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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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After all my travels and explorations and conversations, one of the clearest conclusions is that we don’t have nearly enough college ministries that have been built – from the ground up – with their particular campus in mind.
Many, many of us are good at slapping some coats of Contextualization on our already-built ministries, ministries composed of bricks from various sources. If we spend time loving one campus long enough, we might occasionally do some minor renovations that involve Contextualization more heavily, adding a wing or modifying a previously incongruous room to match better the campus we love.
But there’s not a lot of evidence of campus ministries designed with their own campus in mind more than any other influence. This sort of ministry would be composed of local bricks, nearly every decision affected by the campus tribe in which it finds itself. These college ministries are inherently contextual rather than simply growing to fit (somewhat) the field they’re in over time.
Of course, a large number of college ministries are still doing amazing work on their campuses. The lack of ground-up contextualization hasn’t kept them from bearing exciting, enormous fruit. But what more might we accomplish?
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There’s a big difference between the campus ministry with leaders who simply aren’t Learners… and the campus ministry with leaders who actively, regularly learn from others about the work of collegiate ministry.
They will have a better impact. They will better fulfill their ministry. They will create a far better ministry over time, in ways both obvious and non-obvious.
But I’ll go one step further today.
There’s a big difference between the college ministry that looks at other ministries mainly to learn what to do… and the college ministry that discerns what it should do, in its context, and then finds other ministries to learn how to do those things better.
Of course other ministries will always (and should always) give us new ideas for the what. But far too often we find the bulk of our methods in either:
- large, successful college ministries
- our own experiences in college ministries
- or the “ways it’s usually done” in our organization or denomination
The more your methods have arisen from your context and your audience – while regularly looking for others’ wisdom on how to use those methods best – the better you’ll impact. As I’ve noted lots of other times, I think the panorama of college ministries is far, far too homogenous for such diverse mission fields as ours.
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I’ve had a lot of fun with this “Going for Broke” series, looking at “big” moves that might be right for a few college ministries out there – and pondering them can also be impactful for the rest of us! So I figured I’d extend the series into this week!
For some college ministries (especially denominational campus-based ministries), having a building next to (or even on!) campus is a longstanding tradition. For others, it’s part of their history that they willingly – or for lack of funds – gave up a while back.
Some of the latter group – and others who have never had a building – would say they’re glad to be free of the trickiness of running the building, of the isolation of “housing” off-campus, etc.
But for some college ministries, the best “big move” they could make would be finding some sort of building.
Remember, college ministry is perhaps the most contextual field of ministry there is. So while this might be a terrible idea for plenty of campuses and ministries, other campuses could be highly impacted through a ministry building, a local hang-out house, a converted church, rented office space, or another established presence on the edges of the campus grounds. Even the variety of “spaces” alludes to the potential purposes that could be fulfilled here.
What might a “house” do for your ministry?
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Which would have a greater impact in two years:
- Your college ministry… continuing roughly as-is through that time?
- Your college ministry… if you took next semester completely off (in order to relearn, re-contextualize, and revamp or replant the ministry)?
Can you bring yourself to ask that question and to give an honest answer?
The “Going for Broke” series looks at potential BIG leaps some college ministries could make. Whether they challenge you to think or you’re able to consider these actual steps, I hope they’re helpful (and fun) to ponder.
I have no doubt that there would be a cost – a real cost to impact – if your college ministry went into “hibernation.” Your present students would need to find a new fellowship (and some might not!), your momentum in various areas would be lost, you’d lose ground in the reputation you’ve built among students (and others).
But if we’re going to talk about “going for broke,” we have to be willing to consider where we are and where we could be if we took drastic measures. And one of the most drastic would be taking a semester to examine your mission field anew.
That’s why I asked the original question the way I did: Because the concern isn’t whether you’d have an equally impactful ministry right away. It’s whether, over time, the ministry might be more impactful because you’ve let the ground lie fallow for awhile.
Remember: You know more as a college minister now than you used to. You know your campus better, too (so you’ll know better how to examine its needs and opportunities). You will be better at building a campus ministry now than you were when you started… and for many of us, we actually inherited much of our ministry’s form anyway.
If we’re at least willing to ask ourselves this question – seriously – we’re in a good position to improve our ministries (even if it doesn’t happen this way).
***A similar (but less drastic) idea would be to do this sort of reevaluation / reexamination while still maintaining the current ministry – simply not focusing on recruiting, or otherwise continuing a “bare bones” form. In some cases, this might work well; in others, this might be worse than taking a full sabbatical.
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I shared the other day about having the chance to teach some students last weekend about seeing themselves as true “missionaries to their own campuses.” But how we got there in the context of this particular retreat is kind of interesting.
The focus of the weekend wasn’t simply encouraging these guys and gals to impact others. Instead, I started with a focus on students’ own walks with Jesus (in the first couple of messages). Then, I turned the corner in the final message, looking at how they might minister on their campuses. We called the overall theme, “Satisfied and Sent.”
The interesting thing? I used the same entire passage for each side of that theme! We camped out the whole weekend in Isaiah 55 – working through the entire chapter in the first two messages, then walking back through the entire passage once more in the final session.
If you check out that passage, you might notice how it could fit both the “finding satisfaction in the Lord” and “helping others find satisfaction in the Lord” topics. All I really did was have students – who (hopefully) had been impacted by Isaiah 55 in the first 24 hours – put on their “ministry glasses” when we viewed it again.
Suddenly, the great invitation of verses 1 and 2 became an invitation they can offer others.
The revelation of a God who can raise up David as a “witness,” “leader,” and “commander” became personally encouraging for those hoping He’d lift them up to impact, too.
