cmu 2008 report: what makes a ministry evangelistically effective? © 2008 wes woodell
TRANSCRIPT
CMU 2008 Report:What Makes a Ministry
Evangelistically Effective?
© 2008 Wes Woodell
Conversions among Church of Christ campus ministries between 2007-2008
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12+Blue Zone = 2 or Less Red Zone = 12 or More
Baptisms
What characteristics do all of the Evangelistically Effective ministries we
studied share?
Four Major Areas of Commonality
I. Evangelistically effective leaders’ training has been more practical than academic.
II. Evangelistically focused – mission is the reach the lost.
III. Evangelistically effective leaders share five characteristics.
IV. Evangelistically effective communities share four characteristics
Four Major Areas of Commonality
II. Evangelistically effective leaders said the purpose of their ministry is to reach their campus with Jesus (i.e. to win souls).
Why?
Why should we focus on winning souls?
A Short List of Scriptures:– 1 Tim. 2:4 – God’s will that all men are saved.– Luke 19:10 – the purpose of Jesus coming into the world was
to seek and save the lost.– Matt. 20:28 and Mark 10:45 – Jesus gave up His life and died
a horrible death as a service to save the lost– Matt. 22:36-40; Mark 12:28-31; Luke 10:25-28 – tell us the
whole point of the Scriptures are to teach us to love God and love the people around us
– John 14:15, 23-24, 15:10; 1 John 2:3, 5:3 – if we really love Jesus we’ll obey His commands
– Matt. 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15 – record Jesus’ last words as a command to make disciples of a lost world.
– In addition, consider the priorities of the early church leaders.
Why should we focus on winning souls?
The whole point of Jesus’ ministry was to reconcile people to God (i.e. to bring people into fellowship with God so they would be saved).
Faith is the only thing that allows a person to stand justified before God (Rom. 5:1), and faith comes only by hearing (Rom. 10:17; Gal. 3:5)
Are we loving people if we keep the message to ourselves?
III. Five Characteristics of Evangelistically Effective Leaders:
Leadership Determines Direction
Leadership Determines Direction
1) Effective Leaders Love.
Five Characteristics of Evangelistically Effective Ministers:
“We have to earn the right to be heard in student’s lives. Earning the right to be heard will require you to love them first.”
Leadership Determines DirectionFive Characteristics of Evangelistically Effective Ministers:
2) Effective Leaders Persistently Communicate the Mission.Q. If you had to describe the purpose of your ministry in a single sentence, what would you say it is?
“To help college students reach other college students and make them disciples.”
“To fulfill God’s plan for us on Earth which is to reach the lost.”
“To make disciples.”
“It is to reach this campus. We’re an outpost of our church on the frontline of this culture and our intent is to reach them with the message of Jesus.”
Leadership Determines Direction
Five Characteristics of Evangelistically Effective Ministers:
2) Effective Leaders Persistently Communicate the Mission.Q. If I were to ask your core group members the same question, would they say the same thing? Why?
“Yes - because I really drive it home, and it’s reflected in our actions.”
“Yes – rarely a month goes by where its not mentioned in class or talked about.”
“Yes – we always talk about it! It’s always in the forefront of who we are – its our vision – it’s the common daily discussion.”
“Yes - there’s a constant emphasis on it.”
Leadership Determines DirectionFive Characteristics of Evangelistically Effective Ministers:
3) Effective Leaders Lead By Example “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” 1 Cor 11:1
“Join with others in following my example … take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” Phil 3:17
“… you ought to follow our example.” 2 Thes 3:7
“… I urge you to imitate me.” 1 Cor 4:16
When asked whether or not they lead by example in carrying out their vision, 100% of the top 12%ers described themselves as doing so.
“Absolutely. My life revolves around our mission.”
“I have to set the example for my students to follow. I can’t expect them to reach out to anyone if they don’t see me doing it myself.”
Leadership Determines DirectionFive Characteristics of Evangelistically Effective Ministers:
4) Effective Leaders Have High Standards, and Regularly Evaluate Their Ministry. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23
“…Go, sell everything you have … then come follow me." Mark 10:21; Matt. 19:21
“We expect each member to commit to the ministry, to use their gifts to bless the ministry, to continue growing as a disciple, and to develop the skills needed to carry out the Great Commission.”
“We’re not trying to baptize people, we’re trying to make disciples. That’s a different level of commitment, and my ultimate goal is for every student that comes into the ministry to be a true disciple of Christ.”
“We have a weekly meeting with our developing leaders where we ask questions like: ‘What direction our ministry is going? How many evangelistic studies are taking place? How many baptisms have we had so far? Whose small group is growing? Who are you raising up to be a leader?’”
Leadership Determines Direction
Five Characteristics of Evangelistically Effective Ministers:
5) Effective Leaders Develop Other Leaders.
