Lifeway has an article titled Church and Campus: Cooperation or Competition?
Campus ministry seeks to reach the student, confronting him with the fact that a biblical understanding of God provides meaning and purpose not only to all of one’s learning, but also to all of life. The church exists as an authentic biblical community in which a student may learn about faith, be nurtured in his faith, and express his faith through corporate worship and ministry.
By understanding their unique roles and by working together, those who lead ministries on both the campus and in the church can have significant influence in the lives of students. A student’s involvement in campus ministry leads them to understand the necessity and importance of the local church. Likewise, their connection in a local church encourages their appreciation of the role of the campus ministry during their university years.
Not a bad statement. But, here’s the problem I think I see in my area: The campus ministry provides a sense of community; and the church provides… little or nothing.
I’ve been teaching the college and career Sunday school class at my church for the past 18 months. I stepped in when the Associate Pastor left. A number of the students really liked him and stopped attending after he was gone. A few students seemed to be just plain mad at me for not being him! I made it clear I would like to help build a collegiate ministry, but for now all I really had time for was teaching the class on Sunday mornings.
I figure I’ve got one more year before I will want to return to interim work. One year to lay the ground work for a ministry approach that truly reaches college students.
We’ll see.
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Bowden,
This is my first year on the associational advisory committee for our BCM here on campus. It is the same BCM (then, BSU) that I went through as a college student, albeit with a different director. I am astounded by the variety of worship and outreach opportunities that it provides students today. This contrasts with my own church where college ministry is virtually nonexistent. One major area of difference is that the current BCM director takes a very hands-off approach and lets the students try new and creative approaches to worship. We would have a difficult time replicating that at church.
It shouldn’t be that way, but I’m afraid that, like yours, our church isn’t offering a whole lot for college students.
It does occur to me that one thing our church group could offer (that a campus ministry can not) is interaction and contact with older believers. I’m thinking of Titus 2 where there seems to be a necessary connection between older church members and younger church members. Maybe a mentoring relationship??
It would clearly need to be done in a creative way. It is difficult to imagine starting things up by walking into class and saying “Let’s make some relationships with some old people!â€
Just some
Bowden:
To what extent do you think this could be remedied if the family and the churches “trained up” youth more effectively up to age 18? Is the “campus ministry” trying to overcome the fact that students may leave High School without really being interested in church? If so, why don’t we know that?
The bible says we’re baptized into the body for what WE bring to the body, not just for what the body can give to us. If students aren’t contributing to the Body of Christ, beyond just being there, what real chance does the campus ministry have? Especially considering that the student is usually now in a new place with new schedules and activities.
Students sure need to be ministered to. If they don’t see the value of church by age 18, it doesn’t surprise me they don’t hang around churches in college, either.
Taran and Bob,
I’m trying not to make any assumptions (except the belief I don’t exactly know what I’m doing).
I think Mentoring may be one key to reaching college students. Lifeway has some articles on mentoring and internships: the idea is to encourage business people in your congregation to sponsor an intern.
I do think campus ministry does a better job than most church-based ministries of getting students involved in missions and community ministry. I’m not sure why that is.
Bowden,
I think its a sad statement to make that the college/career ministry at your church became all about personality (of the former associate pastor who left, etc.). It really should not be about personalities… people come and go… churches should not be about personalities, either, for the same reason.
Rather, it should be about content, and it should be about training and equipping and reaching students and those in the 18-30/35 age bracket. It should also be about Christ, of course.
On another note…
I think unfortunately a lot of times when churches begin college/career ministries, either the campus ministry feels like the church is competing, or the church feels like its competing, and someone becomes the winner, and someone becomes the loser. Its NOT right and its NOT fair. I saw this happen with one church (not Baptist) in Fairfax, Va., where a campus ministry lost several key student volunteers to their church (because for whatever reason someone created a policy where the students had to CHOOSE). Other times, I can see maybe a Baptist church not having a significant collegiate-age ministry because they believe BCM is the outlet for that, and they have more important things to do with a limited budget. Again, wrong thinking in my mind, but I’m not a Baptist.
With the college/career ministry at our church, “Journeys,” I’m glad I don’t see any of this kind of stuff. We have two colleges in our town, and we have students from at least one of those schools come to our Thursday night meetings. It seems to be working, that we aren’t threatening any of the campus ministries at these two local colleges, and they aren’t threatening us.
Bowden,
I think one answer to your final question is that a campus ministry can respond more quickly than a church to the changing culture of students. College students toss things away and move on fairly quickly. Churches are notoriously difficult to change and people participate for decades. A campus college ministry can change its own culture on a dime.
The key (it seems to me) is to creatively harness that “weakness” of the church and help students to see the church’s continued relevance.
Maybe part of the solution is in finding the needs the campus ministries aren’t meeting, the areas where there are holes, and start with those things. Can your church provide what the campus ministry isn’t? Then start asking where you can work with the campus ministries on the things they are providing, while offering to also help them by picking up the needs they aren’t meeting. That way you become compliments to each other, rather than competition.
I agree with Taran about the mentoring. Or even just connecting student with families willing to open up their lives to the students; give them a sesne of “home” as well as community. That’s something that generally a campus ministry cannot do.
Growing up our house was always a gathering place for college students. My parents were always passionate about this age group. We have pictures of gatherings my parents had with college kids and Army GIs (my dad’s biggest passion and the reason he became a minister/chaplain) even when my oldest siblings — who are 19 and 16 years older than me — were still children. My mom loved to cook, so Sunday afternoons were often devoted to sharing our pot roast lunch with however many college kids wanted a home-cooked meal. And they generally stayed all afternoon and went to evening service with us too (ah, the old days of Sunday evening worship).
Even though our culture has definitely changed since then, I think this is still a valid need in students lives. I think college kids go through this dilemma of wanting/needing to leave home, yet still craving a place that “feels” like home; they need a place that can be a safe haven from school, where they can go without feeling like they’ve tucked their tails and gone home. And they need someone who can be like a mom or a dad but who isn’t really, someone who can help them spread their wings and figure out who they are without the expectations parents sometimes have for their kids. Does that make sense? I think this could be a perfect set-up for a mentoring relationship. It gets more of the church involved in the college ministry too, and it doesn’t have to be just families. Older adults can be grandparent figures, which are sometimes even safer people than parental ones (or at least they feel that way). And it meets a need that, as Taran, pointed out, the campus ministry isn’t capable or equipped for.
As for the personality-driven issue, I don’t think there’s any way around that. I know we often believe ministries “shouldn’t” be driven by personality, but the fact is, we are all human and we all are drawn in by personality. We may not stay because of it, but we are drawn in by it. And this age, I think, is especially influenced by it. That doesn’t mean you have to have an Erwin McManus type to have a successful ministry to this age. But it does mean that you have to expect to lose some when you lose a big personality. Hopefully there’s enough substance to your ministry, though, that most will stick despite the loss.
Finally, I think there is sad truth behind why campus ministries are more successful at getting students involved in missions and community ministry. Its because they are by nature much more missional than most churches are. If you aren’t missional to begin with, you won’t draw or keep people who are, who desire to serve their community or the world. It is sad, but most churches just aren’t missional. The pastor may be. The staff may be. And the people may even think they are, but in reality, it rarely filters down to the congregation. And the students know that. I don’t think they expect churches to be missional. Perhaps that’s why many don’t bother to make the trek off-campus to visit churches. Past experience with church taught them the church doesn’t care about helping people or changing the world, just converting people. Nor is it good enough to just offer service opportunities. The church members have got to be active participants. Sudents are very observant and astute. They know when you’re just playing at serving and when you’re really serious about making an impact in your community, about changing the world.
If your church is missional, then perhaps another way to connect with students and bring them into your church is through advertising your mission/community service opportunities through the campus ministries (fliers, annoucements at meetings, you speaking at their events, etc).
One thing that so impresses me about the people in this age group that I’ve met is their strong commitment to making this world a better place to live. Both times I went overseas with the IMB it was this age group that were taking all the “frontier” work, climbing mountains and living in etreme “camping” conditions in order to reach tribes that had never, ever heard the Gospel before, didn’t have any real contact with the outside world. How cool is that! And those I know who don’t know Christ yet have the same passion and commitment. What they need is someone to help them channel that ambition into avenues that will have an eternal impact as well as an immediate one.
It just occurred to me this is really ok. What it really means is that there are folks who are concerned about the spiritual welfare, etc., of college students, and they are moved to minister to them.
Maybe it is, that Campus Ministry is a reflection of what’s right with the church .. the ekklesia .. and not an indication that anything is amiss.
Interesting that you brought this topic up.
We now are juggling both–the campus ministry and the new church plant which grew out of it. The results have been amazing. We are finding they compliment and enhance one another.
But there is a need for BOTH ministries. The campus ministry provides a small group component where seekers/non-believers can plug in and experience biblical community in an environment that they do not find threatening.
But the church plant provides a place for students to practice the full expression of the church–specifically the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
I can’t even put into words what the new church has been like. I’ve never experienced this kind of community in any other church context.
The past two times we met, we spent over 8 hours together–with at least three of those being worship. These guys are truly “family.” Next semester we’ll be splitting up and probably having three different house churches, that will come together for a large group celebration every third week.
We’re learning as we go. But God is doing some cool stuff, and lives are being transformed.
Bowden writes: I figure I’ve got one more year before I will want to return to interim work. One year to lay the ground work for a ministry approach that truly reaches college students.
I don’t want to burst your bubble but its going to take at least a year to build up a core group to the point where you can have an effective Sunday School class.
One of the things that helped in some of the college ministries I’ve been involved in is having dedicated class sponsors. The same folks week after week. In one situation an older couple were the department “directors” but they were sort of like everyone’s favorite Grandpa and Grandma. They were cool and went to concerts and things with them and the kids knew that if they had a tough life situation that these folks had probably already dealt with it and could ask them for advice.
Josh
“…the word of God is not bound.”
–2 Timothy 2:9
Josh,
You didn’t burst my bubble at all. I think I have realistic expectations about what can be accomplished in 12 months; that’s why I phrased my desire in the way that I did. “Laying the groundwork” is different from establishing a ministry.
Lu and Kiki,
Thanks for the encouraging words. Kiki: please keep us posted on how things are going in Penn.