getting started

Survey the Campus

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:54:43 -0600

This is a process you can use when pioneering to get a sense of the school and to learn information you might not otherwise discover until it's too late.

CAMPUS:

Location:

Public transportation:

Brief history of school:

Demographics

Student Population:
Undergrad:
Grad:
Commuter:
International Students:
Countries Represented:
Dorm Dwellers:
Commuters:

Campus Information

Quarters / Semesters?
Where do students live?
Where do students hang out?
Student Organizations Office:
Director of Student Life:
Chaplain:
Dean of Students:
International Student Advisor:
Residence Life Director:
Athletic Director:
Greek System Director:
How To Reserve Meeting Space:
How To Schedule An Information Table:
How to Schedule Open Air Presentation/Drama

Making Noise

What start of year functions are mandatory for freshmen? Where can you set up tables/handout flyers?
Newspaper:
Posters:
Radio:
Official Publications:
Hand Out Locations:
Orientation Packets:
Dorms:
Greek System:
Internationals:
Athletes:

Religious Activity

Who is in charge?
Religious Groups Already on Campus:
Campus Minsters' Organization:
1. Who is in charge?
2. Benefits of joining (parking pass, computer account, etc):
3. Process of approval:

Things to pick up while on campus

University brochure
Student handbook
University calendar
Any books about the school in the bookstore

Models of Church-Based College Ministry

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:50:35 -0600

Models That Churches Can Use (in ascending order of difficulty)

Student-Led Bible Studies on Campus: there are tons of resources for releasing your students to do this sort of thing and do it well. You’ll need one or two gifted and committed students to launch this. Point them to Advice For Student Leaders.
Lunch Programs on Community Colleges: begin offering a free meal along with an evangelistic program on campus once a week. You’ll need enough time to do this and a core of students who will agree to come to the meeting (to create energy). You’ll also need money for the food. Learn more at Reaching Community Colleges.
College-Age Sunday School Class: if you’re overwhelmed and are trying to do something, try to throw one of these into the mix. You’ll need a quality leader and a core of college students to start.
The Three Hours Model: a college-friendly Sunday morning worship service, a college-specific Sunday school class/small group network, and a college-specific midweek worship service (either on campus or in the church). You’ll probably need multiple youth staff to be able to pull this off. In fact, under this model the ideal is to have a full-time college pastor.

Special Cases

Reaching The Heart of the Campus

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:48:29 -0600

This is a synthesis of an interview Glen Davis conducted with Steve Shadrach, founder of Student Mobilization along with highlights from Steve's packet titled "Heart of the Campus."

Launching Transformative Campus Ministry

Your students will do to others what you did with them. If all you do to start up is find all the loose Christians on campus and get them in a room, don't expect an evangelistic powerhouse to result. Win them to Christ, don’t just invite Christians.
You will attract students like those in your core: focus on mainstream influencers (as opposed to interested or isolated students).
Don’t start a large group meeting until you have 15-20 mainstream students who have primarily been won to Christ who are all sharing Christ with their friends. It takes a year and a half to two years to reach that point.
The three key components of a campus ministry are momentum, multiplication, and management.
Do discipleship in the context of evangelism, and not vice-versa. Frequently we teach people to do evangelism as one component of our discipleship strategy and then get back to 'real discipleship'. What we need to do instead is help students share their faith and in the context of ministry do on-the-spot discipleship.
Spend all your time on campus, hold all your meetings on campus—don’t even have an office! Grab your suitcase/backpack in the morning, get on campus, and don't leave until the day is done.
The beginning is hard, exhausting work. You have to take the initiative in everything, meet people like crazy, and follow up on those meetings.

Reaching The Heart Of The Campus

"All people are equally important, but not all people are equally strategic." Dr. Bill Bright
The most strategic people on campus are the key leaders of the key groups.
They comprise only about 5% of the campus, but their influence is huge.
Win the chief, win the tribe--this is a basic missiological principle.
The heart of the campus is the most unreached segment.
Focus on influencers and you will indirectly effect more interested and isolated students.
If you want influential staff down the road you must focus on influential students now.

