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When there aren’t all that many seminary courses discussing Collegiate Ministry, what’s a boy (or girl) to do?
Appropriation. Take some of those other courses, and make ‘em apply.
I listed a few such courses yesterday; here are others that might be advisable for future/present college ministers – even some courses available at the undergraduate level. (So keep that in mind for your student leaders, too!)
5. Creativity
There are such courses – I recently saw one in the Dallas Theological Seminary catalog, taught by no other than Howard Hendricks. I bet there are even some secular courses out there that fit this bill. I certainly feel like we could use more creativity within the college ministry ranks… and the college campus is a canvas that loves creativity.
6. Advertising / Public Relations / Journalism
Another one of the courses I just “happened” to take at Texas A&M was Public Relations. The skills gained in classes like these will still last a lifetime; college ministers pretty regularly need to advertise, need to engage in public relations, and need to write. And though I’ve lumped these three fields together here, there are plenty of reasons each can come in handy at different times, too.
7. Other reglions / cults / Christianity from another perspective
Obviously, learning about these things can be beneficial for any future minister, but that’s particularly true for college ministers – with the plethora of religious expressions on campuses.
By “Christianity from another perspective,” I primarily mean discussions of Christianity on secular campuses. The “Bible as Literature” course I took at Texas A&M was invaluable, particularly when taught by a Jewish prof.
As for the discussion of cults, this kind of course could be ultra-helpful if you can find it. There is plenty of unhealthy / imbalanced ministry taking place on our campuses right now, and for all we know, we’re ripe for another Boston Church of Christ or similarly destructive incident. With an underdeveloped field of ministry, we’re particularly unprepared to counter such movements until it’s too late.
8. Media / Web / Communications
This is getting easy, right? Same thought as #6 – we talk a lot, we make web sites, we use media a lot. It couldn’t hurt to take a class or two.
Written from home (I’m back and exhausted – but it was a great trip!)
The last couple of weeks, I’ve been chatting about graduate-level Collegiate Ministry courses. But such courses are pretty few and far between.
So what’s a future (or present) college minister to do? Are there courses – in undergrad or grad school – that might not be specifically “Collegiate Ministry” but can still help prepare us for our specialist work?
Sure! If you’re in seminary, college, or know someone who is, here are some courses that might provide a helpful college ministry foundation. (And importantly, we could study these topics on our own, too…)
1. Missiology
As you know, this is the new lens with which I am viewing Collegiate Ministry. And the two missiology courses I took in seminary were some of the best learnin’ I’ve had.
2. Logic and Hermeneutics
Both secular logic and practical hermeneutics are helpful for college ministry. Very often our need to protect college students from unsound doctrines, poor arguments, bad Bible readings, and secular “trends” requires these skills. Further, we should be able to teach these truths to our students.
3. Generational differences, the Millennial Generation, or various other Sociology courses
For a few more years at least, many college ministers will be less “Millennial” than the students they shepherd. But Millennials will be the norm in Collegiate Ministry for a decade or more.
Of course, sociology, social psychology, and similar fields can always help us understand people a little better. (Social Psych was the best undergrad course I took.)
4. Ecclesiology
Forming one’s own ecclesiology is one of the biggest needs of any college minister. Reflection on the Bible’s principles and rules regarding involvement in local church – even though good people disagree – is essential for church-based and campus-based college ministers alike.
More tomorrow, including some more courses that could be offered at secular colleges, too.
The fourth course I got to observe was entitled, “The Collegiate Minister.” It’s being taught the second half of this week at Midwestern Seminary, 28 more hours of college ministry education on top of the 28 that made up “Developing an Effective Collegiate Ministry.” That’s quite a week of class for some of these students.
I didn’t need quite the same stamina, since I only got to sit in on the first hours of this fourth course. After some phenomenal time with several area college ministers yesterday (and one more meeting to come this morning), I’m heading south.
But from what I could tell, this last class of my seminary tour hits at the heart of the matter: who the college minister should be as a person and a minister. This is certainly a seminary course on the “Christian Education” side of things, as opposed to a more formal theoretical approach to collegiate ministry. Still – whether through seminary or books or training from other sources – these are truths we need, too. College ministers need integrity, a passionate walk with the Lord, a solid approach to ministry, a love for people, and a million guards against the rampant temptations of our mission fields.
Are we ready?
The explorations of Road Trip #9 aren’t done, though the seminary classes are. I’ll post what I’ve learned when I can; it’s been an extremely valuable trip.
Written from Kansas City
The course I began attending last night at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is entitled, “Developing an Effective Collegiate Ministry.” This is – believe it or not – one of two college ministry courses they’re cramming into this week. Basically their sched works out as something like 10 hours a day, Monday through Saturday, for a total of 4 credit hours. The second course of the week starts on Thursday.
It’s really not a bad plan for getting some college ministry education in; students (and profs) just need stamina!
Meanwhile, you may have noticed that this is already more college ministry teaching than nearly ALL other seminaries offer. But get this – MBTS actually offers nine 2-credit-hour Collegiate Ministry courses within their MDiv concentration (not including 9 more internship hours). I don’t know of any other seminary that comes close to 18 hours of actual classes.