"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Matt 4:19; Mark 1:17
“There could be four or five future full-time ministers in my group right now, and if I’m not helping them develop then I’m dropping the ball.”
“Our biggest strength is our student leaders.”
“They do everything that I do, only I get paid for it and they don’t.”
What Makes a Ministry Evangelistically
Effective?
IV. Four Characteristics of Evangelistically
Effective Communities:
Outwardly Focused Families Following the Leader
Christ-Centered Community
Four Characteristics of Evangelistically Focused Community:
1) Community Members Truly Love One Another“… Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34
“Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.” Rom. 13:8
“Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.” 1 Pet. 1:22
“The students are together and there is a community that’s based around love – not just ministry activities. There’s a family connection there.”
“Our people feel like a family – there’s a strong sense of commitment to one another because they love one another.”
Christ-Centered CommunityFour Characteristics of Evangelistically Focused Community:
2) Christ-Centered Community is the Greatest Tool for Healthy Spiritual Formation
Q: What is it about your ministry that causes your students to grow the most spiritually?
“The biggest thing is regularly witnessing genuine Christian living. Whether it’s me or my students living out their faith day in and day out – being exposed to real genuine Christian living is our number one asset in developing new disciples.”
“It’s the environment. People come in and see others who are excited about God, are studying the Bible on their own, and reaching lost people. Seeing it in action and transforms them.”
“Teaching and example. We live what we teach.”
Christ-Centered CommunityFour Characteristics of Evangelistically Focused Community:
3) Community Values Spiritual Maturity – Not Just Numerical GrowthGal 6:2 “Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Eph 4:2 “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
James 5:16”… confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed …”
Eph 4:13 “… until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature …”
“People develop real relationships with each other where they’ve vulnerable, can share weaknesses, share strengths, and share what they’re learning. This fosters accountability, and our members are constantly pushing each other and leaning on each other to move closer and closer to God.”
Christ-Centered Community
Four Characteristics of Evangelistically Focused Community:
4) Community Core is Sold Out for the Mission
Seen in three ways:
A) Outwardly Focused and Constantly Building Relationships.
“Our students like to have fun, but they understand there’s a deeper purpose behind why we do the things we do. It’s not just about ultimate frisbee, and they understand that.”
“Normally we take all guests out to lunch or go do something fun with them. We’re always trying to build connections with new people.”
“At the end of each small group we have ‘whiteboard time’ – that’s where we discuss who we’re reaching out to, what the group can do to help, and then we pray for those people by name.”
Christ-Centered Community
Four Characteristics of Evangelistically Focused Community:
4) Community Core is Sold Out for the Mission
Seen in three ways:
B) Students Feel a Responsibility to Be At Ministry Events.
“They understand they have an opportunity to influence younger Christians and people who aren’t in Christ. They understand that it’s not just sledding. They get that. It’s not that I’m putting pressure on them – they feel responsibility to do the right thing.”
“They have a large amount of ownership over the program and feel that the ministry is on their shoulders. They understand the mission.”
“They understand that their purpose is to reach other students, and they understand they need to be there to help.”
Christ-Centered Community
Four Characteristics of Evangelistically Focused Community:
4) Community Core is Sold Out for the Mission
Seen in three ways:
C) Community is Very Easy to Plug In To.
When asked how welcoming their students were to guests on a scale of 1 to 10, seven out of the nine ministries profiled rated their groups at a 9 or 10.
Christ-Centered Community
Four Characteristics of Evangelistically Focused Community:
4) Community Core is Sold Out for the Mission
Seen in three ways:
C) Community is Very Easy to Plug In To.
What does this look like in practice?
“New people are smothered – our students keep a lookout for new faces and make it a point to get to know them. Every new person has been asked for their cell phone number, if they’re on Facebook or not, and invited out to eat afterwards or to something else the students are doing.”
“A person can walk in to anything we do and be well taken care of. Students will approach them on their own and begin getting to know them.”
What Makes a Ministry Evangelistically
Effective?
1. A leader who’s teachable and has been practically trained for evangelistic ministry (i.e. leaders aren’t just dedicated – they’ve developed skills).
2. A leader who is on a mission to carry out the Great Commission.
3. An evangelistically focused leader who …a. Truly loves their peopleb. Persistently communicates the mission to reach outsiders.c. Leads by example in reaching outsiders.d. Has high standards, and regularly evaluates the progress of the ministry.e. Intentionally develops new leaders and plugs them into ministry roles.
4. An evangelistically focused community where …a. Member’s relationships are firmly rooted in love for one another.b. Members exhibit true discipleship for one another and outsiders.c. Members value spiritual maturity – not simply numerical growth.d. The core is sold out for the mission causing the group to …
1) be outwardly focused, 2) feel a sense of responsibility to be at ministry events,3) be easy to plug in to.
