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For a few of the last several Mondays, I’ve been highlighting some of the thoughts from my free book, Reaching the Campus Tribes. It’s a chance to point out just how missiological the work of collegiate ministry is; the more we (and all American Christians) realize this is a missions endeavor, the better off we’ll be!
This week’s quote and discussion were suggested by my time in Ohio last week, where I got to consult with several college ministers and some potential church planters. The issue I discuss here came up often (just like the one I mentioned on Friday).
In many … college ministries, there is a strong bias toward ready-made programs that have been used elsewhere. While these successful templates might be a helpful place to start the planning process, students will only be best served when campus mission efforts are tailor-made for the tribes they are reaching. Contextualization is key. This doesn’t mean new ministries have to be untrue to their sponsoring organizations or fully “start from scratch” at each campus. But form should always serve function, not the other way around. Oftentimes that will require creative adjustments to the usual template.
Wise contextualization will also reveal that not every campus is right for every national ministry. Some parachurch and denominational organizations seem to assert a “manifest destiny” to place a ministry at every available college campus. However, I would urge all groups to consider planting ministries only where their work is truly needed. As with international missions, the cause of Christ must trump the cause of a single group. (Reaching the Campus Tribes, pages 103-104)
Not only campus-based groups reveal a “manifest destiny” mentality, either; I’ve come to realize that churches can do the same thing – both standard churches (especially ones with a large budget) and collegiate churches.
We simply don’t have a right to assume that just because we can plant a college ministry (or collegiate church), we should. Not every campus needs another ministry – especially if it’s yet another ministry of the same type, aiming for similar students.
As the week continues, I imagine I’ll discuss some of the implications – and amazing options – here. But first and foremost, we each have to deal humbly with the missiological wisdom of hesitation.
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This week in Ohio, I’m meeting with various college ministers and church planters, and one topic has come up a few times: how some of the most “missional” American churches and church plants actually take a very UNmissional approach to college ministry. Even if you’re not in church-based college ministry, I think this “classic” post could help you help churches think this through better. Enjoy – and new comments are welcome!
On page 30 of Reaching the Campus Tribes, I broach a subject that I believe is really important for churches to ponder. The interesting dilemma is that some modern-style churches may actually impact students worse while striving to break with tradition. In fact, while trying to be more missional, some churches may end up less missional.
Some churches have opted to go the “non-traditional” route by pointing students directly to their intergenerational structures, “fully assimilating” them into the adult programs of the church. They plug them into small groups, Bible classes, or other activities alongside the church’s adults – without any opportunity for small group discipleship as college students or specialized outreach to local college campuses.
(Certainly, this sometimes takes place by default when churches haven’t taken the time to plan anything for students, leaving collegians to trickle into other areas of the church – and otherwise not stick around. But I’m talking about something slightly different today.)
As I write in Reaching, the full-assimilation method “certainly reflects a clear respect for college students as full members of the local congregation.” So on one hand, I applaud the motivation behind not separating college students and treating them as a distinct congregation (as one leader at a famous Emerging church described).
But for these highly missional churches, the funny thing is that this approach may be LESS missional in regard to those college students. Why? Because this method usually involves yanking them out of their actual community.
Though a college campus is located geographically within a particular area, it rarely has a high degree of sociological similarity to the rest of that area. Especially at residential colleges, many college students have one primary community – and it isn’t the local neighborhood, nor is it particularly similar to the local neighborhood. It’s the campus, and it’s (obviously) a world of its own.
This means that these otherwise “missional” churches are being highly “attractional” (in a sense that’s opposite from their normal efforts). If I’m not mistaken, this format pretty clearly demands that collegians leave “them” to come away with “us” to do church – both in location and in identity.
If we desire to be missional with college students, we have to think through what that means in their special case. Just as reaching our neighborhoods missionally involves connecting with people “on their terms” and “on their turf,” impacting college students missionally involves recognizing their unique terms and turf, too. While it’s good to help college students get out of their small worlds some of the time, reaching them within their home contexts and teaching them to live for Jesus within those worlds is vital, too.
The way I put it in the book was:
At the same time, it must be remembered that many college students’ cultural identity and community are located not in the local neighborhood but specifically within their collegiate experience. Thus any church aiming to reach people “missionally” and contextually should consider the special situation of college students. Unless efforts are made to reach campus tribes on their own terms, we may actually be missing opportunities for relevant impact in this important life stage. And we will be removing students from the very communities in which they presently have the most influence for God’s Kingdom.
