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the classy outreach (a fridea)

May 25, 2012 in campus integration, for community-building, for evangelism, for fun & social activities, for large-scale efforts, for recruitment, for service | Leave a comment

I don’t know if your town has these, but Dallas has a variety of studios that host classes – my gal and I recently went to a 3-hour painting class, for instance. Dance classes seem to be another option (judging by things I’ve seen on Groupon), as are cooking classes and cheese-making, wine tasting and pottery classes.

Not all these might fit campus, of course, but it gives me an idea: What could? What are some “sessions” your college ministry could host, for a small fee or for free? It’s an outreach, a service, a community-builder, a connection to the university at large… all in one.

Just make sure if you’re going to do this, that you truly do it well – if you haven’t done research, fine people (on campus, in town, in your church) who have. While you may have some wisdom on a particular topic, teaching a session may require a little more research or schooling.

(For more thoughts on a connected idea and why this truly is service, I’d encourage you to check out the Charm School posts from a few months ago.)

  • Etiquette (this one’s often done in a dinner setting)
  • Time management
  • Painting (with a canvas provided for students)
  • Dancing (a particular style, like swing or ballroom)
  • Basics of the Christian Bible (sure, some could have a religious tinge!)
  • Travel
  • Cooking (wouldn’t this be awesome for ladies from your church to teach?)
  • Graphic design (this could be taught by some of your students)
  • Scrapbooking
  • Study skills
  • How to read a book well
  • What else you got?

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different is good

April 4, 2012 in assessment & strength, for community-building, for fun & social activities, for large-scale efforts, for recruitment, for service, for teaching & small groups | 3 comments

Simple thought:

If most of the students who are presently in your campus ministry are enormous fans of – and show up at – most of your activities… are you sure that’s a good thing? (And what does this mean for the college minister? See the next post.)

If your ministry, like most, aims to reach as broadly on campus as you can, are you holding a broad enough range of activities? Are the times / days varied enough? Are there plenty of activities mixed in there that some students really, really like… even if others really, really don’t?

Why do we need everybody to show up at everything?

I know this is a tricky thought for those with smaller ministries, but it might at least be worth pondering for a little bit. It seems to me, there might be some advantages to having only a portion of your students interested in any given activity, as long as they’re different cross-sections of students for each activity.

Just a thought. (If you want to be hit even closer to home, see the next post.)

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various thoughts on charm school, campus tribes, & more (part 2)

March 8, 2012 in brainstorming & creativity, campus integration, for community-building, for evangelism, for fun & social activities, for funding, for large-scale efforts, for recruitment, for service | 2 comments

This week I’m springboarding from a “CBS Sunday Morning” report to talk about ways campus ministries can

  • Love their campuses by regarding them as unique tribes and meeting their unique needs (yesterday)
  • Think outside the box about unique ways to serve and connect with collegians (today)

(If you haven’t watched the video, be sure to do that here. And you can see Part 1 of the analysis here.)

So as I did yesterday for the first issue, here are my in-no-particular-order thoughts on the second question raised on Monday:

  1. We could generally be much more creative in the ways we approach college ministry. That’s one of my biggest peeves following all my college ministry explorations – we’re all just too similar. Campuses have so many variables that differ campus-to-campus… and that means our ministry efforts should vary more widely, too.
  2. Meeting students’ needs is meeting students’ needs. Look at the example we have of foreign missionaries of the past and present. If we love our campus and its students, we’ll want to impact them in LOTS of ways – not just through evangelism and (obvious) disciplemaking.
  3. Meeting students’ seemingly secular needs offers a host of opportunities that can lead to more overtly spiritual connections. Meeting felt needs will provide you a witness in places you’d never imagined reaching.
  4. Lots of collegiate ministries have found success by occasionally working alongside their school’s administration. I bet if a college ministry had designed and run MIT’s “Charm School” originally, the administration would have quickly praised and supported it. There are lots of practical benefits and spiritual opportunities that arise when we care enough about our campus to help the administration meet some of its goals… and when we come up with ideas they wish they’d thought of.
  5. Necessity is the mother of invention: Our creativity will increase as soon as we discover (and care about) the very unique needs of our particular setting. This is where the first issue meets the second. One reason we aren’t more creative is because we aren’t pursuing meeting the special needs of our individual campuses. Fall in love – special, preferential love – with your campus, and “invention” will soon follow.

