us.
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10.1 Focus: Life-on-Life With Every Young Person
Our discussion of discipleship evangelism (chapter 2) has asserted how important it is
to connect meaningfully with young people in their world. These connections help
those who were lost and blind become those who are found and can see. They are
time intensive rescue efforts.
When we ask YFC staff to begin a separate database file on every young person with
whom they work, it is so we can understand how well we practice life-on-life ministry.
We want to record when a relationship is initiated, what the spiritual status of the teen
is at the time the relationship began, and we want to record the amount of time spent
(involve and invest) with each young person by the Christians in their life.
We have assigned these three ingredients of THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS—initiate,
involve and invest—the role of helping us to stay on track with the life-on-life
discipleship evangelism value. They don’t measure everything that is important in lifeon-life transformation, but they can provide us with accurate data that ought to be
useful as we focus our ministry energies.
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10.2 Focus: The Application of God’s Word in Life
We are also deeply committed to getting God’s word into the mix of active
ingredients used to change a young person’s life. Jesus’ Great Commission standard is
pretty hefty, “…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew
28:20). We’ve got a lot of work to do if we’re going to shoulder our responsibility
faithfully.
In order to ensure that this discipleship evangelism element is not neglected we want
YFC staff to monitor their own activity of sowing God’s word into teens’ lives. When our
purpose is to share the gospel story of Jesus we keep track of the number of times and
settings where we informed lost teens about Christ so that they might put their faith in
him. When our purpose is to help Christian young people grow by discovering and
applying God’s word in their lives we record the number of times and settings where
we investigated the Bible with Christian teens.
Notice that we’ve hooked our monitoring machine up to our activity in using God’s
word. There are two reasons for this. First, this assessment strategy will help us to focus
on what we are obligated to do. And limited though it is in predicting specific life
change, it will provide us with an accurate indicator of how much God’s word is
woven into the transformational fabric of our ministries.
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10.3 Focus: How the Kingdom Grows
Our understanding of discipleship evangelism includes a moment in time when lost
young people make decisions to follow Jesus for the rest of their lives. As they begin
this journey they come to another decision, one that is absolutely essential to their wellbeing. They must decide to join with other Christ-followers as they journey. When they
initially join the church, it may be that they receive benefits without offering a lot in
return. But the nature of their growth must reshape this formula. Eventually they must
make the contributions to the body of Christ for which they were created (Ephesians
2:10).
And so God’s kingdom grows. A single decision is made. Lots of significant decisions
cluster together to help point a new disciple in the right direction. Disciples gather
together in churches to strengthen one another as they reveal the love of Christ in their
world. Faithful church communities send out faithful missionaries to reproduce this
growth process all around the world.
When we YFC staff invite every lost young person to make a decision to follow Christ,
we do so knowing how important such decisions are in God’s master design. But we
also know that they are only part of the story. So we also forge the kind of ministry
partnerships with local churches that allow us to make a request of church leadership.
We want them—not us—to tell us when previously lost young people have been
infused into their local fellowships. And eventually, because of the way we will collect
our information, we’ll also learn how many of these churched believers are inspired to
join us in our discipleship evangelism mission among young people.
It’s imperfect, but assessment centered around invite, infuse and inspire will help us to
focus on the right outcome indicators in our YFC ministries. A lost teen makes a
decision to become a disciple of Jesus. A new disciple joins a church of other Jesus
followers. An energized church sends new missionaries to join our cause. It’s how the
kingdom grows.
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10.4 Focus: Campus Life RMAs
Part of THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS is the application of discipleship evangelism
strategies to each of our core ministries. The distinctive form of Campus Life’s
relational ministry actions is another focus of our assessment efforts.
Unlike any of the assessment described earlier in this chapter, our measurement of the
RMAs has the exclusive purpose of supplying us with information that will allow us to
evaluate and improve each core ministry program. For example, all of our core
ministries practice small groups as one of their relational ministry actions. By keeping
track of the total number of small groups that are done and their average attendance
we are better able to understand the role that small groups actually play in each core
ministry. All of this is with the goal of being able to better refine each core ministry so
that we know how to combine our RMAs for maximum ministry effectiveness.
Here’s a word to the wise. The quality of the information that we collect and how we
use it determine how valuable assessment can actually be to our ministry practices.
Information quality is based on two factors. First, is what we are measuring actually
important for us to know? This is the So What factor. If we cannot imagine our
ministries deriving any practical benefit from a summary of the assessment
information—especially if the results are extremely higher or lower than predicted—
then the information quality doesn’t pass the So What test. In the small groups
example above, we could apply this test by asking what difference it would make if
we learned that where our small attendance averages were less than six, ministries
also reported a greater percentage of new Christians had been infused into local
churches. If the practical benefit of knowing such information is evident we can
conclude we are measuring something that is important for us to know.
The second factor used to determine information quality is based upon the reliability of
the information collected. If we simply cannot create a yardstick to measure
something accurately, we shouldn’t try to assess it. This is one of the reasons that
attendance numbers or financial balance sheets are such popular evaluation tools.
There is at least the possibility of being accurate when we count something.
Sometimes we trade off what might be really valuable for us to know (i.e., the
dynamics of how particular small group members relate to each other) for what we
can know (i.e., small group attendance averages) because we can’t figure out a
reliable way to measure what is most important. On the other hand, if a particular YFC
staff person wanted to use a grading scale to rate the effectiveness of her particular
small group from week to week, this information might be accurate for her. Her
somewhat subjective rating standards would remain constant and she would not
need to interpret her evaluation for anyone else.
Our relational ministry actions have been formulated—in large part—because they
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can provide nationally-gathered quality information to help shape the resources and
training needed for each core ministry. Local YFC ministry staff may find additional
useful purposes for collecting RMA assessment information.
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10.5 Focus: Review, Reflect, & Adjust
We dare not waste our considerable efforts to collect quality information. This
warning is not inappropriate. Too many ministries never take the time to use the
information collected to make quality evaluations and adjustments to their
practices.
Just imagine how frustrated we might be to discover that each weekly report we
turned in was simply filed in a drawer without ever being reviewed. What a
disincentive that would be to working on those reports! By contrast, think of how
much of an encouragement it would be to learn that our submissions were poured
over, analyzed, prayed over and discussed with one goal in mind: to help us
become more faithful and effective ministers for Jesus Christ.
Once assessment information has been collected it must be reviewed and
scrutinized carefully and prayerfully. We need to give ourselves the space and time
to reflect deeply on what we can learn. If we want to catch big fish we have to
work in deep waters. Our egos must be set aside. They will only prevent us from
hearing what the assessment information might be saying. If we are both hungry
and humble we can learn rich insights about how to improve our ministries. The
routines of assessment can help us to constantly fine-tune our ministry practices for
increased effectiveness.
This is even true for the foundation of THE RELATIONAL MINISTRY PROCESS, YFC’s ongoing
fruit-bearing conditions. By becoming praying, reflective students of our own souls
we can discover indicators of how well we are abiding in Christ, where our greatest
faithfulness challenges lie and the roadblocks we encounter as we work for unity.
The Lord will help us see when our planning is done in the Spirit and when it is done
on our own. We’ll make progress in responding to the still small voice of God
throughout the day.
These benefits of assessment are deeply personal, but have every bit as much to
do with our ministry effectiveness as do those discussed earlier. God wants to grow
us into great fruit-bearers for him (2 Peter 1: 3-8), but it won’t happen unless we give
him the space to work in us. Anything important is worth scrutinizing for how it can
be done better. By reviewing what we discover, reflecting on its implications, and
adjusting accordingly we can improve both our lives and ministries.
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