There are plenty of church planters and others who need to think these things through, as I continue to do the same! That’s one way we advance college ministry – through debate and rigorous thought. So while I’ll keep thinking, I did want to address this here. And I’d love to hear your thoughts – positive, negative, or illustrative.
[See several comments from the original post here] [Add new comments here]
On recent Mondays, I’ve been looking back at some of the passages from my book on campus ministry, Reaching the Campus Tribes, expounding on some of the ideas that sprang from my yearlong research trip. (See those posts here and here and here and here.)
In this case, I wanted to offer a portion that is especially interesting to read right now, as many of us finish out our school years. I really hope you’ll read and reflect – and pass this on to anyone who needs to be reminded (or told) about the great mission field we get to serve!
In the last week, I’ve had the opportunity to visit two campuses – West Virginia University and George Mason University – which happened to be holding New Student Orientation activities during my visits.
For the uninitiated, NSO is a summer event when freshmen make their way to campus, often with parents in tow, in order to (presumably) get “oriented” for the year to come. This event often involves registering for classes, touring the campus, learning traditions and other school “rules,” and perhaps even moving in to the dorms.
Orientation also brings recruitment by countless organizations. Depending on the school, this can include extracurricular activities (frats, clubs, ministries, etc.), but it very likely also includes community establishments…
…such as banks, with their slick cups and pens and checkbook holders, recruiting students and their (parents’) money. You’ll also find newspaper subscription-hawkers, cell phone companies, and the ever-present bookstore, who will remind you from the beginning of your college experience that its convenience and support of the school make higher prices worth the cost.
Each business recognizes that this is a fresh crop, a group of pre-freshmen ready to be served! After all, a whole bunch of customers just graduated in May, and while their faces are long forgotten, their patronage is certainly missed.
(The credit card companies are probably absent at this point; they will instead show up within the semester, when parents aren’t around, with lots of free T-shirts or other flashy giveaways.)
This is Orientation.
But as missionaries, we look closer.
This is a land of fresh, wide-eyed potential. 18-year-old men and women walk these halls with maps they won’t soon need. Over the next four years, they will encounter a sort of life they haven’t known, with freedoms to do and be and become. The skin of high school, often so restrictive with its cliques and malformed “cool” and Babel-like, single-language culture, will be shed. New friends, new acceptance, new opportunities are here, whether this place is 50,000 people strong or much smaller.
A college is bigger than its numbers.
The hustle and bustle that will soon be found daily on campus will be a great visual metaphor for the life, the energy, the haphazard but steady progress that happens in this place.
Successes in the next four years will lead to the greatest joys imaginable, with experiences that last a lifetime or even lead these beautiful people to a new sort of life altogether. Reinventing oneself is not an uncommon event on a college campus.
These men and women will “find themselves” in all the best ways: within majors they didn’t know existed, within communities they didn’t know could exist, within new routines and challenging schedules and the maturity that makes life breathe easier. Leaders will rise up, either realizing the potential we always knew they had… or shocking everyone with ability we never knew existed.
Some of these men and women will find husbands and wives over the next four years, and many others will have their “antes upped,” as co-ed friendships help raise the bar on what they’re looking for in a significant other.
In even the first month of school, many of these guys and gals will join clubs that will “stick.” Many will start a friendship that will last forever. Many will be invited to a Bible study. Many will find their church – or at least start looking with intentionality. Many will reflect on this new experience after a few weeks, grin, and look forward to an amazing four years.
In those next four years, plenty of these men and women will get a leadership position. Or two. They’ll get in shape. Get a kiss (even their first, in some cases). Get engaged. Learn to schedule. Get a 4.0. Get honored. Make 2,000 Facebook friends. Find a career. Study abroad. Let go a little, loosen up a bit, mature a lot, and laugh nearly every day.
Some of these nearly-collegians will be back smiling next year at Orientation, happily representing the glories they’ve found to a new batch ready to be influenced and trained. Many of those glories would pleasantly surprise them today.
And some of those booths will be ministry booths, because the college ministry communities will have welcomed in Christians and non-Christians for discipleship and fellowship and conversion and love. Lots and lots of love. Boys and girls will come to school uncommitted and will leave vibrant, wide-eyed Jesus followers, and the whole world will be different because of it.
