There was an excellent article recently warning College Ministers against pragmatism or simply doing something because it draws a crowd and not trusting the Lord. I wrestle with that in that I am very pragmatic.
Some years ago a student said, "We should name our worship band Free Beer and we could advertise Free Beer on Thursday Night." That certainly would have drawn a crowd for one night....and gotten me fired the next day. Obviously, that would be an over the top extreme example of doing whatever to draw a crowd.
Is there a healthy point between just doing stuff that gets students to come and just trusting the Lord in our ministry? I think there has to be.
-If there are 5,000 students on our campus, we must care about 5,000 students. Every situation is different. In some settings with a good budget and a nice facility in the deep south, reaching a fairly large number is possible. On a 5,000 student campus with no budget, no facility and an antagonistic administration, reaching a much smaller crow is likely. Yet, I believe God can be and is at work in both situations.
We must each be responsible to our particular setting and situation. I have a friend who regularly receives large checks out of the blue from his alums. He can do almost anything he chooses to boost the ministry. Another friend said he worked to have funding to serve Iced Tea after his event once a month. Their situation is different.
A friend shared that he was visiting with a BCM College Minister who led a small ministry and told him some things their large ministry had done for Welcome Week. The leader of the smaller ministry tried some of the suggestions and had more students visit his ministry the first couple of weeks than ever before. But, he did not do anything different with follow-up, etc and they immediately went back to the number they had always had. Were those the ones the Lord wanted there or was it a failure of practice?
Keys to a Healthy Balance:
1. Are we continuing to learn from others? No matter how long we do college ministry, we can keep learning. Learn from old vets. Learn from new guys and gals that have new thoughts. Keep learning!
2. Remind yourself every year cannot be bigger and better than the year before. It just cannot. The campus schedule changes. Student leaders graduate and new ones are still learning. Recovering from the blows of the Covid Years takes time.
3. Be faithful and work hard. Keep doing the things you know to do and trust God in the process. Sometimes, it just takes multiple years for things to develop and mature. I could do things at Year 10 that were not remotely possible before that.
4. Do not compare your ministry to other ministries....particularly the "Poster Ministry of the Year". One of the greatest killers of College Ministers is comparison. No two situations are alike. Resources vary, campus situations are different. Our gifts are different. Learn from others, but do not compare! Years ago a ministry was held up as an example of things to do because of their large numbers. Some time later we learned the College Minister was lying about his numbers! Just wow!!
5. Feeling alone and no one else cares causes us to do and think dumb things! This is the other big killer of College Ministers. Find and develop two or three friends who get college ministry that you can talk to and share your thoughts, frustrations, etc with. But, don't dump it all on your spouse!
Being in the Healthy Spot is always a work in progress.
At the risk of sounding way too pragmatic, Reaching More College Students is FREE THIS WEEK. GET IT HERE: Amazon.com/dp/B0CDHP4MD1. By the way, you would do me a huge favor, if you would write an honest review on the Amazon site.
Arliss, arlissdickerson@gmail.com
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