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I had an idea last night that I really like; I’m bummed it’s just now coming into my head. But I’m hopeful that God might use it in somebody’s ministry… now or later!
What if you invited local high school seniors to your ministry during their Spring Break?
Regardless of whether you’re a church-based college ministry, a campus-based ministry, or even a Christian college, we can all do our part in helping transition high schoolers into college spirituality. Plus, some of those local gals and guys might be staying in town – what better way to introduce your ministry?
If you advertise this in the right way, you might find high school students (those who didn’t get to do something cool for Spring Break) truly interested in visiting your large group meeting, chapel, social event, etc., during their break. You might even find local youth ministers willing to advertise for you – especially if they’re taking a break during Spring Break (as some do).
One of our best opportunities for brainstorming creative methods comes by zeroing in on unique moments. Spring Break is a unique moment – not only for present college students, but for future students, too.
An article in the Telegraph yesterday discusses some key principles for Christian “grown-ups” to remember if they want to connect well with college students and other young people. (By “grown-ups” I mean pastors, denominational leaders, parents, and even some college ministers.)
The short but fascinating article, “YouTube ‘spammed by U. S. Congressmen,’” can be read in its entirety here. It describes the awkward attempts by members of Congress to appeal to younger voters on YouTube. And it all fits perfectly with the difficulties many adults have in connecting with college students (and other Millennials). Senior pastors, especially, should read this.
Two months ago, YouTube started an official channel for the U.S. House of Representatives. (It’s called “HouseHub” for short.) The Telegraph notes that Dems and Republicans were invited “to share quirky political messages with voters.” It continues,
But analysts say the move has been hampered by politicians’ inability to adapt to an online audience.
Andrew Rasiej, founder of the political technology site Personal Democracy Forum, said too many messages consist of warbling monologues that miss the point.
Other postings, including one by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, were said to be too eccentric or random to resonate.
And then the key quote:
Mr Rasiej said: “The problem for Nancy Pelosi, or anyone who tries to do this, is that you can’t fake authenticity.
“The more you try to make the video authentic, the more inauthentic it becomes. And Nancy Pelosi’s cat video is the perfect example of overdoing it, and watching one’s head disappear in a pool of quicksand.”
If you’re interested, the Pelosi video is at the bottom of this post. Most pertinent to the discussion is the fact that the video ends with a “rickroll” – a non sequitur scene from Rick Astley’s 1987 music video that has become an internet fad. Clearly, whoever made the video is trying to fit in by including something trendy, but they do it in a way that doesn’t fit the usual context (and to be “rickrolled” is considered somewhat of an insult, in fact).
So it comes off like someone trying to be cool AND in fact being insulting… Either of which is worse than not trying at all. (The comments and reply videos on YouTube express viewers’ “immense displeasure,” to put it nicely.)
When adults aren’t familiar with the younger culture, it’s easy for “warbling monologues,” “eccentric,” “random,” or “fake authenticity” that appears “inauthentic” to describe their efforts. Sometimes they attempt shortcuts by including “cool” references or “cool” elements they’re clearly unfamiliar with. And sometimes their words or attempts can even be insulting to the very people they were hoping to serve.
But the article ends with one more principle that could provide some comfort for our grown-up friends. Millennials’ love for authenticity actually allows people to be less “slick” than they otherwise think might be necessary:
[Mr. Rasiej] told Politico: “It is important that [politicians] understand it’s different culturally. They all need to relax. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
Are we impacting students for four years of following Jesus… or forty?
The “Big Idea” series is now at number 8:
Help students transition from college.
This is yet another opportunity to transform our college ministries – by beginning to take the long view of student discipleship.
I would argue that our greatest aim should not be for our students to be awesome spiritual leaders by the time they get to their senior year. Our greatest goal should be for our present students to be awesome spiritual leaders when they’re senior adults.
Remember, in the last Big Idea post I suggested that youth ministers (and parents, etc.) have the primary responsibility for a successful transition to college. Just as a quarterback must be more “accurate” than a receiver, so those “throwing” college students into college have primary responsibility for how they land.
But before anyone gets mad about that – and before we college ministers get too comfortable – let me note that I’m fair in my logic. I have the exact same argument for the Latter Transition.
