A Challenge for Professionals to Mentor International Students
As International Student Ministries continue to proclaim, “The nations are here,” creative methods of engaging them through friendships develop. Traditionally, we have engaged through friendship partners, church family “adoptions,” conversation partners, conversational English groups, intramurals, class study partners, holiday hosting, cultural events, and a variety of other ways. The purpose of these programs and methods […]
Don’t Send Students Away, Start A Second Service
With COVID 19, there are limits to how many people you can allow in your large group meetings. Unfortunately, I’ve heard of some groups talking about sending students away because they don’t have space! Please don’t do that! Interestingly, even though it’s common for churches to have multiple services, it’s still rare for college ministries. […]
Ministering in the Midst of Protests and Uprising
I couldn’t be more proud of Teresa Royall, our Baptist Campus Minister at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta. She ministers in the midst of of one of our most culturally-diverse BCMs in the middle of downtown Atlanta. She shared with our staff recently a series of experiences over the past weekend – experiences that […]
FRESH 10: The Importance of Reaching Freshmen within their First 10 Days on Campus
What is Fresh 10? It is a freshmen engagement strategy that calls for collegiate ministries to invest heavily and sacrificially in engaging incoming freshmen for their first 10 days on campus. Fresh 10 requires ministries to plan one key event every day in order to: Befriend as many non-Christian freshmen as possible Invite those freshmen […]
The Virtual Campus Ministry
So, there’s a pandemic. Your campus is shutting down, moving all student classwork to online formats. You have a weekly meeting that is the heartbeat of your ministry. What do you do? Well, maybe for you the answer is to go digital and have a virtual meeting, after all “For everything there is a season, […]
What Do You Do When Your College Ministry is in the Weeds?
If you do college ministry very long, you will have that semester or year when your ministry is in the weeds. You are working hard… sometimes even harder than usual, but it just is not up to what it has been or what you think it ought to be. When we speak, we speak about […]
Beginning a Church Based College Ministry
Step One Reality Check #1 – How much time do I really have to invest in this? Step Two Reality Check #2 – Do I really have a heart for this or is this item #14 on a fourteen item job description? Step Three Leave your guilt behind! You have […]
How to be an Expert on Your Campus
If you are new to your campus or your campus has changed over time, then it may be a good time to evaluate your campus context. My seminary professor consistently said, “Your context dictates your ministry.” Research your campus Review the campus quick facts. Does your ministry reflect the campus? Is there a demographic […]
Creating a Culture of Inclusion
Include – To make someone a part of something. We all want to reach new heights of inclusion in our ministries. The foundation for all of our efforts on college campuses is to seek and to save the lost and to make disciples of all nations. In this way, we know who the someone is, […]
Choosing, Equipping, and Evaluating Small Group Leaders
I still remember my first time attending a small group during my sophomore year at California State University in Chico. I had begun getting involved with Christian Challenge by attending large group meetings, but hadn’t yet tried a small group. I walked into someone’s house, hoping this would result in lasting relationships that could thrive […]