As missionaries, we look.
This Orientation also presents a land of unspeakable danger. 18-year-olds walking these halls at Orientation don’t realize the changes about to take place, and there are few good maps. Over the next four years, they will encounter a sort of life they haven’t known, with freedoms to fail and waste and destroy. The buffers of high school and family, often places of unappreciated coziness and naiveté and ever-present help, will be long gone. New kinds of pain, new temptation, new harshness are here, whether this place is 50,000 people strong or much smaller.
A college is bigger than its numbers.
The hustle and bustle that will soon be found daily on campus will conceal much of the death, the hurt, the haphazard and steady decay haunting this place.
Simple “mess-ups” in the next four years will lead to the deepest pain imaginable, in some cases pains that last a lifetime or even lead these beautiful people to take their lives altogether. Collegiate suicide is not an uncommon event.
These boys and girls will “find themselves” in all the worst ways: within temptations they didn’t know existed, within relationships they didn’t think could exist, within new routines and schedules and the stresses that can color days gray. Cults will rise up: cults of personality, cults of pleasure, and even real religious cults.
Many will “play house” over the next four years, and even today at Orientation the girls flaunt bodies, and even today the boys muster courage and methods to take them up on it. Many boys and girls will lower their expectations, willing to do much and accept many that they wouldn’t have only a year or two before, in hopes of touch and friendship and love and promise.
In even the first month of school, many will be invited to parties that get them in over their heads. Many will get drunk for the first time. Many won’t be invited to a Bible study. Many will attend church for the last time for many years. Many will reflect on this new experience after a few weeks, shudder, and walk forward into four long years.
In those next four years, plenty of these men and women will make a life-changing bad decision. Or three. They’ll get in heavy debt. Have a homosexual encounter (even their first, in some cases). Get an eating disorder. Get depressed. Reject their faith. Abort their education. Abort a child. Bring shame to themselves, their family, or their student organization. Masterfully learn “the world,” in all its selfishness and evil and temporary gratification. Lose friends. Let go of too much, loosen up too much, mature too little, and cry on many, many days.
Some of these nearly-collegians will be back smiling next year at Orientation, happily representing the “glories” they’ve found to a new batch ready to be influenced and trained. Many of those glories would repel them today.
This is the brink called Orientation, as men and women walk the halls of campus with their soon-tossed maps and their soon-absent parents and their fearful hope in tow.
[Remember, you can download Reaching the Campus Tribes for free!]
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I’m taking the next several Mondays expanding on some of the points from my book, Reaching the Campus Tribes. (You can read the first installment in this series here.)
One of the key points is that collegiate contexts are widely diverse. That one fact is probably the most important (but is certainly not the only) characteristic for understanding how collegiate ministry parallels foreign missions.
Here’s a paragraph from the book:
Like any tribe, each campus has a particular context that affects the ways it will be reached best. For example, large metropolitan areas, mid‐sized cities, and true “college towns” are all separate contexts that require different college ministry approaches. A community college is a context of its own, as is a medical school or other training institution. In a large city with many campuses, the presence of a “focus campus” – like the University of Washington in Seattle, or Ohio State University in Columbus – changes the context; large cities without one “focus campus” – Dallas, Boston, Washington, D.C., etc. – require different strategies (and can be far more difficult for college ministry). Schools with a Quarter System calendar require different ministry methods than colleges using semesters. Christian colleges require a very special sort of ministry. Campuses in the Northeast are different from those in the Deep South, which are different from those in the Midwest. With nearly endless contextual possibilities, each tribe presents unique circumstances that affect how we engage it for the cause of Christ. (p. 42)
Beyond those regional and structural differences, schools also vary widely in their culture. As I note there (p. 43), you’ll even find much variation between “Harvard and MIT and Tufts and Cambridge College and Boston College, even though they’re all accessible from the same subway system.” (For more discussion of all this, check out chapter 4!)
The problem is, very few college ministers have actually examined more than a handful of campuses themselves. Many of us have only worked at one or two schools, and it’s likely those are in the same region.
So that’s probably why so few college minsters are interested in hearing things like:
- You should consider starting your new ministry very slowly, learning the context carefully before you ever decide the basics of what your ministry will look like.
