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Hopefully you’ve got student leaders serving in your ministry. Whether you’ve simply got small group leaders, you have a wide range of ministry teams, or you’ve informally assigned oversight to things like “large group meeting setup” or “greeting newcomers,” those leaders usually have a specific role. Or even if some leaders’ “specific role” is “Do whatever’s needed,” they still have an assignment.
So here’s the weird question of the day: Have your student leaders ever met their “counterparts” in other college ministries on campus?
In the working world, professional associations allow for collaboration and skill-improvement. When doctors or engineers or teachers connect, everybody’s better for it (or at least that’s the hope).
I’m not suggesting you start a professional organization for student leaders (although if you’re in a position of regional or national leadership, you definitely should consider this!). I’m suggesting you connect with the RUF guys or the BCM folks or that church college ministry, and bring college ministry student leaders together. If you bring all student leaders together, that’s a win; if you bring “like” leaders together with their counterparts – small group leaders with small group leaders, sports ministry team leaders with other sports ministry team leaders, and so on – then it might be even better.
Summer’s a great time to work out this “scheme,” even if you don’t actually attempt it before October.
As I noted earlier this week, I’ve been on a learning trip with our large church team. That meant several great learning “interviews” – not too unlike the hundreds I’ve done with college ministers, only this time with a few other people sitting alongside me in each one.
Of course, my coworkers asked many good questions. But since some of them are newer to their roles than I am to mine, I led the way in several of those conversations. I also knew it was good to show the kind of questions they should ask of other ministers on a regular basis… and even show the kind of great question-asker they should become.
How often do students get to sit in on your learning sessions – whether that’s with other college ministers, campus administration, overseers or supporters, even other students?
Since this is a Fridea, I’ll offer a concrete challenge: Involve students in five learning conversations between now and the end of the school year. You can do that, can’t you? It might even set you – and them – up for a great new school year in the fall.
Happy New Year! I’m excited to be back blogging – and back to offering some “pebbles in your shoe,” some ponderings to bug you as you consider this coming semester.
Is there one problem your campus faces that your college ministry could work on this semester?
Imagine sitting down with your school’s President, Dean, somebody, and offering to help. Not from a “savior” mentality but as a servant, a servant of the campus tribe where your ministry resides.
You may already know of an issue that would be worth tackling. Or maybe you don’t, and you need to ask the question. Even asking the question shows something to the leaders of your campus. Who knows? Your students might find a solution that impacts an entire segment of campus or even the whole school. Or even if they don’t, your effort is a powerful gesture of servanthood, an amazing way to disciple those students who help make the attempt, and an awesome testimony of missional engagement to your entire campus ministry (and beyond).
This was originally a Fridea awhile back, but since our church is hosting a Marriage Ministry Training right now, I thought it appropriate to repost…
I’ve recently been reminded of the roles marriage ministry – usually in its pre-marital form – can play in collegiate ministry.
One method – very accessible for most college ministers – could be absolutely revolutionary in certain students’ lives.
What if you pulled in “mentor couples,” Christian spouses specifically excited to hang out with seriously dating or engaged college students?
It’s easy to think of this only in terms of “premarital counseling,” and that could be one function here. But it could be much simpler than that, too. What if seriously dating couples simply had the chance to share a meal with an older married couple? You might be surprised by how quickly your students could jump at this chance.
And while we’re at it, let’s take this one step further: Could you ever offer something along these lines to your campus as a whole? What could that even mean?
I’ve spent the week at a “Big Data and the Church” gathering (which explains my blogging lack), and I heard lots of intriguing things.
It also made me realize that many college ministers have access to many thousands (or millions) of dollars worth of research on their mission fields – because their schools are paying for such research. Who’s doing that for churches?
There may be a variety of rules/strings attached to viewing the data your campus compiles. But there’s just as likely to be access that would surprise you – especially because schools seek student continuation… and participation in campus organizations is a key factor in that.
When’s the last time you at least asked? And what’s more important, when’s the last time you spent time with any data you do have access to – even if it’s on the school’s web site – and brainstormed what that could or might or should mean for your college ministry?
This isn’t about finding something profound or shocking. It’s about using data – whatever it is – to prompt discussion. If your campus has a number of Caribbean students, or Kinesiology majors, or junior college transfers, or National Merit Scholars… does that prompt your wheels to turn? At the very least, it’s a thinking exercise, and those can always lead to something.
How does your ministry (or how do you, as a spiritual leader on your campus) respond when “news breaks” about your school?
In light of the FBI investigation of some NCAA programs, it’s a good time to imagine how you might handle your own campus showing up in newspaper headlines. My fear is that college ministers, by and large, would automatically ignore the issue.
I’m certainly not suggesting every issue should be addressed. Sometimes it would even make a bad situation worse. But we’re called to stand up for justice, integrity, and other ideals at times, too.
So my problem is with the word “automatically.” My fear is that college ministers, by and large, would automatically ignore such issues, relegating them to the “not my problem” pile as a matter of course.
If college ministers don’t even give a thought to addressing larger campus issues (or larger societal issues, like the national anthem-kneeling issue), then they might miss a leadership moment. Sure, it can be tough to stand up to the athletic-industrial complex on campus, or to bring biblical wisdom in the midst of passionate support of various causes (and passionate arguments on opposing sides too). But it’s worth weighing whether God would have us make a response to each issue that arises, because once in awhile these moments might be your ministry’s designated leadership moment, too.
Long ago when I was attending Texas A&M, a meteorology student had constructed a simple – you might say “elegant” – little site to report that day’s weather on campus. You simply logged on to “weather.tamu.edu” – if I’m remembering correctly – and the cartoon stick figure would be wearing appropriate clothing for the day. Whether he wore a sweater, shorts, poncho, etc., you knew what you faced outside the doors of Aston Hall.
In one sense, that’s no big deal. (Although I hope the student counted their hits and visitors and included this web-venture on their resume.) But in another sense, that was a bigger contribution to the common good of the campus than 95% of A&M’s students made during their time.
All this backstory leads to today’s Fridea: Once a year, challenge your students to design a project or process that will benefit the campus.
Can you imagine holding a yearly contest each October, then funding and deploying for tthe winning effort? (Maybe even Shark Tank style?) Or maybe an “innovation Saturday” ministry-wide, facilitated brainstorming session would culminate in a powerful idea. Maybe you’d organize a student team each fall to investigate what’s needed or scour the campus for great ideas.
Whatever the case, this is both discipleship and relationship: Teaching students to benefit the world they’re in, and offering yourselves to the campus as active, beneficial citizens. It doesn’t have to be HUGE; think about the random “Donated by the Class of” structures that adorn your campus. All those took was a good idea and a little organization.
What if?
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