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do they see some good?

February 16, 2012 in assessment & strength, for evangelism, for fun & social activities, for large-scale efforts, for mission trips & other trips, for recruitment, for service, teaching topics | Leave a comment

College ministries have the amazing chance to draw people to the Lord – and establish change on their campus and in the world – by beating the world at its own game(s).

Surely, students in your campus ministry and the average non-Christian on your campus have some hopes in common. Surely, your ministry and the campus administration have some goals they’d agree on. What are they? Are others seeing your good deeds and asking How?

Surely, we who know the King of the Universe, who are instructed in His thoughts and His ways, should be seeing fruit in ways that others don’t. Christians in history have often exemplified excellence at many of the very things the world itself (rightly) sees as “good”… while staying holy in regards to the places the world is confused.

Are you doing that on your campus?

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tying college ministry to valentine’s, romance, and more (frideas galore)

February 10, 2012 in campus integration, for evangelism, for fun & social activities, for funding, for large group meetings, for large-scale efforts, for service, for teaching & small groups, frideas, teaching topics | Leave a comment

Yesterday I wrote about using Valentine’s Day (or Valentine’s Week) to make students (especially the gals) feel special, to help students learn about serving others, to discuss Christianity’s counter-cultural version of and vision for romantic love, and other possibilities.

The thing is, romance, possible romance, and thoughts of future romance are always going to be a big part of college students’ lives (especially since by “romance” I mean any related topics). So why wouldn’t we tie some portion of our work to this very teachable moment, an area in which Christianity truly has an awful lot to say?

Today, some ideas about the How of all this. Beyond the normal “Dating series,” what can your college ministry do about these issues surrounding V Day – or any other time of the year? I figured I’d throw out a handful of Frideas, and hopefully some of them will be useful – or get you thinking!

  • Campus-wide seminar (on sexuality, dating, etc.)
  • Fundraisers connected to Valentine’s (sell roses, Val-o-grams on campus, care packages paid for by friends or significant others or parents, etc.)
  • Serving local adults on Valentine’s by watching kids during “date night”
  • Etiquette Dinner
  • Regular, somewhat nice dinner on Valentine’s Day (or any Friday night) for college students just to get to know each other (sometimes called “Dinner for Ten” or something similar)
  • Panel discussion by adults on romance topics
  • Talking about not simply the “rules” of dating but being a good couple
  • Talking about not simply the “rules” of singleness but using your singleness well
  • Honoring couples in your ministry who have done things well (by them sharing their testimony, discipling other couples, etc.)
  • Loving on others around Valentine’s Day (older people, the homeless, students’ own parents, international students, etc.)
  • Facilitate special date nights for couples in your ministry
  • If you’re a married (or dating) college minister, go out regularly with student couples in your ministry

Lots of ideas that certainly center on different purposes. And I’m sure we could all come up with more!

 

valentine college ministry

February 9, 2012 in current events, for community-building, for fun & social activities, for large group meetings, for service, for teaching & small groups | 1 comment

Do you see Valentine’s Day as an important opportunity in your campus ministry? Here’s a post from a couple of years ago that could give you some thoughts for next Tuesday…

One of the best projects I was ever a part of involved giving roses to the girls in our small group during Valentine’s week.

I led a co-ed freshman Bible study my sophomore year of college. So before Valentine’s came around, I got all the guys in our group to secretly donate, come particularly dressed up that night, and then meet together just before group time. I handed out roses I had ordered, and s our lovely ladies walked down the hall, we were looking sharp and carrying flowers to give to them.