- Don’t assume what you’ve learned about college ministry will necessarily transfer well to others’ situations. You may not even realize all you don’t know!
- We shouldn’t automatically assume our brand of college ministry will serve a particular school well (whether we’re a church, a campus-based college ministry, or a college minister looking for a job). There is no “manifest destiny” for any organization to reach any particular campus(es).
Believing that contexts differ doesn’t mean I believe that every school’s the same or that there aren’t any transferable principles. This is more a question of approach than it is about actions. If we enter a new mission field humbly, learning its unique context before we start our work, then we can be pleasantly surprised when some elements turn out to be familiar. Certainly, our actions may often look the same as they would have elsewhere, but we will have started in the right place for maximum effectiveness and impact.
On the other hand, if we approach a campus with our methods ready-to-go and only later try to “tweak” as we learn the campus, we’ve started well behind… and we may even damage a campus in the process. (Again, look to the history of foreign missions for this phenomenon.)
Humility is a cornerstone of good foreign missions, and it should be a cornerstone of our work, too. The contexts really are different – take it from the guy who’s seen several hundred.
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In 1792, during an era of particularly long book titles, William Carey published An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. Many Christians believed that missionary activity was not especially necessary, since God could accomplish salvation without their “help.” As Carey’s title implies, his book argued that Christians should use means – should carry out purposeful activity – to reach unsaved people throughout the world.
In the centuries since, Carey’s words have taken hold within Christendom – to say the least! Today, it’s hard to imagine not “using means for the conversion of the heathens.” Churches, denominations, and thousands of individual Christians have been gripped by a call to international missions, and this effort is now one of Evangelicals’ most significant investments. The entire world is different because Christians decided to “use means” to reach it, despite the difficulties and costs involved. And we continue to look for even better ways to reach more and more people, laboring in missions until Christ returns.
one hundred and eighty-one mission fields
Recently, I had the marvelous opportunity to visit one hundred and eighty-one separate mission fields in a single year. I walked among the natives, examined the Christian work (if any) being accomplished, and prayed for God’s wisdom for better reaching these tribes.
This was an eclectic group of tribes, with differences in size, history, economic prosperity, regional prominence, culture, and traditions. But these particular tribes share one thing: They may have more potential to influence the entire world than any other single kind of tribe. While we can never judge the overall importance of reaching one group of people over another, missiologists recognize the strategic value of reaching groups that serve as gateways to greater impact. And without a doubt, these 181 tribes (and the few thousand tribes like them) provide an immense opportunity for impacting not only their regions but the entire world.
Yet the sad truth is that we have reached these people for Christ far less than we can or should. Despite the ease of accessing most of these tribes, despite the relationship American churches already have with many of the tribes’ members, and despite these tribes’ clear potential to influence the world, mission work among these millions of people is given very low priority by most Christians. This is true even among Christians who otherwise exhibit a true passion for missions.
But as in Carey’s day, Christians are waking up to the necessity of greater missions efforts among these key tribes.
We call these tribes college campuses, and we desperately need to use greater means to reach them.
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As you may already realize, those are the opening paragraphs of my ebook, Reaching the Campus Tribes, which turns 3 years old this month. If you haven’t had the chance to read it – or if you want to be re-encouraged about what you do and what you CAN do – I encourage you to take a look.
I’m going to be spending some Mondays revisiting some of the themes. In general, I’ll offer commentary, not simply quotes. But I thought today’s quotation might stand alone as a good intro to the Monday series – and a good reminder that American Christians need to be told what we’re up to as we labor among the campus tribes! Remember, my book was written for them – not simply for us college ministers. I encourage you to share it!
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A while ago, I had the opportunity to guest-blog at the BASIC Concepts for Campuses blog. In case you missed it (or need a refresher), I wanted to post it here, too!
There’s a big problem with making a list like this: There are plenty of other items that could end up on it.
That being said, here are some of the areas your college ministry might want to rethink – or consider in the first place! Each of them has the potential to take a ministry to its next level of impact, so hopefully two or three of them (at least) will give you some pondering-fodder in the months ahead!
1. Get smaller. What would happen if you devoted a heavy portion of energy to impacting one particular “people group” on campus – the Theater club, for instance, or one dorm floor where a few of your ministry’s students already live? This is niche-based college ministry, and it’s one strategy always worth considering. If (by God’s leading) you put disproportionate effort into reaching deeply into one campus segment, you may find that you actually reach more students that way… and more non-Christians, too.