[edit]

Do We Want FAT Or FAITH?

We often say we're looking for FAT student-faithful, available, and teachable, but for an interested or isolated student, FAT may mean this:

FAITHFUL: they don't have many friends, so they will surely respond to any attention you give them
AVAILABLE: they really don't have anything else better to do, why not hang out with you?
TEACHABLE: their self-esteem is so low that they know they have a long way to go
Clearly, FAT is not enough! We need to add:
INITIATIVE: they are willing and able to take what you give them and pass it on to others
HEART FOR PEOPLE: they have the social and emotional maturity to care about others and reach out beyond themselves

Why Greeks Are Crucial

Less than 1% of the U.S. population has been Greek
80% of all Fortune 500 companies are led by Greeks
85% of all Presidential cabinet members since 1900 are Greeks
80% of all Supreme Court Justices since 1910
78% of all lawyers in the U.S.
75% of all U.S. Congress representatives
70% of all people listed in "Who's Who in America"
65% of all doctors
Implication: the Greek system attracts and produces leaders!

The First Three Years

1st Year

Saturate the campus with prayer
Spend the first 9 months surveying the 100 key leaders on the campus
During survey time, share the gospel and get their response (at least 3-4 of these per week)
Have pledge meetings at each of the Greek houses (fall and spring classes)
Start a Presidents Club (weekly study on leadership with the key Presidents on the campus)
Start a Pledge Class Presidents Club (weekly study on leadership)
Meet as many people as I can. Record them on cards, memorize and pray over the cards daily
Out of all of this contact work try to start 5-8 investigative groups (I-Groups)
Try to share the gospel 5-8 times per week and follow up new Christians
Start no large group meetings
Have random one-to-ones presenting "The Vision" of the Great Commission
Recruit to Christmas Conference and Summer Training Project

2nd Year

Saturate the campus and students with prayer
Start up the Presidents Club and Pledge Class Presidents Club
Start 2 Discipleship Groups of the FAITH students from year 1
Do all the pledge and team meetings (seeking to begin 3-4 I-Groups)
Have regular one to ones with D-Group members who have embraced "The Vision" of disciplemaking
Meet as many people as I can-record, memorize, and pray over daily
Share the gospel 3-4 times a week (Have D-Group member with me every time). Follow up new Christians
Survey each of the new leaders on the campus that were not there the year before
Have a hand picked fall leadership retreat with discipleship group members to build vision and identity
Utilize D-Groups to recruit to Christmas Conference
With D-Groups and I-Groups as core, hold 3 large group rallies in the Spring
Recruit to Summer Training Project

3rd Year

Saturate campus and students with prayer
Hand pick a ministry team of key leaders (4+) and meet one on one weekly with each for equipping
Hand pick a D-Group of key leaders (5+) and meet one on one every other week for establishing and equipping
Start 2-3 I-Groups (pledge class is one)
Share gospel 3-4 times a week (always with a ministry team or D-Group member)
With agreement of all the key leaders, hold 10 weekly large group meetings that fall. Either call it "Late Nite" or give it a non-spiritual title without a ministry label on it. You might call the weekly meeting "Leadership U" and focus on building areas of life and leadership in any and all students that want to come. It would be a university within a university. Try to channel every student that comes into small groups that ministry team and D-Group members would be leading.
Use the core students to recruit the students to Christmas Conference and Summer Project.
Have a key student retreat the spring semester with the ministry team and D-Groups coming and each brining the key students they are working with.

SOME SCRIPTURAL PRECENDENTS

2 Timothy 2:2
Moses (Heb 11:23-26, Acts 7:20-22)
Paul (Phil 3:4-6)
The Conversion of Cornelius (Acts 10)
Matthew 9:36-38

Launching Church Based College Ministry

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:30:33 -0600

Launching a college ministry from your church can seem overwhelming. Here's how to do it:

Get Vision

Repeat after me: schools are the steering wheel of our society—as goes the campus, so goes the culture. Our leaders are shaped in university lecture halls.

Don't believe it? Read all about The Vision For College Ministry.

