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Consciousness and Competence September 29, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Discipleship, Leadership, Student Ownership.
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I recently sent a tip entitled “Give it Away”, about some thoughts from Scott Livermore on handing ownership off to students and volunteers.  Any kind of skill development takes time and goes through this simple progression of stages:

  • Unconscious Incompetence
  • Conscious Incompetence
  • Conscious Competence
  • Unconscious Competence

We begin not knowing what we don’t know.  Then we progress to thinking we can’t do that.  Then as we learn how to do something, we really have to focus on what we are doing the first few times doing it.  Finally, the skill becomes so ingrained that we can do it without thinking about it.

This progression is true for any skill development: playing piano, painting a room, driving a car or sharing our faith.  I often think about how distributing ministry to students and volunteers is like teaching my sons to drive.  There was only so much modeling I could do with them.   But at some point I needed to get out of the driver’s seat and let them take the wheel.  In fact, I noticed that they thought they could do K turns, back out of the driveway and stop smoothly at a stop signs until they tried it themselves.  It turned out to be more difficult than they thought.  But it was giving them experience that was the key to developing those skills.

Back in August Steve Douglass wrote about “Finding the Leader”.  Very insightful.  He wrote:

We are all about spiritual multiplication—which involves passing ownership of ministry on to others.  But that won’t happen if we view most of our disciples as “disqualified” for one reason or another.

If we find it hard to have faith that God is able to use them, we won’t even try to challenge them toward their potential as a leader.  Or, we may embark on a process of discipleship that is so drawn out that people drop out needlessly.

Am I advocating that we should ignore that people have certain barriers to becoming multipliers?  No, not at all.  I am just advocating that we:

1. Have faith that God can make people useful to Him.

2. Look for people whose hearts are right before God (“good soil”).

3. Work with them aggressively to use their strengths and grow in their weak areas.

4. Give them a chance to try to minister, perhaps a little sooner than we might think.

5. Encourage them throughout the process.

Anytime you find yourself reluctant to do these things, think first of one of your own experiences or those of someone you know well.  How “perfect” were you when you got started?  How skilled were you at evangelism and discipleship?  How different are you now than when someone believed in you and let you try?

As you think about potential leaders, where do they fall on the conscious/competence scale?  What are the next appropriate steps to move them to the next stage?  And what stands in the way, on our part or theirs, toward making taking those next steps?

See You At The Pole September 22, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Launching, Prayer.
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Do you ever drive by a high school or middle school and find yourself praying for God to work on that campus?  Do you have students in any of your ministries that seem to have a passion for seeing God use them in the lives of teenagers?  Then this tip is for you.

On Wednesday, September 24, students will gather at the flagpole on their campuses to ask God to move in and through them.   Many youth ministries across the US have “See You At The Pole” rallies.  My son, Tom, is one of his FCA huddle captains.  They will hand out “Yes, I Believe in God. The 40-Day Challenge” guides at SYATP.  Student Venture uses SYATP as one of their WAVE days.  This is a special hour of evangelism starting on the East coast and sweeping like a wave westward across each time zone.

Why not consider…

  • Take some others with you and visit a local high school on Wednesday for SYATP.
  • If you get a chance before going, check out this START Handbook.  This contains all anyone needs to start a high school or middle school ministry.  You can also request you own hard copy of the handbook.
  • You can find other thoughts on how to plan for SYATP here.  On this page you will also find links to an informal questionnaire to strike up conversations with others about the role of prayer and to learn more about other WAVE dates and topics.

As the START Handbook points out “Teenagers are like wet cement, just waiting for someone to make a lasting impression.  Every day teens are making decisions that will affect them the rest of their lives—whether or not to take that drug or drink, to sleep with that guy or girl, or to give in to peer pressure.  But they are open to spiritual things as they look for answers to the problems they experience.”

Give it Away September 15, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Discipleship, Student Ownership.
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A good friend of mine, Scott Livermore, works with Student Venture in Indianapolis and is a coach with the Coaching Center.  He recently wrote an article for the Coaching Report called “Give it Away.”.  I thought this offered great insight for those of us involved in multiplying student and volunteer ownership.

Give it Away

You make plans for your ministry. Your ideas are great and you have the team and momentum to pull them off.  So many of the things that have to be done are so simple you can do them in your sleep.  I have a question for you: Why would you do them for the umpteenth time instead of taking some extra time and training someone else to step in.

You might argue that there is a cost to taking the time to find someone, get them to agree, explain the process, establish quality control and then check back with them.  I would agree with you.  It does take time to set up and hand off the jobs that are the backbone of campus ministry excellence.  Why would you pass the baton?

