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Instead of the usual Fridea, I wanted to offer a little more college ministry “theory” with a continuation of yesterday’s post. I noted then two of the big areas where we see major variations within the field of college ministry – Meeting Sites and “Tribal Reach.” Today, two more areas in which variations occur.
Basic Structure
Yes, we’re all most familiar with the “full-fledged” or “classic” model of college ministry: generally autonomous ministries that try to offer a full discipleship experience for college students. But there are indeed ministries – in various branches of collegiate ministry – that differ.
Some, for example, may focus only on particular areas. Maybe they only hold a large group. Others may only (or primarily) use small groups. Others may focus on a few areas of service or discipleship – like “pods” of activity overseen by the ministry. Similar to these forms are college ministries that aim to be purposely complementary to other local college ministries. They offer one area of discipleship, while recognizing their students need other forms as well.
I’ve also run into college ministries that are purposely partnered with other ministries. These tend to involve churches that purposely make use of campus-based college ministries, which function as a sort of “outsourced” college ministry for the church. Meanwhile, some college ministries may be less officially tied but may very purposely point students to participation in the other.
Constituent Students
All college ministries – of all branches – have to consider whether to / how to involve students who live locally during the summer. Church-based college ministries and collegiate churches also have to consider how to / whether to minister to their “home-grown” students – both those who go away to school and those who stay nearby.
Once we make sense of it, the variations here are predictable. But not all of us realize that certain forms exist – like campus-based ministries that reach students while they’re home for the summer, or church-based college ministries that only focus on students at the local school (and not necessarily students who grew up in the church). Those outside of church-based college ministry also should recognize that these ministries sometimes face a real difficulty in having to maintain nearly two distinct college ministries – one for school year students, and one for the summertime crowd.
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These last two weeks, I’ve been blogging through some thoughts on the field of college ministry itself. It’s been “primer,” for sure, but a lot of us don’t have many chances to think outside our own branch of campus ministry. So I hope it’s been helpful!
Today and tomorrow, I’m heading a little further down the rabbit hole – with some things I spoke about at Leadership Network a few weeks ago. I was asked to discuss different models of college ministry I’d seen, and while my audience there included only Church-based College Ministers and those involved in Collegiate Churches, there was plenty of overlap for the other branches.
As you might remember (or may have missed), I did discuss other variations in college ministry last week. I’m not completely retreading that ground, so feel free to check out that post.
So without further ado, two more areas where college ministries vary pretty widely. I’ll hit another two tomorrow!
Meeting sites
Where a college ministry (of any kind) holds its activities obviously affects its draw, its opportunities, and its options. But there’s a wide continuum here: from college ministries that function entirely on-campus (for large group meetings, small groups, and more) to those functioning completely off-campus.
Sure, church-based ministries may comprise more of the latter group. And campus-based and institutional campus ministries more often fall into the first group. But it would be a mistake to assume it always works out that way.
More importantly, this really is a continuum. For instance, many groups that hold a Large Group Meeting off-campus offer small groups on campus, while other groups may meet on-campus midweek but offer small groups in homes or other locations. The mix of these options makes for a wide variety of “campus ministry geography” around the nation – and even on a single campus.
“Tribal reach”
It’s a mistake to assume that every college ministry only reaches one campus – especially in the case of church-based college ministries. Sure, many college ministries (of the various branches) naturally focus on one campus – simply because there’s only one campus to reach! But other college ministries focus on one campus despite the presence of other local campuses. (This might not be surprising in the case of campus-based ministries, but is in the case of church-based ones.)
Other college ministries (of the various branches) rather organically focus on multiple campuses (because students naturally show up – perhaps from a local “feeder school” or because a church has youth ministry graduates who attend several local colleges). But some college ministries strategically or “fully” focus on several campuses, running what may look like individual college ministries.
On the other hand, some college ministries may choose to reach only a portion of a single tribe. They may focus on one geographical area, perhaps, or (more often) a more specific niche – like athletes or members of a certain ethnic group.
Again, it’s important to note that most of the branches participate anywhere within this spectrum. Only Institutional College Ministers, perhaps, would be highly unlikely either to reach more than one campus OR to reach only a portion of the campus they serve. Of course, church-based college ministries might be more likely to target multiple campuses (either “organically” or “strategically”), but campus-based ministries and collegiate churches do at times, too.