Get Conviction

Vision is all well and good, but if you don’t have a strong sense of conviction, you’ll never sustain ministry to collegians. There’s a very simple reason for this—college students don’t return the investment that a church makes in them. Children’s ministries bring families into the church, youth ministry brings families into the church, but college ministry sucks money out of the church.

Parents don’t choose to go to a church because their college-aged children will be ministered to there. Their college children might be going to school in another city, state, or nation. Even if they live in the same town as their parents, the family dynamic has been altered enough that there’s a pretty good chance that they don’t all go to the same church.

That means that the students you reach will be other peoples’ kids. That means that they will be a resource drain on the other ministries of the church.

You might convince yourself that it will begin to pay for itself once the students graduate and get jobs. That may be true in a minority of cases, but in general once they graduate they move to another town, get a high paying job, and begin tithing to another church.

And that’s the bottom line—they become involved in another church. College ministry is Kingdom ministry. It blesses your church far less than it blesses the Kingdom as a whole. Is your church determined to be a generous church? If so, you’ll be able to minister to collegians.

If not, then don’t expect to accomplish much. At least, not for any lengthy period of time. You’ll get started, but the college ministry will always be the first thing on the cutting block when hard times roll around.

Vision without conviction just won’t cut it. And you’re not the only one who needs conviction—the senior pastor, the church board, and a broad slice of the laypeople need to buy in.

I hope I haven’t terrified you. College students aren’t the death knell for a congregation. Far from it!

Your church will benefit in several ways from ministering to collegians: you’ll get volunteers for your worship team, for nursery, and for youth group. You’ll have excitement and passion. You’ll have all sorts of wonderful things as a result of pouring into collegians.

You will not, however, have money.

Get Resources

Don’t reinvent the wheel. The church has been ministering to collegians for centuries, and there’s a wealth of knowledge you can glean from. Read more about it at Resources.

Get Help

There are almost certainly people in your church who were deeply touched by Chi Alpha, Intervarsity, Campus Crusade, or some other ministry in their college years. You’d be surprised at how many of them would love to help in a low-commitment way.

First, find out who they are. At a few Sunday morning services announce that at the end of the month you’re buying lunch for anyone who was involved in a college ministry to pick their brains before launching your own thing.

When you get them together, find out if any of them were small group leaders or student officers in their college ministry.

Share your vision, listen to their advice, and then ask if any of them would be willing to serve as adult mentors for college students once your ministry is off the ground. Explain that you’re not looking for a major investment of time, but just for someone who will host two or three students in their house for free laundry, a home cooked meal, and some simple discussion every two or three weeks.

If you do this, you’ll guarantee two things.

The college ministry won’t evaporate because of a pastoral transition (whether yours or someone else’s) because the laypeople won’t let it. Once you connect laypeople with college students you can see a strange mania beginning to possess them. They catch the vision and get conviction, and wonderful things happen.
You won’t be on your own. Some of these laypeople will want to do more, and you’ll have a ready-made list of people to call when you’re overwhelmed.

You will also likely get some good ideas out of the whole process.

Get Started

And once you’ve done the groundwork, get started. If you wait until things are perfect you’ll never get anything done. Get out there and try a few things. Keep what works and change what doesn’t.

Let me say that again—try a bunch of things and keep what works.

College students are an extremely forgiving bunch, so if you blow it don’t worry. You’ll get another chance.

Sample Constitution From Minnesota State Chi Alpha

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:26:41 -0600

this is the constitution used by Chi Alpha at Minnesota State University

CONSTITUTION OF CHI ALPHA CAMPUS MINISTRY

PREAMBLE

Chi Alpha Campus Ministry is an organization of students and non-students at Minnesota State University, Mankato who have united to express the person and claims of Jesus Christ to the campus community, to call others into a relationship with Him, and so to establish the Kingdom of God at Mankato State University.

CONSTITUTION ARTICLE I: Name

The name of this organization shall be Chi Alpha Campus Ministry. Chi Alpha is a chartered ministry, affiliated with Chi Alpha, Christian Fellowship USA; the College Ministries Department of the Assemblies of God. We choose this name as a witness that Jesus Christ called His disciples to be active testimonies of His resurrection and love for the world.

