Nor Cal / Nev College Ministries

Our Philosophy of Ministry

Community

Our goal is to become a "community" of students on campus. We put a high priority on coming together as a group for biblically commanded activity. God has intended for us to come to a greater understanding of Him by vital interaction in the Body of Christ.

This means that we can experience fully what God has for us only when we are in the context of "community". Only in the Body can the gifts of the Holy Spirit find meaning. Only in the Body can multi-faceted ministry best occur. Only as they are recognized by the community can eldership and accountability be important compo­nents for each believer's life. Scattered Bible studies alone are not sufficient for a full and balanced growth in Christ. What is necessary is a fully operating Body with leadership, training, worship, fellow­ship and outreach.

Key Ingredients for Community

1. Affirmation There is nothing you have done or will do that will make me stop loving you. I may not agree with your actions, but I will love you as a person and do all I can to hold you up in God's affirming love.
2. Availability Anything I have - time, energy, insight, possessions - is at your disposal if you need it, to the limit of my resources.
3. Prayer I commit to pray for you in some regular fashion, believing that our caring Father wishes His children to pray for one another and ask Him for the blessings they need.
4. Openness I promise to strive to become a more open person, disclosing my feelings, my struggles, my joys, and my hurts to you as well as I am able. This is to affirm your worth to me as a person. In other words, I need you!
5. Honesty I will try to mirror back to you what I am hearing you say and feel. If this means risking pain for either of us, I will trust our relationship enough to take that risk, realizing it is in "speaking the truth in love that we grow up in every way into Christ who is the head" (Eph. 4:15).
6. Sensitivity Even as I desire to be known and understood by you, I commit to be sensitive to you and to your needs to the best of my ability. I will try to hear you, see you, and feel where you are and to draw you out of the pit of discouragement or withdrawal.
7. Confidentiality I will promise to keep confidential whatever is shared in order to provide the atmosphere of trust necessary for openness.
8. Accountability I am accountable to you to become what God has designed me to be in His loving creation.

Community Life Expressed

As you can see from the ingredients for community, a Christian's community life is defined first by the quality of relationships main­tained between Christian friends and secondarily by where we live. Community life does not demand that we live together (and commu­nity is not insured even if we live under the same roof). But where proximity living is available, every opportunity should be pursued to assist the development of a Christian community lifestyle

The Five-Fold Philosophy of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries

• Biblical Foundation for the Five-Fold Philosophy

"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer . . . . Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:42,46,47 emphasis added).

• Focus of the Five-Fold Philosophy: Full Christian Growth

Each aspect (worship, fellowship, discipleship, witness, and prayer) pro­duces health and growth both for individual believers and for the Body of Christ. Each of us giving continual attention to these aspects throughout our life while we are in accountable Christian community, will keep us on the narrow path that leads to our Father's house.

• Strategy for Implementing the Five-Fold Philosophy

"Our primary strategy is to work toward the building of a group or community of people who share the ideals of becoming a community of worship, a community fellowship, a community of discipleship, a community of witness, and a community of prayer. We believe the most fertile atmosphere for people to come to faith and maturity in Christ is warm exposure to a group of people fervently committed to the God of the Bible, to one another, and to the task of evangelizing the campus. As a praying, worshipping, loving, discipling, witnessing community, they demonstrate the King­dom of God and most effectively enculturate others in it" (Chi Alpha Philosophy).

Our Particular Emphasis Here is Discipleship

• Christ demands that we disciple the nations.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. There­fore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very ends of the age" (Matt. 28:18-20).

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

The scope of the demand:

1. Purpose: "make disciples of all nations"
2. Program: "teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you"
3. Provision: "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you"
4. Promise: "And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age."

LET THERE BE NO ERROR AT THIS POINT: Discipling is a task that requires much more than simple programs or techniques. Discipleship at all times requires the power and presence of Jesus Christ through the indwelling Spirit!

• Christ entrusted the Kingdom of God into the men He discipled. He didn't write a holy book, He left no manual, no tablets full of com­mandments, only trained, changed and empowered men to continue His mission - to save the world.

• Christ demonstrated that discipleship must be encased in a personal, relautlonal model and not in a static educational mode.

This calls for the direct personal involvement of the discipler in the lives of those being discipled. "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last...This is my command: Love each other" (John 15:16,17).

"It is our conviction that discipling is best accomplished in the relational context of the more matured believer helping to nurture younger members of the community" (Chi Alpha Philosophy).

A Summary Statement

The making of disciples is not something which just happens. It is a very deliberate and specific process which requires strategy, time, and prayer. It is that process by which growing Christians impart their knowledge and experience in the Lord Jesus to newer Christians, in the context of personal relationships. By this process each member is thus given the basic knowl­edge and skills necessary to grow toward maturity in Christ and is equipped for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-16).

We desire to follow the instructions of Paul to Timothy. "...the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2). In this way we perpetuate a continuous development of maturing leaders for the work of Christ here in our campus ministry, then across our state, our nation and, through our missions endeavors, around the world.

The Purposes of Discipleship in the Campus Ministry Setting

A. Provide all students involved with this ministry a spiritual/pas­toral discipler for continued Christian growth and nurture.

B. Provide every student a core of fellow students in which to share the love of God with each other.

C. Provide a relational learning experience in the practics of the Christian faith.

D. Provide an atmosphere for leadership development among students for God's kingdom work.

E. Provide for the continual development of a trans-generational ministry to the university community.