“…every time that I’ve led a group through the S.O.A.P method – God has shown up. People got real with the Word and with each other.  We literally “tasted and saw” that the Word was good – and people got hooked.  Campus pastors and students walked out of those meetings with a new found confidence in their ability to hear God through the Bible and their ability to lead a small group.  Not as the expert or teacher, but as a fellow learner who wants to hear God speak.” - Creighton Alexander, The Campus Coach

As this quote suggests, the SOAP method of interacting with the Bible is something that can take anyone from a new believer, to the Pastor of a Church, to the next level in their personal and corporate study of the word. There are many inductive study methods out there that do a great job of helping a believer dig deep into the Word. However, where these methods often fall short is in the direction that they provide the believer in what Scripture to study and how to connect one day’s study to the next. Typically those types of decisions are left up to the individual or the leader of the group to come up with on their own. The SOAP Journal however provides very clear direction in these areas.

How to use the SOAP Journal

Start by going to a blank page in the journal. Write the day’s date on the page. Give the page a page number and write down the chapters that you read that day. Then do SOAP:

“Scripture – Pick one verse that really spoke to you in that day’s Bible reading. Literally hand write out that verse. Writing it out reinforces it in your mind and heart and allows God to further speak to you through that verse.

Observation – Now write a one or two sentence observation about that verse. What does the verse mean? What is the verse saying?

Application – Now write a one or two sentence application from that verse. What is something that God wants you to do or believe or receive or say or stop doing or change your thinking on because of that verse?

Prayer – Now write a one or two sentence prayer to God in response to this Scripture. Perhaps ask God for help in applying the verse. Confess a sin that was brought to light. Or thank God for something He said to you.”

The Journal provides a scripture assignment for literally every day of the year. Following the One Year Bible format, no matter what day you start, you simply pick the scripture assigned to that day and begin there. If your student(s) is not ready to commit to spending 30 minutes in a “quiet time” every day then they can pick one of the less intense reading plans. But if they are up for it, then they will be able to read the whole Bible in just one year!

Each day of Scripture reading is connected together through the journal’s table of contents. There the student(s) will record the date, their key scripture verse, page number, and the title they decided to give to that day’s quiet time. When the year is over they will be able to look back over their table of contents and see a summary of their encounters with God over the course of an entire year.

Download the entire SOAP Journal to print out for your ministry here

Using the SOAP Journal in Your Ministry

Obviously this method is quite useful for helping the individual students who you are discipling  to learn to interact with the Word better, and to develop consistent time spent with God. However, I believe it would be a crime to over-look the potential that this journal has in being the entire platform for a small group format. The members of the group would all have Scripture that they are accountable to read every single day (as opposed to the typical single “devo” that is often only covered in the context of the group meeting and not studied outside of the group).  The discussion for the meeting would center on how they were each personally interacting with God throughout the week. If you had more than one group, or even all of your small groups going through this journal at the same time, then similar discussions could occur between groups as well.

Criticism

There does appear to be a slight disconnect between the guidance that this journal provides for a small group and the guidance that it provides for an individual spending time in the Word. The journal provides guidance in what sort of values a small group should have, and even a page where members could write down each other’s contact information (to help foster outside connections and support), but it does not provide guidance in how to translate each member’s daily time spent in the Word to a Scripture-centered discussion on the day of the meeting. This would have to be figured out by each group leader themselves.

Tip: One suggestion for how to do this could be the following format:

-Ice Breaker to loosen things up

-Journal Share: allow each member to pick their favorite/most influential journal from their week and share it with the group (allowing for responses from other groups members to follow)

-Read that day’s Scripture assignment together and complete SOAP journals corporately (while still allowing for each member to record their individual take-aways)

-Prayer Time: have members share their updated prayer lists and then pray for each other’s lists.

Other methods for using the SOAP Journal for small-group content could obviously be developed too. This is just one suggestion for how your ministry could take advantage of a high-quality method for studying the Bible.

