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It seems to me that true Hospitality is characterized by – among other things – a recognition of all, not just many.
When I’m thinking about Hospitality (in college ministry, churches, or otherwise), it helps me to consider how the perfect party host handles her soirees. Does she aim to host the bulk of her crowd, or all of her crowd?
I think she considers the All.
That doesn’t mean she acts the same to all (in fact, Hospitality recognizes that people need to be treated differently). And she doesn’t give in to every single expectation of each person, either.
But she thinks of all, she acknowledges all, she does what she can to host everyone at the party.
I would never say that a college ministry needs to (necessarily) target all students, cater equally to all students, or involve all students in the same way. But it seems to me… I think… that a Hospitable college ministry will indeed consider all students who make their way into it, for a day or a semester or longer.
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And… we’re back!
Over my break, I’ve been working on a possible book – only this one’s not about college ministry, it’s about the weird, intriguing, magnificent time I spent visiting 165 weekend church services during my yearlong road trip. Yes, the main purposes of that trip – and by far most of the hours spent – were all about exploring American college ministry. But I’m kind of a church geek, so I took the chance to visit a jillion churches on the weekends. It was pretty stinkin’ interesting, to say the least.
Anyway… a real focus of that book is how churches think about hospitality toward visitors (whether newcomers or longtime attenders). And that’s something that needs to be thought about constantly within our field, Collegiate Ministry, too.
So since I’ve been mulling those sorts of thoughts, I figured I’d make a blog series out of them; the start of a semester or quarter is a great time to think about Hospitality anyway. And since this is the first entry, that’s actually what I wanted to ask: How much have you thought about hospitality lately?
Sure, I imagine you’ve got some “plays” designed to welcome guests, and you designed some other things (maybe awhile back) to make your Large Group Meeting fun and inviting. But when’s the last time you really thought about how well it was accomplishing those purposes – and all the other purposes that make up true “hospitality”? Can you even list out what a truly “hospitable” college ministry might look like in your context?
Or what about your small groups? Do the leaders there think regularly about hospitality?
Have you identified students and leaders within your ministry with the spiritual gift of Hospitality? What roles do they play in your ministry?
In the days to come, I’ll be looking closer at some of these areas – and I’m sure a few more, as well. But for today, I’d encourage you to ponder (and even pray about) what role Hospitality – as a disciplined, purposeful pursuit – has played in your campus ministry… and what role you want it to play in the future!
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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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Short and simple today, but it’s still a chance for brave, strategic college ministries to “go for broke”:
Start a (school-serving) tradition on your campus.
Believe it or not, your ministry would be far from the first to begin something that a campus tribe rallies around. There are instances of Orientation Week events that have been adopted by the school itself, T-shirts that have “made it big,” campus-wide games that have caught on far beyond the ministry’s normal circle, and so on.
And when this works, it has the potential to serve students – or even the campus and its long-term aims. There may be a strong recruiting or evangelism angle to some new traditions, whether through direct contact or through building bridges from the tradition to those things. Maybe certain traditions could help bring some needed funds to your ministry (like through T-shirt or other sales), or maybe by building this tradition with other organizations (Christian or otherwise), you’ll grow some amazing connections!
There’s no way I can wade into all the possibilities, though, because traditions are possibly the most contextual of all the characteristics of the campus tribes. So coming up with new traditions is a contextual art – and it’s also an area that would be really easy to fail in.
But that’s the idea of this “Going for Broke” series: Offering ideas that require a lot of wisdom and skill, but that might just be worth considering!
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Sorry to miss a couple of blogs this week – it’s been a bit of a busy one (to say the least).
What if you could increase your time discipling students by a month this school year?
I’ve been pondering methods for Thanksgiving Break and – looking beyond that – Christmas Break. How do we meet students where they are, with these breaks (and especially the latter) potentially mattering as much as they could?
In the last blog, I mentioned (among several possible methods) an email (or printed) daily devotional. Have you ever done this for your campus ministry?
I’ve seen this done, and I’ve done this. It might occur most often on mission trips, when college ministers prepare a series of devos for students to read through the week. The best example from my own ministry was a 40-day devotional walking through Hebrews 11; once it was typed up, I was able to use it with students a couple of times.
This can be an amazing avenue for “proxy discipleship” during the Christmas break. Even if it’s something simple like everybody in your ministry reading through the same Scripture passage each day, the community-building opportunity is clear. (Especially if they can comment about what they’re reading on Facebook or on a blog.) But what’s more, you’re helping students abide in Christ during the break… and, if you wish, you’re able to address specific topics that may come up in their lives in that specific month. (I mentioned those topics last time.)
If you choose to do this, there’s definitely still time to put it together – and if it’s an email or blog version, it doesn’t have to be completed before the Break starts, anyway!
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How are you ministering to the students who were in your community last semester but aren’t at school this semester?
They might be studying abroad.
They might be taking a semester or year off.
They might have a missions opportunity, an internship, or a co-op.
They might have graduated in May or August, and they’re now eking out their new existence in the “real world.”
Whatever the case, it’s likely you’re the main Christian community they’ve had up until now. You and/or your students are those who have known them and have been known by them.
So there’s no way “Out of sight, out of mind” should be our guiding principle here. If we don’t shepherd them now, who will? And yet an expectation (on either side) of “everything staying the same” for distant or graduated students wouldn’t be wise, either (or healthy for the student).
More on this to come, I imagine. It’s been on my mind.
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I have the awesome chance to lead a Student Leaders’ retreat for a college ministry in West Texas this weekend, and the college minister and I were chatting about the plans yesterday. He noted that the members of his leadership team (running about 40 students this year) hadn’t yet had the chance to get to know each other all that well. So we’ll be working on that during the retreat.
And that leads to today’s thought.
I imagine that scenario isn’t extremely uncommon: Student leaders (and adult volunteers in ministries that have them) are focused on their vital ministry duties AND on connecting with new freshmen, with students on the “margins,” and with others who need to be exhorted and brought into community. Your leaders are leading, in other words.
But while they may be helping other students find deeper community within your college ministry, do they have that same chance? I’d argue that it’s extremely valuable for you to foster community on purpose among your leadership, because those students (and or adults) are likely to impact each other in a way neither you nor those they’re regularly ministering to will. Friendships should be forming among them – even amazing, God-honoring romantic relationships might arise – and those leaders should be forming tight bonds with each other… while avoiding an appearance of “core clique,” of course.
Are you only training, personally discipling, and giving ministry opportunities to those in the “core” of your campus ministry? Or are you helping them, too, develop community with others who will sharpen them?
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