Going from launching movements to building them

If you’re like me, after all the hard work of the first weeks of the fall you’re feeling like:

• We worked our tails off reaching out to freshmen and, honestly, the results are not what we had hoped for.
• You’re wondering – where are all the guys? We are terribly ineffective at reaching sharp, male leaders.
• Our weekly meeting numbers are not what I hoped they would be at this point.

I think the problem is the amount of work in relation to the payoff. The excitement of the first few weeks always seem like they’ll pay greater dividends than they actually end up doing. We’re six weeks into the year and it seems like we’re not affecting our campus.

The high energy of large attendance at our first few events can make us forget what matters AND what ultimately will impact the world.

Jesus’ “concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow” (The Master Plan of Evangelism, Dr. Robert Coleman).

Movements are not built in the first few weeks of the fall. They take years.

Movements are not built by the masses. They are built on the efforts of small groups passionately following Christ. It only takes a handful of students to change the world.

Jesus’ first few years of ministry “had little or no immediate effect upon the religious life of his day, but that did not matter greatly. For as it turned out, these few early converts of the Lord were destined to become the leaders of his church that was to go with the gospel to the whole world.”

In the fall there are two important stages of ministry:

1. The first few weeks of reaching freshmen
2. Selecting who you will invest in this year

Now is the time for Stage 2

In light of that, this week in staff meeting we read the article, Going From Launching to Building Reproducing Movements by Brian McCollister.

Brian is one of the best college ministry strategists in the world. Almost everything we do to reach freshmen in the first weeks is based on his model from Cru at Ohio University.

It’s not a short article—we are reading it over two weeks at staff meeting—but it’s the perfect topic for your staff and student leaders to be talking through right now.

In addition to this, all of our staff are taking their disciples through The Master Plan of Evangelism this fall. If you’d like to check out a week by week discussion of Master Plan, click here.

What is your team talking about and doing right now?