Recently, I was visiting with a pastor of a church that has a long history of ministering to college students and partnering with the on-campus ministry. He himself experienced his call to ministry while serving and being a leader in the local campus based ministry.
He said he had just recently read that the average age of pastors in American had gone from 44 to 55 over the last few years....wow! If that is correct, we are not many years out from a desperate shortage of pastors. Many smaller churches now are experiencing difficulty in finding pastors.
This pastor said he thinks a key player in all of this can and should be campus based college ministries with their history of doing discipleship well. Often, campus based ministries do not have the resources or staff that a church ministry has. Part of the campus based philosophy is to empower, train, and allow students to lead in every day ministry roles. As these students meet with their campus minister for training, encouragement, and evaluation God often speaks to them in terms of their vocational calling. And, their practical experience gives them a head start in ministry. Will one of America's great pastors come out of your ministry? You might even be surprised who it is!
Seven Things Campus Based Ministers Can Do:
1. Speak about calling in your large group setting.
2. When meeting individually with students, ask about their sense of calling in their lives.
3. Bring in different ministry people to meet with those who feel called or are open to God's call to ministry.In our weekly Lunch Program on the ASU campus, we would try to have once a year a panel of different people serving in different full time ministry roles. A large number of our students had grown
up in smaller rural churches and were not aware of all the different full time ministry roles that were options. We also made certain to have at least one woman serving in a full time ministry position, as many of our young women were open to God's call to full time vocational ministry.
4. Give a copy of Jeff Iorg's book, IS GOD CALLING ME?. It is super practical and even if a student has already made a commitment to vocational ministry, it will help them understand and solidify that call on their life.
5. Look for opportunities for them to serve. Are there churches looking for part-time or summer staffers?Are there smaller churches in your area needing someone to preach while their pastor is gone or who are in a time without a pastor? There are smaller churches who have loved on lots of "young preacher boys".
6. Help students process and learn from their experiences of serving in a ministerial leadership role. We often found that students were disillusioned by the conflict or "wrangling" they saw in churches when they served in an "inside role". Help them understand the imperfection of all of us and that these people do not necessarily represent all they will experience.
7. Give some thought to the alums of your ministry now serving in ministry positions and send a word of encouragement to them. Consider inviting one of them to come speak at one of your events who experienced their call to ministry while sitting right where your students are sitting now.
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