RUNNING A STUDENT CHAPTER
You and your leadership team will need to work intentionally in order to maintain a vibrant group, insure a smooth leadership transition from one year to the next, and cultivate good relationships on campus and with university authorities. This chapter gives practical guidance on how to maintain a vibrant CLS chapter on your campus and sets out important CLS policies on how and why we gather together
Maintaining the Chapter
The Chapter Leaders or Leadership Team
Advisors
Practical Guidance
The LSM Mission
Fostering Spiritual Formation and Growth
Fostering Compassionate Outreach
Fostering Integration of Faith and Learning
The LSM Mission and Social Activity
Ensuring the Chapter's Continuing Welfare
Transitional Steps into the Summer
Encourage Graduating 3Ls to Join CLS
Training the New Chapter Leaders
MAINTAINING THE CHAPTER
Maintaining a CLS Chapter will require dedication and hard work, and can easily lead to discouragement if you lose your spiritual focus and begin to measure success by worldly standards rather than by the Lord's priorities.
Resist the temptation to measure your effectiveness by the number of students who actively attend functions or by whether the chapter achieves "prominence" on campus. Seek the Lord, seek wise counsel, do the best you can to plan and promote activities, and then minister to the students who the Lord brings, whether it be two or twenty. At one elite law school, a thriving Christian fellowship exists today because a number of years ago a single student obtained recognition for a CLS chapter and for six months showed up weekly, most of the time alone, to a reserved room to pray and read the Bible.
The Chapter Leaders or Leadership Team
The Chapter's leaders, generally three to five in number, should be committed Christians willing to devote time and energy to the group. (Galatians 5:22-26) They ought to so manifest "the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23) that their profession of Christian faith is credible. Remember that the essence of Christian leadership is redemptive servanthood. (John 13:12-17)
Each officer must be a member of the Christian Legal Society in good standing and affirm the purpose, mission, and vision of CLS as set forth in the Appendix, and the CLS Statement of Faith:
Trusting in Jesus Christ as my Savior, I believe in:
One God, eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
The Deity of our Lord, Jesus Christ, God’s only Son conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary; His vicarious death for our sins through which we receive eternal life; His bodily resurrection and personal return.
The presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the work of regeneration.
The Bible as the inspired Word of God.
In addition, an officer must confirm that he or she subscribes to and supports, without reservation, the CLS Community Life Statement and commit to operate the student Chapter under its principles:
CLS Community Life Statement
We believe that the Bible, God’s written word, is the ultimate guide for our values, attitudes, and behaviors.
We seek spiritual maturity by maintaining a personal devotional life, participating in worship and prayer with others, and being involved in the life and ministry of a local church.
We seek to be involved in ministering to social and spiritual needs both within and beyond our communities.
We seek to respect the uniqueness of all people, including our differences in race, sex, ethnicity, and talents, for each bears God’s image.
We encourage cultivation of the attitudes and behaviors of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
We renounce unbiblical attitudes, including greed; jealousy; false pride; lust; covetousness; an unforgiving spirit; and unjust prejudice such as that based on race, sex, ethnicity, appearance, disability, or socio-economic status.
We renounce unbiblical behaviors, including deception, malicious speech, drunkenness, drug abuse, stealing, cheating, and other immoral conduct such as using pornography and engaging in sexual relations other than within a marriage between one man and one woman.
We acknowledge that every person has engaged in attitudes and behaviors that fall short of God’s standards, and we rejoice in God’s forgiveness to all repentant believers.
We acknowledge the biblical mandate to treat all persons with love and respect, even if we disagree over these values, attitudes, and behaviors.
We intend to follow, when conflict arises or shortfalls in attitudes or behaviors occur, a biblical process for correction, forgiveness, reconciliation, and restoration.
