Tag student leader

StudentLife Den Haag activities

StudentLife Den Haag activities

Are you a student and would like to grow in the are of witnessing for Jesus and communicating good news? then the following events are for you.

We focus on three areas the coming few weeks: Prayer – Action Group – Training

At this link you can find more information StudentLife activities

 

 

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Biblical images of leadership

The leadership image of a shepherd

A few years ago I attended training for IFES staff and students. I was impressed and inspired by the teaching of the Bible about spiritual leadership. A few images did draw my attention especially. The image of a shepherd, servant, and patient helped me most during this training. 

At Studentlife we thought that a series on leadership would help us. So we decided to use a variety of materials for these training sessions. 

We will have a closer look at the image of a shepherd as a leadership model. This comes from Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. The main passages come from Psalm 23; John 10; Ezekiel 34; Acts 20; John 21.

Some of the lessons are the following: 

  • Good shepherding begins with God as our shepherd.
  • If God is our shepherd, then we have the following benefits: abundance, security, and intimacy. We, therefore, learn to lead out of a sense of our needs being continually satisfied. Leadership is healthy if leaders are not using others to meet their needs. 

We will discuss a few case studies that will help us make it practical and concrete. We hope the training will better prepare us to coach and mentor our students and student leaders.

 

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Lift-Off retreat: Praying into the Promised Land

Lift-Off 2022

Are you a student and do you have the desire that your friends and fellow students get to know Jesus? If so, you should sign up for the Lift-Off!

Lift-Off is a weekend where you can deepen your own relation with God, where you can learn how to share your faith, and where you will meet other students who have the same desire for spreading the gospel. All of this will help you to grow in faith, hope and love!

This year, our theme will be ‘Praying into the Promised Land’. Prayer was of paramount importance for the people of Israel as they were travelling to the Promised Land. The same holds true for us! When we start sharing our faith, we should be moved by the needs of the people around us, we should be looking for Gods presence constantly and we should step out in faith, following His directions. We will delve deep into these subjects, taking the prayers of Moses in Exodus 32 en 33 as our guideline.

Sign up for the Lift-Off by filling out the form you find at the bottom of this page. If paying the indicated sum of money is challenging for you at the moment, please contact us at hello@studentlife.nl

You can sign up here for Lift-Off 2022

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Student Leaders: ownership-multiplication-continuation

Student Leaders

It was a few months ago when I met with two of our student leaders in Delft, for our monthly coaching meeting. One of the issues I brought to their attention was that we needed to find 2-3 new student leaders. They agreed that this was important and prayed that God would lead us in this process. Then we wrote a few names down and started to pray. We thought that these students would be qualified and had the potential to lead the movement in Delft.

Then last month we asked these students to a meeting and explained in more detail what the role of a student leader is. We then asked these students to prayerfully consider taking this role. Out of the four students, two wanted to step into the role of a student leader. Both of these students were then invited by our current student leaders.

This means that for the very first time in Delft we now had two new student leaders that were invited by the existing student leaders to take this role. That’s a milestone for our movement in Delft.

It is our desire and prayer to see more student leaders around the country step into the role of a student leader. Why is this important? Well, for two reasons: First, students then have ownership of the movements. Secondly, multiplication happens easier. As a result, there is continuation.

Ownership results in Multiplication, which leads to Continuation. Anyone who is involved in student work knows how important it is to have continuation. Student work is fragile. Students come and go.

Want to know more about StudentLife? then see this clip

Interested in becoming a student leader? sent an email

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Student Leaders and Their Potential Impact on Campus

StudentLife, the organization I am working with, believes that students can be positive influencers on their campuses. They can make a difference and impact others with the good news. What follows is some points related to the importance of student leaders for campus work and why students should consider becoming one. 

First, a student leader gives hands and feet to the Great Commission. 

You may have heard that Christians should go and make disciples of all nations, Mark 16:15 comes to mind. A student leader can partly help students give hands and feet to this commission. 

Christians sometimes know what they are supposed to do but don’t know exactly how to do it. Someone who came to StudentLife in Delft a few weeks ago said exactly this, “I know I have to share the good news with others but I don’t know how to do this.” 

Student leaders facilitate the moments to go and have conversations. They also arrange training on how to lead conversations and have follow-up meetings. 

Second, a student leader learns about spiritual leadership hands-on. 

There are different reasons why someone would not become a student leader: limited time, fear of the unknown (“what am I getting into now?”) failures, weaknesses, feelings of inadequacy (“I am not good enough, or not ready”) some doubts about faith, lack of courage, and the list can go on. What would you add to this list? Here some thoughts about the above reasons. 

Time is always a challenge. But how much time does it take to be a student leader? In StudentLife not more than 2 hours per week! Yes, you have to learn about time management and also stick with these two hours. We always can do more. But we have to learn to set limits and boundaries in our lives. 

It also has to do with priorities and values. What are the things that you are doing at the moment that you could either postpone or avoid doing for the next three months, or stop doing because they don’t help you become a better person? 

Furthermore, we all can feel a sense of inadequacy: we’re not ready, we’re not good enough, or we’re not able enough. The apostle Paul felt like this many times, such as in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6. Read and reflect on these verses. And Paul was not the only one to feel like this! Jeremiah as a young man felt overwhelmed with the idea of becoming a prophet for God, read and reflect on Jeremiah 1:4-10. Write your thoughts down and pray about your feelings of inadequacy. 

Third, you will learn what it means to depend on God and trust him to do his work

God is asking us to share the good news. He also expects us to be good leaders in our lives and our service for Him. But He also gives us the strength, wisdom, love, mercy, and power to do it. 

To join a StudentLife team and go for conversations with the purpose to help others think about the big questions of life is pleasing to God. To go a step further and become a student leader and lead a movement in your campus is also pleasing to God, good for others, and good for you. You will learn what it means to press on and not give up easily because God will sustain you. He will teach you the value of prayer in your life. A student leader once said, “Going for conversations is a training school/ground to share the good news and make disciples.” A training ground! And you can facilitate, you can make it happen with God’s enablement. 

Finally, some points about what a student leader does

  • A student leader organizes once a week, or biweekly, to go out for conversations on the campus. 
  • He arranges some training for the students. StudentLife staff or student leaders are available to give the training. 
  • He gives the signal in the WhatsApp group when they go for conversations and leads the time they meet for this purpose. 
  • He always has StudentLife staff in reach to help out. He is never alone! 

Would you prayerfully consider becoming a student leader? Feel free to contact me or one of my Studentlife colleagues. 

KV brochure A4 March 2019

 

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