I have written that the "It Factor" for College Ministers is respect.....not charisma. In working with college students for the long term God process in their lives, it is not charisma or how trendy we dress. It is respect. But, here is another dimension to that.
Do your ministry partners respect you and your ministry? In the Southern Baptist world, a Campus Minister is responsible for not only having a ministry on campus, but they are responsible for working with, helping, and encouraging church college ministries. It is a complicated mine field to navigate sometimes. Some are very cooperative. Some are eager for help. Some are mildly cooperative and some do not interact at all or even seem to compete with the campus based ministry and other church ministries. To that mix, we also have to add other ministries on campus....do we cooperate, compete or ignore?
A simple fact is, if your ministry and you are not respected, other ministries are less likely to cooperate. Lack of respect toward a ministry is sometimes caused by poor behavior on the part of the professional leadership or students involved. However, sometimes lack of respect is caused by either a poor job, lack of awareness, OR that the ministry is smaller than others and not considered "significant" by others. That is unfair, but true.
So, how do we earn "ministry respect"? First, we do the best possible job we can do. Excellence is always a key to respect. Part of excellence is being what we say we are. Also, it sometimes means working with those who will cooperate and going forward. We don't wait for everyone to cooperate. When some are not cooperative, we cannot let that keep us from being cooperative with those who will. Some ministry leaders have to see the benefit of cooperation. Some will cooperate, if they see it values God's Kingdom as a whole. Others will only cooperate if they see the benefit to their ministry. Some have argued, if we "give away our ministry" others will be more cooperative. The opposite is often true. A strong thriving ministry draws cooperation.
There is an unhealthy competitive spirit that is harmful to ministry to students and to God's kingdom overall. But, there can be a "HEALTHY competitive spirit". That is when other ministries do well and even do not want to be cooperative, we can let that drive us to do the best possible job we can do. We are not angry or negative toward that ministry. But, we work at our ministry being all that it can be.
The personal actions of the College Minister are a BIG factor in ministry respect.
5 Things that Help Earn Respect:
- Always respond to and return messages as soon as possible and no later than 24 hours. Not responding to someone is disrespectful to them!
-Express thanks and give credit where thanks and credit is due. When a partner helps. do not take it for granted. Spread the credit around.
-Communicate with ministry partners regularly and let them know what you are doing that might affect them or even benefit them. Ask for any information they want to share with you.
-Highlight things that are happening through cooperative efforts. Share the credit.
-Never bad mouth other ministries....even when they deserve it.
My scripture when I wrestle with this issue is Mark 9:38-40. Teacher said John, We saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop because he was not one of us. Do not stop him Jesus said, No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us.
If YOU are respected, your ministry will be respected.
Arliss Dickerson's book, Almost Everything About College Ministry, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX. Coming soon: Reaching More College Students....Next Level College Ministry.
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