Does Your College Ministry Have a Lid on It?

 The lid is a number you just cannot grow past.  Students graduate and you reach new students, but the number being reached stays about the same.  Or, you grow up to a certain number and then fall back.

Some Causes to a Ministry Lid:

1.  Bad Reputation on Campus - Often a bad reputation is caused by misbehavior or perceived misbehavior by students involved in the ministry.  Or, it can be some enthusiastic attempts to share the Gospel that violated some campus rules or standards.  Stressing to student leaders the importance of their behavior and how they are seen as representative of the ministry can be key here.  If campus rules have been broken, it is imperative to work at making it right with campus administrators.  An unfair cause is what some other campus ministry has done and all ministries are perceived that way

2.  Time and Day of your Large Group Event - Campus schedules change, campus rhythms change.  A bloc of classes is now scheduled on your big night.  Or, maybe the night or day is still good, but the time is not.  Look at what is happening on campus at your time.  Or, is it too early or too late in the week?

3.  Resources - It just may be that your budget is the cause of your lid.  One way to work at changing that is to lay out a plan or some options that could be accomplished with some additional funding.  Share that with alums or other stakeholders.

4.  Student Leadership Organization - It takes more leaders to reach and keep more students connected.  Have you maxed out your leadership structure.  There are some options for this in my Reaching More book.  Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN.

5.  Wrong Strategy -  Strategy is the intentional plan for the ministry.  There are two common mistakes in strategy:  Copying another ministry with different resources in an entirely different campus setting and the strategy has not been tweaked and adjusted as the campus has grown or changed.

6.  Your Facility or Your Setup - If you have outgrown your meeting space, is it time to move?  Can you rent somewhere?  Can your borrow a church or large conference room?  Arrangement is another thing that establishes a lid.  Experiment with setting up your meeting room in different ways.  I know it may sound over simple, but the "feel" of a room often has more effect than we know.  Or, is it dirty or need a new coat of paint?

What would YOU like to see Arliss write about?  Send him your suggestion at arlissdickerson@gmail.com.

Arliss Dickerson's book, A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV