If you do college ministry at a 4-year university, your campus probably has Greek life. A lot of ministers want to connect with Greek life, but it sure can be difficult! In this article, I hope to give you some tips on how to grow your ministry’s presence in your campus Greek life.
For context, our ministry is at Mississippi State University, a major state school with a large Greek life. However, I think some of these principles can apply at any university! I first want to dispel a couple myths:
Myth #1: You have to have Greeks to reach Greeks.
- I have heard this comment, or one like it, so many times. It just isn’t true. After all, everyone has to start somewhere. Now, does it help? YES, OF COURSE! But you don’t have to have “those types of people” (yes I hear people say that) in order to reach those types of people.
Myth #2: Greeks don’t want to live for Jesus.
- Unfortunately, for whatever reason, some people still seem to believe there are no Greek life students who want to follow Jesus. Actually, many of them do, but unfortunately, they live in an environment that makes that very difficult. They just need someone to help them.
Now onto some tips. Note: All of these build off of each other. Most of them are based off of number 1.
Tip #1: Understand the long game.
- This is most important. You aren’t just going to walk into a Greek house and all of a sudden get everyone to come to your church/ministry. It’s going to take a long time of building relationships to earn trust and then participation. A big obstacle to reaching Greeks is their schedule, which brings me to #2.
Tip #2: You have to go to them.
- For many Greeks, their schedule is full. This is because on top of classes, they have duties for their chapters, and many chapters require their members to participate in multiple other organizations. So, you will have to work around their schedule. At our university, all but 2 of the 20 Panhellenic/IFC chapters meet on Monday nights. If you want to reach them, don’t meet on Mondays.
- Another example of this is Greek-focused programming. (Bible studies, dinners, worship nights, etc.) If you do a Bible study in a house, you are virtually guaranteed to get members from that house.
- Tip 2.1: Learn their language. Do the best you can to figure out what in the world they are talking about!
Tip #3: Build relational connections.
- By doing 1 and 2, make relational connections. When you meet a Greek on campus, get their contact. Use that to figure out their schedule. Meet them for lunch at their house. Find their schedule and meet them. This brings me to #4.
- Tip 3.1: Know your own. If you have a Greek student that comes to your ministry and you haven’t connected with them, GET ON IT! Pitch to them a vision for reaching their house!
Tip #4: Go to Philanthropy Events
- Many chapters (especially sororities) do fundraising events that are a ton of fun. One of the most popular ones at our university is Chi O Coke Floats (hosted by Chi Omega). Take a group of students with you, go hang out, have fun, and meet new students.
- Here’s the best part: The Exec teams are almost always at these events. Just ask around and you’ll have a direct line to the president. Get to know them. This really helps with #1 (understanding the long game).
Tip #5: SERVE THEM!
- This has probably been the most fun part of our Greek ministry. This year, we served 8 out of 9 Panhellenic chapters at MSU. This means we got to directly show almost 2000 girls a small piece of the love of Jesus. Here’s how we did it:
- I asked enough students until I could find someone who had connections. Eventually I got to the Chaplain of Tri Delta. She then was able to share with me the contacts of all the chaplains (from a group text).
- I reached out to each chaplain individually and asked if we could come serve their chapter during work week. What does this mean?
- Work week is the week prior to rush/recruitment. It’s when all the girls get to school before the first day and start preparing for rush/recruitment. This is a really busy week for the girls.
- Most chaplains would connect me to the president or recruitment chair. I would then ask them about coming to serve them, and here’s what I asked:
- If we could come to give a word of encouragement/devotional in the morning and If we could serve them a pancake dinner or dessert bar one night.
- If we could bring them gifts for each member in the chapter.
- And they ALL SAID YES! We did 5 devotionals with gifts (the gift was a Celsius energy drink with a coupon to a local store + a flyer to our kickoff night).
- We also did 2 pancake dinners and 1 dessert bar, and it was a BLAST.
- What all of this does is help us build relationships and play the long game. – Overtime, as God convicts the hearts of Greeks and they begin looking for a home, they know where to go. It also gives the girls familiarity when we host Greek-focused events like worships and dinners.
Tip #6: Remember, it will fluctuate.
- Based on the makeup of each member class, your numbers will go up and down. But God is certainly going to keep moving.
Final thoughts:
Hopefully this can help you start reaching Greeks! Remember: Greeks are more open than you think. Sometimes you just have to sow broadly to find the one that is hungry for Jesus.
– You won’t know until you ask!!! Just ask. The worst they can say is no. –
Event Ideas:
- Greek Dinner: Bring together Greeks and give them a vision for living out their faith in college.
- Worship Nights: We have been blessed to do worship nights inside of houses!
- Fun Events: Girls love things like Planner Nights. It’s where girls come together and decorate their planners for the year.
- Competition: Frat guys love a good competition. Pickleball tournaments, cornhole tournaments, dodgeball and basketball tournaments. Throw in some cash for the winner and you’ll have guys really quick.
May God bless you in your efforts on campus! If you have any questions, please reach out!
Truman Loupe is the College Pastor at Bridgeway Church in Starkville, MS. You can reach him at 225-223-0303.
