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One of the most illuminating interactions I’ve been a part of occurred a few years ago at a forum for college ministers.
At the event, a major publisher sent a representative to gauge our interest in their products. They had marketed quite heavily to the collegiate ministry crowd, and they wanted to know how to connect with us even better. (Kudos to them for seeking our opinions!)
What followed was quite interesting.
The college ministers in attendance kept asking if this publisher planned to release any collegiate editions of their Young Adult small groups materials. Or, they suggested, perhaps the publisher could put out collegiate “study guides” to go along with the present materials, which – again – were targeted toward young adults.
It was fascinating to watch, because the representative was quite confused. In fact, I’m not sure he ever wrapped his head around what we were asking for. In his mind, their materials were for college students. But college ministers know better: What is needed by Young Adults isn’t always the same as what’s needed by collegians.
lumping
This is one example of the ways outsiders to the field of College Ministry often “lump us together” with other ministry fields. And so we’ve got another BIG opportunity to help advance our field – by helping delineate our arena of ministry from others.
College ministry isn’t the same as youth ministry. College ministry isn’t the same as young adult ministry, either. Sure, some events (like some large group meetings) might fit multiple groups. Sure, some positions (in churches, at least) might have to cover multiple arenas. But none of that means these fields are close enough to be lumped together in general. It’s like with veterinarians: They may be able to treat different species, but all those species are still different enough to matter.
We’ve got a long way to go here. Far too many churches, for example, treat “18-25″ (or an even larger span) as a natural grouping for ministry, when that’s only applicable in a few very specific contexts. Some seminaries try to put both youth and college ministry training under the same umbrella. Publishers, as noted above, might not even imagine we would want something different for our students than their standard Young Adult or Youth fare.
delineate
When we kindly, patiently, and clearly delineate these areas for outsiders, we’re actually helping advance our field! How?
- They realize that what goes on in our field is something unique.
- They realize that college students need different things than either high schoolers or young adults.
- They realize that college ministers need different things than ministers in other fields.
- …So they have the chance to tailor services and products that help us best.
Often, doing this can be combined with the Catalytic Questions idea: By asking what groups have specifically for college students or for college ministers instead of these other groups, you’re automatically delineating the arenas!
Other times, you may just need to ask for clarification, or provide clarification when outsiders lump us with other fields. (I’ve done that at least two or three times this week!) A question like, “Wait – did you say this was for youth ministers or for college ministers?” helps them know you see these arenas (rightly, I’d argue) as different enough to matter.
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[Click to ask questions, comment, or see any comments on this post!]
A couple of days ago, I got to attend a lunch hosted by Youth Specialties. (If you’re unfamiliar, YS has been a driving force for the field of Youth Ministry for the last 40 years; I mentioned that as a comparison point in the last chapter of the Reaching the Campus Tribes ebook.) I figured I’d drop in on the lunch (and got permission). It was a good time.
But since I’ve been to maybe a few dozen various gatherings of college ministers over the years, I immediately began to notice… differences. So while this is rather off-the-cuff and just my ponderings from one little lunch, I thought it might be fun to blog what I noticed.
1. More girls. Per capita, there seemed to be more females in this flock. If this holds out across the field of Youth Ministry, it probably wouldn’t be because there are more female head youth ministers than female head college ministers; there may actually be more of the latter than the former. Instead, I’d guess that youth ministries are much more likely to have the budget for multiple staff, and in cases of multiple staff, someone of the opposite sex from the director is often the first recruit.
(There could be a lot of reasons, but that’s my top guess. In any case, I noticed there were several ladies.)
2. Church-based predominant. Of course, in Youth Ministry the most recognizable form seems to be church-based youth ministers. While groups like Young Life do exist and have a mighty impact, I wouldn’t think they’d be considered the “classic” form. In College Ministry, that’s switched. (And we have two additional branches, as well: institutional college ministry and collegiate churches. I’m not sure if Youth Ministry has anything comparable, at least in any great numbers.)
