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Here’s an update on the ongoing Brothers Under Christ suit against the University of Florida. This is interesting news, and I just received it in an email last night (since I’m a BYX alum).
UF originally denied the local chapter status as a student organization because of a requirement for members to be Christians. (Beta Upsilon Chi / BYX is centered on “cell groups” as they work to “establish brotherhood and unity among college men based upon the common bond of Jesus Christ,” so they feel members of this unique community should be Christians.) Oral arguments before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals took place in December.
(My original post describing all this is here.)
Based on what BYX is reporting, on January 15th UF sent a motion to the court indicating that they have met BYX’s requests and asking the court to dismiss the suit.
However, BYX has chosen to request a ruling (instead of accepting the dismissal). Based on what BYX national leadership wrote the alumni tonight, they have made this choice for the following reasons (presumably while working closely with their representation):
- They feel the arguments given last month went really well, and they feel this request by UF evidences that fact.
- The university could reverse its policy changes in the future if a ruling is not handed down.
- A ruling in BYX’s favor would require the university to pay the fraternity’s legal fees, which obviously helps the Christian Legal Society representing them.
- A ruling in BYX’s favor would establish precedent for both future Brothers Under Christ chapters and other Christian organizations.
I do know that some people feel national precedent of this kind is needed for college ministry as a whole. Many similar cases elsewhere have simply been settled out of court, which (when favorable) can be great – but it doesn’t necessarily stop future problems from occurring.
Still, this is obviously risky on the part of Brothers Under Christ, since the justices could decide against them.
I don’t know enough about this case to make a judgment call on the merits, etc., but I did want to report. If you know more, feel free to comment. And however it ends up, this could definitely impact American college ministry.
One reason it’s particularly great to be a college minister at THIS moment is that there really does seem to be a growing national concern for reaching college students. Though we have a long way to go, it’s awesome to be on the front end of what looks like a burgeoning field of ministry – and greater attention is being paid to Young Adult Ministry, as well.
So, one transformational part of realizing that it’s great to be a college minister is that it could lead some of us to take part in this exciting growth. Three ways to do that are:
- Work to develop the field. While our first priority should always be the students under our care, some of us will be called to help develop college ministry as a whole. We need people to invest in recruiting others to college ministry, in networking ministers together, in helping share valuable models and methods, in writing blogs or books, in advocating for college ministry among pastors and other Christian opinion leaders, and so on. In other words, we need people excited enough about our vocation (calling) to help drive it forward.
- Consider being a lifer. Just as with #1, not all will have this calling. But some of us should consider that God might call us – now or eventually – to a lifetime in this wonderful vocation. Our field needs more lifelong college ministers; simply sitting down with a few will reveal to you the subtle wisdom they have for our work. I’ve now had chances to sit down with more than a few of these amazing guys and gals, and I can say… we need even more!
- Share your stories. While the first two suggestions won’t apply to everyone, I’m pretty sure this should be the habit of every college minister. It may be great to be a college minister – but not everybody knows that. Not everybody knows what you do or how you do it… so not only does the future of our field depend on people sharing those missionary stories, but the future of your job may depend on you effectively sharing the testimonies of what God is accomplishing among college students where you are. (More on this point here.)
A second big idea for college ministers is a pretty simple one:
It’s great to be a college minister.
Remember, the point of the “Big Idea” series is that these ideas really might just transform a ministry when they’re applied. And I honestly believe there’s a need for us to remember that this calling – if indeed we are called – is a phenomenal call.
We’re called as missionaries, as pioneers, as ministers in the very hinge of many people’s lives. We hold back those staggering towards slaughter; we stoke fires God lit long ago; we add wisdom to the zealous; we proclaim truth in some of the darkest parts of our nation; we welcome each new generation into its independence and thus serve as watchmen for the entire Body of Christ.
What could be better?
Do you believe that it’s great to be a college minister? How does that affect your ministry?
One more important way in which college ministry is like missions is its difficulty.
