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Like yesterday’s post about how Christ impacts students’ Christmas lists, this post is a favorite from last year around this time. I know at least one college ministry that printed this out to share with their students – I encourage you to consider doing the same!
What if, this year, you issued students a Home-Bound Challenge. (This particular name has multiple layers of meaning, but you can call it whatever you want, of course.)
The idea is to challenge your students with specific spiritual activities for the Winter Break. Students face the culture-shock of being home AND the busyness of the Christmas season… so giving them an actual “goal list” or “Christmas Break Bucket List” could really help them accomplish some things.
You might even consider a night just to share testimonies of how students saw God move over the Winter Break – including through the Home-Bound Challenge.
You can include whatever goals God leads you to, but here are some that are ready for cut-and-paste:
- Discuss how you’ve grown spiritually this semester with at least one family member.
- Take one whole day alone with Jesus.
- Hang out with one person from high school that you need to reconnect with.
- Read one book of the Bible you’ve never read before.
- Plug in fully to your church – volunteering, attending, going to the college ministry – even if it’s not as “cool” as your church at college.
- Tell your parents how much you appreciate them.
- Pray regularly that God would make you the kind of student that glorifies Him best.
- Pray through your course schedule for next semester and discern whether God would have you change anything.
- Read one Christian book. (Ask your college minister if you need ideas!)
- Take at least three days in a row to fully rest.
- Contact me (your college minister) at least once to let me know how things are going and how I can pray for you.
- Help your parents in some way that surprises them.
- Prayer walk a college campus in or near your town, even if it’s not the school you go to.
- Pray for our college ministry every day (and write down anything God shows you).
- Pray for your upcoming professors. By name.
- Think up ways to serve your upcoming professors.
- Pray through your areas of campus involvement. What needs to change?
- Pray through your college ministry involvement. What needs to change?
- Go through your closets at home and donate things you know you don’t need anymore.
- Keep doing the spiritual habits you’ve developed at college – don’t skip once, or it’ll be hard to keep the habit all Break.
- Call your closest friends regularly, and keep each other on track spiritually.
- Connect with Christian youth in your town (or even their parents), and help them think about preparing for college.
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I first posted this idea last year, but it’s a good challenge for our students (and for us) this time of year.
I realize there are plenty of “big,” radical ways we can encourage students to let Christ reign during Christmas. But what about this idea:
Have you challenged your students to let Christ “impose” even on the gift portion of their Christmases?
Assuming most of your students aren’t foregoing gift-receiving altogether, challenging them to look through spiritual eyes at what they ask for is great spiritual practice. They’ve got two big chances to put Jesus square in the middle of the gifting:
- What they put on their Christmas wish lists
- How they spend their Christmas money
How many of your students are likely to ask for / use their Christmas money for a Christian book that would be well worth reading? What about a new Study Bible or Bible Commentary? What about a video game they know will specifically help develop relationships with their dorm-mates? Or a DVD they know will help inspire them spiritually (whether it’s a Christian movie or not)? Will they buy iPhone apps that help them be better students? Will they ask their parents for Wal-mart gift cards to keep from spending so much on fast food?
More importantly, will they at any point pray for God’s wisdom in what they ask for? And will they pray for God’s wisdom in how they spend any cash they receive?
In other words, are we raising up students who “in all their ways acknowledge Him”? Will their Christmas lists reflect the Jesus inside them?
My list of examples surely don’t cover all the possibilities of Jesus-directed gifting. The great thing is, a little prayer and a little thought can help students realize how they can purposely grow, serve, and live best in the New Year. And while – again – I recognize it may seem holier to focus on “Christian service” or “Christian witnessing” during the Christmas season, Jesus probably wants to be Lord even of our wish-lists. And if our students practice that lordship here, who knows where they might let Him impose next?
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Before Thanksgiving Break, I wrote plenty about the need to prepare our students for the Break. And, whether we had the chance to do that or not, I encouraged us to work strategically to ready collegians for the long Christmas Break.
But there’s another important step a friend helped me realize last night: Debriefing.
What if this week’s small groups or Large Group Meeting was dedicated to talking through the good, the bad, and the ugly of your students’ Thanksgiving Breaks? Or what if you offered the opportunity at a special lunch or online forum? If you can’t take those steps, what if you at least encouraged students to talk to you, other adults, or student leaders about what they faced at home?
Some of your students feel like a semester’s worth of spiritual growth was unraveled in just a few days, and they’re wondering what that means or how in the world they’re going to handle Christmas. Some feel a tinge of homesickness now that they’ve returned – maybe for the first time this semester. Others were reminded – deeply – of all the reasons they were so glad to leave home for college. Some feel like they missed some opportunities to impact their friends or family.
