The Scariest Question in College Ministry

The scariest question in college ministry is, "What are we going to do about college students who go to school totally on the internet?".

The campus where I served as BCM Campus Minister and now serve as College Minister at a church that reaches out to that campus recently announced some startling figures.  The enrollment for this past school year was 13,594.  That was a pretty normal number for the past few years. Of that number 64% took at least one online course.  That was not surprising to me just in what I hear from my students.

But, then there was the block buster number for me.  Of the 13,594, 37% take ALL of their courses on line.  That means they never have to walk across campus.  And it may even mean they are not within a thousand miles of our ministry.  That is often the first thought when we hear of students going to college all on the internet.  But, this past week a friend told of her niece who is on the track team and lives on campus.  Her coaches asked her to take all of her classes on line because that way she would be more available for training, travel, etc.

In my neighborhood, a single mother and her son moved in with their mother/grandmother across the street. I would see him twice a day walk off to high school and walk home afterward.  Last year he graduated from high school and started college on line.  Then, I would see him come out of the house about once a week.

How do we reach and minister to students who are more and more isolating themselves?  I think this is the scariest question for two reasons:
1.  This does not fit any of our models of successful college ministry.
2.  But, to me this is the "More Scary" part.....I don't hear anyone asking the question.

We only get answers to questions and develop solutions to difficult issues when we begin to ask, ponder, and discuss the question.

So, here is the question:  "How do we reach and minister to all these college students who are doing ALL of their college on line?".  Let's start talking about ideas.  It will be less scary then!

Arliss Dickerson is the author of five books on college ministry available in eBook form on Amazon.com for 99 cents each.  FIXING A BROKEN COLLEGE MINISTRY is also available in paperback format.