• Welcome everyone and particularly any newcomers this week.
• Remind each other of the vision of CIS and the purpose of the weekly group meeting. (Consider using CIS videos and resources to keep this fresh each week).

1. In pairs look back on your week of sport and discuss how last week’s group meeting helped you. Follow up with anything people asked for prayer about.
2. In pairs share prayer points for the week of sport ahead and spend time praying for each other.

Some weeks pray more widely for other clubs and teams in your university which are not represented in the group. Alternatively, you can also use the CIS prayer diary to pray for the whole mission of CIS.

You might also want to use this slot to discuss and plan your evangelistic event for the term and pray specifically about it.

Week 4 | Praying with a Godly Perspective

Introduction

As we Pray Play Say Together as a group this session will encourage us to pray to the Lord of the Harvest and encourage us to be his workers in our university sports clubs and teams.

Read

Read Matthew 9:35-38

Reflect

How might this relate to the world of university sport that you live in?

Explain

Jesus views the crowd like sheep who are lost, walking around without any hope or purpose, yet he still has compassion on them. He goes on to say that the harvest is plentiful (ripe and ready to be harvested) and that God is the Lord of every field.

This is both comforting and challenging for us as Christians in our sports clubs. Even when it doesn’t feel like our sports friends are interested in Jesus, we need faith to remember that God still sees it as “plentiful”. And when we feel like we’re getting nowhere in our evangelism efforts, we need to remember that God is the Lord of our sports club, not us, and therefore we need not to get hung up on the results or a perceived lack of them.

In light of this great truth, Jesus urges his people to “ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers into His harvest field”. The first step in our mission to the world of university sport is to pray for God to send workers into it; and then be prepared to be one of these workers.

Discuss

1. How do you view your friends in your sports club? What might stop you from viewing them the way Jesus saw the crowd; lost and helpless, sheep without a shepherd?
2. Do you see the sports clubs and teams at your university as a “plentiful harvest”? Why/why not?
3. How does this challenge your personal prayer life for your sports friends? And how do you feel about being a ‘worker’ in His harvest field of sport that God has sent you into?

Pray

• Praise God that the world of university sport is a ripe harvest field, and he is the Lord of it!
• Ask God to send workers into the sports clubs and teams at your university where there are no current Christians who train and compete (write down these clubs and pray specifically for them this week).
• Pray that God will give you a Christ-like heart of compassion towards your sports friends and pray that you will be willing to be his worker in the sports club he has sent you into.

Update everyone on the key messages for the week. These might include:

• Sharing the student sign up link
• Promoting your evangelistic event for the term
• Plugging New Year Training
• Reminding people about carol services and other events the group can make use of.

Share these resources with your group at the end or immediately after the meeting to encourage them.

Listen

John Bostock, Ballers in God

Watch

Go and make disciples in sport - but why? | Our motivation to reach the world of sport for Christ

Read

How do I pray effectively for my friends?