2. Learn the tribe. How much time have you, as college minister or student leader, put into “learning your tribe”? Any missionary would likely spend months observing, studying, and discussing his particular mission field. Do you know your campus’s demographics? Do you know the goals of the administration for the next 24 months? What segments of campus are other college ministries reaching well? What’s the history of your mission field? If you don’t know the answers to these and other questions, you’re not making the impact you could.
3. Prepare for success. College ministers should be evaluated on how well their graduates are doing two years beyond college. (That’s not the only measure of success, but it’s a big one.) How well is your ministry doing at preparing students for “the real world”? While this should be a purpose throughout the college years, it should receive special attention as students near graduation. How are seniors being discipled in choosing a church, handling money, finding community, dating, being a Christian employee, and the many other struggles of life beyond college?
4. Share whys, not just whats. How often do you encourage students to do something without helping them understand why? It’s easy to push students to service opportunities, invite them into community, or urge them to excel in their studies without once teaching them what the Bible has to say about these things. (And students probably won’t argue that they’re each important.) But giving instructions without biblical motivation is legalism, and it makes us no different from their fraternities and service clubs when it comes to encouraging “good behavior.” A quick test: For each aspect you consider to be a “pillar” of your college ministry, have you engaged in ministry-wide discipleship on that topic?
5. Evaluate. When you really think about it, do you know that your ministry is making an impact? How do you know? One of the trickiest things about college ministry is figuring out how to evaluate our work, but it’s still worth attempting to do. Are students remembering (and applying) your weekly talks? Are small group leaders communicating well? Is your annual on-campus service project accomplishing what you hoped? Are students actually succeeding spiritually in the years beyond college? Are visitors feeling welcomed and getting the information they should? If you don’t have regular and effective means of evaluating your activities, it’s time to develop some!
Have you considered these areas in your ministry? What other areas in your ministry have you realized needed to be reconsidered?
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Each year in March, one big basketball tournament becomes a highly publicized window into the magnificent mission field of college campuses. As Americans fill out their March Madness brackets and root for underdogs and watch the games, they’re focused on our mission field like no other time! This annual attention gives us college ministers the chance to take them on a unique “vision trip,” observing this particular people-group and picturing what mission work among them can accomplish.
Whether you’re a basketball fan or not, I hope you enjoy the 2012 edition of this essay. And please pass it on – for the sake of our “campus tribes.”
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Do you know what a “Vision Trip” is? It’s a Missions term, describing travel to a certain location to imagine what God might want to do there. A group of pastors might take a Vision Trip to Cambodia to consider sending church groups on short-term trips; a couple might spend a week in Kenya to determine if God is calling them to spend the rest of their lives there.
So imagine, if you will, taking a Vision Trip to a very unique land. You’ve heard reports that the mission need here is critical, that these people are still largely unreached… but you’re not sure if you or your church can prioritize missions here right now. So you take a Vision Trip to observe, pray, and consider what God might have in mind.
The month you visit this country happens to be the same month sixty-eight different tribes meet in their great annual contest (known to the natives as “the Túrnee”). Warriors from across the land meet to compete, and thousands of other countrymen will watch these games.
So of course, you’ll observe the Túrnee, too. It will help you discover the special culture and qualities of this people-group.
As the games begin, each tribe promotes its own identity fervently – each with a unique name. Many tribes have named themselves after animals known for their ferocity or speed – “Bruins” and “Jackrabbits,” “Wolfpack” and “Greyhounds” – while others have gone less menacing routes (like “Bluejays,” “Orange,” and “Bonnies”). Some of the tribes have chosen to honor heroic ancestors – Aztecs, Musketeers, Commodores, Spartans – or simply hardworking locals (such as “Boilermakers,” “49ers,” and “Shockers”). Another tribe has taken the name of a nut believed to bring good luck (“Buckeyes”), while one rallies behind the completely mythological, elf-like “Billiken”!
The "Research Triangle" is home to several campus tribes - including Duke (above), University of North Carolina, and NC State. Every tribe is different, and each one requires different missionary approaches.