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Monday I blogged about struggles I’ve seen in two of the branches of college ministry, after speaking on that (among other things) last week at a seminary “brownbag.”
After sharing the difficulties I’ve seen in campus-based and church-based college ministry, I wanted to touch on the other two branches today!
Institutional College Ministry
- Because it’s the most campus-integrated of the branches, those working in Christian colleges likely face some varieties of “red tape” that others don’t. They’re seen as representatives of the university and are clearly tied to its aims and efforts.
- Likewise, these college ministers are unlikely to be overseen fellow or former college ministers. Because of the uniqueness of our work, this can create difficulties.
- This area of college ministry sometimes has a higher educational bar than others; larger Christian colleges (or ones with more developed spiritual life programs) may require a Doctorate or at least a Master’s for those serving in Institutional College Ministry.
Collegiate Churches
- Funding
- Intergenerational connections are usually few
- While this branch has actually been around for awhile, it still feels new (or is unheard of) to many.
- While autonomy can certainly be a strength, it also certainly presents struggles. Oversight and collective wisdom – from more than just college students – can be a helpful thing…
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This week, I’ve been offering some learning on the various branches. Not all of this is news to most readers, I’m sure, but I still want to share what I’ve seen in the nationwide views I’ve had the chance to gain.
Today and tomorrow, I want to visit the other part of my seminar from Tuesday morning: my perspective on the Strengths and Struggles of the four branches of college ministry. First, many of the strengths that seem to exist in each branch – including some you might not have often thought about.
These strengths usually reflect the more “classic” or more common models for each area. As I discussed yesterday, there are variations in every branch, so some strengths apply more broadly than others.
Campus-based college ministry strengths
- While our entire field remains quite underdeveloped, campus-based college ministry is clearly the most developed of the branches. In general, it’s got more handed-down wisdom, more collaboration, more “lifers,” more conferences, and more history than the other branches.
- As I’ve argued – often and in ebook form – I believe all college ministry works best when it’s viewed missiologically. Campus-based college ministry seems to take this tack pretty naturally, as it usually involves some group – a number of supporters, perhaps, or a collection of churches – sending a missionary-expert to dwell within and reach a campus tribe.
- Longevity – of ministries and ministers.
- Oversight is provided – usually – by other (or former) college ministers.
- There are in some sense “unlimited” job openings, as long as individuals are willing to raise their own support.
- While many find personal support-raising (the predominant funding method here) a discouraging concept, many do report value in raising up lots of ministry “partners” – and it’s diversified funding, as well.
Church-based college ministry strengths
- When a college minister is actually employed by a church, the funding is steady and doesn’t generally have to be raised.
- Naturally provides opportunities to integrate students into church life and help them make intergenerational connections (which seems beneficial for both the present and life following graduation).
- As American Christians – possibly – seem to be recognizing a greater need for impacting students after high school, there seems to be lots of room for growth in this branch.
- Those serving within a church setting might have the opportunity to feel less isolated.
- The backing of a church can encourage longevity of a ministry and its identity, even across multiple leaders.
Institutional
- This area seems to have the best structures in place for widespread collaboration, and this is perhaps the most “learned” branch. (Some institutional college ministers serve as faculty, have higher levels of education than most, serve as “lifers,” learn from other fields – secular and Christian, etc.)
- High level of integration with the campus (obviously), thus sharing some of the proximity strengths of campus-based college ministry
- Funding is often “set” and might be an expected, long-term part of the budget (moreso than many church-based college ministries).
- The backing of the school may aid ministry longevity.
Collegiate Churches
- Share an interesting mix of some strengths from both church-based ministry (church integration, for example) and campus-based college ministry (missiological activity, among other things).
- Autonomy
- This strategy seems to have some momentum, as major groups are (newly) considering this strategy and the emergence of multi-site churches has led / could lead to collegiate sites.
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I enjoyed sharing with Dallas Seminary students yesterday, and I wanted to offer here some of the points I presented to them. But one of the areas I didn’t get to cover – fully, at least – were the variations found in each of the branches of college ministry. It was, after all, a primer, so it generally made the most sense to present the “classic” versions of each branch.
But each of the branches do indeed have variations – and they’re important to note, since often we only know the “versions” we ourselves have seen. So here’s a quick run-down of some diversifications within each branch.
