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In my final installment of this year’s “best of the blog,” I repost (with a few edits) about one of my favorite topics: building college ministries for the long haul! Because we live in the Land of Continual Upheaval, we’ve got to fight the forces that keep us from building strong, long-term community identity. (See all the Best of the Blog series here.)
I’m sure I’ve been seeing Brink’s Home Security commercials since I was little. So when I caught a very similar commercial yesterday – a scene of a woman’s house being broken into, the alarm scaring off the intruder, the woman receiving an immediate call from the security company – I figured it was the familiar commercials I’ve been watching most of my life.
But the voice on the other end of that phone call announced that it was Broadview Security calling to make sure everything was alright. I was immediately annoyed that someone was clearly copying the ads I was used to.
But then the commercial revealed the point: Brink’s Home Security has changed its name to Broadview Security! And I’m a little uneasy about the whole thing. I wasn’t aware of it, but apparently I’ve built quite a schema inside my head of Brink’s as the name in home security.
Obviously, their name change is not actually something that’s going to bother me… too much. But plenty of us who are used to seeing the Brink’s shield might be a little thrown off by the name change.
And here was my campus ministry-connected thought: How many of our college ministries have built nearly the permanent identity that even that security company has?
Most college ministries probably avoid the Rigid Traditionalism and static-ness that infamously besets some Christian work. That’s good. But pitching our tents on the other side, in the land of Continual Upheaval, is quite detrimental to our long-term effectiveness.
It wouldn’t be surprising at all to observe 5 or more “versions” of a college ministry across a decade, caused by leader turnover, structure changes, new “visions” for the ministry, and the like. Not all such changes are directly controllable by leaders, but that doesn’t make them any less problematic.
If the time comes when your ministry needs to change its name, make a major structure adjustment, change leadership, or otherwise significantly alter its identity, will you have built the ministry to the point that people care? I’m not just talking about “branding,” but community identity; does your campus, its community, its administration, and its alumni know your college ministry well enough that a Big Change… would be noticeable?
More important question: Are you building the ministry in such a way that this will be the case in 10 years?
(And feel free to pass this on to whomever oversees you! Not giving college ministers long enough to succeed is a major cause of this problem…)
For more on building for longevity, you can check out former posts discussing longevity… or the many posts in the “Assessment & Strength” category.
I also wrote about the need for – and lack of – campus ministry longevity in the very free Reaching the Campus Tribes.
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These two holiday weeks, I had been providing a look back at the “best of the blog” from 2009 – until I was wonderfully interrupted with a surprise trip to the Urbana conference. But I wanted to return to some “best” today and tomorrow, and resume posting brand-new stuff on Sunday! (You can see all the “Best of the Blog” posts here.)
One of the coolest ideas I got to introduce this year was an adaptation of Seth Godin’s idea called “edgecraft.” This method truly provides a better way to brainstorm, an easy way for anybody to jump-start their creativity (regardless of their natural talent in that area).
The adapted idea, which I tend to call “exploring the edges,” is perfect for any college minister or college ministry leadership team that wants new ideas, whether they’re looking for simple “tweaks” to present activities or groundbreaking new endeavors. Exploring the edges can catalyze creativity more easily and more effectively than any method I know.
Several times this year, I highlighted this theme – not only to introduce it, but also to illustrate its use in practice. So below you’ll find the first post – briefly describing the process of Exploring the Edges – followed by links to four posts where you can see the process fleshed out. Enjoy!
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The truth is, our usual approach to “brainstorming” doesn’t always work very well. The classic picture is of a group of leaders, sitting around a room, throwing out random ideas and hoping something will stick. While useful ideas are sometimes produced, I want to offer a method to produce ideas in a bit more purposeful way. In the seminar, I called it “exploring the edges.”
This method pretty much comes directly from Seth Godin, who describes it as “edgecraft.” As I’ve written before, I encourage you to read his book Free Prize Inside, my personal favorite Godin book for application to campus ministry.
As we look at individual elements – a weekly worship time, our use of student leaders, the web site, etc. – we explore various possibilities along the “edges.” That means thinking new thoughts about the who of this activity, the what, the where, the when, and even the why.
So for each of those Ws, we might ask questions like…
What if this who, what, etc., increased (involved more, got bigger, went further, was added to)?