Except for the students themselves of course, we have the primary responsibility for helping students transition well from college to young adult life. Not young adult ministers, singles ministers, or new spouses(!). It’s our job. Not that others shouldn’t help; they should help, just as we college ministers should certainly invest in helping the transition to college.
But either we’re preparing them for the post-college leap – and for the years following the leap – or we’re not.
In many cases, we’re not. I’m guilty of that, too.
I’ll flesh this out more in the days to come. Feel free to add your thoughts along the way.
Continuing the “Big Idea” series on potentially transformative college ministry ideas, I arrive at #7:
Help students transition to college.
As you may have picked up from previous posts, some key assumptions underlie my discussion of the “Transitions” topic:
- Unsuccessful assimilation of Christian high school kids into collegiate spiritual community is one of the biggest problems facing college ministry
- This issue is not primarily the responsibility of college ministers, but of those impacting high school students (parents, youth pastors, pastors, etc.)
- But college ministers can still help this happen – and happen better
- I think helping this happen could radically transform both students’ lives and our own ministries
This is a topic I’ve talked about before, but I certainly think it’s important enough to include in this Big Idea series. So instead of rehashing, here’s an annotated list that might be helpful for reading (my thoughts, at least) about this vital topic:
70% of Church Kids Don’t Stick Around: Penned right before my big trip, this describes a key study that details just how big a problem “Transitions” is.
At the Hinge: An argument for getting involved with college students before they’re college students.
Fish Transish: Multiple ideas for helping new students transition, for application by college ministers or to pass on to your local friendly youth ministry peeps.
January is for Seniors?: Connecting with high school seniors before they’re college students.
Helping Fish Transish: A possible teaching series for preparing new college students.
Three Ways Recruitment is Ministry: Why our recruitment actually helps students transition well.
5 Ways College Ministers Can Cheat: Five ways to be involved with high school students to help prepare them for college.
Summer Students and the Awkward Dovetail: Various thoughts for churches working with home-grown students in the summertime.
Low-Hanging Grease: Why working on Transitions helps people care more about college ministry in general.
Orientation (A Reflection): An essay reminding us just how important successful transition is.
It can feel weird to “recruit” to a college ministry. It feels like competition; it feels like marketing; it feels so secular.
The truth is, recruitment is marketing, and most of the time it is (friendly) competition. But I think that’s okay.
And in a very real way, this kind of “recruiting,” though it can help from a “marketing” standpoint, is also very much a ministry to students…
…in at least three different ways:
- One major goal of recruitment is drawing some students to a ministry instead of to nothing. In some cases, a student will connect with your ministry instead of heading on a different path entirely.
- As we recruit, we’re also getting college students to think about finding spiritual opportunities in the midst of college. By advocating a particular ministry, we’re also advocating the very idea of plugging in to college ministry at all. This applies to all present college students, of course, but it can be really fruitful for future students (like I discussed yesterday). Sadly, many high school seniors aren’t hearing about collegiate spiritual opportunities from those who should be telling them (parents, teachers, youth pastors, pastor pastors, etc.). As we recruit, we’re counseling them for their upcoming college years, whether those freshmen end up attending our particular ministry (or even come to our particular college).
- Lastly, recruitment plays a role in future assimilation, too. Which ministry is a student going to be most excited about committing to? The ministry they found by “default” because they happened to be someplace at some time? Or the ministry that made contact, that recruited, that got excited about them? Friendly, warm, loving recruitment at some “activities fair” may be many students’ best first memory of your ministry.
There are many hundreds of handwritten pages of notes from my road trip, filled with all sorts of college ministry gems – including plenty of large-scale innovations and simple-but-powerful ideas.
This weekend, I ran across the notes from my interview with Jesse Bradley, then college pastor at North Coast Church outside San Diego. He told me that they annually invited high school seniors to participate – as fully as the youth wanted to – in the college ministry beginning each January. While they noticed it often taking until the fall semester for students truly to “stick,” it still provided the opportunity for transitioning students smoothly.
Not all of us minister in churches, but I bet most of us have access right now to future ministry participants. Don’t believe me?
Obviously, church-based college ministries do have a natural intake (which makes it all the more surprising how badly that transition often goes). But for those not in churches, what about connecting with local youth groups? Some of those students are going to stay local for college, right? Maybe other churches or youth parachurch ministries in your state will get you contact info, too. You could even take a “recruiting” trip, visiting youth ministries you know will probably send students to your campus.
