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Yesterday’s post had a lot of links that might take some time to digest, so today’s platter is purposely a bit more bite-size.
One way I think many of us could improve our Fall Recruitment would be to open our efforts to a few less-often “targeted” groups. Are we just trying to grow our groups? Or might God have in mind reaching some particular people who don’t fit the shiny happy freshman mold?
- Transfer Students
- Sophomores
- Introverts
- Students at other campuses (community colleges or simply other local campuses that would be well-served by participating in your group)
- Juniors
- Specific niches within the campus (going deeper into one group / location, rather than broader across the whole campus)
- Demographics (of any variety) underrepresented in your ministry
- Students who have just been ministry-hopping so far
- Seniors
- Fifth-year Seniors
- Who else?
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As I continue to look at Recruitment ideas this week, I wanted to link back to some of my favorite posts on this topic! Whether you’re new ’round these parts or just need a review, I think these posts could get you thinking in some new directions about how you recruit this Fall!
- College Ministries, Please Recruit!
- Recruitment is Collegiate Disciplemaking: one of the most important shifts we can make
- SHOW Recruitment and TELL Recruitment: we need ‘em both, right?
- Sowing for a Start-of-School Harvest: preparing students already in your college ministry for the upcoming season
- The Map-Bringers: a unique way to serve and recruit wandering freshmen & transfers simultaneously
- Campus Ministries & Narrow Recruiting: a weird suggestion about targeting your efforts and/or targeting your offers
- College Ministry Priorities for the First Week: just what it says, in response to a timely question from a college minister
- For the Love of the ‘Fers: thinking about recruiting transfer students
- Raising up “Social Connectors”: a unique student leader position that could matter a lot for recruitment
- How’s Recruiting Going (Right Now)?: recruiting during the summer!
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Last week, a college minister friend texted me to ask about ideas for recruiting students in the Fall. While that may be two months away, it’s also – for many of us – one of the biggest things we’ll think through this summer.
So I figured I’d visit that important topic this week!
The First Chapter of my Yearlong Road Trip was focused on the recruitment that took place by college ministries around Chicago. I was new(er) to this whole “exploring college ministry” thing, but it was certainly interesting to experience much of this as a student might. (At the time and in that setting, just about everybody assumed I was an incoming student.)
So, from a student’s point of view, here are some of the ideas I picked up directly within that experience. It’s a lot to read, but that’s kind of the point: To springboard you to thoughts for your own contexts!
Know Thy Audience
- Remember, I’m a college student. And beyond that, I’m at a specific campus. The more you “target” me within my particular lifestage and particular context, the better off you’ll be. And truthfully, the better you’ll serve me as I look for a ministry to join.
The Ministering Begins Yesterday
- Remember that you’re first-and-foremost a minister to me, a student, whether or not I come to your ministry. So begin ministering to me from your first encounter!
- If you can, help me make this decision about ministries and a church to be involved in. Why is church important? What about campus ministries? How should I make these decisions? Help me!
- Be ready to adjust your ministry, even now. Pay attention to your visitors and adjust accordingly. A pastor at EV Free, Libertyville said that because students asked about rides to church during one of the school’s church fairs, the church immediately began organizing Sunday-morning pick-ups with members of their congregation. There are ways any campus-based or church-based college ministry might be able to adjust, on-the-fly, to meet the needs of incoming students.
- Not every part of your encounter with a student needs to be solely “recruitment.” Love me and disciple me through your conversation, through your giveaways, through whatever.
So Help Me Make the Decision
- Tell me who you really are as a church and/or ministry. What makes you distinct? (It’s okay – I know you’re advertising. Just tell me your skills!) What are your teaching topics this semester? What’s on the calendar? Why would anybody want to come to your ministry? Why might I want to look at other ministries instead?