What if this part decreased (involved less, got smaller, stayed closer, was subtracted from)?
What would be the craziest thing we could do with this part?
When we get to asking these questions (and more) for the who, what, where, when, and why of an activity, our brainstorms get channeled into some pretty useful (and creative) new ideas.
This is kind of tricky to explain, but play around with it. It gets a lot clearer when we use it with specific elements in our college ministries.
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Four specific applications of this method:
- Exploring the Edges, Applied: Using this method to tweak the standard campus ministry mission trip
- Exploring the Edges of “The Map-bringers”: Applying this method to a first-week-of-school idea to make it even more impactful
- College Ministry Dinner for 10: Applying this method to a community-building idea
- Explore the Edges of Your Year-to-Come: Applying this method to simply tweaking your standard activities in the upcoming year / semester / quarter
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The most exciting day for me this year might have been April 20th, with the “firstfruit” of the yearlong road trip was finally published. That ebook, Reaching the Campus Tribes, has received enormous response from all over the college ministry spectrum (which is both humbling and encouraging).
Winter Break is a great time to read Reaching (if you haven’t) or even re-read it to get some ideas for campus ministry in 2010! (You could easily read the entire book today.) So as I continue posting some “best of the blog” this week, I present an intriguing excerpt from the opening chapter.
Of course, the entire book and all its great pictures can be downloaded at reachingthecampustribes.com. You can also see additional resources and a list of online venues that have discussed the book!
Today, some words from Chapter 1 that point to the purpose of this book and a glimpse at some of its “bold ideas” for the field of college ministry. Here’s that excerpt:
…So this short book is more proclamation than primer, more megaphone than microscope, an “opening inquiry” rather than any final word. It may seem to have too few illustrations, too few evidences, and even too few pages. But I hope this book raises questions and drives people to find out more. And if this book does fuel an interest in college ministry, then I and countless others will have many opportunities to share examples, spiritual insights, facts, arguments, and “best practices” for this field.
For now, this book is the urgent message I would share with Christian leaders over coffee, not the ultimate “how-to” for this vital area. I have focused here on the big picture, which means I don’t get to discuss all the specific skills, methods, and spiritual needs involved.
But the big picture still gives us bold ideas to consider. For example, I will discuss:
- How ministry to college students is quite different from both young adult ministry and youth ministry.
- How college campuses are a lot like tribes.
- What commonalities are shared by the three “branches” of college ministry.
- How strategic student discipleship is lacking in many Christian colleges.
- Why a large, city-wide worship service for college students is often a terrible way to jump-start a college ministry.
- Why better college ministry will lead to better youth ministry, better young adult ministry, and better missions work.
- Why college ministry is “R&D” for Christianity.
- Why churches with no plan for college students should help their high school kids find another church – and what it actually means for a church to have a College Student Plan.
- How Christians can approach college ministry in many ways beyond the “classic” forms.
- Why impacting college students is a far more practical undertaking than many people assume.
- And many other important ideas.
[Download Reaching the Campus Tribes]
One of the posts I enjoy writing the most is the weekly College Ministry Fridea, which usually means a zany-but-concrete idea for college ministries. You can read through the entire list (with short descriptions) right here, but I picked out a couple of favorites to highlight as I continue with “Best of the Blog.”
The first of these “all-star” Frideas encourages us to add a new form of student recruitment to our toolbox (an important topic as we enter the spring). The second Fridea offers a special potential student leadership position – perfect for any social butterflies you’ve got fluttering around your leadership team. And as always, the hope is that these Frideas would be either useful directly OR springboard you to another new idea that fits your campus ministry best!
SHOW Recruitment and TELL recruitment
If you’re wanting to change things up, I’d encourage you to consider providing show recruitment, not simply tell recruitment.
What about your particular collegiate ministry (and entire church, in the case of a church-based ministry) is truly remarkable? What do students tell their friends about, what do alumni remember fondly, what do you and the students involved get really excited about? In other words, what is remarked about?
Is there a creative way to show those “remarkables” – rather than only telling them?
