When do you CANCEL a college ministry event?

 Where I live, we are having ugly weather with single digit temps and snow on the ground.  School is starting or has already started at different colleges.

So, when do you cancel and when do you have your college ministry event when there is bad weather?

What if classes are canceled?  I have had the experience of classes being canceled and by evening time, the sun had been out and the roads were totally clear.  So, we had our event.  It was not even close to being a tough call. Other times, it was a close call.  Plus, we know that usually when it is snowing and classes are canceled, students are out sledding, having snowball fights and just enjoying life.

What if classes are canceled and a student is injured or even killed in an accident coming to your event? Would you feel any sense of responsibility?  Would there be grounds for a lawsuit by a family saying that your ministry ignored the conditions because the campus had canceled classes? I don't know the answer to that.

During my tenure as a Church University Minister, our church had the policy that if the local public schools canceled classes for that day and it was a Wednesday that our church activities were automatically canceled.  Even though, there were days it was fine by that evening, I was not told, but  later decided, that I should go with the overall church policy for a variety of reasons. If you are a Church College Minister, does your church have a policy?  Can you do otherwise, if you choose?  Should you?

Is there a difference in telling "on campus students" to come and "off campus students" to come to a campus event? On campus students are out going to the cafeteria, even if classes are canceled and many campuses do an excellent job of clearing sidewalks.  While, that might not be true of the road conditions. 

So, do I have a magic answer?  NO!  My point is to give some thought to your decision and perhaps how to issue the invitation, if you are having something in bad weather.  Should it be, "IF you are living on campus, we will have.....?" Or, “If you live in town where the roads are clearing….”

One other word:  For your protection and help, I would make sure my supervisor was clued into my decision and on board with it. 

Arliss Dickerson's book Tips for College Freshmen:124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades is at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.  A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV