5. Peer-to-peer support is essential
One of the strongest messages that came out of the invitation research was that students appreciated peer-to-peer support in the student scene. Of course they love having a meal with a family and learning from older and wiser Christians. But they identified peer friendships as being critical to living missional lives.
We’ve known for a while that living with non-Christians has a high missional potential. This research showed that this potential is increased even more by having two Christians living in the same house. Not only can they encourage each other and keep each other accountable, they can also engage in more faith-based conversations and give each other confidence to answer big questions. Could you encourage some of your students to live with their non-Christian friends next year?
If they are not living with another Christian, peer-to-peer support is even more essential to equip them to live missionally wherever they find themselves. Whether this is one-to-one discipleship, accountability pairs/triplets, discipleship bands or huddles, the key thing is that it is students meeting with students to spur each other on. Can you release an unstoppable Jesus movement of students in your church? Can you equip them to meet with each other, not just for coffee, but also to go deeper in their discipleship walk? Maybe you can train them in how to ask great questions and listen well. This doesn’t mean you need to have loads of students in your church to serve them well. Encourage peer-to-peer support even if you only have a few students and watch how their friendships deepen as they walk closer to Jesus together.
6. Invite international students