CONSTITUTION ARTICLE II: Purpose

Section 1. As an organization and as individuals, Chi Alpha Campus Ministry finds its purpose, mission, and identity in the Biblical passages, “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors...” (II Corinthians 5:20) and “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, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) Also, “Salvation is found in no one else (Jesus Christ) for there is no other name under heaven given to men which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

Section 2. We accept the Bible as the infallible , inerrant, authoritative Word of God and the sole basis for doctrine and morals.

Section 3. Chi Alpha desires to invite students into a personal faith in Jesus Christ so that they may grow in an understanding of Biblical knowledge and further to apply that knowledge to their daily lives. It is our hope and desire that this will enhance their academic and professional lives as well. Also, it is the further purpose of this group to help provide and foster opportunities for Christian ministry and leadership.

Section 4. To fulfill our purpose, we come together as a community of worship, prayer, fellowship, discipleship, witness and service.

Constitution Article III: Membership

Section 1. There are two categories of membership/association with Chi Alpha Campus Ministry: associate membership and voting membership.

Section 2. Associate (non-voting) members is considered by the following criteria: We believe that Jesus Christ calls people to repentance of sin, forgiveness, and discipleship (Matthew 28:19-20) “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Also, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes on Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

Section 3. Associate (non-voting) membership of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry is open to persons who
A. are students or non-students alike
B. are willing to attend without any disruption during the meetings

Section 4. The responsibilities and privileges of associate members are as follows; they may attend any open meetings as stated in the By-Laws of Article III, Section 2.

Section 5. Voting membership. Any person is eligible to become a voting member of Chi Alpha if they meet the criteria outlined in Article III, Section 6.

Section 6. Voting members of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry is open to persons who:
2. Are currently registered full time or part-time students at Minnesota State University
3. Are in agreement with out purpose and philosophy as stated in this Constitution and Bylaws of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry.
4. Have attended the minimum number of open meetings required as stated in the Bylaws
5. Have made a public profession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior
6. Are actively attempting to grow in the knowledge of the Bible, and actively applying Biblical principles to their lives and actions
7. Are in attendance at a publicly announced business meeting
8. Comply with guidelines, principles and doctrines, as set forth by the national office of the Assemblies of God denomination, College Ministries Department.
9. Are approved by the Campus Pastor and/or Campus Ministry staff

Section 7. The responsibilities and privileges of voting members are:
A. they may hold the floor at a business meeting
B. they may vote at a business meeting
C. they may hold office
D. they may serve on a committee
Section 8. The responsibility for removal, sanction, and discipline of the membership of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry shall reside solely in the disciplinary Committee. Criteria for removal, sanction, and discipline shall be defined in the By-Laws of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry

Constitution Article IV. Officers

Section 1. There shall be appointed at least three officers (student leaders) for Chi Alpha Campus Ministry: President, Vice-President & Treasurer. Any other officers (student leaders) necessary for the efficient functioning of the group shall be appointed by the President (if a student is officially serving in that role) and/or Campus ministry staff.

Section 2. The responsibility of the student President shall be as follows:
1. the President, in joint cooperation with the Campus Ministry staff, shall be responsible for
maintaining Chi Alpha Campus Ministry
2. the President, in joint cooperation with the Campus Ministry staff, shall direct and lead all
business meetings personally.

Section 3. The responsibility of the Vice-President shall be as follows:
5. The Vice-President shall be responsible for acting in place of the President in the event of the President’s absence or inability or failure to carry out his assigned duties
6. The Vice-President shall have the same powers as the President in the event of the President’s absence
7. The Vice-President will act as interim President in the event that the President cannot complete his term

Section 4. The Treasurer of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry shall be responsible for accurate record-keeping of the finances of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry, working in association with the Campus Ministry staff.

