THE ‘WHAT’ OF PLANNING
We have employed chronology (Step 1, Step 2, etc.) to make things as simple to follow as possible. But here it's misleading because it is during the gatherings with your staff and student leaders that you are going to do a good portion of this planning.
As mentioned, you will certainly want to have given the plan for the school year some thought before you start pulling your leadership together. But for your leaders to truly own the plan they need to be involved in the planning. When you gather together as a missional team you will want to fill in some major elements of the plan. Then, when you meet with the student leaders you will want to engage them in filling in the details.
Okay, enough about the process. The most important aspect of your plan for the school year has in fact already been done for you. The critical elements of growing a Cru ministry are: Prayer, Community, Building/Discipleship, Evangelism, and Sending/Training.
If we were another ministry perhaps the critical elements would be worship, healing, teaching, and service. These are important, but what distinguishes one ministry from another is what it emphasizes. We emphasize: Prayer, Community, Building/ Discipleship, Evangelism, and Sending/Training.
While this answers the ‘what’ of planning it does not answer the ‘how’ and that’s what your planning will be about. What events, teaching, and activities are we going to employ to make sure student prayer is happening? What is the most effective way to reach the students on campus with the gospel (evangelism)? These are the strategies and tactics you need to plan.
Depending on your manpower the plan can be as simply as a single strategy (we will have a prayer meeting once a week) or there could be a dozen. If you have a huge leadership team then you should probably do more than a single strategy. If there is only a couple of you then you better not try a dozen.
Two articles follow: First is a streamlined version of a Campus Plan for a student-led ministry focusing only on Prayer, Community, Evangelism, and Sending/ Training, but it should be instructive none-the-less.
Second, for a more experienced Team Leader is an article on how to grow a ministry of 20 into a movement of 200.
Combined, these articles should provide you with the critical elements that must go into your planning. Download the PDF above.
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