If your ministry is known for having a lot of fun together, then you might consider something along the lines of playing ultimate Frisbee idea on campus (as suggested by Kevin Young of Christian Challenge, Mesa State University). His suggestion reminded me of one of the best collegiate campaigns I’ve seen – only it wasn’t for a college ministry but for a major student body election at Texas A&M. I still remember the Ricky Wood for Yell Leader campaign a decade later, because those guys took a very unique tack…
…they had a blast. Wearing bright green T-shirts and popping up all over campus, those guys spent a lot of time simply having fun on campus in various, public ways. I never met Ricky, but it sure said something about him. The campaign showed us who they were; they didn’t just tell us.
But maybe your ministry has a different remarkable to show: Depth of teaching. Strength of community. Passionate worship times. Opportunities for service. Whatever it is, you probably show it on a regular basis during the semester, whether during a weekly meeting or on campus. What’s keeping you from showing it during recruitment?
What’s significant enough about your ministry that it’s worth showing to a waiting campus instead of simply telling people in the midst of 223 other organizations? How could you even do that?
[See the six helpful follow-up comments on the original post]
A Student Leader Position: Social Connector
This week’s Fridea comes substantially from Richard Jett, college minister at Adventure Christian Church near Sacramento. As he was describing his hoped-for student leader positions, one particularly unique one caught my eye.
The idea? Assign a student leader to help new people make specific connections within your ministry.
You might call this a “social connector,” a “purposeful networker,” or a “social concierge.” The point is, this individual – who would probably need to be naturally a “connector” anyway – would help newcomers find their place within your ministry.
So when Sarah visits your ministry and says she’s a pre-med major, this “Social Connector” makes sure to introduce her to Laura, an older student who’s also pre-med.
When Brandon turns out to be interested in hiking, he finds out (via the Social Connector) that there’s a group of students who hike every third Saturday.
When a handful of individuals sign up for adult mentors, the Connector helps them connect with adults in their churches (or elsewhere) who would be a good fit.
And when Jeri and Carmen say they would come to the ministry but live across town, the Connector suggests they get a ride with some of the other students who live thataway.
Obviously, as community is built, some of these connections will happen without an assigned student leader over this area. But if you find a student with particular aptitude in this area, her (or his) strength can be leveraged for the Kingdom in this way – especially as their natural talent is honed to be used more purposefully and prayerfully.
Can you imagine each visitor to your ministry never leaving without at least one solid connection?
Probably the most-read series of the year was “Jimmy Fallon and Gen Y.” In the series, I explored the brand-new Late Night with Jimmy Fallon‘s outstanding use of Millennial-reaching methods. As we looked at ways we can incorporate these methods within our ministries (since our entire audience is presently Millennial), lots of people took a look, the posts garnered several comments, and a co-producer of Late Night even chimed in!
Today’s “Best of the Blog” post, focusing on the way Positivity connects with Gen Y, is one of my favorites from this series.
As new generations rise, it makes sense that they would often share some characteristics of the previous generation. For instance, Millennials and the members of Generation X share an appreciation of technology, desire for authenticity, and hope to find strong community.
But one of the clearest differences between the Millennial Generation (a.k.a. Gen Y) and its immediate Gen X predecessors is positivity. Millennials (as a group) seem to possess a rather audacious optimism that has broad application in their lives – while obviously one of the classic-if-caricatured observations about Gen X is that its members are hard-core cynics.
And yes, this is yet another way Late Night with Jimmy Fallon brilliantly reflects and appeals to the Millennial generation: through purposeful positivity.
Watch an hour of Late Night, and you’re bound to see the happy optimism rear its pretty head. Just last night, for instance, Will Arnett jokingly declared it “the compliment show” after Jimmy characteristically kept praising his work.
But does that really mean this is on-purpose positivity? Couldn’t Jimmy simply be a positive kind of chap? He may very well be, but co-producer Gavin Purcell revealed here on my blog that there’s method to his gladness:
[O]ne thing that stood head and shoulders above everything that we wanted to do with the show from the beginning was build a comedy/talk show that wasn’t based entirely on being nasty. Jimmy, myself and my boss our showrunner, from the beginning wanted the show to feel positive and a kind of place where people felt like they were laughing with others rather than at them. That idea seems to fit nicely into Millennials ideals as well. [Read the whole comment here.]
It’s not that Fallon doesn’t mock on occasion; his monologue has the usual roastings of newsworthy people, and snarky comments are certainly part of his repertoire. But they’re far less frequent than you might expect from a late night host.
And meanwhile, there’s a willingness to embrace… well, everything.