- But don’t overwhelm me. I probably don’t need to read your ministry’s constitution, for example. Yes, at least one church at the church fair was handing out their church’s “founding documents.” Another ministry listed thirty “Values” in their flyer. They may be an awesome ministry, but that’s an awful lot of values…
- I’d like to know what I can expect if I come to your ministry. That will help me feel comfortable if I do come, and it will help make this decision a lot easier. I shouldn’t have to try out every college ministry or church in order to make this decision, so tell me about your group in real, concrete ways.
For church ministries specifically
- Don’t only give me the usual handouts your church has every Sunday for visitors. If those things are attractive, yes, give them to me. But include something printed up just for college students, too.
- Give me a clear and simple understanding of how college students “fit” and connect to your church, too.
- Finally, fill me in on any connections you have to my school already: like that you have students already in your ministry, or professors who attend there, or graduates on your staff.
- College students like Youth Ministry, Children’s Ministry, and Worship. Tell me about those areas of your church, if there are places for me to be involved.
Make Things Simple, Easy, Cool, or Otherwise Accessible
- Give me something to do soon if you can. If you tell me that you’re not really “gearing up” until way after Labor Day, you might lose me before then. Have some sort of gatherings or events right away if you can.
- Give me a web site. Always.
- And make the web site helpful, loaded with more information – and NOT just flashy promos – about your ministry. If I’m on your site, I’m interested – don’t just tell me there what you told me on a flyer. If it’s well-organized (and up-to-date), lots of information on your web site is a good thing.
- Give me other easy access to information – phone numbers, text messages, the Facebook Group (if it’s well-populated and up-to-date), etc.
Direction on Directions
- Several ministries in Chicago gave print-outs of Mapquest directions, from the campus to their church. Bravo. That’s easy, and it’s what I’d be looking up anyway if I wanted to come to your church or ministry. You just helped me skip a step. (Remember, freshmen need directions even to campus-based ministries.)
- List your address if your ministry isn’t on campus. Today’s students will Mapquest, iPhones, etc., to get there.
- Make sure whatever directions you give are correct. I spent 10 extra minutes trying to find a church in Chicago ’cause their map wasn’t perfect. I don’t need your mailing address, I need an address/map that you’ve actually tested that will get me to your parking lot.
Brilliant Giveaways
- Most of the giveaways during Orientation should advertise your ministry – especially if it’s a giveaway I will use later (like popcorn – if you give me unpopped popcorn, make sure to put a sticker on it about your ministry, so I’ll see it when I pop it!).
- It really is brilliant to give things (like unpopped popcorn or unrefrigerated soft drinks) that I’ll have to look at / deal with later, with an advertisement right on the item.
- If you want to be extra-helpful, give me some sort of bag, because I’m collecting a lot of stuff at all these booths, and it’s getting annoying to hold. (And as long as I keep all the ministries’ info, YOUR ministry’s name will be right there on the bag!)
- Sure, some of the stuff you’ll give away might be “common” among ministries: candy, magnets, pens, coffee, etc. So why not give the best of each of these? Give the best candy (everybody loves a Lik-m-Aid / Fun Dip), personally serve the coffee (like the Anglican Mission in America did at Trinity’s church fair), or give me super-cool pens that I’ll actually use all semester (Pilot G2s are my personal fave).
Potpourri – More Random Thoughts Based on What I’ve Seen
- When it comes to churches or other off-campus ministries, the availability of van rides or car pools can for some students be a dealbreaker.
- If you sell me on one great part of your ministry, you’ve probably sold me on your whole ministry.
- Don’t come across mean – in your presence or in your materials. Now is probably not the time to prophesy about the evils you’ve seen on campus. You can do that when I actually come to your ministry. :)
- If you bring “Senior Adults” from your church and/or your own kids to the church fair, you’ll stick out – in a good way, probably. But make sure there are people I can identify with – a.k.a. student leaders – at your booth, too.
- Ooh – since we’re on the subject of potpourri, maybe you could hand out potpourri to students. Some people would appreciate that, and candles are dorm-illegal.