3. Younger, on average. Not all youth ministers are young; that’s for sure. But there are reasons that a group of youth ministers might skew younger than a group of college ministers. When I’m in forums of college ministers, it seems like I run into quite a few that are over 30. (Of course, this depends on the organization – some orgs do perpetually have a large crop of 20-something leaders.
4. “Liveliness.” I’m not exactly sure how to explain this without sounding derogatory, but this was definitely a livelier (more evidently extroverted? more “youthy”?) gathering than most College Ministry ones I’ve attended. I do think that ministers take on the characteristics of their groups, and that’s not a bad thing. But might that mean a group of youth ministers would happen to act younger than a group of college ministers?
5. A sense of a developed “field.” It’s hard to explain, but listening to the speakers at the lunch gave a real impression of a true field of ministry in a way that College Ministry doesn’t have yet. Of course, some of that came from the fact that YS – which has helped drive and solidify that field – was the group sponsoring the lunch.
6. More discussion of development theory and other theory issues. This is one of the ways it quickly becomes clear that the field of Youth Ministry (as a whole) is quite a bit more developed than the field of College Ministry (as a whole). It is very rare – with one big exception I’ll note in a second – for lifespan development processes, theories of personal spirituality, and other more heady topics to come up in most college ministry conversations. There will be a day when our field “gets to that,” but right now we haven’t really developed to the point where this is a front-burner issue.
The exception (as I’ve noted on this blog before): institutional college ministers. Those who lead spiritual development at Christian colleges seem to have a penchant for discussing the more theoretical / academic sides of our field. (It’s something we can all gain from them!)
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A while back, I had the opportunity to attend a panel discussion by leaders in the field of Youth Ministry at a seminary. The panel was very well attended and really informative… plus, it even showcased an impromptu debate between two really well known communicators about the value of home schooling.
There was space for Q&A, and I got to head to the front and ask a pretty simple question, along the lines of, “In what ways have you been able to get wisdom from college ministers about how high school students should be trained?”
Crickets would have chirped, had there been crickets in the room. Tumbleweeds would have tumbled, too (it was Texas, after all). They clearly had nothing to offer; my question was met with an agreeable response: “That’s a great question, but we really haven’t had opportunity to look at that,” basically.
I think most (or all) of those reading this would agree: Youth Ministers absolutely must seek the thoughts of College Ministers as they strategize the shepherding of their students. If those on the receiving end aren’t consulted about what students will need, what they generally seem to be missing when they get out of youth group, and the general climate into which they’re being thrown, then aren’t Youth Ministers missing an enormous opportunity for wisdom?
Of course they are.
But that’s not what this blog post is about.
Because if you agree with me… and I kinda bet you do… then there’s one more question that needs to be asked: When’s the last time you (as a College Minister) talked with a Young Adult Minister, a Singles Minister, a Young Marrieds Minister, a Premarital Counselor, or any other adult-area minster-type about
what young adults will need,
what they generally seem to be missing when they get out of college,
and the general climate into which they’re being thrown?
You can at least start with the locals, right? Couldn’t you grab coffee this week with somebody on a local church staff?
Tomorrow, I’ll post some thoughts after spending a whole weekend with the (fellow) young adults at my church. [Here's that post!] But don’t wait for me – there’s better wisdom from the people who actually serve full-time in ministering to the future versions of your present college students!
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[Click to ask questions, comment, or see any comments on this post!]
For us college ministers, whether we serve in Christian colleges, on campuses, or in churches.
How many high school seniors will interact with your ministry this spring? How many of those guys and gals will you disciple towards their transition by inviting them to experience a college ministry in action? How many future freshmen will you send notes of welcome and exhortation to? How many youth groups will you, your staff, or your students chat with about making a great transition to our world, the scary-awesome-incredibly-high-stakes world of college? How many youth ministers and parents in your area (region, state, nation) will be impacted by the viewpoint we have on making this transition?
If we don’t do it, it will get done almost nowhere.
How many high school seniors will interact with your ministry this spring, whether they will potentially join your ministry in the fall or not?
If we don’t do it, it will get done almost nowhere.
[This is actually the first of several spring-specific posts, which I'm putting under the "Frideas" category. You can see all of 'em here.]
