Explore Your Network and Invite Well Discipleship Cycles
Explore Your Network
Read John 1:35-51
Upon meeting Jesus, Andrew and Philip have an immediate impulse to go out and invite other people to meet him too. Why do you think people are so eager to introduce their friends to Jesus?
Go and do
From the very start, Jesus’ movement spread through networks of relationships. People who encountered Jesus couldn’t wait to invite their friends to meet him. As a follower of Jesus, how do you think Jesus wants to move through your network?
A network map is a helpful way to visualize your network of relationships and to explore what God is doing in your context. Here are a few simple steps to create a network map. You can do this individually, but it can also be really powerful to create a communal network map as a group.
- On a sheet of paper write your name in the middle and draw a circle around it. (If you’re doing this as a group, use a large poster board or piece of butcher paper and write the name of your campus in the middle)
- From there, draw lines to other circles, representing different “corners of campus” - spaces where you spend time and have relationships. Your name might be surrounded by circles that say places like, "biology department”, “library”, “soccer team”, “sorority", “coffee shop” or “dorm”. The point is to draw an image for each of your relationships. Each circle represents a different network of relationships.
- Next, around those circles, write the names of people you know in each of those places.
- Put an asterisk (*) on any name you’ve had spiritual conversations with.
- Highlight names of anyone who is a Christian.
- Underline key people in each network who can open doors or build trust with the community.
- Finally, take a step back and look over your network map in a posture of prayer.
- What is God showing you about the networks of people that he’s surrounded you with?
- Ask God to highlight specific people or corners of campus. How is God already at work in those people and places?
- If you created a communal network map, what is God showing you about the different corners of campus that you’re connected to together?
Reflect on what you learned
- As you look at your network map, what stands out to you about who you see?
- What do you know (or not know) about the spiritual journeys of these people?
- Are there particular people you want to get to know better?
- Are you connected to mostly other Christians? Mostly non-Christians?
- Your network map isn’t just a list of names. Each line represents a relationship between you and another person. How strong are those lines?
- What do you notice about yourself and the way God has connected you?
- Pray over your network map and ask God to move in the lives of the people you know on campus!
Invite Well
Read John 1:35-51
What do you notice about the way invitations happened in this story?
Why do you think the invitation to “come and see” was so compelling?
Go and do
Invitations are critical in campus ministry. They’re key junctures where people decide whether to take a step deeper – by joining a community, going to a Bible study, or choosing to follow Jesus – or stick to the status quo. We need to do all we can to make our invitations compelling, to cast our vision well and to engage others. As much as possible, we want to avoid making awkward or unclear invitations. It’s important that we prepare to make good invitations, even if the exercise itself feels awkward at the moment.
On a blank sheet of paper, write the name of one of your friends you listed on your network map. You can write a general invitation for several friends, but we find it helpful to begin with someone specific in mind. Use the following steps to write an invitation to next week’s Bible study (or some other event you have coming up).
- STEP 1: The Ask – What, specifically, are you asking for? What specific details do they need to know?
- STEP 2: Personal Connection – Brainstorm connections that make your invitation personal. (Could you walk over to Bible study together after class? Do they have other friends who attend? Will there be a snack they like?)
- STEP 3: Relevance – Think about what makes this invitation relevant and valuable to the invitee. (Have they expressed interest in the Bible? Have they been wanting to grow in their faith? What do you think they would gain from this experience?)
- STEP 4: Putting it Together – Organize all the pieces and write out your invitation to make sure it flows.
Once you’ve crafted a compelling invitation, it’s time to practice and refine it. Share your invitation with one of your friends in this meeting. Make sure you tell them who the invitation is for. Ask them to help by giving kind, constructive feedback. Focus on making your passion clearer, removing confusing language, and tightening your message.
FINAL STEP: We didn’t just spend 20-30 minutes learning how to make good invitations for nothing. The purpose of all of this was to learn to be like Andrew and Phillip, who invited their friends to Jesus. Look at your network map again. Who are you going to invite to Bible study next week? Pick 3-5 people on your list and use the compelling invitation you just wrote (and practiced) to invite them to our next Bible study.
Reflect on what you learned
- How did your invitations go?
- What felt challenging about inviting people to Bible study?
- What did you learn about making a good invitation that you didn’t know before?