CMT Rating: 91

1. Imparts vision, heart, character, skills- 9
2. Empowers EDM ministry- 7
3. God focused, scripture filled/accurate- 9
4. Intellectually stimulating- 10
5. Practical and/or innovative- 9
6. Concepts transferable- 10
7. Professional, excellent, engaging- 7
8. Field tested in college ministry- 10
9. Adaptable to different contexts/ministries- 10
10. Easily accessible- 10

Please see our explanation of how we score tools in the About section of the website for further explanation of each category.

Breaking out of your routine or coming up with new ideas in general can be difficult.  See how Chad Logan, Campus-based College Minister at Arkansas State University with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, decided to lend a helping hand with his free E-book 50 College Ministry Events from A-Z.

The E-Book

This free download contains a simple list of 50 different events that may or may not be new to you and your campus ministry. Each event is named, briefly described, and then categorized as either community building, missional, service oriented, fundraising, edifying for leadership, or useful for discipleship.

 Download the E-Book Here! 

Criticism

If you’re anything like me, the one thing you’ll be sad to see missing from this E-Book will be a more detailed description of each event. I’m a details person and I love learning tips and tricks-of-the-trade for any type of event. Some of the events seem pretty straight forward but, when it comes down to executing them, it might be helpful, for example, to learn what type of breakout sessions would be best to have at a “Back to School Retreat.”

Suggestions for Use

You and your staff team could simply read through this book to see which events you may want to use in your ministry. Or you could take things to the next level and use this book as a catalyst for a brainstorming session contextualized to your specific ministry goals. The best time of year for this brainstorming session would be between semesters. That way you have time to, not only plan ahead, but be intentional with each event as it fits into your ministry’s strategic plan (which you should definitely have!).

Keep the Ideas Coming

If you or your team comes up with some true gems, they need to be shared with other campuses. Please let us know about them in the comment section below. Let us know what you did, why, and of course how it went when your team did it on your campus!

CMT Rating: 75

1. Imparts vision, heart, character, skills- 6
2. Empowers EDM ministry- 5
3. God focused, scripture filled/accurate- 5
4. Intellectually stimulating- 6
5. Practical and/or innovative- 8
6. Concepts transferable- 10
7. Professional, excellent, engaging- 5
8. Field tested in college ministry- 10
9. Adaptable to different contexts/ministries- 10
10. Easily accessible- 10

Please see our explanation of how we score tools in the About section of the website for further explanation of each category.

Ever wondered this yourself? Ever come across a student that wonders this? I heard an NPR story that referenced the fact that more and more graduating seniors are asking this question. Some say deep down they are all looking for a purpose to live for. Some spend their whole lives looking and never finding it. Others are looking for an experience of being truly alive. There are many in the business world, the X-Games, or in virtual online worlds that are attempting to fill this need.

What if nothing in this world can satisfy those needs? They are real. They are true. But try as we may, nothing in this world will satisfy this deep yearning of our soul.

There is however One, not of this world, who can. The more our lives are connected to Him, His people, and His mission on this planet the more alive we will feel. The more meaning and purpose we will have.

“What do I do with my life?” for the follower of Jesus is simple, profound, clear and mysterious. Because where you live does not matter. What job you take does not matter. How much money you make does not matter. How old you are does not matter. Whether you graduated college or not does not matter. What matters, is the degree you can live your life connected to God, His people, and His mission.

Are the specifics clear? Nope.

Is it risky? Yep.

Can you play it safe and stay comfortable? No way.

Will the rewards be significant, eternal, and blow you away? Absolutely!

This is the place of God’s blessing. This is the center of God’s will for your life. This is where you will feel free and fully alive. It is the heart of the Gospel- be reconciled to the God who is and know Him. Join His family, the community of the redeemed, and His mission to redeem all peoples. Bring His kingdom to earth, and spread His glory over all the earth as the waters cover the seas.

