Intro to how to challenge a “key believer” to join you in God’s work on your campus

Recently I wrote about ‘Reaping where you did not sow’ (‘Precision harvesting’) which is the idea of looking for non-believers who ‘ripe’ to turn to Christ as soon as they hear the gospel. In last week’s topic, ‘Looking for the people God has prepared,’ I talked about the idea of trusting that God has already prepared someone to join you in helping to fulfill the Great Commission on your campus.

This week I will continue the series of what a spiritual movement looks like.  I would like to give you an idea of how you can challenge other believers to join you in what God is doing to build a spiritual movement at your school.  Here is a resource on how to challenge believers to join you as you trust God to work in your city.  (This idea is adapted from a book called, T4T, A Discipleship Re-revolution.)   I love this example because it is directly from Scripture.  I also love it because it is super simple and is easy to remember!  You can easily adapt it to fit your context.  We call these kinds of students or volunteers, “Key believers.” 

We have a special designation so that we can differentiate between someone who is completely aligned to the vision of building a student spiritual movement on campus, including the idea of intentional/ initiative evangelism and discipleship/ training believers on campus to reach and disciple/ train other believers. 

There are other believers who may want to be used by God, but have a different calling from God – perhaps to do ministry in orphanages, or to lead the youth group.  They are believers, but their vision is different. 

You may also have non-believers who participate in some of your events. 

The main thing is that you want to be asking those who are like-minded to join you in planning and leading the ministry, rather than those who are called by God to a different sort of ministry.]

Ask for God to show you who He has already raised up or who He is in the process of raising up to work together with you to build a spiritual movement of students in your city.  Share with them the vision that God has given you of how He wants to use you to bring the gospel to lost students around you.  Take them to Mt.28 and ask them to join you in making the Great Commission happen on your campus!

My team is praying that God would lead you to those who He has already raised up who are like-minded to join you in being a part of God’s work among students in your city!

Step out in faith and invite other believers to participate in God’s mission on your campus!

To add to the summary the first part of a spiritual movement is: 

Looking for the people God has prepared  (evangelism)

      Among non-Christians -  sharing the gospel through:

- initiative evangelism

- building relationships

Among Christians – searching for those God has raised up to work with you:

     - Christian students you already know at your university,

              - Christian students you meet while sharing the gospel, 

- using the 'Precision harvesting' strategy   

Challenge believers to join you 

How to develop new leaders – part 2

 

In the last blog I shared with you some of the things I learned from reading a book called T4T – a Discipleship Re-revolution, by Steve Smith and Ying Kai.  In that blog I talked about how vital it is to develop new leaders in order for movements to continue long after you graduate.  We looked at how Jesus developed His leaders as a great model for leadership development. This week I want to continue to share the insights I gained from the chapter on Developing New Leaders.

What can we learn from how Jesus discerned the right people and how He developed them?

• Give new disciples small assignments and see who is faithful, then increase the level of responsibility you are asking them to take on and watch to see if they follow through (Matt.25:21).

Ease them into responsibility.

Remember, in the beginning you are not expecting new leaders to take on full responsibility for leading the ministry, you are just trying to see who is able to fulfill the responsibility given in smaller tasks.  You are looking for those who will obey the Word, who will begin to witness, who are starting follow up new believers or is helping other believers to grow in their relationship with God as well.

• As people prove faithful, give them more time and attention as they are fulfilling responsibilities in ministry.  The best leaders are developed ‘on the job.’

A common leadership mistake we make is by spending 90% of our time with the 10% who are the least responsive.  We try to help move along those who are not willing to move or who aren’t ready to move at the current moment.  And we ignore those who are envisioned to the ministry, are faithful and ready to step up to the plate to serve.

These developing-leaders need more of your time because they are taking on increased responsibilities and the problems that accompany them.  They need to be developed in the midst of fulfilling the tasks of ministry. 

• An important point:  God often chooses those who seem to be unlikely leadership prospects because He sees that these persons long for Him and are teachable (1 Sam.22:2, 1 Chr.11:10ff).

Developing leaders happens best in the context of ministry.

• Believers mature more rapidly when they are given responsibilities for service immediately.
• Leaders are developed in the midst of proving themselves in ministry.

When we talk about developing leaders for student ministries or movements, we are not talking about developing a church leader. 

• What student leaders need and what their responsibilities call for are not the same as for someone leading in the church. 
• You are simply looking for the most basic qualifications for spiritual leadership that is appropriate for what you are asking them to be responsible for.

What are indicators that someone is growing into a leader within your ministry?

• you are able to observe their obedience to God and faithfulness in ministry.
• you can watch them taking the initiative to share Christ.
• you are aware of whether or not they are helping new and young believers to grow.

How can you help begin to develop future leaders for your movement?

• share your vision of what God has called you to do on campus with them.
• help to appoint them to appropriate leadership responsibilities in the beginning of their involvement.
• create ‘proving’ (‘proving ground’) opportunities for growth as a leader.

I would like to add one thing to Steve Smith’s list:

• Don’t wait until there is a ‘crisis of leadership’ before you start to develop new leaders!  You should be developing all who are involved in your group on some level or another at all times.   It takes time to develop new leaders and give them time to ‘prove’ themselves.  The more experience in ministry they have before they move into a more formal leadership role, the better leaders they will be.

What are some of the lessons you have learned in developing new leaders?  We have so much that we can learn from each others' experience!