Valentine’s Day is possibly in the Top Ten of regular opportunities college ministries have to

  • be counter-cultural and redefining
  • shine
  • serve
  • make people’s day
  • develop group community
  • raise expectations for all these future spouses
  • or all of the above.

Whether ministry-wide or within individual small groups, this is a chance for people to think about making each other feel special – whether they’re just buddies or they’re more.

Tomorrow, Frideas on how we can help students love each other well (at Valentine’s time or otherwise).

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partnership’s role: an assessment of your ministry

February 2, 2012 in assessment & strength, brainstorming & creativity, campus integration, for large-scale efforts, for service | 3 comments

Last semester, I had the chance to help my church out on our Local and International Service team. And one of the things I really appreciate about those guys is that they have a major partnership bent. Even though our church is big and could do a lot of service activities on its own, instead our M.O. is partnering with those in our community (or overseas) who are already making an impact.

Clearly, lots of churches don’t take that same stance. But the truth is, lots of college ministries don’t, either. In our case, I believe there’s room for a lot more partnership in service activities – as well as other functions of our ministries.

How often do you consider questions like these?:

  • Before we launch a Bible study for that sorority, do we know of any other ministries with students in that club?
  • Instead of assuming nobody’s already reaching that dorm, have we tried to find out and maybe join them?
  • We’ve thought about advertising to that nearby community college – is there a church that might want to help with that outreach?
  • Are there any other secular clubs on campus that could partner with us for this campus-wide party?
  • Before choosing a new service project, have we considered the ones the campus is already getting behind?
  • Instead of having our five students with a passion for _____________ do that on their own, what if they joined forces with similar students from other ministries?

Believe me, I recognize there are sometimes great reasons NOT to partner. But I feel like we’re more often erring on the other side of things, on the side that needlessly recreates wheels and misses opportunities for a little extra unity. We have to be open to considering partnership often.

One more note – When it comes to partnering with other ministries, let me say this: I am by no means a naysayer when it comes to having multiple college ministries on a campus. I understand the role they serve, and I know there are real differences between groups. (It is a misunderstanding of biblical unity to declare that things shouldn’t be this way.) But the fact that there often should be multiple college ministries on one campus doesn’t mean that the next activity can’t be done in unison – whether it’s starting a niche ministry or holding a Service Day downtown.

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love thy neighbor (a fridea)

January 27, 2012 in campus integration, for evangelism, for fun & social activities, for recruitment, for service, for using student leaders, frideas | 1 comment

The college ministry I volunteer in meets in a large theater on the SMU campus, inside the Student Center. But like a lot of campus Student Centers, there are several other meeting rooms down there. So as students arrive and as they leave, there are often other meetings taking place (or people coming to / going from those meetings).

So I’ve often wondered if there’s any great way to connect with these students or their organizations. Could we feed them? Invite them to our large group after their event gets done? Serve them in some way? Or organize a “mixer” event for our group and theirs?

I know this Fridea doesn’t apply to all college ministries out there – some of you meet in an area of campus where other organizations don’t, and others meet off-campus. (Of course, you can still do those sorts of things for groups, even if they’re not your physical neighbors week-to-week.) It’s not tricky (usually) to figure out what groups are meeting in certain rooms on-campus – making it all the easier to provide targeted impact, whatever it happens to look like.

Whether the groups that meet near yours are different week-to-week or (like you) they have a standing arrangement, the point is that they’re near you. Why not take the opportunity for hospitality, service, invitation, or fellowship?

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going for broke #8: start a tradition

December 16, 2011 in brainstorming & creativity, campus integration, for community-building, for evangelism, for funding, for large-scale efforts, for recruitment, for service, frideas, going for broke: big leaps | 1 comment

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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tweaking your Finals plans (an abundance of frideas)

December 2, 2011 in end of the semester / quarter, for community-building, for evangelism, for fun & social activities, for large-scale efforts, for recruitment, for service, frideas | Leave a comment

I’ve written (and even spoken at a conference) before on a method for brainstorming that not only makes “creativity” easy for non-creative people, but also allows college ministers to tweak their present activities to accomplish our purposes best. I call it “exploring the edges” or the Slider Method.