In seeking to operate your chapter under the principles of the Community Life Statement, consider that progress toward maturity and unity is the goal. Don’t demand full unity and maturity of your group immediately, but don’t let your fear of speaking the truth in love keep you from moving in that direction. Seek winsome engagement and interaction among your membership and on campus. For example, confrontation of improper behaviors will sometimes be necessary, but not always. Christians should be called upon to live as Christians. On the other hand, non-believers should not be expected to conduct themselves as disciples of Jesus, though certain expectations for conduct are appropriate in the context of a Christian student group.
LSM anticipates that the beliefs and standards of CLS will be proclaimed and discussed freely and without apology, and that attitude, conduct, lifestyle, and theology issues and disagreements will be handled by officers under the Community Life Statement within the spirit of that document.
The leaders should meet at least twice a month as a team to pray for one another and for other members, to cultivate a spirit of unity and friendship, and to plan the group's meetings and events.
Wherever possible, students who volunteer should occupy the offices most suited to their strengths and talents. For example, in general the student who is president should be a leader and peacemaker, evidencing self-control and an ability to motivate the leadership to work as a team.
The maintenance of a vibrant chapter rests in large part on the ability of its leaders to motivate the general membership to undertake the group's activities and responsibilities. Great Christian leaders are those who inspire others to exercise their talents and expend their resources to the fullest extent for the glory of God.
Advisors
If possible, select an advisor who is a committed CLS attorney, a law professor, or staff member with a ministry such as InterVarsity, invite him or her to attend the leadership team meetings, and keep the advisor informed of what is happening in the group.
The advisor’s role is to provide spiritual and professional guidance and encouragement to the student leadership team of a fellowship or CLS chapter. The advisor should cultivate a close working relationship with the student leaders, meeting with the leadership team at least twice a semester and staying in consistent touch with the team through e-mail messages and telephone calls.
The advisor's primary responsibilities are to serve as the point of contact for LSM with the student group.
Practical Issues & Guidance
Once the student leadership team is in place and functioning, the fellowship will have to address a host of questions--both practical and policy-oriented in nature.
Events and Activities
Be sensitive to the spouses and families of law students and make a conscious effort to invite spouses and children to events and activities where appropriate.
Before launching an event or activity, always consider questions of mission and purpose. What goal do you hope to serve or reach?
Make it clear to the campus community that all events and activities, even Bible studies and worship times, are open to any student desiring to attend. This is Law Student Ministries policy.
To more effectively reach out to the campus community, consider co-sponsoring events with other "like-minded" student groups such as the Jewish Law Students for a "Law and Religion Week" or a "Professional Ethics" forum with the SBA or topically relevant events with various organizations.
CLS National Conference
Send at least one or two student leaders or future leaders to the CLS National Conference, held every year in mid-October. CLS maintains an effective program for helping students raise money to attend the conference, and LSM awards numerous registration and travel scholarships every year.
Funding
Take advantage of school funding for student groups. If your school withholds funding from your chapter because of its “religious” nature, please contact LSM or CLRF immediately so we can help you work out the problems.
Leadership Transition
Begin early in the school year to identify and disciple the chapter's future leaders. New officers should be chosen in the winter before the school year in which they are to commence service and should immediately provide their contact information to LSM at lsm@clsnet.org.
Chapter Records and Directory
Appoint an administratively-gifted member to assemble a Chapter Records and Directory to record decisions, procedures, resources, and ideas. This file should also include a current list of officers and chapter members, contact information for helpful resources and partnering organizations, the contact information for the LSM office at CLS headquarters, and your school’s procedures governing student organizations (e.g., application process for school funding, room reservations, policies, etc.).
The LSM Mission
The mission of Law Student Ministries is (1) to build communities of Christian law students who glorify God in their lives, their schools, and their profession, and (2) to nurture and encourage Christian law students by providing mentors and resources aimed at fostering spiritual growth, compassionate outreach, and the integration of faith and practice.
Spiritual Growth: Your fellowship should seek to cultivate spiritual growth among its members through communal prayer, fellowship, and worship; learning to share one's faith; and devotional study of the Bible and classic Christian works.