Both of this week’s courses are overseen by Dr. Max Barnett, who was the director of the Baptist Student Union at the University of Oklahoma for (only!) 37 years. Dr. Barnett is a true college ministry “lifer” like few others, and he now serves as professor of Collegiate Ministry at both MBTS and its sister seminary in Ft. Worth.
But, his oversight doesn’t mean he teaches each lecture or course. This “Developing” course is being taught by longtime college minister and the present Collegiate Ministry Specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, John Strappazon.
The approach of this course appears to be a highly practical, even step-by-step, discussion of college ministry skills, situations, and principles. There are so many treasures of wisdom from the years of experience these guys have… this format allows them to share that: with methods, paradigms, examples, stories, and immediate, strong answers to questions.
More to come. What a great two weeks this is turning out to be.
Written at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City
My second venue on this Seminary Road Trip is Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, KY.
This course, the “Campus Ministry Seminar” facilitated by Dr. Chris Kiesling, is an annual opportunity to expose Asbury students to guest lecturers and special topics. Not all topics are directly “collegiate,” but they can certainly be applied. The course (at least this time around) is one credit hour, held in two marathon sessions Friday night and Saturday morning.
This weekend’s seminar is being delivered by Matt Russell and Gregg Taylor, primarily discussing their work at Mercy Street, a “safe harbor” community / church in Houston. Mercy Street is particularly dedicated to providing a congregation for those recovering from addictions, bad church experiences, and other deep hurts. Gregg was previously at the Wesley Foundation at University of Arkansas for 18 years, and Matt has college ministry ties, as well.
While the Beeson course was a Collegiate Ministry introduction, this is a chance to observe an entirely different type of course. When all is said and done after next week, I’ll have three or four types of courses to chat about.
More about ATS and Dr. Kiesling:
The other components of Collegiate Ministry education at Asbury Seminary include a standard college ministry course, as well as Dr. Kiesling annually attending a college ministry conference with students.
Dr. Kiesling was featured in that Christian Education Journal issue I was so excited about; his article was entitled, “A Long Adolescence in a Lame Direction: What Should We Make of the Changing Structure and Meaning of Young Adulthood?” You can actually read it at CollegeUnion.org beginning here; the second half is here.
Written at Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, KY
The last few days were some of the more invigorating in recent memory, and they encouraged me immensely about the future of college ministry… particularly if seminaries will play an active role.
Here is one reason I liked those 9 hours of attending, teaching, and otherwise participating in Beeson’s Campus Ministry course so much. (Hopefully this will make sense.)
1. I believe better collaboration is one of our biggest needs in college ministry.
2. A college ministry seminary course is indeed collaboration (Q&A, group discussions, etc.).
3. But it’s also “collaboration-plus”; it’s collaboration that is directed by experienced “practitioner referees.”
The professor is a practitioner, and he or she can therefore infuse wisdom from their own experiences into the discussions. And that’s usually the bounds of everyday collaboration; college ministers share with each other whatever wisdom and ideas they might have.
In an academic class, however, the teacher also regulates the collaboration activity. So the class is not only composed of people sharing with each other and hoping fruit will result; it’s people sharing with each other along a purposeful path.
A seminary course has “practitioner referees” other than the prof and guest speakers, as well: the textbooks and any other readings. The authors, like the professor, give their own input on college ministry practice, but they also provide a framework for making sure discussions go somewhere.
So through both the teachers and the readings, a seminary student receives wisdom from true authorities on the subject (presumably). That’s a bonus all by itself, since most of our collaboration opportunities can’t be with true “experts.” But students also have those authorities guiding the learning/collaborating process. Double bonus!
Collaboration of all kinds can be helpful. But collaboration in this way – in a way that seminary courses provide – is certainly a helpful addition to our field.
At least that’s my hypothesis. We’ll see how it plays out over the next week… I’ve left Beeson, and Asbury is next up.
Written from Goodlettsville, TN (in the Nashville area)
I feel like today went well. Thanks for any praying you were able to do!
I had the chance before teaching to meet with the University Ministries staff of Samford University. It was a wonderful 2 hours.
I love Q&A sessions, particularly because I feel like I get to share stuff people actually want to know about and because specific questions help me make sense of all the random year’s worth of college ministry explorations jumbled within my head. They asked some incredible questions, and we got Greek food. What else can you ask for?
Then, the class. I ended up teaching for a good hour and 25 minutes, then after a break we did some Q&A for another 10-15 minutes. (They had asked questions during the lecture, too.) I spoke on, basically, “The National Scene of College Ministry,” focusing on specific college ministry items I found particularly noteworthy in both positive and negative ways. By talking about specifics, I was able to generalize points throughout.
Then I wrapped up with explaining my overall thesis, which the professor had wanted to make sure I discussed. That thesis is that we should approach college ministry like we approach international missions.
I am not naturally an extrovert, and when all was said and done I was pretty ready to clam up for awhile.