If you’re interested, you can find audio of my “Better Brainstorming” talks via Campus Ministry United. Here are the links; you can download them or play them directly: “Better Brainstorming With Benson” pt. 1, “Better Brainstorming With Benson” pt. 2. (There’s a shorter, somewhat different explanation at this post, too.)

So I thought for today’s Fridea, I’d use that method on the classic “Finals Study Session.” This should provide some Frideas you can actually use, but hopefully (and more importantly), it’ll give you a tool for tweaking any other Finals Week ideas you’ve got for maximum effectiveness.

The Classic Finals Study Session

Lots of college ministries (and other student organizations) establish some kind of presence on campus to help students study (and/or provide a break from studying). Of course, other purposes can be accomplished besides this act of service – like connecting with students, recruiting, and so on.

The “classic” method may be exactly what a campus ministry needs to best hit its aims. But what if a method can be tweaked to do that even better? Let’s explore some various “axes” of this particular method and see what versions we come up with. Would any of these fit your purposes better?

The Who Axis (thinking bigger, smaller, or crazier)

bigger (on the who axis)

  • Advertising all across campus, not just to your ministry
  • Specifically urging students to bring friends
  • Bringing together students from multiple campuses (which might affect WHERE you have it, too)
  • Do this in conjunction with other collegiate ministries

smaller

  • Holding this for only a single major
  • Offering it for one dorm or apartment complex
  • Establishing a “guys only” or “girls only” or “Seniors only” study break (etc.)
  • Purposely holding it only for your campus ministry’s students (and maybe any friends they bring?)

crazier

  • Encouraging professors, tutors, or staff to attend (for the fun, to connect with students, or to help students)
  • Bringing in people from a local church or churches to facilitate, connect with students, etc.
  • Limiting the invite to different groups on different nights (maybe even mixing groups interestingly)

The What Axis

bigger (on the what axis)

  • Offering not only study time but… food, tutoring, video game breaks, board game breaks, napping couches, movies…

smaller

  • Limiting it to only those who need a certain kind of studying – like group study, or completely silent study
  • Not offering study space at all, but only relaxation, food, tutoring, or any of the other things listed under “bigger”
  • Focusing on large-group study sessions around a single test or single major

crazier

  • Taking a “study road trip”!
  • “Crash” a local restaurant or coffee shop to do this (you might wanna let them know)
  • Coordinate with professors to provide extra special study aids for particular tests

The When Axis

bigger

  • Offer this far more than you’d planned – maybe throughout Finals (or even start before Finals start)
  • Offer the session(s) for longer than usual – all day, all night… or both!

smaller

  • Offer this only once
  • Make the time especially short (but do it really, really well)

crazier

  • Offer several of these at different times and in different locations (which affects WHERE axis, too)
  • Make it a “cram session” offered early every morning
  • Put it in the middle of the day instead of at night

Get the idea? By focusing on one “axis” at a time, we can take any method and think through potential “tweaks.” And we only explored three axes here - you could still brainstorm the Where Axis and the “newly discovered” With Whom Axis.

And of course, this method can be applied to any of yesterday’s 29 ideas… and anything else you’re planning to do during Finals this year. Are you accomplishing everything you could? Tweaking can be a lovely thing…

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Welcome to Exploring College Ministry

After ministering to college students for 8 years, my calling moved to advancing the entire field of College Ministry in every way I can. So I've spent the last 5 years exploring it very broadly (including a yearlong road trip), publishing a free book (Reaching the Campus Tribes), speaking, consulting, writing, and working on other projects - all to serve college ministers! To learn more, explore the header links or the tools below.

...and if I can help your ministry directly (or you want to support my mission), contact me!

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