The vital idea that God has heavens-higher ways and thoughts became instructive not simply for personal walks – but through the lens of a ministry calling, it helped them realize God may call us to places and methods that don’t “fit” our personalities or our plans.
And with ministry glasses on, the revelation of a God whose word (in Isaiah 55, it means his promises, commands, etc.) won’t return void reminded them that obedience to God’s sending command is guaranteed to bear the fruit He intends.
By exploring Isaiah 55′s specific applications for impacting others – after first examining the applications for personal spiritual journeys – students had the chance to do what we college ministers do all the time. If you want to raise up your students to serve as a true type of college minister now, then helping them read the Bible through the lens of that calling can be a great start!
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I had the awesome chance to speak last weekend for the college ministry retreat of Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto. A great group of students (from Stanford, Santa Clara U, and a few other schools) and their college ministers gathered in a cool little retreat spot, and we got to hang out Friday through Sunday.
And as always, I tried to notice what I was learning or being reminded of for our work as a whole.
Since taking my yearlong road trip and better developing my view of “campus ministry as missions,” I haven’t had too many opportunities to share this idea directly with students. (This view is best laid out in my ebook, Reaching the Campus Tribes.)
But every once in awhile, I’ve had the chance to speak either to a college ministry’s student leadership team or – in this case, at least – the ministry as a whole. And what I’ve noticed is that college students are able and willing to rise to the challenge as “college ministers” themselves. Even though they are in the throes of the college experience themselves, like the “indigenous” leaders raised up within foreign missions, students can get excited about serving as “missionaries to their own tribe.”
This is more than just asking them to serve as Student Leaders within the college ministry we (as college ministers) are directing. This is empowering them and encouraging them to take the added step of taking responsibility for the reaching of their campus. Yes, it’s still often best for them to have direction or oversight from somebody a little bit older. But there’s a difference in how much ownership they assume.
When I called the students to this – and encouraged them therefore to be open to ALL the ways God might direct their “missions” – they ran with it! For example, several students apparently stayed up late one night conspiring to reach a local community college with a Bible study (even though only one of those students actually attends that school).
In the days to come, I’ll share some of the points I used this weekend to push this idea. Hopefully those will help you do the same! But for now, my point is this: College students can rise to the challenge of a high level of “ownership” in your mission to the campus. How much do your students “own” the mission right now? Have they taken on the role of missionaries to their own campuses?
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Last Monday, I argued that we who serve as “missionaries to the campus tribes” need to avail ourselves of learning our field – our “missiology.” It’s not enough for us to learn techniques and “Best Practices” (which I’ve argued don’t exist much in college ministry, anyway). We need to care about the theory side of our work, even if some of us are wired to care about it more than others.
To that end, I wrote about some things I’d had opportunities to speak on recently: the delineation of the four branches of campus ministry, some variations I’ve seen within those branches, and some strengths of each form.
Now I arrive at some of the “struggles” in those branches. Today, I’ll look at the difficulties faced in campus-based and church-based college ministry; tomorrow I should be able to examine struggles in the other two branches.
As I noted last week (in regards to the strengths), these listed struggles generally reflect the more “classic” or common models for each area. As I discussed last week, there are variations in every branch, so some struggles apply more broadly than others.
Campus-based college ministry struggles
- Though many in this camp will – rightly – talk about the joy of locating partners for their ministry, personal support-raising can still be a difficult road. Not all campus-based groups have to support-raise, but those that don’t seem generally limited to denominational campus-based work in the South.
- For those truly “parachurch,” it’s easier to disconnect with the rest of American Christianity – whether it’s churches, denominations, new lines of thoughts, new forms of ministry, or anything else.
- Denominational campus-based ministries may face difficulties – practical, theological, or otherwise – of their denominational ties. Some have faced severe issues along these lines.
- It is often harder within this form of college ministry to connect students to local churches within their collegiate years, and even pointing them to / teaching them about “churchmanship” may also be more difficult (or simply less of a felt need).
- Autonomy has its downsides, to be sure.
Church-based college ministry struggles
- Churches often struggle with a lack of longevity – of both college ministries AND “versions” of their college ministries.
- These ministers are usually not overseen by individuals who have served in college ministry.
- Integration with the campus is trickier in this branch than any other.
- Compared to campus-based college ministry, it’s much harder to find an open position in this field; even the opportunity to volunteer to run a church collegiate outreach may, sadly, not be available!
- This branch doesn’t hasn’t had a lot of development.
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I’ve argued time and time again that collegiate ministry is best understood as awfully similar – in practice and theory – to foreign missions. I argued that most fervently in my book, Reaching the Campus Tribes, but the parallels are pretty obvious to a good number of us who actually serve in this field.
But if we Evangelical college ministers are going to keep getting better at this, then learning our field is going to have to be part of that.
Of course, not all of us may be “wired” to be hard-core theorists, to explore deeply the work we do. But I honestly believe that ALL of us should be learners (as I’ve also argued plenty). Some of us may be more devoted to learning, more wired for learning, and more adept at learning. But I think every college minister should make up his or her mind to become better at this task as time goes on.
And we do that – in part – by thinking about our field. By exploring a little “College Ministry Missiology.”
I’ve had some neat chances to present some “missiology” of our field recently, and I’ll be sharing some of those thoughts this week. But this isn’t just an introductory post to that theme. It’s an attempt to ask one simple question:
Are you as faithful in learning about college ministry as you should be?
Hopefully I can offer a little something along those lines this week. But regardless, I hope we’ll see learning as a real part of fulfilling the ministries we’ve received from the Lord. Because if we’re not understanding our work better over time, are we really accomplishing all we were meant to?
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