Easy Mistakes for Young or New College Ministers

I am some times embarrassed when I think about some of my actions when I first started in college ministry.  I did not even find the ministry check book until I had been on the job a few days.  And, I often had time on my hands because I did not know what to do.

Here are some common and easy mistakes for young and new College Ministers:

1.  Hanging out with the same group of students all the time.
It is easy to connect to a group and one that responds to us.  The problem with this is that it restricts our ministry to that group and projects the idea of a "closed ministry".

2.  Confusing being liked with being respected.
The most important characteristic of a College Minister is to earn and have respect.  There is a big difference in being liked and being respected.  If we settle for being liked, we can be drawn into the trap of doing what is pleasing.  What do students like and what makes us more popular?  We must never trade respect for popularity.

3.  Fearful to have the HARD conversations.
This relates to number two (2).  It is easy for the young College Minister to not want to risk students not liking him or her, so they don't have some of those tough conversations.  It may be holding students accountable to their commitments.  Or, it may be confronting them about behavior that is destructive to them, their reputation, or harmful to the Christian message.

4.  Failure to learn from "the old guys".
All of us must admit that when we started out that we had some feelings of being cooler than some of our older colleagues and not wanting to be like them.  But, if we step back and look at it, these folks have survived the long term and may be doing some things from which we need to learn.

5.  Thinking "Cool" is the magic potion.
We are never and likely were never as cool as we thought.  When we are young in the ministry, we must commit to growing in knowledge, awareness, and developing an even more mature relationship to the Lord.  If cool is all we have to share, we are no different than some of the salesmen who populate the campus.