Star Trek fans, video game players, goofy audience members, Spencer and Heidi Pratt, Twitterers… all these and more can expect relentless scorn in most late night quarters. But they have room on Jimmy’s show – at least for acknowledgment, and often for appreciation and promotion.
It was just a few weeks ago that Jimmy was excited to hear about a guest’s visit to Bonnaroo, the annual 4-day hippie music festival in Tennessee; by contrast, Conan O’Brien sent the infamous Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to ridicule Bonnaroo attendees to their faces.
And back in March, as Jimmy chose to zero in on one particular team in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tourney – the 16th-seeded Chattanooga Mocs – I expected the show to pick the low-hanging comedy fruit available by cheap-shotting this long-shot (or no-shot) team.
Only… it didn’t. The approach wasn’t humorless – but it wasn’t merciless, either. As the week progressed, the school band came on the show, the studio audience got in the act, and Fallon video-chatted with Head Coach John Shulman. And after the team got pounded by UConn in the tournament, its seniors and head coach sat in the audience as guests of the show. (For a great couple of clips from that week and a little more of the story, see this article.)
The new Late Night works a unique sort of optimism into its humor. And often it’s even vice versa – the show offers optimism, presented in a humorous way. (This helps explain why some viewers might find Jimmy unfunny and likeable at the same time.)
So what does this mean for us?
A couple of years ago, a pastor asked me an intriguing question – How do we, who are part of cynical Gen X, relate well to all these optimistic Gen Y college students? Many of us in college ministry really are in a different generation than the students we minister to, and it’s worth examining how our natural approaches might not reflect our students OR connect with them well.
We have to be careful about our snarkiness, which I know is the “mother tongue” for many of us. We can’t insensitively dismiss our students’ excitement about hope and change and impact and BIG IDEAS… (even though, yes, there are times to lovingly check students’ over-optimism). The cynicism our own youth ministers got big laughs through might not work with our particular flocks. And so on.
At the same time, there is much to gain by “tuning in” to the positivity of our students. They’re not apathetic (like we might have been!); they want to serve and lead and believe they can make a positive impact. They’re not anti-leadership or anti-”system.” They’re ready and willing to bring people very different from themselves into their circle of community – whether they be tech geeks or music festival attendees or frat guys.
This is one of the harder areas for me to get my head around, so hopefully we can all think together about how we might “become positive, so that we might win the positive.” And we have at least one (surprising) tutor hosting Late Night.
[This is the 5th post in a series on Jimmy Fallon’s Millennial methods. See all of ‘em here.]
This summer – between the giant Road Trip 11 and the end-of-summer Road Trip 12 – was a great time of connecting with some great college ministry thinkers AND working through some big thoughts about our field. One of the “big thoughts” I blogged was in the post below, as I tried to passionately describe the BIGGEST help we can provide the field of College Ministry.
For a couple of years now, I’ve had one presupposition that has driven my journeys, actions, and thoughts. It continues to be at the front of my mind as I work to help Collegiate Ministry – as a field – progress from where it is to a stronger place.
Here’s the presupposition:
The biggest help anyone can provide for College Ministry (right now) is raising its value in the mind of Christians.
There are many problems and much lack within college ministry. Naming a whole bunch of things that we certainly need is easy enough, because our field is underdeveloped. We can (and should) point out the need for everything from books… to funds… to better methodologies… to organizations that advance our cause.
But those very things have a “Z Factor,” an issue that affects EACH of those things. The root of the problem, why things seem so out-of-sorts here, why we feel like we’re walking uphill when making these changes – is because American Christians don’t generally acknowledge how much college ministry matters.
When college ministry matters, we all acknowledge the many people who are serving campuses and students in awesome ways.
When college ministry matters, people give money.
When college ministry matters, people demand books on college ministry… and buy books on college ministry… Therefore, when college ministry matters, books are commissioned and published.
When college ministry matters, more college ministers arise (and there are lots of college ministry jobs).
When college ministry matters, the desire increases for efficiency and wisdom and creativity and skill and training in college ministry.
When college ministry matters, college ministers see the need to improve our work. (Yes, I think we too could better value the work we do.) Therefore collaboration increases – through sit-downs, blogs, podcasts, informal training, formal training, reading, ministry visits, conferences… Discussions – both academic and practical – are rampant (when college ministry matters). And the cream rises to the top, so those discussions just get better and better over time.