Section 5. Appointment of officers.
• Officers shall be appointed by the Campus Pastor and/or the Campus ministry staff with or without recommendation and advice from the Executive Committee
• New officers shall take office at the annual business meeting and shall serve until the next school year’s business meeting
• Only persons who qualify as voting members are eligible to hold office

Section 6. Removal of officers shall be the responsibility of the Campus Pastor and/or the Campus ministry staff. Criteria for the removal of officers shall be established in the By-Laws of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry.

Constitution Article V: Committees

Section 1. The standing committees of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry shall be the Executive Committee, the Disciplinary Committee and the Constitutional Reform Committee.

Section 2. The Executive Committee shall consist of the President, the Vice-President and Treasurer during their term of office. The responsibilities of this committee shall consist of appointing chairmen and members of the remaining standing committees and to establish any committees that they deem necessary by consensus opinion. The duration of any special committees is to be publicly stated by the Executive Committee.

Section 3. The Disciplinary Committee shall be appointed within one week of any situation that is deemed necessary for disciplinary action to be taken against an individual member or members of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry. This committee shall consist of the Campus Ministry staff, the Executive Committee, and if necessary, the staff advisor and/or any members that the committee shall appoint at the time of the infraction. Their responsibilities are as follows:
a. to remove, sanction, and discipline members according to the criteria set forth in the By-Laws
10. b. to remove officers according to the criteria set forth in the By-Laws
11. c. to insure orderly conduct of members in accordance with the conduct code of Minnesota State University – Mankato

Section 4. The Constitutional Reform Committee shall be formed by the Executive Committee at the request of three or more voting members to draw up changes, reforms and additions to the Constitution and By-Laws. The Constitutional Reform Committee shall have the responsibility of presenting changes, reforms or additions at the Annual Business Meeting, or any other publicly announced business meeting.

Section 5. Standing Committees may take action only after a consensus has been reached by all members of the committee. In the case of the Disciplinary Committee, temporary action may be taken by any member of that committee if that member believes the situation merits such action. Such temporary action must be approved or disapproved within seven days by the whole Disciplinary Committee.

Section 6. Special Committees will make decisions and take action on the basis of a simple majority of the members of that committee, unless the Executive Committee publicly states otherwise at the time of the anouncement of the committee and its duration.

CONSTITUITON ARTICLE VI. Statement of Non-Profit Status

Chi Alpha Campus Ministry at Minnesota State University is a non-profit religious organization affiliated with the Assemblies of God.

CONSTITUTION ARTICLE VII. Restrictions on use of funds

Chi Alpha Campus Ministry shall no provide monetary gain, incidentally or otherwise, to its directors, officers or membership. This does not restrict the payment of wages, salaries, or incentives by the organization for services rendered.
CONSTITUTION ARTICLE VIII. Financial Matters

Section 1. All finances obtained from University funding shall be contained in the University Business Office.
Section 2. Any finances of funding provided from private donations , offerings, or sales shall be deposited in the checking account of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry at a local bank.

CONSTITUTION ARTICLE IX. Amendments to the Constitution

Amendments to the Constitution shall be passed by a two thirds majority vote at a publicly announced business meeting.

CONSITUTION ARTICLE X. Provision for By-Laws

The Constitutional Reform Committee shall be reposnsible for proposing any necesssary By-Laws at any business meeting. By-Laws shall be established by a simple majorityvoting membership at the annual business meeting, or at any publicly announced business meeting.

CONSTITUTION ARTICLE XI. Statement of National Affiliation

Chi Alpha Campus ministry of Minnesota State University – Mankato is in voluntary cooperation and association with Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship, the national college ministry of the Assemblies of God and the Minnesota District of the Assembly of God. As such, the campus ministry staff positions shall be filled by individuals approved by the above mentioned offices.

CONSTITUTION ARTICLE XII. Campus Ministry Staff

Chi Alpha Campus ministry of Minnesota State University – Mankato may have associated with it campus ministry staff. The staff positions are at the discretion and creation of the Campus Pastor.

CONSTITUTION ARTICLE XIII. Dissolution

Section 1. In the event that the group desires to dissolve, a notice must be written to the Minnesota State University Student Senate Association informing them of the group’s intentions.

