What do you do on campus?

The Goal

The goal of the campus ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ is to turn lost students into Christ centered laborers. The goal of the church was given by Christ in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Our goal is to make disciples of all the nations by baptizing them into the people of God and teaching them the whole council of God as written in the Bible. The goal of the campus ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ is drawn from this commission: Turning lost students into Christ centered laborers. Everything we do is centered around this goal.

The Methods

Winning Students to Christ

The first step to understanding what we do is to understand what a lost student is. A lost student is any student who has not placed his or her trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. So, the first aspect of our ministry involves showing students how they can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by placing their faith in Him. The most common method we use in sharing this message is a little booklet called Knowing God Personally.

It is our hope that our students will have many opportunities to share this good news with their roommates, classmates, and friends as they develop relationships with them. But, in order to reach every student we also must be more intentional and initiate conversations with students we have no contact with. One of the primary ways we do this is through surveys we do at the beginning of every school year. On the surveys students can give us indications of whether they are interested in spiritual things or not. We will get in contact with those who are and hopefully will have the opportunity to share the gospel with them. Since most of our ministry happens in the dorms this usually involves going into the dorms and knocking on the doors of students responding positively on the surveys. It can also involve setting up appointments by phone.

Since we will not reach every student through surveys we will also do smaller programs in the dorms and larger programs on campus that will be of interest students and will give them an opportunity to think about spiritual issues. A big benefit of these outreaches is in helping us to begin relationships with students we have not talked to before and in getting them to think about God.

Building Christ-centered Laborers

It is not enough only to see a student come into a relationship with Christ. We also want to see students develop from a relationship with God into an intimate and active fellowship with God and other believers. A primary way we do this is through small-group Bible studies, usually held in the dorms where students live. These studies give students a chance to learn from the Bible and apply it to their lives. They also give students a chance to develop relationships with other Christian students. All our Bible studies are done single-sex so that they can address more gender specific issues.

Another way to develop students into Christ-centered laborers is to get them involved in the various aspects of our ministry. Hopefully every student we be involved in evangelism since it is commanded of all believers. We give some students opportunities to lead the Bible studies. There are also many other responsibilities that our students take on, from leading worship in our meetings to helping plan and organize social activities.

Our weekly meeting gives students another opportunity to be encouraged and challenged in their faith. But, we do not want this meeting or our Bible studies to be our students' only spiritual input during a week. Our hope is that all our students will get involved in a local church where they can be exposed to good Bible teaching and where they can come into contact with believers from all age groups.

Finally, staff members will meet individually with students who are in leadership positions, to train them in ministry and encourage their walks with the Lord.