Campus-based
This one has two well-known methodologies already: denominational campus-based ministries (like Wesley Foundation, Chi Alpha, and several others) and fully parachurch work (like InterVarsity, Navigators, and Campus Crusade). But even beyond that, some ministries look a little different from the “norms.”
- Niche-based ministries (based on anything from campus geography to majors to ethnicity)
- Complementary ministries (that purposely accomplish only part of students’ discipleship, leaving other portions to other ministries)
- Student-directed ministries (with no adult leader on-site or off-site)
- These have a spectrum from fully autonomous, standalone ministries to well regulated, national ministries
Church-based
- There’s a broad spectrum here of fully volunteer-directed ministries (with even students sometimes playing this role) to multi-staff-member church-based ministries running very large, well budgeted ministries… and everything in-between (part-time ministers, full-time ministers with multiple “hats,” and so on)
- Some church-based ministries (or portions of those ministries) function in a way nearly identical (“on the ground,” though not in oversight) to campus-based ministries
- Some hybrids exist – like some CCO ministries and Campus Outreach ministries – in which the college ministries function under a church but are also resourced and overseen by a national ministry
Institutional
- The primary duties may vary more widely than any other college ministry branch. Institutional college ministers may (or may not) focus on a Chapel program, mobilizing students in service and missions, discipleship / small groups, serving in more of a “chaplain” / pastoral role, involvement with faculty and staff, and/or other areas.
- Somewhat like church-based college ministers, those serving at Christian colleges could have spiritual development as only one of lots of duties… all the way to having large staffs
- The religious spectrum of schools obviously affects the institutional college ministers, and not all college ministers are necessarily of the exact same theological bent as their institution
- While the institutional college minister is often the only college minister serving a Christian college directly, many are impacted by local church-based ministers and some even have campus-based ministries present
- The amount of freedom these college ministers have varies, since they are completely tied to the college they serve
Collegiate Churches
- The main variation I’ve seen here is in autonomy. Some of these collegiate churches are independent church plants. Others were planted by a “mother church” that still has some tie to them. Some are part of a larger church-planting body (particularly Great Commission Ministries). And a few multisite churches have planted a campus site – which still fits this branch, certainly, but functions as a site of a larger church.
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Today I have the chance to share a brownbag seminar at Dallas Theological Seminar. I’ve been asked to speak on “The Four Streams of College Ministry,” introducing for students the branches that make up our field.
I’ve found it immensely helpful to think about collegiate ministry in four branches. But it’s actually been through my journeys that this nomenclature has developed, and I wanted to revisit that issue before jumping into further thoughts later this week.
In October 2009, I first broached the subject of broadening my original 3-branch system. I received some great comments on that post – comments that truly helped me digest that issue. Here’s (most of) that post, followed by a link to the comments it received.
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I believe I first outlined my classification of the “three branches” of college ministry in a post way back in February 2008. I had variously referred to those three branches before, including in my book:
- Campus-based college ministry (including parachurch, denominational, and independent ministries centering their activity on the local campus)
- Church-based college ministry (ministries overseen within individual churches)
- Spiritual development at Christian colleges (the specific people or departments in Christian colleges dedicated to student discipleship, often called “spiritual life” or “chaplaincy”) (from Reaching the Campus Tribes, pages 17-18)
Those branches are distinguished, in my mind, by a few major things:
- Campus integration (the connection of the ministry to the college campus, including where it centers its activity)
- Oversight (who tends to hire, govern, and evaluate a ministry’s leaders)
- Function (the way the ministry operates and “feels,” particularly to students)
- Field reception (the lines the college ministry community has tended to draw between these areas)
While any of these factors might be clearer or fuzzier for an individual ministry, I do feel they fairly well delineate between the various branches. So using this terminology has been really helpful to me.
But as I continue to explore and ponder, I always want to be open to tweaking my approach! One question has especially led me to consider adding a “fourth branch” to my classification (it’s the first question listed below).
The big questions:
- Collegiate Church Planting is a major strategy employed on a significant number of campuses. Should it be considered a fourth branch of college ministry, or does it fit better under one of the present branches?
- Should campus-based ministry be split into two branches: denominational / church-related and fully parachurch?
- Should ministries run entirely by students be considered a separate branch of college ministry?