And the Winner Is… (A Few Methods I’ve Liked the Best)
- A few different ministries had pre-prepared bags or folders with all their brochures inside. I really liked this, because it was quick to grab AND kept all their info together. But remember – some students may not take the time to peruse everything later, so make sure to leave a lasting impression, too.
- The winner in that department during the Chicago part of my trip was Larkin Avenue Baptist Church in Elgin, which gave me an actual laundry bag, perfectly folded into a big Ziploc bag, along with other brochures, etc. A laundry bag may mean a year or more of advertisement for a church… Now if only the church would offer to do my laundry… (I used that laundry bag all year long, too!)
- Living Hope of Calvary Community Church put a map on their flyer with directions from the school campus, and they included both a “toll” route and a “no toll” route. Each of those aspects shows skill at “knowing their audience,” especially up there in toll-laden Chicago.
- I particularly liked the text on the flyer from Christ Church Lake Forest. While you gotta be careful about too much text, it at least does seem like they’ve incorporated lots of understanding about students and their needs. So here’s the whole text: “[In little type toward the top] We really hope you enjoy the microwave popcorn. Yeah, it may feel like a shameless giveaway, but it’s a lot more fun to get a bag of popcorn than just a postcard with a bunch of information on it, right? And we didn’t even say something cute like ‘pop on over.’ [now bigger type] We at Christ Church would love to have you check us out! Here are some things we can tell you. Tomorrow (Aug 19), our services are 9 and 10:30. Beginning next Sunday August 26th, times are 9 and 11. All services have the same sermon and feature exceptional music. Our senior pastor was a college pastor for eight years, so we think you’ll enjoy his teaching! If you’re interested in serving in a ministry, please check out our website at www.cclf.org and contact the staff member associated with the ministry. [a little more, then at the bottom in smaller type:] Enjoy that popcorn, and remember not to let it cook too long. No one likes to smell that.” No, it doesn’t take a genius to write this – but it incorporates humor, concrete/helpful details, discussion of music and teaching and ministry opportunities, the “college pastor” reference, and the web site. They “get” the audience.
- One campus ministry around here (the college ministry at Christ Chapel Bible Church in Ft. Worth) has given city tours to students – talk about helpfully ministering to those students! And getting a captive audience to build relationships and sell the ministry!
- Lastly, when I was in Abilene, Texas, Crosspoint Fellowship handed out ice-cold Dublin Dr. Peppers with a sticker about their church stuck around the bottle. But the next year, they gave away warm Dublin Dr. Peppers – even more brilliant! Not only did they save themselves the annoyance of trying to keep sodas cool in August, but their advertisement wouldn’t get thrown away until after spending some hours/days in the fridge!
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As my Books-to-Impact project to help college ministry fundraising continues to roll along, I’ve got plenty of textbooks scattered around my house! The other day when a friend was over, she decided they’d make good skimming material – a Zoology book, a giant Lit book, Living with Art. In other words, she’s a curious person.
This week, I’ve been pointing us to books. These are books written for other groups… but they have plenty of application for our field.
Today’s Fridea is meant to take us even one step beyond that, and it wouldn’t take you any more than a few hours – but could be worth a much larger investment of your time, too.
Explore an area of study outside college ministry, “translating” it for what you do.
Of course, this could be accomplished by checking out the very books I’ve mentioned this week: Under the Unpredictable Plant, Simple Church, Purple Cow. (Good to Great, Free Prize Inside, and Built to Last are a few other really beneficial books that come to mind.)
But what else could you do? What if you dropped in on one class this summer that might have relevant material? Advertising. Psychology. History of Religion. Social Work. Communication. If you’ve got a seminary or Christian college nearby (whether it fits you theologically or not), there’s probably a whole host of other classes that might be worth spending one hour in.
The point (of today’s Fridea, at least) isn’t to master these subjects. It’s just to spend a few hours on curiosity, to examine some area of study for the wisdom it offers our vocation. As college ministers, we must be learners (whether we’re “wired” that way or not). And this is one of the ways our individual ministries and our whole field will benefit – if we start learning from those fields outside our own.