  1. Demonstrates belief:  What says more than challenging a faithful young man or woman to help you in an area that will advance the ministry?  Your statement to them is one that will help them see themselves as God sees them.  You will help them begin to develop a God confidence as they see some of their God given talents being used for the Kingdom!
  2. Invites creativity:  A fresh set of eyes on an old design or an annual event may be just what the doctor ordered.  You may be good, but it is possible that your giving someone else a chance to insert their giftedness, on a project or task, may be the best thing you do all year!
  3. Develops Leadership:  Leadership is merely a small step away from handling increasing responsibility.  The student you hand the baton is on their way to becoming a leader in your ministry.  What do you mean by that?  Faithfulness and “full-of-faith-ness” is the stuff that God honors when He calls His servants into leadership.  Now, it may be a long distance between creating a flyer and leading a small group, but the road there begins with the first step!
  4. Fosters Stewardship:  How many great ideas have you designed that created no excitement among your students?  If we do them they might not come, but if they do them they will make sure that students come.  The most powerful invitation to an event that I have ever heard came from a student who said: I am speaking tonight at our meeting about my relationship with Christ. Would you come with me?  That could not have happened without someone being willing to trust, train and empower that student to be a steward of the meeting through their involvement in it.  Are you having trouble getting students excited about the ministry?  Give them an opportunity to be involved!
  5. Dividing the Work Multiplies Your Time:  There is a learning curve but eventually you will notice the tasks that used to take so much of your time are now off your plate and in the hands of faithful men and woman who are growing in their leadership.  Your goal should be to only do the things that you can do and start handing over everything else.

God has called you to lead.  He has given you a whole pasture of potential talent that merely needs to be trusted, trained and turned loose.  You are the spokesperson and vision caster who helps build the top leaders of the ministry.  Others can make flyers, buy refreshments, do games and all the other tasks that seem to require so much of your time.

Enjoy the thrill of seeing God at work in the heart’s of your disciples!

Scott

Scott pointed to several links at the end of his letter.  One was to an article called “Dare to Multiply”.  A good reminder that Jesus poured his life into a few who would pass it on to others.  Also the apostle Paul was intentional about selecting future leaders and imparting vision and skills.

Links to Useful Websites September 8, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Uncategorized.
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With all of the websites we have in the US Campus Ministry, it is hard to remember them all and to know which ones are used for which purposes.  Here is a list of movement launching, evangelism and coaching websites to get you going.

Movement Launching websites:

  • MovementLaunching.com.  A good starting place for understanding ministry within different ethnic communities.  There are launching strategies for each of our strategic partners:  Impact, Destino, Epic, BridgesInternaional, Nations, KCCC, AIA, Student Venture, Faculty Commons and Valor.
  • Global Learning Center.  An e-learning tool for launching ministries.
  • GoCampus.org.   Resources on launching a High School Ministry. Check out the START handbook.
  • For launching Valor movements.
  • Specific sites for various ethnic communities.

Evangelism websites

Coaching websites

No doubt, I have missed something that should be listed.  You probably have your own list of favorites that you frequent and like to pass on to your leaders.  The fact that there are so many begs for a go to place for us.  GodSquad has been that for many.  But in the meantime, bookmarks was developed for just this purpose!

Building Relationships with New Students September 1, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Uncategorized.
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It is Labor Day in the US, the traditional start of the campus year.  However, many campuses have already started.  This is the time of the semester when incoming freshmen are deciding who their friends will be, what their real values are and where they get involved.  That is why I like what John and Melissa Mitchell, Southern New England Campus Ministry sent out to their student leaders last year.

We hope that by this point of the semester, new students have come to your Bible study and/or weekly meeting.  We trust that you understand the importance of reaching the Freshmen class and helping these new guests get involved in your ministry.

However, we don’t want new students just to show up once or twice, and just fade away as the semester progresses.  It’s important to help them KEEP coming.  How will that happen you ask?  The key is relationships.  Lots of people will check out something once or twice, maybe even 3 times, but after awhile if they aren’t connecting with others, getting to know people and feeling like they are wanted, then they won’t keep coming back.

Here are some ideas that should help:

  • Invite new students to meet you for a meal (guys invite guys, girls – girls, you don’t want this to look like a date!).  You don’t have to go alone, you can invite other students to join you.  Don’t make it too many people, or someone could be overlooked in the conversation. You have to eat anyway and this is a great opportunity to really get to know someone.  Get other returning students involved in this as well.
  • Share the gospel with new students!  Don’t assume they are Christians just because they come to your study, or they come from a church background.  Go through the Knowing God Personally booklet with them.  You can introduce it this way:  “Just so you know what we believe….”  This familiarizes them with who we are as a ministry, and to one of our tools.  Plus if they aren’t a Christian, you get to share Christ with them!
  • Ask new students to help out with an event or activity, hanging posters, bringing snacks or helping to plan a social activity.  This helps them to start thinking of the ministry as “ours” rather than “yours” and they get to know others as they work along side them.  (Don’t ask someone that is new to lead a Bible study or some other spiritually significant responsibility without feeling confident that they are walking with God.)
  • Personal invitation – invite students personally to come to a get together, help out with an outreach or to join a committee or small group.  When you ask everyone in the setting of a meeting, usually, “everyone’s ask is no one’s ask”.


We hope these tips help.  Building relationships is really foundational for a fruitful ministry – just like this example from the book of Acts.
“They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:46b-47
Wouldn’t it be great to have our ministries described like this?  Have fun connecting with one another!

More than just inviting freshmen to our meetings, we want to be intentional about building relationships and look for ways to connect them to others and what we are doing.  Here are a couple of resources on GodSquad offer more ideas
Six Weeks that Count
Reaching Freshmen
You can also read more about what John and Melissa are communicating to their student leaders on their blog.