#2 What Should Campus Based Ministries Learn from Large Church Weeknight Events?

 This is to continue the discussion about a handful of really large crowds (1400, etc) that some church college ministries have for their weeknight worship event and what can campus based ministries learn from it.  Thanks to those who have responded and I hope others will continue to respond.

Some Factors in the really large church weeknight events:

-Many of these do not have a denominational label.  It is just Pinelake, Salt Company or Cross Church.  So folks from multiple denominations and backgrounds are willing to be involved.  Ministries such as BCM, BSU, BSM, Wesley, etc indicate a tie to a particular denomination in their name.

-They make their biggest ask of students to be at the worship event and do not do a lot of special things outside of it.  They don't announce much.

-They do one thing and do it really well.  Everything points to that one event.  Everything funnels back to it.

-They draw from a plethora of different campus ministry groups.  While a campus ministry may focus on connecting with students, the churches draw together those various connections in one place.

-Sorority and fraternity groups seem to respond better to a church event than to a campus ministry event.  Part of this relates to the feeling that the campus based groups are "competition" to them for students and in certain campus events (Homecoming elections, etc).

Big budget and big staff ALWAYS wins.

Many students are substituting this weeknight event at a church which is way more convenient than a Sunday morning service.  The campus based ministry is not "church".

Churches pay way more than campus based ministries and therefore are able to draw some of the best college ministry people.

Let me hear from you.  What should all of us in college ministry learn from these super large gatherings? Are there things that are transferrable?  Email me at arlissdickerson@gmail.com, Facebook me, text or call me.

Should your college ministry be reaching more students?  Check out Reaching MORE College Students:  Next Level College Ministry at Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN.