You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘college student leaders’ tag.
As I noted in the last College Ministry Poles entry, there are certain areas within campus ministry in which a surprising chasm exists. These are philosophical or methodological “camps” that, from what I can tell, may only have a hazy understanding that the other side exists. Parallel universes!
Reflecting one of those areas, today I ask, Does your ministry assign adults to disciple students (in small groups, for example), use students to disciple their peers, or offer a combination?
It would be easy to assume this one cuts nicely along the campus-based / church-based line, but that’s not the case – and we don’t want to leave out the Christian-college branch, either. Here’s what I’ve seen:
1. Certainly, many campus-based groups do largely use students to disciple other students. But this isn’t always the case. Adult leaders may lead many of the discipleship aspects of a ministry; in the case of smaller ministries, students may only be led by these adults. Meanwhile, there are campus-based ministries that use adult volunteers; Young Life College, for example, has aimed for large adult involvement in their chapters. And I recently encountered a Chi Alpha ministry (at Texas A&M Corpus Christi) with former students who continued their involvement in a discipling capacity.
2. Christian colleges vary along these lines. Because of the intergenerational campus community, Christian college discipleship ministries may use faculty or staff to lead student groups. Of course, students may also be involved in the same way.
3. Among church-based ministries, there’s also a mix. While church-based college ministries might generally have the best access to adult volunteers, that doesn’t mean they all use them. Certainly, many do, whether exclusively or with a mix of adult disciplers and student disciplers.
4. There are deep philosophical differences at work (sometimes). Here’s the most interesting thing: I’ve heard a significant number of college ministers express a belief that students aren’t effective as peer-leaders. The arguments I’ve heard tend to center on the idea that students rarely have enough maturity / knowledge to have much to offer people who are roughly their same age.
Of course, there are lots of ministers who would claim they’ve seen much benefit from using students to disciple their peers. Yet many of these ministers might have never considered using adults in the same way.
5. My guess is that many of us could ponder this more than we have. Because our use (or non-use) of adult leaders most often happens “automatically,” there’s probably room for most of us to spend some time thinking and tinkering in this area. Could a campus-based group “import” some adult volunteers, if they felt like that might be helpful? Sure. Could a group that primarily uses adults consider or even measure the value of using peer-disciplers? Absolutely.
And if either “camp” has formed its opinion without collaborating with ministries that have found success using the opposite model, then we’ve been a little hasty, right?
So what can you offer: A strong argument for students leading their peers? A strong argument against students primarily discipling other students? A strong argument for adult leadership?
Remember, your arguments and examples can help others think through this stuff. You might be surprised by how many out there fall on the opposite side of this spectrum!
to see the other College Ministry Poles entries (and all the great comments from everybody!), click here
—————————————————————————————
[Click to comment or see any comments on this post!]
written from Motel 6, Tempe
Road Trip 13: Day 2 recap
drove Big Spring, TX, 12 hours to Tempe, AZ
miles so far: 1,068
T-shirt: the Majors of Millsaps College
This “leadership nuggets” series shares methods and ideas I learned in my first year of college ministry.
One thing I learned for certain during my first year of college ministry was that college students can truly function as college ministers.
Why do I know that? Because my own first year (and a half) of college ministry took place while I was still a student!
What I’ve described in this series – small group tips, spiritual lessons, community-building, teaching skills, and more – were things I learned while I was still attending Texas A&M, not as some paid, full-time adult college minister. My particular assignment was a year-long position in a freshman Bible study called Upstream: four required meetings a week, about 40 students connected to our group, weekly teaching, event-planning, and leaders I reported to. And now, after a decade of college ministry, I know that year was no less “the work of college ministry” than what has come since.
A person’s career as a college minister begins when he or she takes on the task of purposeful service to collegians. Student leaders may not be paid, but neither are plenty of other college ministers. They may not have a ministry of hundreds, but neither do most of us.
And student leaders might not have the title of Campus Minister – but certainly by definition, by calling, and by commitment, they can perform the same functions and love the same people. (And, as I’m sharing in this series, they can learn the same lessons as any other college minister, too.)
If student leaders see themselves as college ministers, they’re more likely to sense the weight of their important task. (So those who lead them should let them know!) They participate in everything more “official” college ministers do: Impacting people at a “hinge” moment in their lives, “holding back those staggering toward slaughter,” leading people to Jesus when most of their life is still ahead of them, spurring Christian students to “excel still more,” and duking it out on one of the craziest mission fields available.
This is what we do. We are college ministers.