Quick Review: What makes a ministry evangelistically effective?
Q: Why do you think your ministry is reaching people, but others aren’t?
“We don’t develop programs and ministries – we focus on the Great Commission. We don’t help students find their ministry, we teach them to be servants. I perceive that could be part of the problem in our fellowship right now.”
“Our purpose in this ministry is to fulfill the Great Commission on our campus. We also have a willingness to put in a lot of work – to roll up our sleeves and get dirty to accomplish that.”
“I’m embarrassed to say we’ve been effective. We could do a lot more. The reason we reached the people we have is because it genuinely matters to us. We do not feel that we’ve been effective, but we want to be. For us, reaching people is clearly a priority and our people understand this and are sold on it. We talk about it a lot, and we teach on it a lot.”
“I think we take discipleship a lot more seriously than a lot of places do. We really emphasize that if you’re a disciple you’re going to do the things that God’s word says.”
“The number one reason is because we’re focused on reaching people. That is our focus. A secondary reason is because of the love we have for people. We’re not judgmental – we accept people where they are and refuse to leave them where they are.”
“Its clearly communicated that our ministry exists to reach lost people. There’s no question in people’s mind about this. That’s clearly communicated and it’s a clear vision stuck in people’s minds. That vision and the Holy Spirit team up to convict them.”
Concluding Advice
Q. If you could give a leader in a struggling ministry a piece of advice, what would you say?
“Wake up every morning and spend an hour in prayer before you do anything else – that’s what has really changed my world. Starting my day with an awareness that God is right here with me allows me to see him more and more throughout the day. This reminds me to love him and love people. I encourage my students to do this too.”
“Keep the main thing the main thing, and the main thing is the gospel. If your ministry is struggling because you’re involved in things that don’t promote the gospel or don’t allow the gospel to be promoted, you need to get rid of them. Fulfill the Great Commission first – that’s what unites! The Great Commission brings groups together. Focus on that first, then you can do other things.”
“Learn how to focus your ministry outwardly! I say learn because that’s so far removed from the norm. Inwardly focused ministries permeate every aspect of church life. They’re so engrained it can be hard to learn how to change your focus outwardly.”
“Do your best to reach people. It’s easy to be passive about it, but there are some things that are worth fighting for, and souls certainly are!”
“Don’t reinvent the wheel – just look to those that are doing successful work and take it back to God’s word. The reason we’re succeeding is because we’re following the biblical model – we’re doing what we’re supposed to do as Christians.”
“Find someone who’s doing it effectively, learn what you can, and apply it as best you can. If you’re not doing it, then you need to find someone who is. Find out what they’re doing that works, and apply that in your context.”
Concluding Advice
Other Miscellaneous Observations
1. In the top evangelistically effective campus ministries, heavy emphasis is placed on equipping every member for evangelistic Bible studies. In the two ministries at the very top, the entire church is involved.
a. Study guides available!
2. In the fastest growing ministries, the bulk of the evangelistic activity takes place among the students themselves. The leaders have trained and equipped their students well.
3. Evangelistically effective communities are visible.
a. Easy to find in the midst of the larger campus community.
b. Chalking sidewalks, flyers, t-shirts come in handy.
c. Best asset is outwardly focused students.
Other Miscellaneous Observations
4. It is very common in evangelistically effective ministries for a husband and wife team to be at the helm. Wives don’t stay home with the kids – they get involved and the children do too.
a. This is a great way to model what it is to be a Christian family for your students. Wives should be encouraged to be involved!
5. Some ministers make their own curriculum – others purchase – but ALL focus very heavily on practical application with their college students.
6. Ladies in leadership.
a. Most ministries studied utilize their ladies as much as they can.
b. Ladies often encourage the guys to step up when they wouldn’t before.
7. Ministers spend time in focused prayer for God to help their ministry reach their campus.
a. Most said they pray specifically that God will send them someone to minister to.
b. Most said they pray specifically that God will move in the hearts of campus students to be receptive to the gospel.
Other Miscellaneous Observations8. “Church kids” might be a burden to outreach.
Q. How tolerant are your ministry members of those still living “in the world” (i.e. they’re not Christians – still cuss, drink, do drugs, etc.)?
“Its about fifty fifty – it depends on if they understand the mission or not. Half are hypocritical and judgmental, half aren’t. Interestingly enough, half of them grew up in the church and half of them didn’t. Guess which ones are hypocritical and judgmental towards outsiders?”
Another minister said:
“Our ministry consists of people mostly won from the world. Because of that, they understand what its like to be lost and then be found, and they want other people to share that experience. I don’t want to dog people who’ve grown up in the church, but in my experience when a church is made up of mostly people who’ve grown up in the church there’s a certain passion that’s lacking. I can’t speak for all churches, just in my experience.”