You were made for this. You were redeemed for this. You are still here because there is more transformation by Christ to be accomplished in you. There are more brothers and sisters in our family who need to be built up by you as you are built up by them. There are more who have no access to the Gospel and will someday face the judgment of God for eternity.

There is too much of the majesty of God yet to savor. There is too much pain to ever be bored again. Too much brokenness that needs fixing. Too many lost who are yet to be found. Following Jesus in total surrender is the most beautiful, exciting, fulfilling, adventurous, meaningful, intimate life you could possibly lead! Why don’t we believe this?

So strive every moment of every day to stay vitally connected to God, vitally connected to God’s people, and vitally connected to God’s mission and you will know what to do with your life. That’s what I would tell John Locke.

No one agrees with this more than Dr. Rice Broocks, creator of the S.A.L.T. Method and The God Test. The S.A.L.T. Method uses an acronym created by Broocks to help people to remember to Start Conversations, Ask Questions, Listen, and Tell a Story and The God Test is the tool he created to help facilitate these exact type of conversations.

The most unique aspect of this “Dialogical Tool” is that it provides 10 questions to use with those that don’t believe in God, and 10 questions to use with those that DO believe in God. Watch the video to see how Broocks explains this tool himself: 

What we like

This tool is incredible straight forward and simple. You start with the question “Do you believe in God”, and depending on if the answer is yes or no, follow up with the correct set of questions. The questions explore lots of different aspects of what someone might consider if they do or do not believe in God and can therefore easily lead to both learning what someone really believes and getting a chance to share the Gospel.

Criticisms

This tool is presented strictly as a dialogical tool and NOT a Gospel tract (i.e. it does not set out to be used as a method for explaining the Gospel) therefore we cannot fairly criticize the tool for only presenting questions to ask. However it does ask the question “Would you like to know what the Bible says about these questions” and without outside training (i.e. given a sound education in salvation and how to lead someone to saving decision), a student using this tool might find themselves unprepared to answer this question. It seems that this tool assumes a lot about the people using it.

How to Use This Tool

Do use this tool as it is intended (to develop students in their ability to engage people in conversations about their beliefs as opposed to just preaching at people). Do not send your students out on campus with this tool without training them in at least how to share their personal testimony. The best case scenario would be to use this tool once a student could offer Biblically informed answers to all the questions presented in this tool, but still needs practice in how to listen to others first before presenting their perspective.

CMT Rating: 82

1. Imparts vision, heart, character, skills- 7
2. Empowers EDM ministry- 9
3. God focused, scripture filled/accurate-4
4. Intellectually stimulating- 6
5. Practical and/or innovative- 9
6. Concepts transferable- 10
7. Professional, excellent, engaging- 9
8. Field tested in college ministry- 10
9. Adaptable to different contexts/ministries- 10
10. Easily accessible- 8

Please see our explanation of how we score tools in the About section of the website for further explanation of each category.

After viewing the video the student has the option of clicking the “join the conversation” icon and continuing their spiritual investigation further. At the falling plates website, there is an invitation to share where they currently stand with their willingness to follow Jesus (i.e. “I want to”, “I am trying”, etc). Then once they submit their answer they are invited to either continue the conversation (by signing up for emails specific to their situation) or explore articles that likely answer the questions they have about Christ (powered by everystudent.com). 

Using this in your ministry

This video has more potential then simply a method for presenting the Gospel one on one with your student’s friends. It’s online accessibility and automatic follow up capabilities makes for a very easy campus-wide outreach. Start a campaign on your campus driving students to view the video using the twitter hashtag #FallingPlates or by starting a Facebook page specific to your campus and this video. Hundreds and even thousands of students on your campus could hear the Gospel in a new and relatable way, and “continue the conversation” with the students in your ministry.

If you can think of more ways to use this video or if you have stories of how you’ve seen it successfully used in your ministry, please share it with us all in the comments section below.

