The last six weeks of the year is a good time to focus on the “sending” component of the ministry: our efforts to train and send kingdom laborers out into the world.
First, you want to promote and recruit students to go on a Summer Project. Summer Projects accelerate spiritual growth, develop leadership, and provide excellent hands-on training in the work of the ministry. Summer Projects turn students into kingdom laborers.
Second, you want to prepare your graduating Seniors who are not going into full-time ministry to have an impact for Christ in the workplace. The “InTransition” Groupzine (CruPress.com) is a tool developed specifically for this purpose. Every graduating Senior should get a copy. However you prepare your students, you should have some equipping strategy for graduating Seniors.
Third, give attention to Missions and God’s heart for the world. Invite a missionary to speak at your weekly meeting or have a student who went on an International Summer Project share about their experience. Somehow, some way, give attention to God’s heart for the world.
Last, send people off for the summer – give them a reading list and a plan of action to actively pursue God over the summer months.
While this is a good time of year to focus on Sending, this hopefully isn’t the first time you’ve addressed it. Christmas Conference is also quite strategic in “sending” laborers as is a Life Options conference which is typically held in November or February.
What follows is an article that summarizes the Campus Ministry’s “Sending” model. Enjoy.
SENDING CHRIST-CENTERED LABORERS
The mission of the Campus Ministry is to “turn lost students into Christ-centered laborers.” At the end of their collegiate career, these Christ-centered laborers will graduate and move into the next chapter of life and ministry. A percentage will join our staff or participate in internships. Most will serve Christ in other capacities. The culmination of our ministry in students’ lives is in sending them into a lifetime of ministry.
The Send Model outlines a process by which a student, who is a Christ-centered laborer, is sent into a lifetime of ministry. It is not a one-time process or a once-for-all decision. The student will re-enter the process a number of times throughout his or her life as God leads them into new stages of life and ministry.
MISSION
The mission of the Campus Ministry is to “turn lost students into Christ-centered laborers.” At the end of their collegiate career, these Christ-centered laborers will graduate and move into the next chapter of life and ministry. A percentage will join our staff or participate in internships. Most will serve Christ in other capacities. The culmination of our ministry in students’ lives is in sending them into a lifetime of ministry.
THE ROLES
When students make decisions about their vocation and their ministry upon graduation, there is a role that belongs to God, a role that belongs to the believer who is making the decision, and a role for the Body. Because this tool is written for Campus Ministry Leaders, we have focused the principles for that last role on the part the leaders will play.
THE COMPONENTS
The student and the leader have responsibilities unique to each component of the process. Prayer is foundational to the entire process for both the student and leader. (Matthew 9: 37,38)
CALLING
God has called every believer to be a Christ-centered laborer. The calling that the Father has given us is to glorify Him in and through all that we are and do. As staff, we are to challenge our students to live out that calling through a surrendered life of lordship and service. Students are to respond by following God’s call and yielding their hearts fully to the Lord. (See Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 2:12)
STEWARDSHIP
As believers we understand that our lives are not our own. God has entrusted us with gifts and resources that we do not own or control independently. Thus, we are managers, not owners, seeking to glorify our Master with our lives. It is the students’ role to invest their lives as God leads while it is the leader’s role to teach and model a life of stewardship. (1 Corinthians 15:10; Ephesians 2:10; 1 Peter 4:10-11; 1 Corinthians 4:2,7; Matthew 25:14 30)
OCCUPATION
As Cru staff, we are in a unique position to be able to share about ministry opportunities with Cru. God has uniquely enabled each believer with gifts, abilities, and passions that are better utilized in some arenas than in others. As believers develop these and understand themselves more fully, some job opportunities will become more desirable than others. Students must explore the available opportunities with the advice of the leader (and, of course, other believers who love God and know them well).
While helping students think through how they can use their unique gifts and abilities, the leader plays a vital role in representing Cru ministry opportunities to the students. The leaders recruit students to Cru opportunities as they: identify students who are potentially qualified, inform them of opportunities available, and invite them to consider joining the staff of Cru. Of course, this stage also includes interceding that God would send the student as a co-worker with us in the harvest. (Genesis 2:15; Deuteronomy 8:17-18; Ecclesiastes 2:24; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10; Colossians 3:23, 24; For the financial support of those in full- time ministry, consider 1 Corinthians 9:14; Luke 10:7; Matthew 10:10; 1 Timothy 5:17,18)
GUIDANCE
Once students have gathered the necessary information and examined their options, they are faced with a decision. A Christ-centered laborer will rely on God to guide them in this process. The leader’s role is to provide wise counsel to help students discern where God would have them invest their lives after graduation. (Psalm 25:12; Psalm 145:8, 10; James 4:13-15; Paul’s example: Romans 1:10; 15:32; David’s example: 1 Samuel 23:1-4; 30:8)
MINISTRY
Ultimately, it is God who sends a person into a lifetime of ministry. The student’s responsibility is to go. As staff, along with the body of believers, we have the privilege to commission the student as they enter a lifetime of fruitful labor for Christ. As students carefully walk through this process and have a clear sense of what God wants them to pursue, we as leaders can enthusiastically affirm God’s leading in their lives. (Matthew 28:18-20; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 4:12-16
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