The North American Mission Board (NAMB) announced last week that their board of trustees had voted that NAMB request at this summer's Southern Baptist Convention meeting that they be given the assignment for collegiate ministry. For many years, the collegiate ministry responsibility and overall coordination has been at Lifeway Christian Resources. When the pandemic came on full force and churches shut down, many churches quit ordering literature from Lifeway. Since all of Lifeway's ministries and services are funded by the sale of their materials, they were forced to cut $25 million from their budget. At that point, the collegiate ministry leader and contract workers were terminated along with other cuts. Since then, there has been no national collegiate ministry office.
Last week when this announcement was made by NAMB, a pastor contacted me to ask what were concerns or questions within the college ministry family about the possibility of NAMB taking on this role. Just like any big issue, there are a variety of viewpoints. Some believe it is a no brainer for NAMB to take the assignment. But, there are some questions.
Two Concerns Expressed:
1. Will NAMB give emphasis and support in a positive way to BOTH traditional BCM/BSU/BSM ministry and campus church plants? In recent years the emphasis of NAMB has been in the area of campus church planting and some NAMB personnel indicated that they saw campus church plants as THE way to do college ministry in the future. There are places where each of those is the best approach. Some have estimated there are about one hundred (100) campus church plants currently and there are about eight hundred (800) BCM ministries.
2. Will NAMB restore the funding to the ER states? It has not been widely known, but for several years, Lifeway has given $210,000 each year to the ER states for collegiate ministry. ER or Emerging Regions is a term used to describe the "non-deep south states" that do not have a large number of strong churches. Consequently, those states are not able to give significant financial support to their campus based college ministries. This money was divided between those states and used at their discretion for either aid to salaries or college ministry budget. If NAMB is to take on the college ministry role, will they restore this funding that is of great importance to those states? To my knowledge, there has been no public statement by NAMB leadership about this. Prior to the vote at the SBC annual meeting, I would think NAMB needs to address this issue. It is a significant part of what Lifeway was doing in college ministry.
Are either of these concerns deal breakers?
A statement from Paul Worcester: Following this blog post and the different discussions and comments on Facebook, Paul reached out to me, said this, and gave me permission to share it. "Our desire at NAMB is to partner with all expressions of collegiate reaching including campus based ministries, church based ministries, and collegiate church plants. We want to add fuel to the fire of what God is already doing among our churches, associations, and state conventions. Our only agenda is to be as much of a blessing as we can be."
Arliss Dickerson's new book, "Tips for College Freshmen: 124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" is available at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.
Good point Arliss. We in ER regions still need assistance as we are self funded here. Thanks for prayers for all we do in this region to reach the world from the Athens of America. - MD, on mission 25 years in Boston
ReplyDeleteI can for sure tell you our desire at NAMB is to partner with all expressions of collegiate reaching including campus based ministries, church based ministries and collegiate church plants. We want to add fuel to the fire of what God is already doing among our churches, associations and state conventions. Our only agenda is to be as much of a blessing as we can be.
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