- What’s the best term for Branch #3? “Spiritual development at Christian colleges”? “Chaplaincy”? Something else?
- Any other adjustments you would make to this system?
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A handful of college ministers weighed in on that post with some outstanding thoughts, leading me to the four-branch system I now use. I highly encourage you to check out those comments here.
Those thoughts also helped solidify the names I tend to use for these “Four Streams.” Here’s how I’ll describe those branches with the seminary students today:
- Campus-based college ministry (which includes both fully parachurch and denominational ministries)
- Church-based college ministry
- Institutional college ministry (specific spiritual development organized by Christian schools)
- Collegiate churches (including independent church plants and campus-focused sites of multisite churches)
In the days to come, I’ll observe some of the differences, similarities, and unique aspects of these branches! And as always, I’d love your thoughts on how this is organized – in our underdeveloped field, this is one sort of discussion we need a lot more of!
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I have been asked on occasion what has surprised me as I’ve trekked around the country researching college ministry. So though I’ve mentioned things along the way, I figured I’d post a better list of some such surprises. Maybe these things will surprise you; maybe they won’t! But my hope is that more and more, we’d all become further familiar with our field – beyond just our own portions, areas, and organizations.
The existence of major college ministries I was unfamiliar with.
Remember, I had been involved in doing college ministry for 8 years and had attended maybe a dozen college ministry conferences before starting my cross-country research. So I was pleasantly surprised to find college ministries I’d never heard of.
The most prominent of those were probably Coalition for Christian Outreach, which I first heard about from Greg Carmer, the Dean of the Chapel at Gordon College, and Campus Outreach, which I first heard about from College Church Wheaton’s College Pastor, Jay Thomas. Funny how you remember that stuff. I’m not sure when I first heard about Great Commission Ministries and their network of collegiate churches, but that’s another prominent one I discovered.
The missional activity taking place in college ministries all over.
Though I wouldn’t necessarily have used the word “missional” at the time, I was encouraged by how often I did indeed run into missional activity taking place through college ministries and/or their students. As I wrote last week, there are indeed ministries out there that seemed to have reached a sort of “culture” that encourages such things, and it was always exciting to find.
The “turbulent ten years” and churches’ perennial difficulties.
I wasn’t surprised that churches struggle to build successful, long-lasting college ministries, since I myself had been involved in church-based college ministry for those 8 years. (In my last gig, I was hired as the fourth college minister in – you guessed it – four years.)
Don’t get me wrong – there are quite a few really strong church-based college ministries out there. But I have been a little surprised by the number of churches that have perpetual difficulties. And even while making few changes, many just hope that this time is going to work. As I’ve argued a’plenty, there has to be a better route for churches to develop successful College Student Plans, because the track record for our present attempts isn’t so hot.
(The pic of the George Mason University fountain at the top symbolizes the ups-and-downs of churches’ experiences in college ministry. It’s what I used for this point in my recent seminar at the EV Free churches’ annual conference.)
The preponderance of collegiate churches.
Though they compose the smallest branch of college ministry, collegiate churches are by no means rare. I mentioned GCM above, but there are plenty of other campus churches, as well, dotted all over the landscape but not all that obvious unless you’re looking for them… or unless you’re on that campus. In fact, several collegiate churches draw hundreds of students.
Our (incorrect) extrapolations about college ministries.
I was surprised to realize how much I’d innocently presumed based on my own semi-limited experience. And then I ran into this same sort of extrapolating throughout my visits. College ministers regularly mentioned things like, “Nobody’s doing X” (but I knew of several ministries that were, in fact, doing X); “That’s probably the biggest ministry of its kind” (but I’d seen several larger); “This is really unique” (but I knew how common it was); and so on.
I can’t really blame those guys and gals; I was the same way, even after 8 years of college ministry work. But it’s healthy to realize how often we extrapolate based on our own region, or what we’ve heard, or what we’ve seen.
Here’s the key principle for all of us: In an ultra-diverse field like ours, our broad statements only have validity if we’ve observed an enormous number of ministries. So even after I’ve gotten to see hundreds of ministries, I’ve learned to be very careful about what I “declare.” Honesty requires it.
There are more surprises, but that’s good for now. Questions? Comments?