Others had really neat times at home – and their stories would be great for other students to hear. (And some made mistakes that they can help others not repeat.)
There are all sorts of reasons why a post-break Debrief makes enormous sense. Yes, if you can’t get that together this week, then I’d definitely encourage starting that tradition in January. But as my friend pointed out, debriefing Thanksgiving is one more GREAT way to prepare students for the Christmas Break that’s coming soon.
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This’ll be the last post until Monday – enjoy your Thanksgiving (and your Break!).
I’ve written before that – in my humble opinion – it’s awkward for campus ministers to plan out an entire school year (teaching series, smaller events, spiritual emphases, small group materials, etc.). To predict in August (or June!) what students are going to need next March doesn’t reflect the realities of either our students or their campuses.
While a few things (like major events) might need to be given some major lead time, semester-by-semester (or quarter-by-quarter) planning makes far more sense in our field of ministry.
In any case, if you have already filled in the blanks for the Spring Semester, now is an excellent time to consider if each of those plans is still BEST. Planning out two semesters ahead isn’t too big a problem… IF you’re willing to (re)evaluate when the time comes. That time might just be now!
So that’s my encouragement for this week and the weeks to come! So I hope whatever you decided this summer about 2012 was done in pencil, not pen. Now’s your chance to respond to the new realities of your campus, to your new students (and changes in your old students), and to everything God has been doing in your college ministry.
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There’s a church in town known for teaching its people what it calls “Conflict Resolution”; in fact, it’s had the opportunity to teach those principles elsewhere around the world. As I was thinking about that this morning, I realized how important it is for us college ministers to help our students get really good at this, too.
I don’t remember ever hearing how to handle things when a relationship went sour – and now that I’m well out of college, I recognize there have been times where I could have used the training.
How well do your students “fight”? Have conflicts arisen within your ministry, and then been resolved well?
And how well have students worked through past conflicts – like with parents or siblings (who they’ll probably see this week and may spend a whole MONTH with over Christmas)?
This is an area of training that college students likely need NOW – and will certainly need in their decade to come. How much different might their relationships be when they’re thirty years old… if they’ve learned “Conflict Resolution” when they’re twenty? And how much better might their spring semester be if they handle those things well over Winter Break?
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I’ve written several times over the past couple of weeks about preparing students for the Thanksgiving and Christmas Breaks, as well as about impacting them during those breaks (why waste so many weeks of opportunity?).
But I don’t know what this week looks like for you personally, as a college minister. It’s likely it’s a little unusual… and possibly a little lighter. And then you probably have Thanksgiving travels or parties or feasting, whether it’s local or afar.
Still, the question for us is, How are we going to use this week?
Just like students, college ministers have our usual “calendars.” They coincide with students’ calendars oftentimes – but not always. And this is a week – not just Thursday and the weekend, but perhaps the entire week – when you could accomplish some major things for yourself or your ministry.
Including rest, if that’s what you need.
The point of this post is to encourage you to decide. What are your purposes for this week? How are you going to get that thing / those things done? How will those actions fit into the (crazy) schedule of the week?
This week doesn’t have to be a throwaway; it could actually be a hinge week for you or for the ministry. The weeks between now and Christmas Break aren’t throwaway, either (or they shouldn’t be!)… so preparing for them – whatever that means in your context – is a worthy task for a Thanksgiving week.
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Sorry to miss a couple of blogs this week – it’s been a bit of a busy one (to say the least).
What if you could increase your time discipling students by a month this school year?
I’ve been pondering methods for Thanksgiving Break and – looking beyond that – Christmas Break. How do we meet students where they are, with these breaks (and especially the latter) potentially mattering as much as they could?
In the last blog, I mentioned (among several possible methods) an email (or printed) daily devotional. Have you ever done this for your campus ministry?
I’ve seen this done, and I’ve done this. It might occur most often on mission trips, when college ministers prepare a series of devos for students to read through the week. The best example from my own ministry was a 40-day devotional walking through Hebrews 11; once it was typed up, I was able to use it with students a couple of times.
This can be an amazing avenue for “proxy discipleship” during the Christmas break. Even if it’s something simple like everybody in your ministry reading through the same Scripture passage each day, the community-building opportunity is clear. (Especially if they can comment about what they’re reading on Facebook or on a blog.) But what’s more, you’re helping students abide in Christ during the break… and, if you wish, you’re able to address specific topics that may come up in their lives in that specific month. (I mentioned those topics last time.)
If you choose to do this, there’s definitely still time to put it together – and if it’s an email or blog version, it doesn’t have to be completed before the Break starts, anyway!
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Yesterday, I posted many of the reasons Thanksgiving Break could be really important to prepare students for. And many of those reasons apply to Christmas Break, too. These two experiences are two of your students upcoming “hinge moments.”