Whether we like it or not, reaching these campus tribes effectively can be a very difficult undertaking. There are plenty of obstacles in college ministry: difficult school administrations, uncommitted students, moral failure among students, lack of resources, lack of help, lack of support, a short time frame in which to impact students, weariness among ministers, slow growth, unhealthy ministries and cults, difficulty raising awareness of the ministry, and so on.
Many of the college ministers I meet show signs of fatigue and discouragement – and who can blame us? Yet somehow the reminder that we’re doing missions, while it doesn’t solve the problems, can still be incredibly encouraging.
I think that’s because in the context of missions, all these struggles seem, to put it bluntly, normal.
In international missions, difficulty with local leaders, uncommitted tribe members, moral failure, lack of resources and help and support, personal weariness, slow growth, unhealthy ministries and cults, difficulty raising awareness, and other struggles are common. This is the stuff of missions. This is what missions books and biographies are written about, what makes missions the adventure that it is. And for thousands of years, God has been getting glory by overcoming these troubles on mission fields throughout the world – brilliantly, powerfully, and through His people.
The difficulties simply set the stage for God to show His amazing strength, whether in Zimbabwe or at Xavier. It’s what we signed up for, whether we realized it or not. Our work in college ministry has always required God’s miraculous intervention; realizing that we are missionaries simply underscores that fact.
On to Big Idea #2 tomorrow.
In resuming the “Big Idea” series, it’s right and good to make a disclaimer at this point.
When we think about “building a campus mission” by contextualizing and strategizing, it’s easy to think only classic, developed, full-fledged college ministries can do this. But I believe any college ministry can take advantage of a missiological approach – whether we have 10 or 100 students, whether we’re able to support a few full-time staff members or no staff members at all, whether we’re long-lasting or brand-new.
Someone asked me recently what I think makes “a successful college ministry.”
While plenty of people who can answer that better than I can, I do have one thought. I told him that even though it’s simplistic, my best definition of college ministry success is doing the best we can with what we’ve got.
That sounds awfully vague and a little weak, to be honest. But if we really think about that definition, it might be more helpful than we initially think…
- First, it implies that there truly is a best for our particular ministry. There is a brilliance God wants to provide us, and we should be constantly seeking His best and working toward it. I believe treating college ministry as missions helps in that pursuit.
- Second, that definition treats the limitations of our individual situations realistically. The phrase “with what we’ve got” takes fully into account any lack in finances, support, leaders, location, skill, facilities, or students. It also takes into account all the difficulties of our particular mission field.
- Third, this definition also pushes us to make use of the advantages of our individual situations (again, whether those are finances, support, leaders, etc.) – and requires that we marshal those assets efficiently and effectively.
So if we think missiological college ministry is only for the “big boys,” we should reconsider. In many cases, a group’s college ministry may only be a small part of the larger Christian mission to the campus – and that may be all it needs to be! As long as every group is truly doing the best it can with what its got, then it’s playing its unique, God-provided role in reaching the campus tribes.
I wanted to fill you in on a few new/upcoming resources and conferences that might interest you… I’m pretty excited about several of these things… The first one is a chance to get a new book for free…
some things to see
Finding the younger unchurched. Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches that Reach Them by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley, and Jason Hayes has finally been released! (I’ll be reviewing it when I get the chance.) While the book is not particularly about college ministry, it’s certainly close enough to be worth a look.
They announced to the Threads list that you could download the entire book as an ebook for FREE simply by signing up for their mailing list, so I’d encourage you to get on that. Who knows how long that link will stay up.
And the book itself is only $12 at Amazon (I went ahead and bought it ’cause I like underlining and making margin notes).
A blog worth subscribing. Tim Elmore, President of Growing Leaders, says he was recently convinced to start blogging, and that’s a wonderful thing. Find it here.
some things to do
Upcoming for the SBC. The Southern Baptist Convention continues to have a relatively impressive number of annual opportunities for college ministry training and gathering. If you’re involved in that denomination, whether in campus-based or church-based college ministry, I’d encourage you to familiarize yourself with this year’s events – including the once-every-three-years Collegiate Summit, a gathering for all SBC college ministers. (Sadly, far too few people inside the denomination are even aware of these events, or aware of their quality. Really – they’re quality.)