When college ministry matters, more high school Christians plan to join a college ministry when they get to school.
When college ministry matters, students are reached better, and more of ‘em are reached.
God is glorified in the campuses like never before.
When college ministry matters.
So if you can only pray for one thing to help the field called College Ministry, I’d encourage praying for this. If you can only work on one thing to help College Ministry, think about working on this (first).
We should keep doing the other things – writing books, training others, starting seminary courses, blogging, collaborating, donating, and so on – more and more, as much as we can. But everything will involve more people and be easier, better, and more effective once the value of college ministry is raised in the hearts and minds of Christians.
So if you have to pick a priority for your college ministry improvement schedule, please consider this for your Number First. You can start by telling people where you are how much college ministry matters. Or run an ad in the Super Bowl! Use the free book if it helps, or get some testimonies together, or write something of your own. Or use any influence God’s given you to “plug” this area that receives such disproportionate attention. But if you have the opportunity, do something.
It’ll be a really good day… when college ministry matters.
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Continuing with this week’s Best of 2009… One series this year encouraged discussion more than any other EVER. Titled “College Ministry Poles,” these posts describe “the ‘two sides’ of basic methods and issues in campus ministry, things that most of us deal with regularly – but may not realize are approached quite differently by a number of college ministers.” (from the intro post)
Today’s post is the first in the series, and like all the posts, readers wrote some very significant comments. Be sure to check those out! And to see the other 5 entries in this series (so far), click here.
Yesterday I announced the beginning of a new semi-regular series, “College Ministry Poles,” looking at key collegiate ministry issues that are often fleshed out between two extremes. My hope is to stretch our thinking, especially as we realize that in many cases, a large number of college ministers have chosen – and found success with – methods from across each spectrum.
We begin with a big issue that unites and divides college ministries “on the ground”: Cooperation vs. Independence.
For heavy cooperation between ministries
I’ve heard it argued that various college ministers at a single campus could/should function as “elders” over the campus, ultimately comparing calendars, avoiding overlapping segments of campus, and nearly meshing ministries. Clearly, this model is one “pole” along this continuum.
Not quite as polar but still on this side of the spectrum are ministries that have fleshed out cooperation in various forms:
- Direct partnership in regular ministry activities
- A college ministry taking a purposely complementary approach
- A ministry purposefly focusing on a niche not already reached
- Direct cooperation in single events / efforts on campus
There are some obvious positives here – like not duplicating ministry activity, revealing Christian unity to a watching campus, gaining wisdom from “many counselors,” increasing group size, helping disciple students in diversity / unity, and so on.
For clear independence from other ministries
While I don’t necessarily hear it argued too often, it’s clear that many other ministries have placed a low priority on intentional cooperation or partnership. Instead, these ministers’ focus is impacting students through their organization as best as they possibly can. In the more extreme cases, there is little or no contact between leaders of these ministries and other leaders in town.
But before the more collaborative-minded blame those who seem isolationist, realize that there are clearly good reasons to take a stance somewhere on this side of the continuum:
- All of us have chosen our ministry organizations for real reasons, presumably; cooperation and partnership often take us away from (or at least water down) our ministry’s own distinctives – both methodological and theological.
- Supporters and overseers expect ministers to practice ministry according to these sorts of distinctives, too.
- We all know college ministry is time-consuming and difficult. Collaboration – to any degree – always takes time and energy, while always producing messiness. It makes a lot of sense to focus on what we’re best at.
- In some cases, past cooperative attempts might not have produced hoped-for results, might have been championed by ineffective people, or might never have had well-defined purposes to begin with.
Between the poles and other questions
My guess is that most college ministries in the country believe in being somewhere on the cooperative of the spectrum, but that most function pretty far to the right side of the spectrum (even by default). Hmmm…
Remember, every aspect of a college ministry has been chosen, even if we don’t realize it.
Thoughts to ponder (on your own, or in the comments):
- What’s your stance? Are either of the poles necessarily wrong? Is being “somewhere in the middle” necessarily right?
- Are there any good keys for choosing cooperation vs. independence?
- How could a ministry functioning on one side of the spectrum possibly move toward the other side?
- What are some Best Practices for more cooperative college ministry styles? What about for more independent college ministry styles?
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[See the ten original comments here!] [Add a new comment here!]
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!]
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