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Sorry that this Fridea is coming kinda late, but it could at least help toward planning how you’ll respond to next year’s Halloween!
I do recognize that October 31st is “celebrated” differently campus-to-campus, and many schools may not see much when it comes to this weekend or the night of Halloween. But other schools see quite a bit – it’s the moment when everybody drinks, perhaps, or when the costumes come out (and not unto holiness), or when debauchery is otherwise at its worst.
So my Fridea and encouragement this week is to respond as God leads you and your ministry. The subject line offers some thoughts on that:
- View what takes place, like a missionary would / should. Let it break your heart. Let it open your eyes and your students’ eyes. Let God use what’s actually happening – not just what you assume is – to provide ministry ideas for next year. (I’ll likely prayer-drive through the “scene” myself tonight or tomorrow.)
- Serve students. Like Spring Break mission trips or finals week, your campus might respond well to free midnight pancakes or van rides. Yes, you’ll need to work through what’s best (and what might only encourage more problems), but it’s worth considering how you can serve – and build relational bridges to – students.
- Think long and hard about how you can best serve, impact, and encounter your campus at the Halloweens to come.
- Pray. Pray as you view, with your students, or otherwise. This might be a night for all-night prayer, or it might be something you intercede about regularly, leading up to next year’s Halloween.
- Teach. The issues raised by Halloween – and not just the occult issues, though those are real, too – are worth discipling about, right? Why shouldn’t a girl “dress to impress”? Why wouldn’t a college student drink to excess? What’s so wrong with a night or weekend of debauchery? How can we serve our peers when they’re wrapped up in these things? Have you taught even your Christian students this stuff?
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I’m moving to a new house here in Dallas this week, so a Fridea springs to mind:
Serve students by helping them move (in or out) at times other than the start of school… and even in places other than the dorms!
I recognize “Move-in” is a widely used, classic method for service and recruitment each Fall. But students can be served at other times, too – like when they’re moving out of their dorms at Christmas or Summer Break. They need help moving back in after Christmas, too, and sometimes summer students could use some help, too!
Further, it’s not just dorm-living students who have to move stuff. While it may look a little different, it’s probably not too hard to get a crew of students to look for moving trucks (and then offer to help) at student-oriented apartment complexes.
Like a lot of our methods, we can often accomplish new purposes (or old purposes better) simply by thinking creatively about the classic methods that we’re already using (like start-of-school Move-in)!
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I’m sick today. Some sort of head-cold. Ug.
Apparently I was sick right about this time last year, when I wrote the post below (but I’ll add a little bit for today). It’s a good one (in my humble opinion), and there’s a lot you could do with it here at the beginning of the semester!
What if your college ministry developed a “care team” to encourage, minister to, and practically help students who are sidelined?
While my original thought here was loving on sick students, this could also work (and might be even more important for) those sidelined with other situations – family stuff, funerals, a service project or mission trip that cuts into school days, etc.
Before a team was developed, staff could be ready to handle this simple, awesome chance for service. But the more preparation you can do beforehand – assembling a team, buying materials for Care Packages, writing up a few plans – the better you’ll serve students in tough (or tough-ish) times.
This is all a chance to serve your flock – whether it’s as simple as having a stash of Get Well Soon cards ready to send, or something extravagant like sending in the troops to hand-deliver flowers, notes from their friends, or a blanket and candy (or whatever a student’s mom says they might enjoy – yes, you can call their parents to get ideas, and their parents will likely really appreciate your gesture).
For those missing school: Unlike high school, missing a college class often matters, especially when a student hasn’t planned ahead for the missed day. Does a student need to borrow somebody’s notes from class? Do they need info on assignments they can be working on? Talking to their profs about why a student is out might help, too. So could “filling in” if they have some sort of commitment that really needs a fill-in.
Of course, the ability and mobility of campus ministries vary. In fact, this kind of ministry might actually be easier for a smaller group, I’d imagine. But any group that generates community and networked-need-sharing could pull this off.
(In fact, if we can’t even imagine our students getting behind this kind of effort, we might not have developed much of a true “community” yet.)
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Does your campus do “Move-in”? Do you have the opportunity to help students (and their parents) unload cars, trudge to the dorms, trek up the stairs, cram into closets?
That’s now available or allowed on every campus, but for some campuses, it’s an awesome way to serve – in a way that, we all have to admit, actually serves. Moving help is help indeed.
But I hope that’s not the only way our college ministries try simply to help as school starts. It might be easy to be focused nearly entirely on recruitment, planning the first large group meeting, organizing that big event, or… recruiting some more. And while those things matter – a LOT – there are chances to serve.
That’s this week’s Fridea: Take an hour (perhaps with actual students) thinking about the actual students – Billy, Jamie, Todd – who will walk onto campus. What will students (freshmen and otherwise) NEED in those moments?
Consider the Billies!
They don’t have a “felt need” for you to recruit them. (Although they may need you to help them decide among opportunities!)
They don’t have a “need” to come to your event. (But they may need directions to their classes.)
