Weekly Tip #11
What Is The First Thing Christ Did For Us
I love the passage in Galatians 2:20 which says,
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We are not saved or justified by the works of the law but only through faith in Christ Jesus. In much of Galatians chapters 3 and 4, we find the apostle Paul making a powerful argument over this very point. Now, while we are living on this earth, we live by faith in Jesus because of all He has done for us.
Never forget the first thing that Christ has done for us is He died on the cross. Jesus spent three years multiplying His work through discipling His 12 disciples, preaching the gospel, and performing miracles. All of this was in preparation for his sacrifice on Calvary.
Because of His death on the cross, if you’ve made the decision to place your trust in Christ, many things are now true of you. Next week, let’s begin to look at all that Christ has done for us as well as the amazing list of blessings that is ours because of our relationship with Him.
The Big Picture For The End Of The Year
1. Be sure that you’ve chosen and have begun to train your new leaders for the fall term. This is critical to the survival of your ministry.
2. Plan an end of year party with everyone to celebrate what God has done this year.
3. Help everyone think through the Summer Survival packet and how to use it. More on this next week.
4. Make final challenges to summer projects. There are still a few openings.
5. Gather the names, email, cell phone, and home address of everyone so you can stay in touch with them throughout the summer months.
Planning For Your Fall Term
I realize that some campus ministries begin to wind down their spring term by the end of April. There are also many college and high school activities that end by May and June. However your ministry calendar falls, here are some practical reminders to think about as you bring your ministry leaders together to plan for your fall term.
6. Try to reserve your room location, in advance, for the fall. This can save you a lot of later planning if you can establish the day, time and especially location for your weekly meetings/Bible studies. It will have an impact on the points to follow.
7. Reserve the locations, along with the tables and chairs and any other arrangement, to have your start of the year campus wide lunch/dinner line survey. This is perhaps one of the most important strategies for the fall because it usually produces many great contacts of people who will join your ministry for the entire year. Some of them may become leaders as well. Don’t miss out on this great start to your school year.
8. Plan a fun activity and reserve the needed space or room for your first social activity for the fall term. This is usually done on the Friday of the first week to gather many interested students and begin to build deeper relationships. Plan as creatively as you want. Include food, sports like volleyball, Frisbee, or Harlem Shake, lol.
9. Once you have some of the activities in place for the fall term, you are free to design and print posters, flyers, banners, sidewalk signs, and business cards – all which can advertise your activities to the whole campus, high school or whatever your ministry situation might be. Think about having these printed advertisements done before the school year begins so you can really hit the ground running.
10. Ask a couple of churches, Christian businesses or business people, if they might help you fund some of your start-up activities. With the proper funding, nothing should slow you down.
Talk to you next week,
Ben
Cru Ministry, Orlando