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I mentioned yesterday that I have the chance to speak at the national EV Free church leaders’ convention this week. Today, why my topic matters to everyone in college ministry, not just churches.
I care – deeply – about college ministry in all its branches, including certainly campus-based ministry, collegiate churches, and institutional college ministry. But I personally spent lots of years in church-based college ministry. I’ve also had the chance to examine the college ministries (or lack thereof) in most of the country’s best-known churches, along with plenty of churches that aren’t as well known.
And it’s a tough scene.
The toughest (or at least most under-developed) of all the branches.
And the difficulties don’t just affect those churches. They affect all of us who hope to minister to students.
I believe one BIG solution to the difficulties – and one with BIG ramifications for other kinds of college ministry, too – is an approach that emphasizes forming the College Student Plan over the building a “classic” church college ministry.
I first mentioned College Student Plans in my book (pp. 98-103), including:
Perhaps some churches feel they must either have a full college ministry program or nothing at all. But this is simply not the case. In fact, if I began my trip with the faint illusion that every church should build a full-fledged college ministry program, my research quickly cured me of that notion. Not every church needs a standard, holistic college ministry, and obviously not every church will be able to support that level of investment. In fact, our Christian cause among campus tribes would actually be damaged if every local church began competing for the students on the campus.But every church that encounters college students must plan for that encounter.
The College Student Plan Approach to church-based college ministry begins with the assumption that every campus climate is an individual ecosystem, a culture, a “tribe.” It also recognizes that every church is different, too, including (of course) the nature of the collegians actually under its care or in its vicinity.
For a church to begin with any sort of pre-packaged “checklist” for starting its ministry is, at best, foolish. And this includes assuming that the church needs to aim for a stand-alone, full-discipling, classic “college ministry.” Nor should any church assume that its ministry to students needs to look a certain way (like the church down the street or across the state), needs to draw a certain size to be viable, or even needs to look the same season-to-season.
Instead, the College Student Plan Approach begins with “exegeting” or “decoding” the entire context. The point is exegeting before building. Sadly, most churches seem to either jump forward with lots of gusto in an “if we build it, they will come” mentality… OR they take the organic approach and just “see if we can get something going.”
As I’ve seen in churches throughout the country, these two approaches seem to have terrible overall track records.
The College Student Plan Approach urges churches to put all possibilities on the table, and carefully evaluate what’s needed where they are. Their eventual result could include one or more of the following ingredients:
- particularly focusing on their “home-grown” students, both locally and away at school, including helping them plug into college ministries that will impact them well
- pointing attending students to campus-based ministries to receive their specialized collegiate impact
- offering a really solid intergenerational experience for students who attend
- offering ministry to students that complements the work being done by other college ministries
- cooperating with like-minded churches to establish a single ministry for college students
- cooperating in direct partnership with campus-based ministries (or institutional ministries, in the case of Christian colleges)
- and yes, perhaps creating a full-fledged college ministry to impact the local campus(es)
Should some churches start “classic” college ministries? Absolutely! But one reason we should ALL care about the College Student Plan Approach is that it only implements that option when it’s best. In that way, it encourages health throughout our local campus tribes.
[Later, I reprinted an article I wrote outlining a possible process to discern a church's College Student Plan. You can find that here.]
But there’s another way the College Student Plan approach encourages health. Because it slows down the church’s process, emphasizing exegeting before proceeding, the resulting college ministry – even if it does ultimately involve a “full-fledged” college ministry – will be far healthier, a better fit within the campus community, and longer-lasting. The entire tribe is weakened when a local church’s college ministry undulates in strength over a decade, restarts constantly, or turns out to be unhealthy.
So we should all rally here, encouraging churches to weigh their attempts wisely, exegete fully, and (as needed) build strongly!
Any thoughts on this – from the church-based among us, or from ministers in the other branches?
For more info on my opportunity this week – and how you can pray, check it out here!
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As I wrote yesterday, I’m finding a 4-branch categorization most useful for thinking about American college ministry. Since it was on my mind (and since I shared about these things at my seminar last weekend), I thought I’d do a little riff on the four branches – particularly some points that might be surprising.
Again, I’m not comparing or contrasting. Just riffing.
1. Campus-based college ministry. Campus-based work is of course the best-known of the branches, so there are probably fewer “surprises” here than in the others. But for those outside of campus-based work (or even inside), a few important-but-sometimes-ignored points include:
- This is certainly the most developed branch within college ministry.