Upcoming for church-based ministers. Chuck Bomar and the peeps at College Leader are holding several one-day regional training events this year! This is definitely good news, and I’m hoping to make one of them if I can. Only the Southern California event (at Saddleback) is scheduled so far (March 31st), so stay tuned to their page for more dates.
Upcoming for everybody. Tim Elmore just opened registration for this year’s National Leadership Forum, June 25th and 26th in Atlanta. I attended this last year, and it was phenomenal. And I couldn’t be more excited about this year’s theme… to see that theme and the other details, check it out.
Coming (but later). Since we’re on the topic, two other conferences to think about are…
- CollegeLeader’s DRINK conference (starting Oct. 15, in Southern California)
- Ivy Jungle Conference (in November, location and dates TBA)
Continuing with yesterday’s Big Idea…
Seeing college ministry as missions also highlights the role of strategy.
If college ministry is highly contextual (as I argued yesterday), then a need for strategy is implied right there. But beyond that, the other intricacies, oddities, and difficulties of college ministry cry for a need for extremely strategic “missions to the campuses.”
From everything I can tell in exploring nationwide college ministry, we’re lacking pretty heavily in this area. Both in developed college ministries and (especially) in new ministries, an “if we build it, they will come” mentality seems common – as does the mentality of “throw some things against the wall and see what sticks.”
From what I’ve seen, I’m personally dissuaded against either of these being the most promising main approach to college ministry. There will be times when we do simply “try things,” but I don’t think that has to be our modus operandi.
I honestly believe God has some brilliance He wants to shower us with, just as He has so often gotten glory through architecting some awesome strategic outreaches overseas.
This doesn’t mean every portion of our ministry has to be unique or surprising; when “normal” is strategic, we should go with normal. But being strategic in college ministry means that when we look at our present ministries, we see lots of little (and big) elements that were chosen with clarity and with well-formed reasons, as we built our strategic missions to campuses.
In my own ministry life, the enemy of strategy isn’t generally “lack of cleverness” as much as lack of effort and patience – effort to strategize in even the small choices, and patience to spend the time needed to learn and think.
As I noted yesterday, I got to speak recently on Ten Ideas that could possibly transform a college ministry. While there will be posts on other topics scattered throughout the next few weeks, I figured I’d let those 10 “big ideas” serve as the backbone for awhile here on the blog.
If someone you know should be reading this blog, this might be a great time for them to jump in!
Big Idea #1: College ministry is missions.
If you’ve been around the blog for awhile or listened to the podcast or chatted with me anytime in the last 8 months, you’ve probably heard me emphasize this point. It remains my thesis. Our approach to college ministry is (or should be) far more like Christians’ approach to missions than our approach to youth ministry or other areas of classic “Christian Education.”
How can this realization transform a present college ministry?
For one thing, it puts an extremely high priority on contextualization. After visiting 181 campuses last year and plenty more before and since, it seems to me that college campuses are a lot like tribes. So in Texas we serve a tribe called Aggies or a tribe called Longhorns or the Thunderducks tribe or the Comets tribe or one of dozens of other tribes in our state.
And though there are some similarities between tribes, campuses are different enough that we have to pay attention. We have to “exegete the culture.” We have to contextualize.
If we realize that college ministry is missions, it might just transform the way we work – and make us work hard – to match our ministry with our context.
Tomorrow, more ways this Big Idea can affect a ministry. But if you really want to dive into “college ministry as missions,” check out the blog category on that topic – there are several posts there already.
Written from New Braunfels, Texas
I have the awesome chance this weekend to hang out with a great group of guys and gals who minister to college students across the state of Texas. These are church-based college ministers in the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
Last night I presented a one-hour breakout session based on what I’ve seen across the country – discussing ten key ideas that might help transform a college ministry.