Compassionate Outreach: Your fellowship should seek to show the love of Christ to the campus community by proclaiming the gospel in word and in deed, such as through a life of integrity and charitable good works.
Integration of Faith and Practice: Addressing what it really means to submit every aspect of one's calling in the legal profession to the Lordship of Jesus Christ—what it means, in other words, to truly be a Christian lawyer.
Fostering Spiritual Formation and Growth
Normally, this begins on campus when a core group of Christian students and interested non-Christian classmates meet regularly (once a week or at least twice a month) for Bible study, prayer, worship and fellowship. Of course, participation in a Christian law fellowship is not a substitute for involvement in a local church, so LSM fully expects students to faithfully attend and be involved in local churches as well. CLS chapters, particularly when it comes to spiritual formation, seek to supplement the work of the church by providing a unique fellowship for students facing careers in a materialistic and often hostile profession. Second and third year law students should actively help first-year students to get integrated into Christ-honoring churches in the area.
The goal of gathering on campus is to glorify God by growing spiritually in both an individual and communal sense. Resist the temptation so prevalent among law and pre-law students to turn the meeting into an intellectual exercise characterized by obtuse nitpicking, combative debate, and Socratic questioning. This is your time to fellowship with other believers in a safe place within the walls of your school.
Use the time to praise God for who He is and what He has done, to pray and sing together, and to study a book of the Bible, a Christian classic such as J.I. Packer's Knowing God, or materials issued by campus ministries. The strongest chapters adopt an approach that combines the devotional (the heart) with the cerebral (the mind).
Prayerfully choose a course of study--a book of the Bible, a Christian classic, or other materials--that will facilitate spiritual growth among the chapter's members. There is a wide variety of bible studies, discussion topics and even videos online at www.clsnet.org for fellowships to choose from so look there first!
Adopt an interactive discussion format to facilitate sharing and discussion for the small group meeting and make sure to rotate the leadership of the study every week or two. You should also use this time to pray for your non-Christian friends and to learn how to share your faith through "lifestyle evangelism."
If the small group decides to study a book of the Bible, obtain a copy of a reliable lay commentary to provide a solid theological, historical, and factual foundation.
Attend CLS conferences, retreats, attorney chapter breakfasts, and other Christian events that further the purposes of the student fellowship.
Fostering Compassionate Outreach in Christ's Name
This begins as CLS student chapters show the love of Christ by actively loving and serving their campuses and their communities through acts of charity, compassion, and outreach.
Meet the needs of the campus and community through a service project. In some cases, a project might be associated with your chapter year after year. This approach honors Christ by bringing stability and continuity to law fellowships and by steadily increasing the community's goodwill toward the fellowship. As service projects grow, invite the broader campus to participate as you serve together. Working with homeless shelters, local building projects, food and clothing drives, prison ministries, or shoe box collections can be an ideal way to get started.
Do not impose an unrealistic or overwhelming burden on your members. The expectation is that a chapter carry out only one major service project a year or per semester. In addition, you can hold small on-campus endeavors, such as providing refreshments for classmates during exam weeks ("lucky lollipops") or sponsoring helpful informational or "how-to" forums for first year law students. Other events that might engage and serve the campus include hot chocolate during finals, a welcome week cookout, outline banks, prayer request boxes, and cookie giveaways.
For a longer list of activities go to www.clsnet.org (look under the law student resources tab).
Fostering the Integration of Faith, Learning, and Practice
Your group should challenge one another to think "Christianly" about law practice, to begin to formulate a Christian jurisprudence, and to explore the application of biblical truth to issues confronting Christians in the law and in society at large. Although these aims are perhaps the most distinctive contribution that CLS and its fellowship groups can make, this integration is unlikely to happen in a deep and meaningful sense apart from dynamic activity within the first two levels of the threefold mission—spiritual growth and outreach.