So today, I just wanted to brainstorm “out loud” about ways you might teach, disciple, and otherwise prepare students for these times. Do what fits your purposes best, but I hope you’ll at least consider preparing students for the holiday Breaks.
Teaching / training areas
- Evangelism (with a special emphasis on family members and “old friends”)
- Honoring your parents
- Spiritual Disciplines
- Fighting Temptations (especially those brought on by being “back home”)
- Rest
- Decision-making (since, as noted yesterday, these are excellent times to ponder the semester / summer ahead)
Methods
- Message(s): Of course, you can always teach such things in a Large Group Meeting message or short series.
- Small groups: Use your present small group structure to talk through yesterday’s issues and/or the topics above
- Training devotionals via email or blog: In the week(s) leading up to either Break, what if you hit some of the above areas in a written format?
- Ongoing devotionals during the Breaks: Likewise, ongoing contact with students (especially over Christmas Break) could be phenomenal. Students could even contribute both teaching and testimonies of how God is using them during their Breaks.
- Booklet: Instead of (or along with) an ongoing devotional, you could produce a “Quiet Time Guide” or other resource students could take home with them.
- Establishing in-break Community: Small groups shouldn’t end at the threshold of Christmas break. Either your present groups or only-for-the-Break groups should be (remotely) providing accountability, encouragement, etc., for students while they’re away from school.
- Online Community: While less “organic” attempts at community may be necessary for students to actually use them mid-break, supplementing on Facebook, a blog, or an email list could be great.
- Personal connections: You, your staff, and your student leaders could certainly reach out to students personally during the breaks. A call on the Friday after Thanksgiving or periodic emails during Winter Break, for instance, could be more important and timely than you realize…
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There’s a difference between “running a program” and shepherding people – in campus ministry and any other form of ministry. And sometimes we can assess which one we’re leaning toward by whether we recognize the seasons and unique moments in the lives of those we serve.
So have you considered preparing students for (or otherwise encountering) the Thanksgiving break?
Don’t think this is a big deal? Certainly, you know your context and students better than I do. But here are thoughts I had about what Thanksgiving could mean for your students and your ministry.
- It may be the first more-than-a-weekend your freshman have been around their families.
- It’s a more concentrated time with family than many students have had this semester.
- Those few days can be used for lots of things: reading, rest, a special spiritual Sabbath or sabbatical, diligently attending to projects or other homework, etc.
- It’s a good time for praying through decisions: Like how God would have them use next summer, student leadership opportunities for next semester, what (and how many) classes they should take in the Spring, and what other opportunities might be worth adding (or dropping!).
- Immediate and/or extended families may provide a chance to share Christ to non-Christians.
- Some should consider staying local during Thanksgiving – have they prayed that through?
- It’s often a huge time to impact International Students (and anybody else who happens to stay in town).
- It gives students a “trial run” for using the Christmas Break well.
- Any spiritual disciplines developed over the semester will now face a real test – with the varied schedules, lack of community, and presence of families and other distractions.
Oh – and any preparation you do now will like apply to the upcoming (and much longer) Christmas Break, as well!
I could keep brainstorming, and so could you. In any case, it seems like Thanksgiving might be worth preparing students for – ideas on that to come.
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The last couple of posts have dealt with the idea of college students stepping up as (even) more than normal Student Leaders – seeing themselves as your fellow College Ministers, indigenous missionaries to their own campuses.
If you can get your students to that point, then spending time brainstorming with them only makes sense. Yes, they’ll need direction. Yes, they’ll probably have to hear some “Nos” to their Big Ideas – although couching that response in “we’ll have to see if it works out” terms may be good. (Better, help your newly-fellow college ministers see why lots of ideas, though “good,” aren’t best.)
What if this sort of brainstorming became the focus of a special night – or even a college student (or leadership team) retreat?
“Brainstorming Brouhaha?” “Conspire Camp?” “Rack-our-brains Retreat?” Whatever you call it, if it’s done well, letting students brainstorm about specific areas and possibilities could unleash all sorts of great new ideas. They are, after all, the indigenous leaders – there’s a reason foreign missionaries try to raise them up to impact their own tribes.
Like I noted yesterday, that’s what we saw at the retreat I spoke at last weekend: several Stanford and/or Santa Clara students considering new outreach they might engage in on a local community college campus. It was exciting, and it was new.
One tip for making this great
Before I close out this Fridea, I want to point back to a principle that will make-or-break this experience for your ministry: learning to build forms around purposes, not vice versa. (I call it Backwards College Ministry, and you can read about it here.) Teach your students that stuff first, and this activity really could generate some fantastic next steps for your campus ministry.
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