The Fine Line for Church College Ministry

 I have written and spoken about the four killers of church college ministries.  They are:

    1.  Constant Turnover of College Ministers

     2.  Decisions made for the Overall Benefit of the Church Not Benefitting the College Ministry

     3.  More Divided Time Issues for Church College Ministers

      4.  Church College Ministers are Often More Sharply Evaluated by Numbers.

But, church college ministries have a great plus that campus based ministries do not have.

Young adults have expressed and demonstrated in many ways their desire and need to be mentored by older adults.  One reason for this need is the large number of students that come out of broken homes and need to see good functioning and healthy family relationships.  Plus, students are struggling more with what to do with their life career wise.  Connecting those who are into careers and know the realities is a huge plus.

But, there is a very fine line that church college ministries have to walk.

That fine line is the one between doing things that specifically speak to and connect with college students AND connecting them to the church as a whole.  Many churches do a great job of reaching a large number of students and being a blessing in their lives.  But, they do not connect them to the church as a whole.. So, what is the problem with this?  It is possible to so cater to and direct a ministry at college students that they are not connected to anyone outside their age bracket.  Going to a great week night college events with cool lighting and a smoke machine can make Sunday morning seem pretty dull.

College ministries need to speak to specific college student issues that are not Sunday morning topics.  So, we cannot quit being college student specific in what we do.

TWO ANSWERS:

     1.  We have to lay out the challenge for more non-college adults to be willing to wade into college student events.  Be a part of what college students are doing.  Some of these could be every week people and others could be recruited to come just once.  But, students would get used to seeing a variety of ages and even become friends with some.  And the non-college adults would see the needs and opportunities.

     2.  We must lay out to students and challenge students as to why it matters for them to connect to church in more than the college specific events.  Help them know there is a reason for them to sit next to someone twice their age...or even three times their age. 

I spoke this week with a man who has a son going to college this fall.  We started out talking about the son.  But, we wound up talking about what the father's church college ministry experience had meant to him and how the friendships he had developed with the non-college adults had blessed his life. He wants that for his son this coming year.

It is a very fine line and a tough line to walk, but I believe it is one we must continually try to walk both for our college students benefit and for the benefit of church in the future.

Arliss Dickerson's college ministry books are available at amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.