If you’re interested, you can download my teaching notes, edited so they can make a little more sense for public consumption. If you have questions about those, just get in touch!
[An explanation of one point of those notes can be found here.]
Written from the Birmingham area
As I explore Collegiate Ministry grad courses this week and next, first up is a 2-week January Term course at Beeson Divinity School. Some key facts:
- Dr. Matt Kerlin, the professor, has an impressive history of ministering within all three college ministry branches: campus-based ministry, church-based ministry, and in spiritual life at Christian colleges. He is presently the University Minister at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. (Beeson is the seminary at Samford.)
- This is Beeson’s first course in Collegiate Ministry. As Dr. Kerlin explained, he had broached the idea for a course a few years ago, and since that time they’ve noticed plenty of students coming to Beeson with thoughts of future college ministry involvement. So they were able to institute a course, and that (to me) is really good news.
- The course, simply entitled “Campus Ministry,” is an introduction to the subject – but it’s certainly handled in a strong, academic way. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussion yesterday, most of which concerned the vital topic of the college ministry branches – including strengths and weaknesses of each.
- There are around ten students in the class. As students intro’d themselves yesterday, they described their experiences with college ministry as undergraduates, experiences as college ministers, and thoughts about college ministry involvement in the future. There’s variety among the students in each area, which is great.
Meanwhile, I will teach one lecture (60 to 90 minutes or so) in today’s class. I have been asked to discuss the “national scene” in college ministry, including…
- National aspects & trends that excite me
- National aspects & trends that concern me
- Characteristics of healthy ministries, including…
- Emphasizing viewing college ministry as missions
If you have the chance, please pray for me and for the students. (I’ll start teaching around 1:45 Central Time.) While I am extremely excited, it’s a pretty weighty task to speak at Beeson seminary to about a dozen present and future college ministers.
Written from the Kerlin household, Vestavia, Alabama
More thoughts on possible super-sized heroes for Collegiate Ministry… just ideas on what that could look like… feel free to add your own…
An existing national ministry: There are several denominations, networks, and parachurch college ministries right now that could choose to help college ministry throughout Christendom – if they felt God was calling them to use their resources in that way. This would mean the national group researches, resources, and encourages college ministry in ways that helps their own denomination / network / ministry while also helping everybody else.
This Kingdom-mindedness is not unheard of in other ministry areas.
A seminary: A seminary could choose to champion college ministry, perhaps through some sort of “College Ministry Institute.” (What better place, since our mission field is so academic?)
A successful local ministry: Or perhaps some individual college ministries around the U.S. could rise up as pioneer leaders in this important field. A campus-based or church-based college ministry, after success and creativity in their own context, could help others do the same.
A few ministries – including University Presbyterian Church in Seattle and The Well in Colorado Springs – have already begun to do this.
A new national ministry: Or, it’s certainly possible that a heroic effort on behalf of college ministry may need to arise from a new organization altogether, a “Youth Specialties” for Collegiate Ministry here in the twenty-first century. This kind of independent organization could serve as a think tank, a resource producer, a collaborative network, a fundraiser, and a rallying cry for college ministry – across the branches of our field, across denominational lines, and throughout the country.
Or, E) All of the Above: Ultimately, as we’ve seen in international missions work, we may thrive via several catalytic agencies proclaiming the value of college ministry and helping increase its effectiveness.
Written from Birmingham, AL
When I prepared to title this blog post, I realized I’d already used the cliché “On the Road Again” title a few months ago. In that case, I was heading to Catalyst on my first big road trip following the BIG road trip. I guess I take a lot of road trips.
But the title is appropriate, because this weekend I leave for my first big college ministry-oriented road trip of 2009! (It’s actually my ninth big, solo road trip since 2004. Since I’ve never posted that list, I’ll probably do that tomorrow. [Here's that post.])
This trip’s theme? Graduate Training for Collegiate Ministry. Here’s what has come together so far:
- Birmingham, Alabama: I’ve got the phenomenal opportunity to teach within Matt Kerlin’s Campus Ministry course at Beeson Divinity School on January 6th. I’ll be instructing students on the national college ministry scene and what I’ve learned about successful college ministry. I also plan to attend some more of his course.
- Wilmore, Kentucky: The weekend after that (Jan. 9-10), I’m sitting in on the entire Campus Ministry Seminar facilitated by Chris Kiesling at Asbury Theological Seminary.
- Kansas City, Missouri: Finally, during the next week I’ll be attending portions of two more college ministry courses with Max Barnett at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
I am really looking forward to this. My hope is to take this opportunity to highlight and celebrate the role seminaries can play in the field of college ministry. I deeply believe that more graduate training will help advance our field, and I hope my trek can call attention to that fact!
I’ll keep you posted. Please be praying for opportunities, education, and safety during the next two weeks. And if you’re roughly in my driving line, I may have a little time to connect with people along the way. Let me know if you want to get together!
Bonus: if you haven’t seen it recently, I’ve been updating the list of seminaries and graduate schools that offer something (anything at all) for college ministry training. I would love any additions you might know about.
the posts about this road trip
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