Around the world many students have discovered the great joy of becoming movement builders. At Cru, we believe that students can be the ones to lead a movement on their campus!
A multiplying spiritual movement takes time to build and is done as a team. Here is how we define a movement:
“A spiritual movement is God working through a team of like-hearted disciples to win, build, and send toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
A movement has four essential characteristics:
- Connecting lost people to Jesus
- Life changing discipleship
- Multiplying leaders who develop other leaders
- Generating local funding and resources for movement activities
And all this happens in community through prayer and and together trusting in God.
Evangelism and discipleship are part of Cru’s DNA and are at the center of the ministry we carry out on campus. However, a movement only lasts if there are two other characteristics: multiplying leaders and generating self-sustaining local resources.
This means if you want the movement on your campus to continue on even after you leave university, two of the most important things you need to do are to prepare other leaders and learn how to raise local resources (ie funds and your own ministry strategies).
Here are some tips:
- Build a team- If you are alone on campus, your first goal is to find other students who are also interested in building a movement.
- Share the Work- Don’t try to do it all by yourself. Ask students who are beginning to get involved what their gifts and passions are and give them things to do. It is important that all of you feel ownership and responsibility for the movement on campus.
- Look for Leaders- From the beginning, invest your time and focus with potential leaders and encourage them to invest in others also.
- Local funds– Talk to pastors and people in your church. Occasionally the university will give funds, especially for special projects or travel to conferences.
- Plan Together– bring the students together to work on the next steps for your movement. The Movement Planner Chart is one of the best resources on this site, and can help you and your team make a plan for your campus.
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