Time to Think FALL Freshmen Ministry?????

Time to think Fall Freshmen Ministry?  What...Spring Break has not happened yet and every student that comes around me has the flu or the winter blahs....so, what is this FALL Freshmen Ministry timing?

FIRST, LET'S TALK ABOUT WHY DO AN INTENTIONAL FRESHMEN MINISTRY:

-70% of high school seniors active in church make NO spiritual connection at college and many are walking away from faith.

-Many college students ship wreck their lives during the first semester of college....or at least put a pretty big dent in it.

-Freshmen are the most reachable group on campus.  They have not established their patterns and habits yet AND they are looking for friends and connections.

-One thing any ministry can do that larger ministries do is have an intentional plan for reaching freshmen.  It can be elaborate....even expensive or it can be simple, but intentional.  It can increase significantly the number of students your ministry is touching.

WHY THINK ABOUT FALL FRESHMEN MINISTRY NOW....NOW:

-First, it is all about calendar.  Many colleges now have some Orientation/Registration sessions for incoming freshmen even before school is out.  This is often for the highly recruited students and many of your leader types.  If your ministry is a Recognized Student Organization or work directly with a ministry that is, it may be possible for your ministry to have a display at these events.  You cannot be there, if you do not know when it is.  While you are at it, get the dates for Summer Orientations on your calendar which may affect your summer plans.

-If there are churches with larger youth groups whose students often come to your campus as freshmen, could you schedule a date to go and visit their Youth Ministry or Senior Sunday School Class.  Do they have "Senior Sunday", when is it?  Could we get a list?

-If your ministry will have one or more upperclass led Freshmen Bible study groups, who will lead them?  Now, is the time to begin to enlist this leader or leaders. 

-If your ministry will have one ore more Freshmen Bible study groups, what material will they study?
Now is the time to begin to look at different materials or to begin to write or at least lay out an outline of what they will cover.

-Set a time to begin to train and prepare the student or students who will lead these Freshmen Bible Study groups.

-Begin to pray about the Freshmen Ministry for the fall.

-If you will giving some sort of promotional giveaway, it may be time to order it.  Even now, an attractive promotional piece aimed at Freshmen can be designed.

-Talk to a ministry friend or colleague that does Freshmen Ministry well and learn from their victories and mistakes.

ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL ENLISTMENT TOOLS:

There is power in receiving a handwritten note.  I recently heard an interview with a Head Football Coach of one of the nationally known college teams.  An interviewer ask how they had such a great recruiting class this year.  He said one thing they believe in strongly is that each of their staff write Five (5) handwritten notes a day.....A DAY!  What if you and/or your ministry began to write two to five handwritten notes to students who you know will be coming in the fall.  When your ministry gets the name of a student who is or MIGHT be coming to your campus, write them.  Write a personal note to the pastors or youth ministers in your area asking them to point students your direction and to let you know who is coming. 

If there are 90 school days left in the semester and you wrote just two handwritten notes a day, that would be one hundred eighty (180) before school is out.

One of the truisms of college ministry is "Good falls are made in the summer."  AND, planning in the spring semester makes for an effective summer!

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 available at amazon.com (type in Arliss Dickerson).