This integration of faith and practice, however, is almost universally neglected by today’s law students. In fact, contemporary Christians of all stripes have relegated the life of the mind and the pursuit of so-called “secular” work to the perpetual back burner. Until we grasp that the life in the law is a Christian calling and that we need to develop our Christian minds to “demolish strongholds” in our culture (see 2 Cor. 10:5), we will not be who God wants us to be as lawyers.
We cannot really be “Christian” law students unless we begin to think “Christianly” about the law. This means that to our already burdensome studies, we should also study the Scriptures and the teachings of the church, in order to better evaluate the legal rules and systems we study in class.
This cam be encouraged in a variety of creative ways, such as sponsoring individual guest lecturers, a "brown bag" series over a number of weeks, a forum with a speaker and respondents, a debate between advocates of two or more positions, a panel discussion with a moderator, mini-dramas, and field trips to other events on campus or in the area.
Generally, events and activities should be open to the campus community. If an event involves the discussion of the gospel or a Christian outlook, LSM recommends that you candidly disclose this in advertisements so that those in attendance do not feel like they have been misled.
However, there is a pressing need for Christians to debate together (from diverse but sound theological perspectives) the issues facing law students. Do not miss opportunities to discuss legal issues in your more intimate small group meetings among Christians.
Many issues addressed in these events will be controversial, so it is imperative the chapter approach them with prayerful consideration. Christians should never resort, in this context, to incivility, rudeness, or a lack of charity; better not to have the event than to dishonor Christ publicly in such a manner.
"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander." 1 Peter 3:15-16
For examples of topics, study guides, and suggested activities, visit the LSM Resources page at the CLS website.
The LSM Mission and Social Activity
These are not really three separate categories; in fact, they are so interrelated that it is not uncommon for an event or activity to encompass aspects of two and even all three of the spheres. In this respect, the ideas outlined above need to be supplemented with more informal social activities that provide a healthy environment for developing relationships and for furthering the broader purposes of the ministry model. Included among such activities are picnics, prayer breakfasts, dinners hosted by local CLS attorneys, birthday celebrations, farewell parties, awards banquets, field trips and fun nights out (e.g., bowling, movie, concert).
After all, the primary mission of your chapter is to BUILD COMMUNITY.
ENSURING THE CHAPTER'S CONTINUING WELFARE
Much of the work done by a Christian law student fellowship will be lost the next year if it fails to ensure a smooth, timely transition of leadership and to maintain close communications with the LSM staff.
The best thing that a chapter can do to foster continuity from one school year to the next is to 1) select its new officers by the end of March, and 2) submit their names and contact information to LSM by email, no later than May 1. (To provide further stability, your chapter should make an extra effort to identify committed Christian attorneys and law professors to serve as advisors to your chapter.)
Transitional Steps into the Summer
Final Meeting: Consciously bring the year to a close with a final meeting. Acquire summer emails and maintain occasional contact, especially for group planning, prayer requests, and fellowship with others living in the same area.
Create a list and eventually a directory with the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses of graduating members. A copy should be added to the Chapter Records and Directory and included with the year-end email to LSM. This "alumni" member directory will become an indispensable tool in helping your chapter grow, particularly with respect to fundraising efforts and identifying speakers.
Encourage CLS Membership for Graduating 3Ls
First-year practicing lawyer dues are the same as student dues: just $2/month. LSM wants to help your graduating members make a smooth transition into CLS attorney membership.
Training the New Chapter Leaders
To assist incoming leaders with their new responsibilities, a chapter’s outgoing leadership team should take the following steps:
- Officers should discuss the Chapter Records and Directory in detail with incoming leaders.
- Each officer and member with duties should train the next student occupying his or her position.
- Officers and other leaders should try to “work themselves out of a job” by training and delegating tasks to the new leadership well before graduation—perhaps even in the fall semester. Do not make yourself indispensable; rather, teach other students how to perform your duties, so that one of them can quickly assume your position the next year.
- Outgoing leaders should turn over all CLS materials and resources--especially the Student Chapter Manual--to a new officer designated to serve as custodian.