CMT Rating: 88

1. Imparts vision, heart, character, skills- 6
2. Empowers EDM ministry- 8
3. God focused, scripture filled/accurate- 6
4. Intellectually stimulating- 9
5. Practical and/or innovative- 9
6. Concepts transferable- 10
7. Professional, excellent, engaging- 10
8. Field tested in college ministry- 10
9. Adaptable to different contexts/ministries- 10
10. Easily accessible- 10

Please see our explanation of how we score tools in the About section of the website for further explanation of each category.

150 million college students.

They have always led the advancement of the gospel. From the time of Jesus to today, the 18-25 crowd have been the most recruitable, trainable, sendable, envisionable (I just made it up because I needed another “able”) group of people on the planet. It is time they lead us again.

But this time it needs to be different. The global church is larger, stronger, more equipped, and harvesting more fruit than ever before. We (the U.S/the West) must pass the baton to our brothers and sisters for the final leg of this race. The global south and east will lead. It is time we recognize that, harness all we have to offer them, and seek to partner with them. Not for US to reach the unreached people groups, but primarily to train THEM to do it. They must join the reaching effort (and they are!), but it is just the beginning. God is doing amazing things in India, China, South America, and Africa so much so that there are way more followers of Jesus in these locations than in the west.

They just need to be mobilized (to be more on mission with God) to engage the least reached, many times, only one cultural step away. Our ministries on campus should focus more on finding, engaging, and equipping this new missions force instead of viewing them as the mission field. Which campuses have the largest numbers of Christian college students near unreached people groups? Let us concentrate our efforts there and mobilize those students. Share the wealth (literally and figuratively), send students to train them in evangelism, disciple-making, and mission mobilization and then release the ministry and training to them.

How? By forming partnerships with emerging campus ministries overseas. They are hungry to learn, possess very little as far as tools and strategy, but they have great commitment and are close in proximity to the unreached. Will we reach the campus, to mobilize the global church to reach the nations? There is no more strategic endeavor we can engage in as college ministers if we truly want to see the Great Commission fulfilled in our generation.

Because this is an online survey, we really need you to do a few things to ensure we get enough respondents across a wide spectrum of students (not just the committed ones). So, here is what we are asking:

1. Please be committed to this process. If we are not, our students definitely will not be. If we all get students to complete this, we will all reap the benefits when the results are published. (I promise it will be fascinating information that will help you to be more strategic!)

2. Personally ask your students, who know and respect you, to take the survey. Use the paragraph below as suggested text. You could even ask them to respond back to you when they have completed it, so that you don’t bug them.

3. Please send this out ASAP. It would be better if students did the survey before they leave for the summer.

4. Ask them multiple times. This is a busy time and they may need to get the request a few times before they respond.

5. CMT is holding a drawing for all the students who complete the survey. A winner will be announced after the conclusion of the surveys on July 31.

6. Please help us by passing this along to the rest of your staff team and others in campus ministry. This will work better if we get a wide variety of ministries and students across the U.S.

Survey Link: U.S. Student Spiritual Mapping Project

Suggested Invitation Text for Students:

Hey __________

We are participating in a national survey of students involved in campus minsitry.  I am writing to ask you to please take the survey. This is very important. It will take you 5-10 minutes (and you could win an iPad Mini!). The information we gather is extremely valuable to our ongoing effort to reach the students, the campus, and the world for Christ. Please let me know if you can complete it (or when you have completed it). Please fill it out this week if you can. If not, please complete it by _______ at the latest. Thanks for doing this for me.

Download the Complete Report (+ small fee to help cover costs, released July 31 each year)

What We Like

The DNA of this book. This disciple-making guide will take someone from zero to reproducing in 3 months. It does not start with believers (like almost ALL books and studies today do) and leave out the most important part of making disciples, namely, bringing new people into Christ’s Kingdom. It’s language is plain and would speak to people unfamiliar with the Bible. It hits the gospel, baptism, Holy Spirit, disciple-making, habits for growth, sexual purity and even introduces you to God’s global plan. We should should take notice of the topics he has chosen as we wrestle with reaching this generation and creating missional cultures in their ministries. This guide will help on both fronts.