They don’t “need” to know who helped them move in (so if you’re not moving people in simply because your school won’t let you advertise…)
They don’t “need” a flier – pass as many out as you can, but passing out lemonade during move in may be the greater act of service.
If you think through (and pray through) various students’ first-steps-on-to-campus, you’ll come up with a handful of needs. Some will be needs you could meet. And some may be needs you should meet. Don’t think about what it was like for you – think about what it’s like for the class of 2015 (as well as the sophomores and older). Think about various groups on campus, too. If you can only meet the needs of one group really well, choose THAT over meeting a large crowd’s needs in a so-so way.
That’s the tips I’ve got, but I’m sure you could come up with more!
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Yesterday, I wrote a little encouragement toward looking for partnership opportunities among your student leaders. “Just about anything one student leader can do,” I wrote, “two student leaders can do!”
It’s true.
And two (or three or four or five) can likely do it better, whether we’re talking about organizing clean-up after a party or leading a Bible study for a year. Here are just a few reasons why:
- The approach will be more complete.
- The approach will be more balanced / well-rounded.
- Each leader’s individual weaknesses will be balanced out.
- Areas of the task can be delegated based on various leaders’ strengths.
- Greater accountability for the task(s) involved – like being diligent in preparation, praying for the task/people, working ’til the job’s done, etc.
- Different perspectives always help.
- If dealing with people (like in a Bible study or on a ministry team), there’s a better chance for people to “click” with one of their leaders. (This often leads to greater impact!)
- Leaders have a better chance of staying encouraged – and avoiding burnout – and therefore will be better leaders.
We all recognize that “two heads are better than one,” even while we also recognize the danger of “too many cooks in the kitchen”! Of course, there’s a balance to be struck here.
But even for the sake of getting the task done well, we should consider partnership!
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This week, I’ve been working hard to notice the good ideas for College Ministry embedded like Easter eggs within the things we encounter every day. It’s good to view the world through “college ministry lenses,” because you never know where a good idea for YOUR ministry might pop up.
Yesterday I was watching Saved by the Bell while I was getting ready for the day. It was the episode where Zack, Lisa, and Screech develop a “Teen Hotline” to give advice to fellow students.
So that got me thinkin’…
Could you provide some “extra help” in any way to students on your campus? This might even mean some sort of “question hotline” - maybe for new students in the first weeks of school, helping them find their class, deal with red tape, or otherwise “learn the ropes.” Or for Transfer Students, who likely don’t have nearly the help – from campus staff OR parents – that freshmen do. Or for International Students, all year long (the campus might even pay for that!).
Some campus help desks – like Auburn’s – are famous for their ability to answer any and all questions… but not every school has that. Could a college ministry do something along those lines?
If it’s not a phone line, what else could it be? I’ve written before about positioning “Map-Bringers” around campus to help new students. What if you ran a one-time seminar with “tips and tricks” for navigating your school, complete with panel discussion AND some input on picking a college ministry and a church? One ministry in Ft. Worth has done “city tours” as the semester started, giving great opportunities to start relationships while serving students in a real way. You could run a blog that functions like a “tip line,” with (anonymous) questions and answers for all to see – on any topic(s) you choose.
This is a fun one to chew on, but I better hit the brakes before this post gets too long… and you’re bound to come up with ideas that fit your campus best, anyway.
Thanks, Zack Morris!
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This week, I’m doing what we can all do: Noticing. Keeping my eyes open for College Ministry ideas in daily life, from a multitude of sources that have nothing whatsoever to do with college ministry.
When we look at the world through the lens of our calling, God might just put some ideas in our path.
A couple of days ago, an episode of Friends featured a suicidal guy (Jason Alexander of George Costanza fame, in fact). Yesterday on Cash Cab, somebody joked about having to kill themselves if they missed a question. Obviously, both references were played for comedic effect (and I promise I’m not encouraging that). But since I was looking for college ministry ideas, it led me to something very serious.
Are you prepared NOW for the day when you face the need for suicide prevention, or when the topic comes up in a serious way?
You might not have the time to search the internet for resources, or to ask around for a good Christian counselor or minister to refer a student to. You might not have the chance to find a book to help you know what to say to one of your students’ roommates, when your student calls in the middle of the night, freaking out. Somebody may be across the table from you and note that they’ve “been having some really dark thoughts” – it’s doubtful you’ll want to ask them to hold on while you search your phone for a Best Practice for that situation.
And when someone commits suicide – a student on campus, a family member of a student, or even someone in your ministry – are you going to be ready to shepherd? Could the campus even call on you as a resource in that dark time?
This summer, I encourage you to develop a simple expertise and simple plan for this area. Maybe share it with your student leaders and staff. Please be ready.
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One of the roads to creativity I’ve written about before is simply looking around ourselves for collegiate ministry ideas. If we’ll keep our eyes open each day, there are always good ideas we could consider adapting to our world! Sometimes we just have to watch, notice a good idea (even when it has NOTHING to do with campus ministry), and then let our mind run with how we might adapt it to our work.
So to practice that method and have a little fun, that’s what I’m going to do this week: Watch for the college ministry ideas all around me, and share them with you!
