Newsletters

April 2001

Structural Changes

How do you run a growing movement with a shrinking staff team? That is the question we face as we enter the next school year.

Our movement has grown each of the last few years. This year we had 325 students involved in our small group Bible studies. Next year we expect to have around 350 to 375. However, we will also have a smaller staff team. One staff couple is leaving Ann Arbor to work full-time with Campus Crusade in a large country in the Middle East. A single staff woman is getting married and leaving staff. Instead of the eight staff we have had working on campus this year we will have five.

Our current structure (diagramed at right) has a number of problems that would have gotten worse next year. Here are a few of those problems:

It is very staff-intensive. The number of small groups are ultimately limited by the number of seniors that staff can meet with regularly each week.

Our older students had little opportunity to interact and share with freshmen, who are the focus of much of our evangelistic activity.

Juniors or seniors who did not lead Bible studies did not have a place where they could be challenged. Our current system places older student leaders into ministry teams that meet together with staff for in-depth Bible study and accountability. This does not leave a place for older students who do not lead Bible studies to have in-depth Bible interaction with other believers.

Coming Changes

The new structure (diagramed at right) will be simpler, will solve many of the problems of the old system, and will ultimately allow us to be more effective in accomplishing our goals. Here is a list of a few of the benefits we hope will come as a result.

All levels of students will get in-depth study of a book of a Bible.

We will not be limited in the number of small groups. Groups are encouraged to continue growing. If a group gets too large it splits (diagramed at right), with the leader and co-leader each taking one of the splits and finding new co-leaders from within the group.

Younger students will benefit from the wisdom and experience of senior student leaders.

The seniors will have more time to spend getting to know freshmen, because they will spend less time meeting with sophomore and junior leaders.

There will be the freedom for groups to split into areas of the campus, like the marching band and the Greek system, where we do not have a large presence.

Our hope is that through these changes a greater sense of community will develop in all of the small groups. We also hope that through the relationships that develop in these communities more students will come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Ultimately, we hope that we will become more effective in developing students into life-long Christ-centered laborers.

CCC News

The Jesus film has been shown in every country in the world. Wake Island, located in the Pacific Ocean west of Hawaii, was the 234th and final country to view the movie based on the Gospel of Luke. [from Worldwide Challenge]

Andrew's Update

Support Update

We have now raised $1400 of monthly support this semester and have reached the goal we initially set out to raise. Praise God! I never thought we would be in this position so quickly when we began this process at the beginning of this semester. But God has provided for us in exceeding measure.

I have been able to begin attending some campus and staff activities and hope to reconnect with many of my men over these last two weeks of the semester.

We will continue to pursue support for the next few weeks. We hope to raise an additional $200 in monthly support so that we can raise our salary in preparation for our new baby.

We also hope to take a short vacation before we head out for summer project. We have not had a real vacation since we came on staff three years ago.

We will tell you more about our summer plans in next month’s newsletter.

www.ardle.org

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