- While these ministries may look similar on the surface, each ministry has real distinctives. In fact, there is plenty of variation even within the same organizations. Some organizations, of course, have more diversity-of-methodology or diversity-of-theology than others.
- Denominational ministries and parachurch ministries are two distinct sub-categories in this branch.
- Denominational ministries don’t consider themselves fully “parachurch” (generally), since each ministry is in fact organized by churches (or, in some cases, a single church).
2. Church-based college ministry. Perhaps the hardest to pin down because so many churches have such a vicious turnover cycle (in both leadership and methodology), but here are some surprises from this branch:
- This is by far the least-developed area in the field of College Ministry (and thus the greatest opportunity for immense improvement in our field).
- While many church-based ministries have struggled, there are still plenty of them that have seen great success for many years. It’s also not entirely uncommon to find ones drawing hundreds of students.
- Even within denominations, there are very few support structures (training, resourcing, collaborating, etc.) for this branch.
3. Institutional college ministry. The spiritual life departments of Christian colleges participate in college ministry, too – and that right there is a unique thought for some. Other surprises include:
- This is the branch that seems to take professional development and wide-ranging learning most seriously.
- While many institutional college ministries are (purposely) the only recognized discipleship organization at their campus, other Christian schools allow for various ministries to reach the campus alongside them. (There are good reasons for either of these positions.)
- In recent history, this seems to have been the area of college ministry most likely to partake in campus-wide revival.
4. Collegiate churches. Those churches planted with a major purpose of reaching a campus might surprise us a little, too:
- There are a lot more of these than people seem to think. While it’s not easy to track down, at least several dozen campuses are reached by a collegiate church.
- There’s also a wider range of methodologies here than people seem to be aware of. While many of these churches are nearly student-only (except for the leadership), others have a large percentage of adults – either because members grow older and stay, the church reaches adults in the community, or the church “imports” adults in some way.
Anything you would add? Anything you would change?
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Back in October, I blogged about adding another “branch” to my categorization of college ministries. Previously, I had always discussed three branches: campus-based college ministry, church-based college ministry, and the formal discipleship that takes place in Christian colleges. I realized, however, that the prevalence and distinctives of collegiate churches might indeed merit a new branch. (I go into more detail at that post.)
I got a lot of GREAT comments on that post – I really do encourage you to check it out, because it’s a great example of some people really bringing some smarts to bear on our field.
In light of their ideas and what I’ve continued to see, I have indeed begun to refer to Collegiate Churches as a fourth branch of college ministry. This is the first major departure / addendum I’ve made to my discussion in Reaching the Campus Tribes, but it certainly seems merited. (What do you think?)
I used these categories when providing a brief overview of the “wide, wide, wonderful world of campus ministry” for students at the Jubilee Conference this weekend. Here’s the slide I used in that portion of my talk, with pics from my various trips:
- Campus-based: The Baptist Collegiate Ministries at UNC is a denominational ministry, like many campus-based ministries. Obviously, other campus-based ministries are fully parachurch.
- Church-based: “The Annex” college ministry of First Pres Boulder is one of the largest college ministries (of any kind) in the country. (And it’s hosting the upcoming Ascent Conference for church-based ministries.)
- Institutional: Asbury College. (More and more, I’m liking the term “institutional college ministry” for those ministries at Christian colleges. Credit for that term goes to Guy Chmieleski (an institutional college minister himself), who provided a similar idea in the comments on that post in October. Still, I’m open to suggestions on that one (and on any of these!).
- Collegiate Churches: This picture is from the Sunday service of New Life Church at the University of Michigan, one of the larger collegiate churches out there. Like a good number of collegiate churches, it’s connected to Great Commission Ministries.
So there you go.
Any thoughts on this categorization? Remember, placing things in categories doesn’t suggest my agreement or preferences with any of ‘em – just the reality of what’s taking place in the world of college ministry.
Also, do you have any thoughts on what I’ve titled the “fourth branch” here? In the past, I’ve tended to call these ministries “collegiate church plants,” but many of them are decades old – so “plants” might not apply so well. And the term “campus churches,” while fitting, seems to leave out the many collegiate churches that don’t actually meet on campus.
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