1. Pray
2. Complete the Getting to Know the Campus worksheet (see download option below)
3. From the information you’ve gathered, you will be able to pick which of these situations (and there may be several) apply in your context:
If there are other ministries working with athletes:
Set up a meeting with the ministry leader to introduce yourself. Learn his or her story and the history of the ministry here.
Begin talking about how you can work together to reach the athletes and coaches. If he or she has a particular niche (with one team or with the coaches), you can serve what is already happening by reaching out in other areas.
If you know of Christian coaches:
Meet with these coaches to introduce yourself and the ministry. Ask them if you can conduct a team meeting. Find out if there is any interest in a Coaches’ Bible Study or if there has been ministry to the coaches before. If there is interest, pray about starting a Coaches’ Bible Study.
Complete the team meeting and begin following up contacts.
If you know of Christian athletes:
Meet with those athletes and get to know them
Ask them to introduce you to their coach, and then meet with their coach and try to set up a team meeting. If the coach will not meet with you or the athlete is hesitant to do that, ask if the athlete could do a team meeting on his/her own. Then, help the athlete practice doing a team meeting and give him/her the comment cards/resources.
If there seems to be enough interest among the athletes, try starting a Bible study
If you don’t have any Christian contacts:
Contact 2-3 coaches (it may take time to set up an appointment, so you want to try to contact several at a time. If you try to contact too many at once, however, you might be creating scheduling issues for yourself. If many want to meet with you and many want to do team meetings, you will find yourself with too many contacts to pursue).
Conduct team meetings and begin following up contacts.
If no one will let you do team meetings:
If you know Christian athletes, ask them to conduct team meetings with their teams.
If you don’t know Christian athletes, pray for creative ways to get word out about the ministry. Put on an event of some sort that would attract the kind of students you hope to meet and see if you can put up posters in strategic places (dorms where athletes live, training rooms, places where they lift, athlete support department bulletin boards, etc.). The event could be a service project, a social activity, or just free food. Let’s face it – athletes will show up if there is food.
Once you’ve gathered a core group of athletes, begin building into their lives. Slowly and prayerfully begin developing more aspects of the ministry.
Pray for discernment for which athletes to meet with for weekly one-on-one discipleship.
Is it a good idea to start a regular meeting, either monthly or even weekly?
Is there a need for more Bible studies?
What outreaches, community service projects, or other events could you do?
How can you encourage a sense of deepening community within your group?
Pray for God to raise up student leaders from your core group and then pray He helps you recognize them. Begin to train them in ministry skills and give them opportunities to lead. Take them with you when you do team meetings or follow up contact cards. Possibly develop a student leadership team that would help give leadership to the ministry. Our hope is to empower students to lead, developing them into followers of Jesus who will be equipped to serve in His kingdom for a lifetime.