Targeted Facebook messages can start this semester, as can letters to parents, as can getting your freshmen (and others) to contact friends who are still in high school. A great freshman-focused web site can go a long way, as can a Facebook group and lots of invitations.
Obviously, you probably won’t contact every new freshman and transfer student coming to your school. But why not connect with the students you can connect with, in whatever creative ways you can come up with? It’ll help them, and it will help your ministry.
Some stuff I was thinking about yesterday.
The top five objections for college ministry (on campus or in the church):
- The short time frame and transitory nature of the college years
- Past difficulties experienced by the organization when trying to reach college students
- Not enjoying the fruits of our labors, because students graduate and move on from us
- The hedonistic, “barbaric” nature of collegiate culture
- The financial cost involved, without receiving financial return (this is, sadly, the most common one I hear)
The easiest way to counter most objections is with one of these three responses:
- the same is true for missions, and we care deeply about that…
- the same is true for youth ministry, and we care deeply about that… OR
- all the better reason to go after strategic college ministry with gusto!
Those won’t cover everything. But most.
Any thoughts? Suggestions? Additions? Subtractions? Multiplications?
[A more detailed answers to objection #3 can be found here.]
The presence of youth ministry (and youth ministers) gives us the chance to see the future.
When is the last time you asked a high school minister about the trends he or she sees?
What’s happening now in high school – with personalities, preferences, abilities, spirituality, theology, etc. – will be happening in college soon enough. Fads won’t be around in a year or two, but trends may last for a decade or more. And some of those approaching changes to the collegiate landscape will probably be pretty drastic.
Good thing we have the inside scoop now, if we’ll ask for it.
Want to minister to college students… before they’re even college students? (Isn’t that cheating?)
Here are five ideas:
- Chapel. That local Christian high school might, in fact, be hurting for chapel speakers. Why not give a “preparing spiritually for college” talk – or series?
- Mini-Conference. What if your ministry hosted a “Getting Ready for College” seminar for local high school students, parents, or both? (Of course, you might just get some great PR benefits, too.)
- Youth groups. Whether at your church (or just a church) or in a local youth club (like Young Life), plenty of high schoolers would love to hear wisdom for their approaching “afterlife.” And their youth pastors might appreciate the help!
- Small group. Whether it’s one-on-one with a local youth, or sitting down regularly with a group of them, disciplemaking needs to happen in students’ lives… and you offer a special sort of wisdom from the collegiate perspective.
- Don’t think this can only be you. I know you’re busy! You’re a college minister! Fortunately, we have the opportunity not only to minister-to-youths-in-light-of-college ourselves, but we get to recruit some stud college students to the same opportunity! Of course some of your student leaders can speak in a chapel service, give a little seminar, teach a youth group, or disciple a high school senior.
This week, I’m thinking a lot about the impact college ministers can have on youthies. I intro’d that on Sunday; here’s another thought.
One of the great reasons for Collegiate Ministry is that it connects with people in the hinge of life: in those key college years. It’s a time when choices – whether good or bad – often have more radical effects than they do earlier or later. True success in college can have a particularly strong effect for the years following, and even for life. Failure in those years, of course, can work the same way.
So I honestly believe that the biggest “hinge” moment is (generally) right then, in those first few years after high school years.
Obviously, the years before college, the years after college, and other life stages are a big deal. But COLLEGE is, for many, a very special hinge.
So why would we, who work daily in this hinge, ever spend time ministering to those outside it?
What if what we say and do and teach before the hinge provides people a better “hinge” season altogether? What if we college ministers impact youth in ways that specifically prepare them for the college years?
Yesterday I pointed a high school senior to a college I thought she might be interested in, a university that happens to be in the same town as another school she visited recently. I think this “School #2″ might just provide a better experience – spiritually, socially, academically – for this gal, and she wanted to hear my thoughts. She had already noticed the school; now she’s planning to check it out.
Can you imagine the kind of impact that one conversation could have?
Of course, she might stick with her original school – or go somewhere else entirely. It’s a long way to August 2009.
But what if I planted a helpful seed yesterday, and School #2 makes the cut? Then our little discussion was simply College Ministry: The Prequel; I improved her college experience, regardless of when I happened to do it.
That’s our job, right? This is simply one lil’ chance to get ahead of the game.
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