It has some new twists as far as what the “essentials” are for both growth and reproduction in discipleship. (i.e. daily time with God, love others, live sexually pure, gather with other disciples, and make new disciples). We like this because training in systematic theology  is not needed to reproduce. Walking with God for years is not needed to reproduce.  Giving your money is not needed to reproduce. But faithfulness, empowering of the Holy Spirit, obedience, and holiness are required. Fish keeps it simple, essential, and transferable.

What We Would Improve

The wording of some sections. After personally speaking with Fish at length about some of this, I realize some words were getting in the way of his message. I will attempt to clarify some points of his below:

Baptism by the Holy Spirit- We need the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We should seek the gifts He has to offer us. We will grow more, share more, and love others better when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. He has been relegated to the sidelines for most evangelicals. It is time that He become an essential part of our daily walk and global witness for Jesus . And who knows, maybe we would all see more demonstrations of His power (like the rest of the global church does) if we did this. So whether you call this receiving the Spirit, being baptized by the Spirit, being filled with the Spirit, or walking in the Spirit, let’s bring Him back to his rightful place in every believers life and seek to live supernatural lives all the time.

Baptism, Lord’s Supper, and Church- Fish advocates a model of local church that is very simple with permission given to normal believers to experience and conduct sacred ceremonies such as baptism and the Lord’s supper, even on campus. Communion in isolation or for unbelievers is probably not recommended, but you can wrestle with this on your own. This model for church is very similar to missional communities, except they are called  (and act like) simple churches. Again, this might challenge some of your paradigms, but let it. A great book to add to your library on this issue is From the Ground Up by Dallas Seminary Prof, Scott Horrell. It covers what the church is according to the New Testament (mostly its functions) and leaves freedom in the “forms” it will take (why the book is so short). We have added way too much to what “Church” is (based on tradition instead of the Bible) when we should keep to simple structures that allow us to be the Church and make disciples. This book does not claim to be a church planting manual but a disciple-making movement manual that will result in the growth of the Church. It is not theory. Fish practices this every week. See his site with more resources at SCPX.org or follow his blog at ErikFish.com. He is missional communities on steriods. His aim to include more followers of Jesus practicing what current tradition severely limits to a select few. Amen.

The terms “Disciple/Follower/Christian/Believer” (used interchangeably in scripture) are all the same in the book (p.26), yet these are also presented as different. For example, being a “disciple” is presented as a higher status of being a Christian. Jesus wants followers who will truly follow Him, period. Some are more willing than others, but all believe and all follow no matter what we call them.

To make the study more robust, the book should pull from clear teaching passages and less from “look at these examples and draws out a principle.” It draws heavily from examples in Acts and the Gospels (historical/descriptive), with less emphasis on the epistles (teaching/prescriptive). Good teaching passages do exist and would greatly strengthen the book.

Who is this for?

• Cultural Christians who have never understood what following Jesus means. They have no power, no fruit, no obedience, and no disciples…and they want to change that.
• People who do not follow Jesus. The first few lessons introduce you to Jesus. Even the forgiveness section is not tailored toward reconciliation between believers but rather others who have hurt you in the past.
• This book is NOT for cessationists (the Holy Spirit does not do real demonstrations of power today), or people very comfortable in their church traditions, or people unwilling to truly follow Jesus.

How to Use this with Students

It is designed to give to a person and have them do a complete lesson per week. Then you meet and talk about it together. You should go through the guide once yourself, make notes, and tweak what you need for your context, but really you can just go for it with little preparation. The guide relies on the Word and the Holy Spirit to teach, not a professional teacher. Again the goal is facilitating a discipleship relationship. Each section will start with study, then make it personal, and ends with prayer and how to share what you have learned with others.