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Merry Christmas! This week, as you and I celebrate and (hopefully) rest, I’ll be posting some Best of the Blog from 2009! Whether you missed these posts the first time or not, hopefully they’ll present some helpful, interesting, or surprising thoughts on our amazing ministry field.
One of the most-visited (and most-commented-on) posts of the year came in June, as I reflected on a unique paradox. It seems that many of the most “missional” American churches actually take a very UNmissional approach to college ministry. This is an important consideration for all kinds of college ministry, as we examine how local churches can/should be involved in reaching collegians on their terms and on their turf. Enjoy – and new comments are welcome!
On page 30 of Reaching the Campus Tribes, I broach a subject that I believe is really important for churches to ponder. The interesting dilemma is that some modern-style churches may actually impact students worse while striving to break with tradition. In fact, while trying to be more missional, some churches may end up less missional.
Some churches have opted to go the “non-traditional” route by pointing students directly to their intergenerational structures, “fully assimilating” them into the adult programs of the church. They plug them into small groups, Bible classes, or other activities alongside the church’s adults – without any opportunity for small group discipleship as college students or specialized outreach to local college campuses.
(Certainly, this sometimes takes place by default when churches haven’t taken the time to plan anything for students, leaving collegians to trickle into other areas of the church – and otherwise not stick around. That’s not what I’m talking about.)
As I write in Reaching, the full-assimilation method “certainly reflects a clear respect for college students as full members of the local congregation.” So on one hand, I applaud the motivation behind not separating college students and treating them as a distinct congregation (as one leader at a famous Emerging church described).
But for these highly missional churches, the funny thing is that this approach may be LESS missional in regard to those college students. Why? Because this method usually involves yanking them out of their actual community.
Though a college campus is located geographically within a particular area, it rarely has a high degree of sociological similarity to the rest of that area. Especially at residential colleges, many college students have one primary community – and it isn’t the local neighborhood, nor is it particularly similar to the local neighborhood. It’s the campus, and it’s (obviously) a world of its own.
This means that these otherwise missional churches are being highly “attractional” (in a sense that’s opposite from their normal efforts). If I’m not mistaken, this format pretty clearly demands that collegians leave “them” to come away with “us” to do church – both in location and in identity.
If we desire to be missional with college students, we have to think through what that means in their special case. Just as reaching our neighborhood missionally involves connecting with people “on their terms” and “on their turf,” impacting college students missionally involves recognizing their unique terms and turf, too. While it’s good for college students to get out of their small worlds some of the time, learning to live for Jesus within those worlds is vital, too.
The way I put it in the book was:
At the same time, it must be remembered that many college students’ cultural identity and community are located not in the local neighborhood but specifically within their collegiate experience. Thus any church aiming to reach people “missionally” and contextually should consider the special situation of college students. Unless efforts are made to reach campus tribes on their own terms, we may actually be missing opportunities for relevant impact in this important life stage. And we will be removing students from the very communities in which they presently have the most influence for God’s Kingdom.
I’m still thinking this one through. That’s one way we advance college ministry – through debate and rigorous thought. So while I’ll keep thinking, I did want to address this here. And I’d love to hear your thoughts – positive, negative, or illustrative.
[See the dozen or so original comments here!] [Add a new comment here!]
Yesterday’s post, “The Surprisingly Unmissional Approach to College Ministry,” garnered with some really great comments. So in case more people want to chime in (or people want to chime in again), I didn’t want to post on an entirely new topic – just extend the conversation.
First, I encourage you to read yesterday’s post and comments if you haven’t.
Further, Todd Engstrom of The Austin Stone Community Church very helpfully posted their collegiate methodology on his blog in response to my post. It’s an excellent example of a church that runs in “Emerging-Missional” circles but has seen the need to impact students as students (while also assimilating them into the church).
For my addition to the conversation today, I felt like it might be good for us to help each other remember some of the reasons the college campus is a unique “neighborhood” of its own, deserving of being reached on its own terms.