Now remember, I said I had one hour. So my hope was simply to hit some high points, to get some thinking started, and to encourage further conversation during the weekend. (One representation of the wide range of these ten ideas is the number of categories I had to choose for this blog post.)
I’m not ridiculous enough to believe that any of these ideas is actually “transformative” by itself. But based on what I’ve seen, I do strongly believe that if God wants to apply these ways-of-thinking to a college ministry, the ministry really might be dramatically impacted.
So I wanted to upload my notes, which contain the Ten Ideas plus a few subpoints. While some of it will be review if you’re a regular reader, I hope you find these thoughts helpful to your own ministry situation. (While most points are completely applicable to any branch of ministry, please remember that this was originally written for church-based college ministers.)
[Actually, I ended up writing a whole bunch of posts to flesh this out! The basic list is below, but you can find a quick synopsis for each post at the Wrap-up here.]
- Big Idea #1: College ministry is missions. (Post one, two, three, four)
- Big Idea #2: It’s great to be a college minister. (Post one, two)
- Big Idea #3: Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. (Post one, two, three)
- Big Idea #4: Figure out churchmanship. (Post one, two)
- Big Idea #5: Help students connect with the biblical whys. (Post one, two)
- Big Idea #6: Beware unhealthy ministry. (Post one, two, three)
- Big Idea #7: Help students transition to college. (One post with links to others)
- Big Idea #8: Help students transition from college. (Post one, two, three, four, five)
- Big Idea #9: Think about niches. (Post one, two, three)
- Big Idea #10: Build your best campus mission. (Post one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight)
- The Wrap-up
Originally written from T Bar M Resort & Conference Center, New Braunfels, Texas
Before moving on from my most recent Exploring College Ministry road trip, I wanted to finish recounting some of the main things I learned! (Click here for Part 1.)
Gatherings of our future.
I love collaboration (as you know), and the four college ministry seminary classes I visited were certainly collaborative. But the value of collaboration is magnified because seminary students are the future of our field. Many of the students in these classes were in the early days of their college ministry experiences; others weren’t involved in college ministry yet but plan to be.
For anyone headed for a lifetime of college ministry (whether they realize it or not), all the mutual wisdom-sharing here at the front end has the maximum value possible. It was great for me to have the chance to be a small part of that collaboration, and hopefully I’ll have other chances to sit in on such classes in the future.
The joys of Jan-Term.
While I’ll always be excited about semester-long Collegiate Ministry classes, I can see great value in January-Term, May-Term, and other short-length, high-intensity courses on this subject. More than most ministry areas, ours is certainly seasonal, and January, May, or summertime can be down times for many college ministers.
So if you’re interested in learning more, look around – there’s a chance a seminary near you will offer a brief, powerful opportunity to better your ministry.
Enrollment matters.
I hadn’t mentioned this, but my original trip plan involved one more school visit – to Wheaton College Graduate School, where their semester-long college ministry course (taught by Dr. David Setran) was set to begin on the 12th of January. Alas, the class didn’t have enough students enrolled to “make” this time around.
And that points to a clear need for us. We can complain about the lack of opportunities to grow (through seminary courses, books, blogs, or anything else). But one big question is, Do we use what we’ve got?
Further, what are we going to do to get more people interested in becoming college ministers?
Chances for your education.
For those already attending or contemplating graduate school, I picked up one other important piece of info during all this investigating. Your seminary might just provide you with options.
Think there’s only a Youth Ministry track at your school? You might ask about substituting college ministry courses (even from other schools) for some of those classes. (I know that’s allowed at Dallas Theological Seminary, for example.) I also just found out about someone whose seminary is letting her work out a PhD in Collegiate Ministry, in conjunction with a local secular school.
Those are two examples; you might just find options for YOU if you do a little asking. And every time you ask about such things, you’re helping your seminary understand the need to invest in Collegiate Ministry. So keep it up!
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I’m excited about what I’ve learned the last few weeks… and it’s one key piece in getting to know “the national scene.” I know that seminary training isn’t required for everyone to excell at college ministry. But I do think that the education offers much for practitioners and for the field as a whole!
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