Every organization, including our campus groups, is characterized by a vision, people and structures.
Vision is what drives the group: it tells us why the group exists, what goals it pursues and what structures/activities are needed to reach the goal. But without people, the vision will not be embodied and lived out and structures are empty shells.
Leadership development goes to the heart of the crucial ‘people’ piece. It asks the question of how we can identify and nurture the gifts and calling God has placed into people and how we can help them grow and mature as followers of Jesus and leaders so that they can fully participate with Gods in the building of His kingdom on campus.
When helping students grow as leaders, we must realize that it is a process in which people first commit to a community before they commit to its goals.
This growth process of serving Christ and others as leaders, i.e. people who commit to Christ and the community to establish His kingdom on campus (vision) can be visualized in the following way (download the leadership pathway):
- Campus - includes all international students on a given campus
- Guests - are internationals who have responded to the invitation to ‘come and see’ i.e. experience Christ in community such as social activities and/or the study of the word. Guests feel welcome and enjoy the community but have not yet developed deep ties to the group
- Friends - are internationals that have developed a sense of belonging to the group and feel they are an integral part
- Family - describes internationals who as a result of a deep sense of belonging have begun to serve the campus fellowship in an informal way because they want to make a contribution to the community
- Little brother/sister - is an international who understands the vision of the group and has committed to be trained to discover and use their gifts for the building of God’s kingdom in and through the group
- Big brother/sister - is a Christian international who has committed to the vision of the group, has been trained, is serving the campus fellowship and community and also training others (a little sister or brother) to serve
- World changers - are international students and alumni who have developed a vision for the campus and the world and serve Christ in their sphere of influence- they may be current students and/or alumni. This can happen as a student or post graduation.
Developing International Student Leaders Video Series
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