BONUS: I’d love to hear about anything you come up with along these lines. Please share the wealth!
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I’ve seen lots of college ministries that simply weren’t all that interesting.
This week, I’ve been looking back at a few of the books that have impacted my thinking when it comes to college ministry. In each case, the wisdom of these authors has required a bit of translation for our world of campus ministry; books written for senior pastors or (in today’s case) businesspeople won’t fit as neatly into our plans and programs as we might like, but they still offer much if we pay attention.
Yes, today’s offering comes from a secular marketing book by Seth Godin, Purple Cow. But when I first read this book a few years ago, I knew it had a lot to offer us in college ministry.
No, I don’t believe we should “run our ministries like businesses,” at least in the negative ways many Christians associate with that idea. But I think there’s wisdom to be found here. In this case, it’s wisdom about how we present ourselves to students and encourage students to participate (when they may have a zillion other choices, both secular and religious, every night of the week).
When my family and I were driving through France a few years ago, we were enchanted by the hundreds of storybook cows grazing on picturesque pastures right next to the highway. For dozens of kilometers, we all gazed out the window, marveling about how beautiful everything was.
Then, within twenty minutes, we started ignoring the cows. The new cows were just like the old cows, and what once was amazing was now common. Worse than common. It was boring.
Cows, after you’ve seen them for a while, are boring. They may be perfect cows, attractive cows, cows with great personalities, cows lit by beautiful light, but they’re still boring.
A Purple Cow, though. Now that would be interesting. (For a while.)
The essence of the Purple Cow is that it must be remarkable. …
Something remarkable is worth talking about. Worth noticing. [For college ministers: Worth inviting other students to!] Exceptional. New. Interesting. It’s a Purple Cow. Boring stuff is invisible. It’s a brown cow.
Remarkable marketing is the art of building things worth noticing right into your product or service. Not slapping on marketing [in college ministry, "recruiting" or "spreading the word"] as a last-minute add-on, but understanding that if your offering itself isn’t remarkable, it’s invisible.
That’s right toward the front of Purple Cow, and Godin spends the rest of this (very short) book fleshing out the idea and how to get there.
No, we college ministers don’t need to innovate just for the sake of competition. But at the same time, I’ve seen plenty of college ministries that apparently give students no reason to participate except for “It would be good for you” or “You know some people here.” Surely there’s a middle ground?
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As you may have noticed, this week I’ve been highlighting passages that I’ve found enormously impactful for my own understanding of college ministry – both as I’ve practiced it and as I’ve coached others in strengthening their own efforts.
Today I turn to the book Simple Church, a book I found phenomenally useful – even though (like Under the Unpredictable Plant that I discussed earlier this week) this one’s not actually written for college ministries and those who lead them. But it’s easily translatable for our field, as you’ll see with the passage below.
This part is near the front of a chapter on Movement – one of the aspects of college ministry I think receives far too little attention (although certainly some college ministries have grabbed hold of this really well!).
Simple church leaders have designed their simple process with movement in mind. The ministry process moves people to greater levels of commitment – with ever-increasing levels of discipleship. The simple process moves people through the process of spiritual transformation.
Congestion is gone.
Movement occurs naturally. People are not stuck in the same place. There is a plan for transformation. People are challenged to progress through the simple process. Change in the lives of people is expected.
According to our research, there is a significant relationship between the vitality of a local church and the movement of the church’s ministry process. Movement is the sequential steps in the process that causes people to move to greater areas of commitment.
Do you have a simple process that moves people? Or is your [campus ministry] full of congestion?
…If you want your process to move people, your programming must be strategic and sequential. You must also intentionally move people, offer a clear next step, and provide a class for new members.
If your brain just hit the brakes at the thought of that last suggestion, that’s understandable; remember, this is a book written for churches, not college ministers. But the other mandates – strategy, sequence, intentional movement, and clear next steps – certainly apply.