Here is the story of how one business man used the book to change his company.

Conclusion

This is a great tool that will help you make disciples who make disciples of all nations. It is available in print and electronically. There is also a PDF format, which should be especially helpful for our brothers and sisters overseas. Please let us know if you find/develop any new translations. So far it has been translated in to both traditional and simplified Chinese!

Bulk orders for a discount can be ordered by emailing Erik at  disciplebook@gmail.com

CMT Rating: 92

1. Imparts vision, heart, character, skills- 10
2. Empowers EDM ministry- 10
3. God focused, scripture filled/accurate- 7
4. Intellectually stimulating- 7
5. Practical and/or innovative- 9
6. Concepts transferable- 10
7. Professional, excellent, engaging- 9
8. Field tested in college ministry- 10
9. Adaptable to different contexts/ministries- 10
10. Easily accessible- 10

Please see our explanation of how we score tools in the About section of the website for further explanation of each category.

What is a disciple? Discipleship? Disciple-making? What did Jesus really mean by this concept? It seems to be very important to Jesus (Mt 28:19-20) and central to the advancement of His Kingdom. What were His followers signing up for as His disciples? What does it look like in college ministry? Is making disciples peripheral or mission- critical to your ministry? Are there some best practices that good disciple-makers use?

It sure would be great if we could answer all these questions in one edition, wouldn’t it? Though we can’t answer exhaustively, we can start a dialogue, a conversation that I hope will both refresh and refuel you in your journey. You are near the end of the year. Maybe you are frustrated. Maybe you are tired. Maybe you have even considered whether or not to continue. Or maybe you are excited for all God has done, but you want more: more personal transformation, more campus transformation, more global transformation.

How can we unleash more students in the world, who will make disciples wherever they go in whatever they do? In this edition of Campus Ministry Journal, we have four veteran disciple-makers sharing some very practical advice on how to develop followers of Jesus, who reproduce followers of Jesus. Drink deeply, be refreshed and keep going. What you do is world changing.

Here is the definition of making disciples we at CMJ are currently operating with:

Disciple-making is a process by which a Christian with a life worth emulating invests his/her life in a few people to win them to Christ and build them in their faith so that they reproduce new followers of Jesus and further the Great Commission.

Do you agree or disagree? Why? How would you define it? Measure it?

As you read and discuss each article (hopefully with others), here are some good questions to consider:

1. What are you really shooting for in your discipleship? What is the aim of all your discipleship? Is it big enough? Are you accomplishing it? How do you know?
2. Is your disciple-making with Christians or non-Christians? Why?
3. Is your discipleship incidental (it just happens as you hang) or intentional (you have a plan or system you use) or both?
4. How do you engage in spiritual formation AND spiritual direction (forming Christ’s likeness in them AND challenging them to give their lives for the cause of Christ)?
5. What did you like best/least about the articles? What is one practice you would like to incorporate into your ministry? How could you do this?

We hope these articles challenge you and make you think of discipleship in a more Biblical way, but mostly refuel you with new ideas for the mission of making disciples. Welcome to Campus Ministry Journal.

Contents

1…….Viral: Creating Disciple-Making Movements on Campus

By “Daniel Wesley,” Trainer for CPx (Church Planting Experience)

2…….Reproducing World Changing Women (Who Reproduce the Same)

By Jennie Allen, Bible Teacher for Austin Stone Community Church

3…….College summers.  Now what?

