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I have been asked on occasion what has surprised me as I’ve trekked around the country researching college ministry. So though I’ve mentioned things along the way, I figured I’d post a better list of some such surprises. Maybe these things will surprise you; maybe they won’t! But my hope is that more and more, we’d all become further familiar with our field – beyond just our own portions, areas, and organizations.
The existence of major college ministries I was unfamiliar with.
Remember, I had been involved in doing college ministry for 8 years and had attended maybe a dozen college ministry conferences before starting my cross-country research. So I was pleasantly surprised to find college ministries I’d never heard of.
The most prominent of those were probably Coalition for Christian Outreach, which I first heard about from Greg Carmer, the Dean of the Chapel at Gordon College, and Campus Outreach, which I first heard about from College Church Wheaton’s College Pastor, Jay Thomas. Funny how you remember that stuff. I’m not sure when I first heard about Great Commission Ministries and their network of collegiate churches, but that’s another prominent one I discovered.
The missional activity taking place in college ministries all over.
Though I wouldn’t necessarily have used the word “missional” at the time, I was encouraged by how often I did indeed run into missional activity taking place through college ministries and/or their students. As I wrote last week, there are indeed ministries out there that seemed to have reached a sort of “culture” that encourages such things, and it was always exciting to find.
The “turbulent ten years” and churches’ perennial difficulties.
I wasn’t surprised that churches struggle to build successful, long-lasting college ministries, since I myself had been involved in church-based college ministry for those 8 years. (In my last gig, I was hired as the fourth college minister in – you guessed it – four years.)
Don’t get me wrong – there are quite a few really strong church-based college ministries out there. But I have been a little surprised by the number of churches that have perpetual difficulties. And even while making few changes, many just hope that this time is going to work. As I’ve argued a’plenty, there has to be a better route for churches to develop successful College Student Plans, because the track record for our present attempts isn’t so hot.
(The pic of the George Mason University fountain at the top symbolizes the ups-and-downs of churches’ experiences in college ministry. It’s what I used for this point in my recent seminar at the EV Free churches’ annual conference.)
The preponderance of collegiate churches.
Though they compose the smallest branch of college ministry, collegiate churches are by no means rare. I mentioned GCM above, but there are plenty of other campus churches, as well, dotted all over the landscape but not all that obvious unless you’re looking for them… or unless you’re on that campus. In fact, several collegiate churches draw hundreds of students.
Our (incorrect) extrapolations about college ministries.
I was surprised to realize how much I’d innocently presumed based on my own semi-limited experience. And then I ran into this same sort of extrapolating throughout my visits. College ministers regularly mentioned things like, “Nobody’s doing X” (but I knew of several ministries that were, in fact, doing X); “That’s probably the biggest ministry of its kind” (but I’d seen several larger); “This is really unique” (but I knew how common it was); and so on.
I can’t really blame those guys and gals; I was the same way, even after 8 years of college ministry work. But it’s healthy to realize how often we extrapolate based on our own region, or what we’ve heard, or what we’ve seen.
Here’s the key principle for all of us: In an ultra-diverse field like ours, our broad statements only have validity if we’ve observed an enormous number of ministries. So even after I’ve gotten to see hundreds of ministries, I’ve learned to be very careful about what I “declare.” Honesty requires it.
There are more surprises, but that’s good for now. Questions? Comments?
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How might God want to use you to help strengthen the field of college ministry?
Several months ago, I had the opportunity to discuss College Ministry training with a Dallas Theological Seminary prof I happen to know. (DTS, like many seminaries, doesn’t have any such thing, and I think that’s a shame!) In fact, several present college ministers or future college ministers attend DTS, even though they don’t offer campus ministry courses.
On Tuesday, that professor (Dr. Jay Sedwick) is bringing all interested parties together for an informal lunch, to talk about how we might continue to push this forward. It looks like a College Ministry course or even a College Ministry track may be instituted one of these days!
As for my role, it was mostly just about me being nosy! I didn’t attend DTS; I just happen to know that professor, and I care about the field of college ministry. And he just happened to respond favorably. I’ve talked to other seminary people about college ministry training and didn’t see the same kind of fruit. But I guarantee I’m gonna keep trying.
Many of you could “be nosy,” too.
How might God want to use you to help strengthen the field of college ministry?
In the last chapter of my book, I highlighted a potential “road map forward” for our field. Have you checked that out? I note several areas where simple effort could make a major impact, including:
- individuals championing college ministry where they are
- churches becoming convinced of the need for some kind of College Student Plan – including uncommon solutions
- better theories and theologies for college ministry, with debates and discussions of college ministry ideas
- parachurch organizations (that aren’t specifically collegiate already) developing a collegiate “arm” of their work
- undertaking helpful research projects on key areas of college ministry
That’s simply a handful of ideas; there are more in the book. Pushing for seminary courses, as mentioned above, is another way. Another is advocacy – sharing not only facts about our own particular work, but sharing The Work, the glorious mission to college students taking place worldwide.
What piece of helping Collegiate Ministry might God call you to? Who do you know? What could you say? What could you write? Where might you be able to “cast your bread,” scattering your influence in all possible directions, in hopes that God might let some of those sparks catch fire for our work?
Yes, we need to do this wisely. Some ways of helping don’t require much experience. But other methods require a breadth of experience or a breadth of collaboration. Not all should presume to be teachers – in fact not many, James 3 says – and that includes blogging and writing and speaking and anything else we might have opportunities to do. (I myself certainly try to “teach” only about what I’ve seen widely. We must beware of guesses – and be aware that we might not realize when we’re guessing!)
But some of us indeed are called to help the field of College Ministry in some way. Just as some professors do research and some manufacturers innovate and some businesspeople write books and some Hollywoodians write blogs, some college ministers have a role to play in raising the visibility of College Ministry or raising the bar for College Ministry. Perhaps sometimes it simply means connecting people together, sometimes it just means passing on a book or a blog, or sometimes it just means making a phone call.
Yes, we must serve our own students well. That is a priority. But if College Ministry grows stronger, then many, many more students will be served – better.
This Winter, how might God want to use you to help strengthen the field of college ministry?
And who else needs to help? Will you encourage them?
If I can ever help you think through this, let’s talk about it! And if you know anybody I should be connected with, let me (or them) know. Everything I’ve learned is for the purpose of helping our field. So just let me know how I can help.
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