Stage One: Pick a Target

What affinity groups or “pockets of people” are you currently an “insider” in?

* Some potential affinity groups you may already be in could be your major, dorm floor, greek chapter, sports team, hobbies, interests, apartment complex, club, work or even a group of friends. List all the “pockets of people” you are currently in.

Is there a strategic group of people that you are not an insider in yet but could become one if made an effort? How would you do that?

Which of these groups has the most people in it?

Which of these groups has clearest social identity? Which one do people hang out with each other the most?

Which group would you like to focus your outreach on the most this semester? Ask advice from the person discipling you about which group to focus on first.

Stage Two: Pray Like Crazy

Praying for the people in your targets should be a daily practice for anyone seeking to have a personal ministry. It is the most important part of having a fruitful ministry.

Read this section from “The Kneeling Christian” as you consider your own prayer life:

“Has it ever occurred to you that our Lord never gave an unnecessary or an optional command? Do we really believe that our Lord never made a promise which He could not, or would not, fulfill? In fact, it can easily be shown that all want of success, and all failure in the spiritual life and in Christian work, is due to defective or insufficient prayer. Unless we pray aright we cannot live aright or serve aright. This may appear, at first sight, to be gross exaggeration, but the more we think it over in the light Scripture throws upon it, the more convinced shall we be of the truth of this statement. Fellow-Christians, let us awake! The devil is blinding our eyes. He is endeavoring to prevent us from facing this question of prayer….Do we realize that there is nothing the devil dreads so much as prayer? …He loves to see us “up to our eyes” in work — provided we do not pray. He does not fear because we are eager and earnest Bible students — provided we are little in prayer. Someone has wisely said, “Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” All this is so familiar to us — but do we really pray?… Let us never forget that the greatest thing we can do for God or for man is to pray. For we can accomplish far more by our prayers than by our work. Prayer is omnipotent; it can do anything that God can do! When we pray God works.”

How will you be faithful to pray for the people in your personal ministry target? Write down one specific goal.

What are some “Extreme Prayers” that you can create? (An Extreme Prayer is something that you would love to see God do but is too big for you to make it happen on your own.) Praying for these daily will energize your faith and remind you that we are totally dependent on God for any spiritual fruit. 

COUNT THE COST

What has the greatest potential to distract you from reaching out to your ministry target? How will you combat this distraction?  What are some ways that you can free up your time?

Stage Three: Proactively Pursue Relationships

Once you have chosen your target it is essential to do whatever it takes to become an “insider.” It is important to explore natural ways to build relationships with those within the affinity group.

How will you build relationships with those within your ministry target? Brain storm a list of 10 ideas.

What will you need to cut out of your schedule in order to spend more time with those you are seeking to share Christ with?

PERSISTENTLY PROVE YOUR LOVE TO THEM

“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

Faithful gospel ministry involves showing and telling! As you are broadly share the gospel with as many people as possible within the target group you will want to look for simple ways to serve the people who are in the group. Ask God to open your eyes for creative ways to truly love the people God has called you to reach. Your practical expressions of love will surprise people and make a great impact.

What are some practical ways that you can serve the people in your ministry target?

Stage Four: Preach the Gospel Boldly and Broadly

One mistake many students make is being too slow about getting around to sharing the gospel with the people in their ministry target. They spend so much time building relationships that they start to get nervous about “ruining” those friendships by sharing the gospel. God is preparing students hearts to hear the gospel. It’s a laborers job to discover those people by sharing the gospel. As Steve Shadrach puts it “there is a direct connection to how many students you share the gospel with and how many you lead to Christ!” 

What are some natural ways that you could picture setting up gospel conversations with the people in your target group? 

What could potentially stop you from setting up gospel conversations with the people in your ministry target? How will you overcome the obstacles?

Do you think there could be any interest in a investigative Bible study with some people from thegroup? If so how would you try to start that?

Stage Five: Prepare for Persons of Peace

Often The Lord will lead you to people who are “gatekeepers” who can help open doors to share Jesus with whole groups of people. In Luke 10 Jesus sent out 72 of his disciples to go “ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.” In verses 5-7 Jesus told them to seek out a “person of people” who would welcome them and serve as the home base for their ministry in the area. This strategy has the potential for the person to “lend their credibility” to the missionary enabling the gospel message to spread more rapidly within the target area. There is no “one size fits all” description for a person of peace. It takes some prayer and discernment to discover who they may be. Here are some questions to consider when seeking persons of people.

Is this person open to hearing about Christ? Are they open to the idea of others in the group hearing about Jesus? They don’t need to be a believer. They just need to be open. Are they willing to help host a bible study in their dorm or apartment for their friends?

Does the person have a reputation? It can be a good reputation or bad reputation (see story of the Samaritan woman in John 4).

Are they an influencer? They don’t need to be the president of the group but it’s helpful if they have some influence.

The best way to discover people of peace is to sow broadly with the gospel. It can be very helpful to try and follow up with a new believer in their dorm room or lounge. This gives you a chance to rub shoulders with their buddies and potentially give them more motivation to invite one or two friends. A key question to ask is “Would any of your friends be interested in learning more about Jesus and discussing the Bible?” Any new believer has potential to be a person of peace who can open up whole pockets of people to reach out to on campus. Start from the beginning giving them a vision to multiply disciples.

If you perceive this person may be a person of peace it is important to spend as much time as possible with this person and equip and empower them reach their friends. Take time to go hangout with them on their turf and if you can start a investigative study with their friends see what you can do to set that up! 

Is there anyone that you know who has potential to be a person of peace in your ministry target? If you don’t know of anyone right now start praying God will lead you to one.

Stage Six: Parent New Believers and New Communities

If someone in your target area becomes a follower of Jesus praise the Lord! Now, get to work following up with them personally. Take them under your wing and teach them whatever you can about living for Jesus. You will want to engage with them in an intentional, relational and reproducible form of disciple-making.

A warning! Don’t extract the new believer from their existing relational network. It’s crucial to get them connected with Jesus and a community of Christians, but be careful not to monopolize all of their time. Teach them how to communicate the change Jesus is making in their lives with their group of friends and go with them to share their story with people in the group. From the start you can start working together with them to share Christ with their friends in the group.

If someone comes to Christ within your target group do you feel equipped to follow up with them? What do you need to grow in if you are going to faithfully help them take their first steps of following Christ?

Stage 7: Produce Leaders Who Can Take Over For You

From the start of reaching out to the target group start praying that God will raise up laborers to work with you in the harvest and to take over leadership from you as soon as possible. (Luke 10:2) Everything you do should be designed to pass on to those you are reaching out to. Make sure everything you do is as reproducible as possible. Lead as if you were going to move across the country next semester.

Take a few moments to ask The Lord to raise up fellow laborers from your ministry target?

PARTNER WITH THEM AS THEY CONTINUE TO LEAD

You only have a limited time while in college to make disciples within this group. Who will be the ones to carry on the work when you are gone? Leaders that you raise up should be equipped and empowered!

Take a moment to ask The Lord to help you to leave a legacy of discipleship within the pocket of people you are seeking to reach. Write down any thoughts or impressions you want to remember as you pray.

PICK A NEW TARGET AREA TO REACH

“Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else–to the nearby villages–so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” Mark 1:38

If you have made significant progress in your existing ministry target or have run into a closed door God may lead you to shift your focus to a new target group. 

What is another group of people that you could reach out to next?

What areas of campus have no followers of Jesus seeking to share the gospel to them? What would it look like for you to seek to make disciples among them?