(And you know what? I’m not so sure some sort of “Introduction” to our college ministries wouldn’t add to the levels of community and identity in our ministries, even if we never actually introduce some sort of “membership.”)
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Yesterday, I blogged a bit from Under the Unpredictable Plant. The glory of everyday work was on my mind (it was the topic at church and my young adult small group).
But while I’m hyping that book, I wanted to quote from another section. As with the rest of the book, Peterson explicitly writes to senior pastors… but what he says is clearly applicable for us as campus ministers. (I’ve found the book to be one of the top five most impactful books for me in my understanding of and practice of college ministry.)
Why do pastors [again, read that as "college ministers"] so often treat congregations [or campuses] with the impatience and violence of developers building a shopping mall instead of the patient devotion of a farmer cultivating a field? The shopping mall will be abandoned in disrepair in fifty years; the field will be healthy and productive for another thousand if its mysteries are respected by a skilled farmer.
Pastors are assigned by the church to care for congregations, not exploit them, to gently cultivate parishes that are plantings of the Lord, not brashly develop religious shopping malls.
…[T]he congregation [campus!] is topsoil – seething with energy and organisms that have incredible capacities for assimilating death and participating in resurrection. The only biblical stance is awe. When we see what is before us, really before us, pastors take off their shoes before the shekinah of the congregation.
Every parish is different, even more than each soul is different, for the parish is a compound of souls. What works in that place can not be imposed on this place – this is unique, this place, this people. If I am dismissive of the uniqueness of the parish, or unwilling to acknowledge it, I will impose my routines on it for a few seasons, harvest a few souls, then move on to another parish to try my luck there, and in my belligerent folly I will miss the beauty and holiness and sheer divine life that was all the time there…
Ever wonder why I blabber so much about contextualization in campus ministry?
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One of the several ways Eugene Peterson’s Under the Unpredictable Plant impacted me in regards to college ministry was by highlighting the importance of the everyday… including the everyday tasks, the fodder for so many of our to-do lists, the rows of have-tos or need-tos that can simultaneously overwhelm and depress me.
In the book, Peterson describes a dream in which he discovers a friend has written a best-selling book. He continues,
I left the telephone booth, went back into the bookstore, and bought a copy of Geri Ellingson’s new best-seller, Lists. I opened it and started to read. It was a compilation of lists. That’s all, lists. Grocery list, laundry list, fix-up list, Christmas card list, bill-paying list, shopping list. No text, no narrative, no explanation, no commentary – just lists.
When I woke, I knew immediately the meaning of my dream: lists are best-seller material. In my hurry to recover the essentials of spirituality in my life – a sense of the presence of God, a spacious leisure for savoring grace – I had thrown away the raw material for it, my list. The items that I thought were interfering with the holiness of my vocation were the very materials of its holiness.
Leading a congregation in worship was glorious – this weekly gathering of hungry and thirsty people around the bounteous mysteries of Word and Sacrament. But telephoning a couple of forgetful sinners later to straighten out a misunderstanding on the nursery schedule was a triviality I resented.
Teaching university students was a high calling. But getting the grades to the registrar’s office was an irritation.
Writing a book was satisfyingly creative. But getting the manuscript packaged and mailed was beneath the dignity of my office.
Praying for God’s healing and love was a priestly honor. But listening to the whine and resentment of an unattractive man was something I was going to delegate to my deacons next time around.
And then the dream showed me that each of these items was best-seller material – grading exams, standing in the post office line, putting up with the inconvenient emotions, telephoning forgetful mothers.
In my last college ministry position, I kept a regular to-do list. Only at the top, I titled it “Eternal Too-Do” – to remind myself that all these “basic” things were, because they were very much a part of my calling, eternal too.
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It’s summertime, so for many of us, that means fewer opportunities to teach our college students. Hopefully you’re able to fill the time NOT spent preparing for messages doing all sorts of other valuable things.
But since Frideas are a chance to think about ways to improve our campus ministries, I figured I’d throw an idea out there that could actually help those messages improve when the New School Year rolls around. (And it wouldn’t be bad for your own Jesus-walk, either, I imagine!)
