5 Ideas to Enlarge Your Ministry

It is not unusual for a College Minister to be asked after an event, "Did you have as many students attend as you had hoped?".  My answer to that has always been, "I have never had as many as I hoped...no matter how many came.".  Most of us want our ministry to be larger.  We want to win more students to Christ.  We want to train more leaders for the future.  We want to impact our campus in a great way.  We like big crowds (maybe that one is just me!).

Here are 5 Ideas to Help Enlarge Your Ministry:

1.  Visit two different college ministries to see what and how they do it.
We can always learn things simply from talking to leaders of different ministries.  But, I am convinced we will see and learn things when we visit that we would not pick up on otherwise.  If possible, I would encourage you to visit one of these that is very different than you and yours.  It will stretch your thinking.  Maybe, if you are Baptist, visit a non-Baptist ministry, etc, etc.

2.  Invite a different fraternity/sorority or campus club to be special guests at one of your events.
Recognize them, introduce their officers, and say something about what they do that benefits the campus.  Some do this at their weekly Lunch Program and others do it monthly at their large group worship event.  Even if none of these students immediately begin attending your ministry, it helps spread campus wide awareness, which is never a bad thing.

3.  Volunteer to speak in Leadership classes or Freshmen Development classes.
Or, is there another area of expertise that you have that might benefit some class or group?

4.  Volunteer one day a month on campus helping some department or group.
A College Minister told me recently of volunteering to help the Student Affairs Office stuff Orientation Packets.  He worked all day for them for free.  Again, awareness of a ministry is huge.  Does the campus even know you and your ministry are there?

5.  Connect in a particular and on-going way to a different group on campus.
Does the band need a chaplain?  Does the tennis club need a sponsor?  Lots of people are chaplains for athletic teams and that is a very good thing.  But, there are lots of different groups on campus that you might benefit and open up avenues to a whole new group of students.

Then, there is always the old and proven method....lie about your numbers. Or, "estimate".  Obviously, I am joking...but....yes there are some who do it I am sorry to say.  It is wrong...don't do it.  If you give numbers, count and use "math numbers" not "ministerial numbers".