Today’s idea comes from some workin’ I did yesterday at Panera Bread Company.
Panera Breads nationwide have free, no-hassle wireless internet. (As you can imagine, I’ve used them on occasion in various spots.)
Now, I recognize that for those college ministries that have buildings, offering free wireless to students who come hang out is (probably) a no-brainer for you! (If it’s not, well then thank Panera for that idea, too!)
But taking this one step further, I realized that nowadays we don’t need a building to provide internet for people, including off-campus where it still may not be readily available. Here are some ideas that just came to mind, as I let my mind run with this:
- What if your ministry invested in a mobile hotspot, so staff or student leaders can get work done while having a “ministry of presence” – perhaps in the lobby of a dorm or apartment, or at a local hangout?
- Better yet – some mobile internet options can allow for more than just a few connections. I know CLEAR internet, for example, is in many cities now; a little home internet tower and router could easily be taken to a restaurant, spot on campus, or other place where you’d love to connect with students. (What if you sponsored “study hours” each week, or during Finals?)
- Is there some place – a local hangout, a dorm, a building on campus – where your ministry could actually sponsor free wireless for everybody (or take up the cause and raise money from local businesses to do that)? What a way to serve students!
- (Remember, the idea is to let your mind run…) Has your ministry considered an iPhone app? It’s very possible you’ve got a student who would love to take that on as a project. (Check out examples of what can be done – or ways to get this professionally done – at ministries like The Church App.)
What’s your #5? The point here is brainstorming – not every idea will be useable, but you never know when you’ll be able to connect a good idea “out there” to a good idea for your ministry!
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I’ve edited this (hopefully that means I’m a better writer than I was three years ago), but my weekly “College Ministry Frideas” started with this fun one… and it’s one I’ve personally done. And it’s one of the more surprising ways you can love on students!
Here’s a bouncy idea for loving on college students who are away for the summer!
Did you know that you can mail a lot more than just boxes through the Post Office? It’s true!
Hopefully, you’re already planning to send your “away students” something while they’re spending the summer at home, serving on mission trips, diving into summer projects, or serving at camps. And they wouldn’t just be excited to hear from you, but also from any friends who are still “local” for the summer, too.
So holding a “care package construction day” or “postcard writing day” within your summer ministry could go a long way toward encouraging and impacting students who don’t get to see your faces on a regular basis.
BUT, why not step up your game even more? You can send some BIG love, thanks to the US Postal Service.
Ingredients (which can be located at any Super Wal-Mart):
- Several dark-colored Sharpie markers (regular-sized or extra-thick)
- One humongous, light-colored bouncy ball. Look for the ones about three feet in diameter. If you can’t find ‘em at Wal-Mart, they’re bound to be somewhere. Maybe even order several cheap online.
Here’s the deal: You’re going to have local students (and others!) write notes all over the ball. Then, the ball will be sent as is to the student – no box.
Like I said, I’ve done this before… In fact, one student loved this so much she made a point of saving the ball all summer, including taking the ball as her airplane carry-on, on her lap, all the way home. (Did you know big, bouncy balls deflate when they take an airplane ride?)
Just think about students’ reaction on the receiving end! You think their camp buddies or mission trip buddies won’t be jealous?
Steps to take:
- Before writing notes, draw a large (12-inch by 6-inch) box on the ball.
- In one half of the box you’ve drawn, write the NAME and SUMMER MAILING ADDRESS of the recipient of the “package.” DO NOT fill the entire space, because you’ll need the room for a postage label (these can be big labels sometimes).
- Then, get notes the easy way! Just take the ball(s) to your weekly meeting (assuming you have one during the summer) or to church. (People will notice if you’re carrying a big ball around at church, so that helps.)
- With a little extra leg-work, you can also get some really unexpected notes for your ball. The student’s parents (if they’re local) will be glad to add a note. So will church leaders at their church. But think big here – what about a professor they love? The school’s president? The mayor? A local celeb? Plenty of people would be happy to write a quick note of support – or even a signature – for a college student doing volunteer work over the summer.
Finally, it’s time to send your creation(s).
As far as I know, it’s still very legal to send just about anything through the mail (so if you’d rather send a banana or a pillow, feel free!). However, you probably want to find a friendly and experienced postal employee to help. They don’t get these requests every day, and you want somebody who realizes it’s legal – without getting mad that you’re trying to send a big ball in the mail…
WORST CASE SCENARIO: If your local USPS people absolutely refuse, you can always just put your item in a box. That’s certainly less fun on the receiving end, but it’s still pretty great. Or, if you know your USPS staff won’t cooperate with your ball-sending endeavor, you could just let everybody sign a big box in the first place.
As always, this “Fridea” can be useful as-is, or it may even be more useful for springboarding you to your own creative endeavor! (If you’ve got a similar idea, let us all know in the comments!)
Of course, you always want to make sure whatever you send really is legal. No “Animal Fighting Accessories,” for instance. Here’s the official USPS list of “Other Restricted and Nonmailable Matter.” It’s both informative and rather entertaining at points.
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