This doesn’t mean college-age college ministers don’t need to be overseen by others. (Yet another thing I learned in my first year of college ministry!) I’m thankful for both the older students and the paid college staff at my church who commissioned me and led me that first year of ministry. As a student I certainly was not ready to serve as a college minister without major oversight.
But I did serve as a college minister. Little did I know – and little do many student leaders know today – that it was simply Year One of much more college ministry to come. And even if it’s not something a student leader pursues for a lifetime, it’s worth realizing that here, at this moment, they can be college ministers indeed.
Remember, it’s Day 16 of College Union’s 40 Days of Prayer for Campus Ministry!
—————————————————————————————
[Click to comment, ask questions, or see any comments on this post!]
This “leadership nuggets” series looks briefly at powerful basics I learned in my first year of campus ministry. Hopefully it’s useful for you OR your student leaders / adult volunteers as a new school year begins (for most of us).
I’m extremely analytical, so I personally really enjoy diving into, discussing, and even debating the finer points of a Scripture text or even just a book. (Remember, my Master’s thesis was 100+ pages on half a verse.) But during my first year of college ministry, I realized that this wasn’t always the best path for teaching students. We had limited time to meet together. And limited attention. And there were a limited number of most important things our group needed to hear.
So it was good for us, as leaders, to determine what we believed our group most needed each week. Though there are always many things worthy of hearty discussion (especially when working through Scripture directly), we needed to pick what we would highlight MOST each week. So if we were looking at Galatians 5, for example, our main emphasis might be freedom (v. 1-11), it might be fruit (v. 22-23), or it could even just be a couple of those fruits. (Certainly, there might be some nights when working verse-by-verse evenly through the chapter was the best choice, too.)
I think I remember making sure we caught the flow of the chapter, even when our main focus was only a portion. But by narrowing our particular emphasis, we had the chance to spend time diving deeply together, with room to discuss and cross-reference and question and wrestle. This was better than simply trying to “make it through the material” and cover everything equally, or taking two hours for teaching time each week.
During that first year, “selective emphasis” was simply something we did, not something we thought about too much. As the years went on, though, I came to grasp this idea better and better. Still, there have been plenty of times when I didn’t whittle down my emphases enough. But from that very first year, I’ve at least kept in mind the fact that a group might sometimes need to process one big thing more than an hour’s worth of little ones.
—————————————————————————————
[Click to comment, ask questions, or see any comments on this post!]
I had the awesome chance to speak to about 60 church college ministry student leaders yesterday, and I was aiming to raise the bar on their ministry this year – helping them see themselves as truly college ministers and, therefore, even as missionaries.
And while there are various ways to do it, I think it’s valuable to do what we can to help our student leaders understand the weight of their task. While there are several ways to do that, one comes via this week’s College Ministry Fridea: Commission your student leaders.
If we want to get technical about it, simply appointing your leaders is, in fact, “commissioning” them. But this week’s Fridea is more about helping those leaders feel properly awed by what’s before them. So while you may consider your student leaders already “commissioned” to this year of student leadership… do they feel commissioned by the way that’s all been handled?
If not, or if that could happen better, here’s some methods that might work with your group:
1. Hold a commissioning ceremony (even at a church)
You might make a real impact in leaders’ lives by performing a commissioning ceremony at the beginning of the year – with all the solemnity, instruction, and even “pomp” that gets the point across without overdoing it for your group. And even if you’re not a church-based college ministry, consider holding this ceremony in front of a gathered congregation of believers; being commissioned in front of a congregation might even more effectively prepare students than if it’s just in front of their peers. (Regardless of where you hold the ceremony, you could even have students invite friends and family!!!)
2. Write letters (and let students know)
You could take the time to send a letter to students’ back-home contacts: parents, pastors, youth pastors. Announce the student’s leadership position, the roles they’ll be playing, and prayer requests. While this is a good idea anyway, it will also raise the bar for the student himself – provided you give him a copy of the letter and the recipient list.
3. Honor in front of peers (even regularly)
I’m a big believer in the “You cultivate what you honor” principle. But not only does putting your leadership in front of their peers help raise up new leaders, it also helps “raise up” those present leaders even more! Of course, while this might look something like the commissioning ceremony, you could also honor/terrify your leaders through pictures on the wall, names and contact info on the web page, or other up-front means.
one last note
If this whole idea of “commissioning” leaders in front of a church, letting their home base know about their role, or publicizing their role with their peers seems really uncomfortable… are you sure you’ve got the kind of leaders you want to cultivate more of? Always good to think about.
For all the Frideas, including several that apply to the end of the summer or the beginning of the school year, see this post for a synopsis of each!
—————————————————————————————
Recent Comments