A tool for campus ministry from the Catalytic Ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.
What is a Focus Group?
Focus Groups have been around in the business world for years. They are typically comprised of anywhere from 5-15 people who are not involved with the company or organization who attend specifically to provide feedback and opinions to help the company or organization learn and grow.
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Your Role - to facilitate the discussion by asking carefully crafted questions and then allowing the participants to respond.
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Your Goal- to build a safe environment in which the participants will feel the freedom to say whatever they are thinking.
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Your Job is not to offer any answers, or even agree with any of their answers (in fact, you should promise to not say anything about what you believe), but rather to get them talking and more importantly thinking.
Focus Groups as a Ministry Strategy
The focus group gives students an opportunity to voice their opinions, feelings and thoughts about a wide range of topics in an environment that is nonthreatening and (usually) very interesting for the participants. These groups will give you clearer insight into the minds of non-Christian students.
From our perspective, as a Christian ministry seeking to influence the campus with the Gospel, these groups often draw students who otherwise might not get anywhere near a Campus Crusade for Christ event. Focus groups get them thinking, and talking, about spiritual things, usually leaving them hungry for more discussion and interaction.
Benefits of Focus Group Strategy
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Easy to set up, advertise and lead.
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Do not demand a ton of time, either from the leader or from the participants, making it easy on you and more likely that lost students will show up.
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You can tailor the format to meet your needs
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Can improve the perception of your group on campus - Students will see you as willing to come onto 'their turf' as opposed to inviting them to your meeting. Asking students what they think breaks people's stereotypes of Christians, and is very politically correct. Students love to give their input and opinions.
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It will likely surface Christians who are interested in getting more involved with an on-campus ministry
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It can surface non-Christians who are interested in the Gospel, or at least open to talking about it
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Participants walk away feeling listened to, valued for their opinions and thoughts, and challenged to consider what they believe because of the questions that were being asked.
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Builds bridges to future interaction - Participants know that they could come to the leader with their future questions about spiritual things.
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It builds relationships
The Tool
Everything you need to plan, prepare for, advertise and lead a focus group is right here, on Godsquad.
Guide contents:
- Focus Group Formats
- How Tos
- Top Ten Things You Need to Do
- Question lists
- Questionaire for participants to fill out
- Publicity
Download the Adobe pdf version of the Focus Group Leader's Guide