Clearly, for many Americans the collegiate experience certainly “feels” singular, not particularly similar to any other time of life. But I would go further and say that this “feeling” reflects something very real. Several aspects of this experience are drastically different enough that – at some level – students need to be reached like the collegians they are.
(That’s not to say we don’t also integrate / assimilate – read yesterday’s comments for some really great thoughts on that balance.)
I think any well-performed study would find significant differences between college students (as a group) and other groups in at least the following areas. As with any sociological grouping, there are variations along each of these lines. Each student is different. But as a group, college students experience a special world.
To get us started, some of the differences many college students experience:
- Financial situation
- Employment situation
- Schedule flexibility / “Margin”
- Weekly schedule
- Annual schedule
- Opportunities for stretching / growing experiences (study abroad, special summer activities, travel, etc.)
- Center of community (that’s a huge one)
- Felt needs (to some extent – but college ministers recognize students don’t always have a great grasp on what they need most. See next.)
- Actual discipleship needs
- Lack of intergenerational encounters
- Nearly all single (and those that are married have often left the “collegiate world,” even if they are still attending classes)
- Less sociological diversity in other ways, too (because schools are both selective and selected, and they function as fairly closed systems, resulting in true “tribes” of varying homogeneity)
What would you add?
The point is, these factors directly affect students’ present discipleship needs, opportunities to involve them and disciple them, or the impact discipling them now instead of later has. So if all we ever do is pull them out of that world, their experience of Jesus won’t have much correlation with the very unique world they actually inhabit.
On page 30 of Reaching the Campus Tribes, I broach a subject that I believe is really important for churches to ponder. The interesting dilemma is that some modern-style churches may actually impact students worse while striving to break with tradition. In fact, while trying to be more missional, some churches may end up less missional.
Some churches have opted to go the “non-traditional” route by pointing students directly to their intergenerational structures, “fully assimilating” them into the adult programs of the church. They plug them into small groups, Bible classes, or other activities alongside the church’s adults – without any opportunity for small group discipleship as college students or specialized outreach to local college campuses.
(Certainly, this sometimes takes place by default when churches haven’t taken the time to plan anything for students, leaving collegians to trickle into other areas of the church – and otherwise not stick around. That’s not what I’m talking about.)
As I write in Reaching, the full-assimilation method “certainly reflects a clear respect for college students as full members of the local congregation.” So on one hand, I applaud the motivation behind not separating college students and treating them as a distinct congregation (as one leader at a famous Emerging church described).
But for these highly missional churches, the funny thing is that this approach may be LESS missional in regard to those college students. Why? Because this method usually involves yanking them out of their actual community.
Though a college campus is located geographically within a particular area, it rarely has a high degree of sociological similarity to the rest of that area. Especially at residential colleges, many college students have one primary community – and it isn’t the local neighborhood, nor is it particularly similar to the local neighborhood. It’s the campus, and it’s (obviously) a world of its own.
This means that these otherwise missional churches are being highly “attractional” (in a sense that’s opposite from their normal efforts). If I’m not mistaken, this format pretty clearly demands that collegians leave “them” to come away with “us” to do church – both in location and in identity.
If we desire to be missional with college students, we have to think through what that means in their special case. Just as reaching our neighborhood missionally involves connecting with people “on their terms” and “on their turf,” impacting college students missionally involves recognizing their unique terms and turf, too. While it’s good for college students to get out of their small worlds some of the time, learning to live for Jesus within those worlds is vital, too.
The way I put it in the book was:
At the same time, it must be remembered that many college students’ cultural identity and community are located not in the local neighborhood but specifically within their collegiate experience. Thus any church aiming to reach people “missionally” and contextually should consider the special situation of college students. Unless efforts are made to reach campus tribes on their own terms, we may actually be missing opportunities for relevant impact in this important life stage. And we will be removing students from the very communities in which they presently have the most influence for God’s Kingdom.
I’m still thinking this one through. That’s one way we advance college ministry – through debate and rigorous thought. So while I’ll keep thinking, I did want to address this here. And I’d love to hear your thoughts – positive, negative, or illustrative.
[(This post got some really helpful comments - if you can't see them below, click here to see the post with the comments. Meanwhile, the next post continues the discussion.]