By Brandon Zieske, College Pastor for Pleasant Valley Church

4…….Everything I’ve Learned About Discipleship (I Learned by Doing it Wrong)

 By Brian Pope, College Pastor for Fellowship Bible Church

5…….Napkins: Top Discipleship Diagrams

By John Allert, Executive Director of Campus Ministry Toolbox

6…….Notes, Quotes, and Happenings

7…….Authors of Issue 3

Around the world, missiologists have recognized and described 100 different disciple-making movements that are exploding in some of the least likely places you would imagine.  Some of these movements have seen millions become followers of Jesus in a few short years.  One particular movement, among mostly Muslims and adherents to tribal religions, has seen 18,000 house churches planted in just 7 short years.[1]  The churches in this movement have 35 people on average and are entirely made up of former Muslims, Animists and Atheists.  There are movements in China and India that far surpass this numerically.  So what can we learn from these movements that may be useful to us in the context of college ministry?  It turns out- quite a bit. They all have common elements that are easily adapted into a university ministry.

Follow then Believe

There are varied names for the approach and various differences between different movements, but one common ingredient in all these movements is raising up “followers” among unbelievers.

Follower- someone who respects Jesus, is willing to learn from Him/about Him and even attempt to honor Him in his or her life.

This was the religious context into which Rabbi Jesus entered 2000 years ago. People would associate themselves with a teacher or rabbi, learn from him, follow him, and obey him. Jesus took it further. He was not content with merely showing His followers a way to live, but by showing He was the way to live life with God. He did not only want external obedience but inward transformation that came through faith. BUT He usually began by asking people to follow Him. It is important that we notice from Scripture that Jesus had people following Him in simple obedience before they had “accepted” Him or embraced the fullness of who we know Him to be.  In fact, many times they would help introduce Him to their friends before they really understood fully who He was. (John 1:43-46; John 4:28-30).

Needless to say, they eventually did come to fully believe, but their initial lack of understanding and/or poor theology did not keep them from Jesus, or keep Jesus from them.  The result was that these early followers turned the Roman world upside down within a century.  No doubt each of them had different points at which they understood who Jesus was, stepped into the fullness of faith and experienced regeneration, but amazingly many were called “disciples” before that happened! Don’t take my word for it, go back and read about the disciples (Luke 5-6, John 1, Matthew 10 and Mark 3).  As you read through the gospels, notice the different ways many of his disciples lacked basic Christology leading up to Jesus’ death and resurrection and, in a few cases, after His resurrection.  It is interesting that most us have assumed that we must “get someone saved” before we teach them to follow Jesus. It seems the Jesus’ model is oftentimes the reverse. What if teaching them to follow Jesus is really critical to saving faith and to making future disciples? Doesn’t this correspond to our experience as well? We were intrigued, attended something, were exposed to Jesus, wanted to explore this more, maybe talked to others, and even sometimes did things we thought might honor God. Then at some point God’s Spirit and His grace broke through and we truly believed and truly committed our lives to Jesus. On the other hand, haven’t you known people who made a “decision” for Christ, but whose lives never changed?  Perhaps we should invite people to follow Jesus in obedience and let the Holy Spirit bring conviction in His timing. (I know this is mind-bending a little, but bear with me on this.)

So how do we help people to start following Jesus regardless of their “salvation status?”  It is quite simple actually. There are 6 simple transferable steps we can use to lead unbelievers forward in following Jesus.

Prerequisite: Gather a Group of Unbelievers

This might be the hardest step for many. But didn’t Jesus mix it up mostly with those who didn’t know Him? Didn’t He say He was called to the “sick”? They could be from a dorm, an athletic team, a club, a study group, or some neighbors. You could do this yourself, or better, have a student you want to train do this. In fact, the latter method is preferred if you are wanting to start a movement. Train, empower, release….this does not mean doing it for them! (Eph 4:12).  Of course, in your own life you should be modeling this as well with your unbelieving peers.

Invite unbelievers to study the “life of Jesus,” the “teachings of Jesus,” or the “Bible for themselves.”  You will find that MANY are open to this.  Avoid inviting them to your large weekly meeting or to a Sunday service.  That MAY come later, but begin by just meeting with them one-on-one and in small groups.  Try to avoid having one unbeliever with 5 or 6 believers.  Have your students meet with unbelievers one-on-one and then have them invite THEIR unbelieving friends to join them.  Don’t let the unbelievers be “outnumbered.”  If you need to be at the first few meetings or so, fine.  But your goal is to release your students to do this.  You can meet with them outside that time to debrief and coach them further.  Here is the goal: find people interested in Jesus, help them start to follow Him, and get them to invite their friends to do the same.

