There is a trend among College Ministers who speak at their weekly large group event to preach passages of scripture or to do a book study each week. Part of the reason for this is the biblical ignorance of many college and university students.......even and including those who have grown up in church.
While not speaking against biblical preaching, I want to make the case for doing at least some topical speaking. My campus based ministry has all been done in the south, hard core Bible Belt with several churches reaching out to students with many of my students involved in one of them. They were hearing lots of good biblical preaching.
Whether students are hearing some Christian teaching/speaking other than yours, I still believe that it is important that a College Minister address some specifically "college student topics". Many years ago when I came to Arkansas State, I determined to keep the same schedule of weekly events they had been used to for the first year. The previous College Minister had done a Bible Study on Monday night and there was a large group worship event on another night. So, my Bible study became what I called "a biblically based seminar". Since, our "large group meeting" was a worship service, I did not want the two weekly events to be the same. When we added a Freshmen Night to our weekly schedule, I became the weekly speaker at our worship event and continued to do a lot of topical speaking as part of that event. Worship and "real life" go together!
A key part of this "biblically based seminar" I was leading each week was the input of students telling me what their issues, questions, and the questions of their friends were. The topics came out of those questions. Of course, "relationships" was always being mentioned to me of anything from parents to girlfriends, boyfriends. There were points where I had to say, "No, I will not speak on relationships every week.". Scripture was ALWAYS a part of each of these talks.
Here are some examples of some topics that a College Minister should consider speaking to;
How can I know God's will?
What are the different ways God speaks to people?
What about Christians and politics? (I get that question continually these days.)
Making peace with your parents (the jerks!)
Defending my faith to skeptics
Questions to ask each other before you marry
What to do when the M word is mentioned (Marriage)
Dealing with conflict in a group
The difference in real love and hormones!
Making school, church, job, and social life work
Sex isn't new, but you Wish it was (starting over in purity)
Dealing with Guilt Feelings: Deserved and Undeserved
Five things every Christian ought to know about sex
How to have a marriage better than your parents
5 ways to mess up your life and what to do about it
How do I get along with a roommate who makes fun of what I believe?
Understanding me....does God cause and use our different personalities?
How do I use my time wisely and in a way that honors God?
Personal Porn and what to do about it
No matter how great of a church your students may attend, it is not likely they are hearing these issues addressed in the weekly worship service and sermon. If they do not hear any other Christian speaker, do they know that the Bible is all about real life? As a College Minister, you have a unique opportunity to speak into their life on their every day issues.
Many of today's young adults think the Bible and faith is not relevant to every day living. You have the great opportunity to speak into that! Don't quit doing "regular Bible study" or a study of Acts, etc, but make sure that you also talk about what they are talking about before and after your meetings. And, you may be surprised at the friends they start bringing along with them.
Arliss Dickerson is a part time college ministry consultant for Lifeway Christian Resources and the author of five books on college ministry in eBook and print at amazon.com (type in Arliss Dickerson).
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