The Túrnee inspires much festivity, of course: Dancers are prevalent – as are costumes, musical instruments, food, drink, wagers, merchants, and religious invocations. The chiefs of the tribes are here, and they can often be found cheering next to some of the youngest from their villages! Healers stand by in special uniforms, though actual bloodshed is minimal. Impartial judges are assigned to regulate the games (but will face much taunting throughout the Túrnee). The entire event is noisy, to be sure – but occasionally, above the din, rise various tribal chants: sometimes jubilant; often rhythmic, even solemn.
As you watch the competitions, you begin to notice traits beyond the tribal identities, pageantry, and revelry. You are unable to deny the deep passion here, among warriors and watchers alike. Some fighters win, and the crowd’s elation is profound. Some lose, and they weep with an unbridled bitterness that would be shocking if not for the fervent zeal you have seen displayed all month. You view transcendent, singular “shining moments” when Davids take down Goliaths, when boys become men for a few crucial minutes, when weakness is turned to strength to put opposing armies to flight.
Of course, these are just games. But with missionary eyes even this “secular” event reveals truth. You recognize the clear potential in this passionate people:
- The enthusiasm in these tribes has yet to be tamed. There is a grit here, a rowdiness, a messiness, a wild youthfulness in the warriors, the dancers, the musicians, and the crowds.
- The tribal bonds are not frivolous connections. The natural community and surprising comradeship within these tribes will help God’s work to spread between their members.
- Creativity abounds here. Channeled for the Kingdom of God, this same ingenuity could impact the entire nation… and even the world.
- These people are not short on energy. If God touches even a handful, their impact on others could be quick and profound.
While large state schools may get more attention sometimes, there are thousands of smaller campus tribes worth serving too - like the Bulldogs of Gonzaga University.
So as this year’s contests come to a close, you find yourself awed that God might ask you to be involved in reaching this unique group. Of course, this will not be an easy mission (as though any missionary activity is ever easy!). Surely patience, energy, and resources will be required to build a strong and lasting work.
But your Vision Trip has reminded you: This mission field is a unique adventure and a blessing indeed. And if these particular people are reached well, they in turn could change the whole world.
All the “madness,” the virtue, the passion, and the valor found in March’s Tourney reflect the beautiful mission field we reach through college ministry. And there are far more than sixty-eight tribes to reach.
I’ve had the amazing opportunity to visit 46 of the schools in this year’s Tournament, along with a few hundred more campuses in the last five years. God is doing some amazing things throughout the campus tribes, but there is much more to be done. For more on what’s taking place and how we can impact better, see my free ebook, Reaching the Campus Tribes.
On Monday, I posted a video from last weekend’s “CBS Sunday Morning.” (If you haven’t taken a look, this post will make more sense if you do.)
The video shows a two-decade program at MIT that prepares its students for job interviews, fancy dinners, and other (sometimes daunting) activities they’ll face as they approach graduation. As the video makes clear, the need for MIT’s “Charm School” comes largely from the fact that these brainy, often-science-minded students (including many international students) might be in particular need of such training.
As I said Monday, this concept raises some interesting questions for what we do in college ministry. I encouraged you to let the video catalyze some brainstorming in a couple of areas. Today, I’m going to do some “thinking out loud” on the first question (and tomorrow I’ll tackle the second – here’s that post).
Question #1: Is your ministry impacting your “campus tribe” (the college you serve) in ways that fit its particularly unique needs and characteristics?
My related thoughts, in no particular order:
- Every campus must be reached on its own terms. The wide differences between campuses means we have to start by getting to know our campus. This isn’t the same as saying that every campus is completely different from every other. The situation is like parenting: We realize that two children may have a variety of differences and a variety of similarities… but we start by getting to know the child! Yes, I believe that treating one campus basically like we would any other campus isn’t loving the campus like we should.
- Every campus has needs that affect a large portion of the campus. Why wouldn’t those in love with the campus want to locate some of these needs and see if they can help?
- Reaching into the uniqueness of a campus doesn’t mean letting go of “staples” like discipleship or traditional service work. Clearly.
- The unique needs of a campus aren’t always obvious – although they may be more obvious to the students themselves than to outsiders. Ask around. The students at MIT are probably more willing to acknowledge the need for Charm School than the administrators are!
- Sometimes the needs of campuses might be a bit embarrassing; true service will plunge into meeting needs anyway.
- Doing the same as everybody else doesn’t make news on “CBS Sunday Morning” (or even on your campus). Our primary goal isn’t to get famous, but drawing students to our organization and shining our “good works” are both important parts of ministry.