The idea? Spend some time studying some of your go-to topics or passages anew, or a little more deeply.
We all have favorite passages and favorite topics, areas where God has uniquely impacted us and/or places we simply recognize students REALLY need to address. Over and over, even.
So when’s the last time you “freshened” those ideas in your own mind? Is it possible God wants to provide you with new insights about old insights? Or that He might even want to recaptivate you with those truths, all over again? Sure it is!
A confession, to get you going: For years, I pointed to Revelation 3 to decry “lukewarm Christians,” pointing out (as so many do) that God would rather us be “on fire” for Him or cold to Him than be “halfway.” Problem is, that’s not what the letter to Laodicea means there. And any good commentary will generally point that out; fortunately, I finally read one. The true meanings of “hot,” “cold,” and “lukewarm” are quite a bit more helpful for ministry, in my opinion, and the other interesting facets of that section are pretty great, too.
So what could a little “summer re-study” look like?
- Taking a commentary or two and diving more deeply into a book of the Bible than you ever have before. (I did this a few years ago with Job, and my understandings of compassion, apologetics, and not-leaning-on-my-own-understanding have never been the same… And I would have said I “knew” that book before.)
- Likewise, mulling over your favorite or go-to Bible passages. It’s possible you’ve forgotten some important points… or that God wants to take you even deeper! Even new translations may be helpful in better understanding those old standbys.
- Same thing, with go-to topics: Dating. Apologetics. Being academically faithful. “Hot Topics” of different varieties. Spiritual Disciplines. Besides your own Scripture study, it’d be good to learn what Christians have been writing and thinking on these things in the past few years!
- BONUS IDEA: Getting to know your students better. I fear plenty of college ministers are still ministering to Generation Xers… sadly, none of them are actually in our ministries anymore! You might need to refresh yourself on your audience – and the summer’s a great time to do that.
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Yesterday, I mentioned last weekend’s trip to perform a “Site Visit” at a particular college ministry. Since summer is now upon us, there could be plenty of other groups that could use some unique help – whether through a Site Visit or in other ways. Maybe some of this fits for now, maybe some of it’s better for the fall, but I’d love for you to take a look: Could any of these things help you, your larger organization, or other college ministries you know?
Plus, by using me – or encouraging others to use me – you’re helping me continue my ministry of exploring, advocating for, and furthering the field of Collegiate Ministry.
Here’s a (partial) list of ways I’d love to help you or college ministers you know “excel still more.” If you’re interested in knowing more, let’s talk about it!
- Site Visits: After seeing hundreds of campus ministries in action, I can bring a unique set of eyes to any ministry I visit. I’d love to come spend a week or even just a few days with your ministry, brainstorming with you about tweaking for the present and generating ideas for the future! Whether I’m assessing current forms or just sitting down with leadership to talk about options for next school year, I’d make an excellent “temporary teammate”!
- Catalytic Conversations: This is a VERY cool way to add value to any campus ministry gathering. Do you have any gathering of college ministries coming up? I’d love to make myself available for one-on-one (or one-on-a-few) sessions, directly discussing the individual needs of individual college ministries. It’s amazing how much ground on specific topics we can cover in an hour.
- Topical Speaking: Whether it’s speaking to regional directors, college ministers, student leaders, or even those who oversee college ministers (like church pastors), I’m right at home speaking on a variety of topics – bringing in examples and ideas from what I’ve seen all over the U.S.. (This would also be great for groups outside our field who want to better understand or connect with college students or college ministries.)
- Other Projects…: It may sound vague enough, but there really seem to be a plethora of ways my learnings can serve individual ministries, larger groups, and outside institutions that want to connect with our field. Whether it’s “exploration assignments,” writing jobs, consultations, program design, or more… what if we just brainstorm together about ways to connect what I’ve learned with what you’re doing?
How may I help you? This is why I’ve done everything I’ve done: To help all of us get even stronger!
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