Starting a Movement: Influencing Students – Part 3

This is part 3 in a series from Maina Mwaura.  Read  Part 1 and Part 2 here.

When Jesus approached the 12 disciples in John chapter 1, many of them probably had no idea that they would be following God’s son. I think the same should be true for the students that you and I get the privilege to lead. In leading students to be influencers there are 5 points that we can pick up from John chapter 1 in leading students to not influence their own life but to influence the life around them.

  1. Raise the leadership bar in your students’ lives. If you examine the 3 years of Jesus’ ministry with the disciples, that is exactly what He did. I believe we have a culture of students who are asking and begging for leaders to raise the bar.
  2. Create opportunities for students to influence others.  Jesus’ ministry with the twelve disciples was all about this. Many times when Jesus was asking the disciples questions, he already knew the answer; He wanted to reassure His disciples that they were more than confident in making decisions. Many of our students are more than confident in creating the influence that they need to make.
  3. Train students to network. Yes, many doors that are open to influencers come by the way of networking with others.  In John 1:42, Andrew brought Simon to meet with Jesus.  When we train students to network, we lead students to work together with others and show they don’t have to do things themselves.
  4. Train students to serve. Teaching students to serve will remind students that in this life they have been called to serve just like Jesus and the disciples. I have discovered that when students serve others they come to realize the gifts that God has placed inside of them.
  5. Train students to think Globally. In the world we live, students need to be able to not only think about others but they also need to be able to think globally. Many of you are probably rolling your eyes at me, saying that it is hard for students to think globally in urban environments, however, if we are truly Christ followers, we need to understand that God has called us to challenge students to think globally just like He did.

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  1. […] ….Continue to Part 3. […]

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