Ok, so once we have a small group of unbelievers gathered, here’s what it would look like:

1. THANKS

Invite everyone in the circle to share something for which they are thankful.  Celebrate with them as they share their gratitude.  While we are teaching them to be grateful to God for “every good and perfect gift” (Jas 1: 17), it is not necessary to tell them this in the early weeks. Just let them share and celebrate with them.   [Message: Gratitude is frequently the first thing we express to God when addressing Him and is how the Scripture describes the process of coming into His presence.  (Psalm 100)]

2. NEEDS

Have everyone share something for which they need prayer.  [Message: God is a living God who answers prayer and who is concerned with our needs.]

3. SCRIPTURE

Read a short passage of 5-15 verses. Read the passage in 2 different translations and let different people read.  Close the Bible and invite someone to share the story in his or her own words.  Make sure they understand that the goal is to merely repeat the story in their own words and not to draw conclusions. After the first person has shared the story ask if anyone wants to add details that were missed. [Message: Scripture is critical to following Jesus and is our first means of receiving truth.  Scripture is the plumb line by which we judge any word from God.] **Note: With International students, it is usually good to start with creation and move towards Christ slowly over time.

4. Listen

Have everyone wait on the Lord for 1 or 2 minutes to see what part of the passage the Holy Spirit would highlight for them.  [Message:  God speaks to us by His Spirit and it is proper to learn to hear His voice most frequently through Scripture.]

 5. OBEY

After sharing what God highlighted from Scripture, have everyone share an “I Will” statement which expresses obedience to what was just learned.  Something important happens in calling them to obedience to Jesus. Be willing to challenge people with statements that are measurable and specific.  Avoid letting someone end with a vague immeasurable commitment like “I will be more grateful this week.”  Set the standard in the early weeks and the fellow group members will hold each other’s feet to the fire! Challenge them to hone their statements down to something more tangible. [Message: Obedience is part of what it means to love and follow Jesus.  The Christian life is faith in action.  Of course action doesn’t save someone but it will lead to true disciples of Jesus who have learned the importance of obedience.]

6. CLOSE THE LOOP

Start your next meeting (notice I did not say “week 2” as you may want to meet more frequently than just weekly) by having each person review their “I will” statement from the previous meeting.  Be sure and CELEBRATE even partial obedience.  If a guy shares that he drinks himself to sleep every night and he reports that he went 3 days after the previous meeting without drinking, celebrate that fact and encourage him in how he grew in obedience.  Keep pointing them to Jesus as the “author and finisher” of our faith.

That’s it!  Now, we may have raised some questions (see below), but the basic idea is that we find people who respect Jesus and want to learn about His teachings.  We ask those people to meet so we can learn together what it means to follow Jesus.  We watch the Holy Spirit draw them and convict them through the process of learning to follow Jesus.  Then they go do the same with their friends. This appears to be the overwhelming model presented in the gospels. The epistles do an amazing job of expounding on concepts such as sin, faith and grace. However, let’s make sure we balance the gospels and the epistles in our approach to making disciples and watch God give us more incredible fruit, as He is already doing around the world.

Issues/Concerns

Naturally this model might raise some questions. I will attempt to briefly address a few here:

Questions for Discussion

1. What do you like about this strategy? Dislike? Are you possibly apprehensive due to a tradition? A Biblical issue? A fear? Or something else?
2. Could you see any advantages to such a model if you are trying to make many new followers of Jesus on your campus? 
3. How could you implement this into your ministry?  Think of a pilot program with a few students. (think: who, when, where…)

Please let us know of any stories where you have seen this strategy implemented on campus in the comments section. We would love to hear how God is using these ideas.