- Often, the Big Needs of a particular campus will be shared equally by non-Christian and Christian students. Most students at most schools are not immediately interested in biblical teaching. But find that particular campus need, and you’ll find easy ways to connect Christians with unbelievers (and serve them both).
[Here's the follow-up post, with thoughts on the second issue the video brings up!]
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This week, I’ve had a couple of chances to discuss college ministries that are built contextually from the beginning, letting the mission field itself suggest the methods and activities that can be best used to reach it.
To further flesh this out, I’d like to give some examples – but examples are hard to come by. Why? For one thing, I’ve rarely seen campus ministries that have obviously been built in this way. But second, the whole point is that these sorts of ministries can only come about by spending time loving and learning our individual campus tribes.
Still, I want to do my best. So here are a few ideas of what a college ministry built “with contextual bricks” might look like:
- As a campus missionary got to know a particularly academic campus, he might realize that discussion-based college ministry that takes place on Friday nights (when students aren’t as pressured to study) makes the most sense. Because of incredibly busy schedules of many of his students, he might organize “discipleship pairs” in place of the more common small group structures.
- During my first semester in Abilene, Texas, I noticed a need for greater unity among Christian students in town, as well as a large number of students seemingly “going through the motions” in this town with THREE Christian colleges. So a few of us designed a multi-campus, multiple-church-connected freshman small groups ministry, aiming to supplement the other work going on, exhort students in specific areas we’d noticed needs in, and raise up leaders.
- One local college minister was stepping into a church role and a college ministry that had yet to establish itself very well at SMU or other local colleges. After looking at this church’s strengths and potential (as well as the prevalence of other groups on campus), we discussed the possibility of a college ministry built as a collection of “pods” – multiple niche-based ministries that would impact areas of the SMU campus not already being reached well, while some “pods” might reach other campuses, too.
- At a campus with a (well-deserved) reputation as a party school, a new campus minister might decide her new ministry needs to offer people a “better fun.” She may intentionally design several front-door structures – a high-energy weekly large group meeting, a monthly public party, a huge ski retreat each semester, an annual dinner for the whole Greek system, and tailgating before every big football and basketball game – to draw non-Christians and help introduce them to “the life that is truly life.”
If you could re-tailor your college ministry for your campus, what would it look like? What stopped you from starting in that way? What’s stopping you from re-tailoring now?
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On Monday, I wrote about one of the areas I feel is most lacking in the world of collegiate ministry: campus ministries that are built from the ground up with their individual campuses in mind.
There’s a difference, I said, in building contextually right from the beginning (“using contextual bricks,” in other words) versus building a ministry and only afterward making it more contextual (“using contextual paint”).
David Bartosik followed up that post with a question, though, and I wanted to flesh out a little better what this might mean. David said,
I don’t know if I completely catch what your throwing, pick up what you’re laying down…dont get me wrong, I am interested. I have a college on my heart even as you say this, but would love to hear more of what point you are trying to communicate.
[Are you] Meaning each campus has a particular flavor and you are asking what specifically are you doing to contextualize the gospel to that heart college?
My quick answer to David’s final question would be… Yes, but I’m not just talking about contextualizing the message – but contextualizing the methodology. And I’m not even really talking about “contextualizing” some methodology that already exists, but instead forming each method around the needs, specifics, and even eccentricities of that campus.
So I’m not simply encouraging us to make sure what we speak from the stage is contextual… because that presupposes both a stage and giving messages from it! Instead, I’m suggesting we could use many more college ministries that are built in response to loving a campus, getting to know the campus, and begging God’s wisdom for reaching it in very specific ways.
Does this mean that we need to start more slowly than we often do? Yes. Does it mean we need to put everything on the table from the very beginning, including things we would never, ever expect to consider optional? Absolutely. Does it mean we shouldn’t assume we’ll have a large group meeting, shouldn’t assume we’ll try to reach all the students, shouldn’t assume our ministry will look much like others in our national organization or denomination? Yeah… and we won’t assume anything else, either. We’ll come to know – and love – our campuses, and in the process we’ll discern the best ways to impact it.
There are lots of merits to the “standard forms” of college ministry, and in some cases they’ll be the most contextualized route we could take to reach students. But how we decide that – and how long we’re willing to take to discern this – makes all the difference here.
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