Section 2. A vote of two-thirds of the Executive Committee shall be needed for formal dissolution.

Section 3. A notice must also be sent to the Campus Ministries District Representative who oversee Chi Alpha in the state of MN.

Section 4. After dis-establishment and after all liabilities of Chi Alpha are rectified, the Student Organization Finance Department will hold the remaining money in trust for Chi Alpha Campus Ministry for three years following the last meeting of Chi Alpha Campus Ministry. If, after that period, Chi Alpha Campus Ministry has not reactivated, the funds shall be distributed to the Minnesota District of the Assemblies of God and designated for home missions within the Minnesota District.

Investigative Bible Studies

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:58:37 -0600

A Bible study for non-Christians.

Some suggested resources

Alpha Course: Alpha is a food-based, discussion-driven, Spirit-filled outreach that many Chi Alpha groups are using successfully. This is a great program if you don't have time to prepare your own studies or train leaders. All a leader does is this program is moderate discussion with specific instructions not to answer questions themselves. Some Alpha representatives say that Chi Alpha is the best college ministry fit for their outreach because we embrace the Spirit as they present Him. -
Alpha On Campus website: http://jhfrahm.home.texas.net/
Alpha website: http://www.alphacourse.org/
God Investigative Groups
One of my favorites is in the appendix to Jim Petersen’s book Living Proof (ISBN:0891095616) (the study itself is called Twenty Four Hours With John—do an internet search and see if its out there).
the eXit Strategy

Campus Based Ministry

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:32:17 -0600

Dorms

At most four-year schools, the way to reach the students is to impact the dorms. Students in dorms live in close community with one another:

They share living space.
They share meals.
They share classes.

There is a rich web of natural relationships that already exist. When a student living in the dorms get on-fire for God, good things happen!

A student's guide to Living In The Dorms.

Focus On Reaching Key Students

There is a principle in world missions: win the chief and you win the tribe. In other words, some people wield disproportionate influence over others.

This is true on the college campus, and Steve Shadrach, founder of Student Mobilization has some challenging thoughts on what it takes to Reach The Heart Of The Campus.

Reaching Community Colleges

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:27:54 -0600

Go to the office of student affairs, find out what you need to do to get registered as a student organization. That allows you to use space on campus (usually rent-free) and to hang up publicity materials on campus. While you’re at it, Charter With Chi Alpha, the college ministry of the Assemblies of God. They’ll hook you up with resources, training, and networking.

Begin offering free (or cheap) food and a discussion group from 11-12 or from 12-1. If you can, do both as two separate groups. Make this as evangelistic as possible--see Investigative Bible Studies for details.

Also consider offering a college-age Sunday School class.

Register as a Student Organization

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:10:16 -0600

Why Register?

To gain access to school facilities (and sometimes funds).
To gain legitimacy in the eyes of students and their parents.
To gain some automatic promotion (listed on school website, in publications).
To submit to authority (the school probably expects that all organizations will register and comply with certain guidelines).

How to Register

The process for becoming a registered student organization varies from campus to campus, but it almost always goes something like this:

Contact the office of student activities/student life on your campus to get an application form.
Submit signatures from 5-10 students expressing interest in your organization.
Submit a Constitution.

While you're doing ths, don't forget to Charter With Chi Alpha!

Launching College Ministry

xaglen — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:06:43 -0600

There are 81 colleges or universities that enroll more than 1,000 students in our district. We currently have ministries on less than 20% of those campuses.

We've got to start more ministries!

Basic Principles

Be sure to become a Registered Student Organization--it will really make a difference in your ability to get things done on campus (reserving rooms, etc).
Always prefer action over inaction.
You Get What You Have
Your methods speak louder than your messages. Students will imitate what they see--talk all you want about evangelism, if you all you do is invite Christians to come join a Christian club then that's all you can expect from your students.
Don’t start a large group meeting until you have around 20-30 students. If you don't have a critical mass then it's hard to grow. Students don't feel comfortable inviting their friends. Until that time, do everything through small groups.
The beginning is hard, exhausting work. You have to take the initiative in everything, meet people like crazy, and follow up on those meetings.