My talk at the NACCAP conference last week covered two basic, important topics that every college minister should be prepared to chat about with anyone “sending” students into the college world: parents, youth pastors, pastors, or – in this case – high school counselors.
Those topics?
- What college ministry looks like nationally
- What they can do to prepare students for spiritual success in college
I neglected to share with you faithful blog readers about how my seminar went Friday – sorry about that! It seems to have gonereally well, and I heard some great feedback. I was also happy with the PowerPoint I was able to create, using several pictures from my trips to illustrate my points. Fun stuff.
Here’s the outline from my talk. If you want more explanation, just ask! Also, if I can help you OR local “senders” (youth pastors, high school counselors, parents, pastors) think about this stuff, contact me!
“NOTES FROM A YEARLONG ROAD TRIP” · NACCAP 2009
FOUR ASPECTS OF THE NATIONAL SCENE OF COLLEGE MINISTRY
1. The right college ministry can be life world-changing
- There are a bunch of great college ministries out there.
2. There is an enormous Collegiate Attention Gap (among Christians)
- For more on this, check out chapter 3 of my book.
3. Colleges don’t have moving walkways (and neither do college ministries)
- Transition into college is going poorly, and assimilation into strong Christian community is far from automatic.
4. Church seems a long way off.
- Local churches AND students’ home churches often do not have strong College Student Plans, and campus-based ministries and Christian colleges don’t always do a good job of helping students connect significantly to local churches.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO PASS THE BATON WELL
(applicable for anyone “sending” high school graduates into college)
1. Prepare students directly
2. Clue others in to the importance of a good transition
3. Use others’ wisdom to help prepare students
(I fleshed out those three ideas in a post the following week – click here for that.)
Written from Motel 6, Springfield, MO
Road Trip #11 update (Day 43)
yesterday’s T-shirt: the Cardinal tribe of University of Louisville
new campus yesterday: Saint Louis University
mileage so far: 5,958
(click here to see all the explorations from Road Trip #11)
Two ministry positions that, if implemented throughout America, might radically change our success at helping produce strong Christian adults:
1. An intern* in a Youth Group (whether church-based or parachurch) dedicated to keeping up with, impacting, and helping transition people in the year(s) after they graduate high school. Basically, this person would function as a college minister within the youth ministry.
1a. Since this is in fact a college ministry blog, I’ll note that an intern* within a college ministry could also function in much the same way – as a freshman-focused minister, for example, or (in a church-based ministry) purposefully impacting away students.
2. An intern* in a College Ministry (whether church-based or parachurch) dedicated to keeping up with, impacting, and helping transition people in the year(s) after they graduate college. Basically, this person would function as a young adult minister within the college ministry.
*these activities could also be done by part-time ministers or within the larger job description of someone who is full-time.
Any way you cut it, a champion for the “next steppers” (at either of those next steps) could be just what we need.
Yesterday I discussed Fuller Youth Institute a bit, but that brings up a question for us college ministry types:
Should college ministers care about something called a “Youth Institute”?
Absolutely.
Here are two great reasons college ministers should pay close attention to what FYI is doing and finding:
The College Transition Project
FYI’s 3-year study of high school graduates as they transition to college has already produced and attracted multiple resources. I encourage you to spend some time devouring some of the links at the College Transition Project page.
Crossover, crossover, crossover
As college ministers, it’s not uncommon to try to adapt Young Adult resources – from teaching materials to worship services to leaders – for use in collegiate settings. But it’s not too often that we think of Youth materials being helpful to our work in college ministry, too.
Honestly, most Youth Ministry resources wouldn’t cross over well to collegiate environments. But FYI is producing research and resources that truly connect with what we do – by helping us understand our students, our work, and our opportunities better. When Fuller Youth Institute studies students’ use of alcohol during and after high school… obviously that pertains to us, too. When people like Chap Clark discuss how hurt so many youth are… that applies to us as those youth grow up and enter our ministries. And so on. So while you may not think first about looking to Youth Ministry for valuable crossover materials, this looks like one BIG exception to that rule.
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