1. Declining Numbers in Young Ministers Expressing a Call to College Ministry - Those that hire College Ministers indicate that there is a smaller pool available of those who feel called to and are pursuing a college ministry position. Formerly where there were college ministry classes with 20 to 30 in them, those classes are much smaller and it seems fewer classes are being offered. There are three obvious reasons for this shrinking pool.
- First, the emphasis on church planting continues to be a pull to many feeling called to ministry. Also, church planting often seems more appealing than dealing with the issues of more established situations.
-Second, There is a sense that there just are not many college ministry positions available because of the publicized cuts in some states. While this is not entirely accurate, that message is out there.
Finally, there are fewer young adults acknowledging a call to vocational ministry. And, the hardest college ministry positions to fill are those where they want to place an African American. One college ministry supervisor said he had looked for two years for a strong candidate with some college ministry background.
2. Ministries Recovering from Covid - Many campus based ministries have experienced a downturn in their ministry due to two years of strict Covid protocols on campus.
Each of those two years they were not able to reach the number of new students as in the past. Those two missing years continue to show up in shortage of student leaders and just in attendance as a whole. When a ministry misses a year or has a "down" year, that hole shows up over the next four years. When you plug two of those "down" years into the ministry, it leaves a gaping hole that will continue to be an issue.
One interesting thing some have reported is that often church college ministries were not required to adhere to campus Covid policies since they were not on campus. As a result, they have not seen as dramatic an effect. The downturn in attendance in these campus based ministries leads to questions as to whether the College Minister is doing a good job. Everything looks normal; why isn't the ministry where it used to be size wise? That is unfair and puts an extra pressure on the College Minister.
3. Anxiety About Positions - There continues to be some anxiety among many College Ministers that their positions may be lost due to the losses experienced in other places. Or, a concern that a downturn in church offerings will affect their position.
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