Where to Start: How to Help Students with Mental Health Needs
When it comes to walking with students through a mental health crisis or dealing with trauma in their lives, it helps to already have an action plan in place. Below are some suggestions and ways to help students as they encounter difficult times and need professional help. Begin with Knowing -Know what on-campus resources are […]
The Importance of Rest
Therefore, since the promise to enter his rest remains, let us beware that none of you be found to have fallen short. For we also have received the good news just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith. […]
Transitioning from Collegiate Ministry to the Real World
Adulting is a new word that has entered our vocabulary and was named the word of the year in 2017. The truth is campus ministers have been helping college students become spiritual adults long before then. However in recent years we did notice that our college graduates had a rough time finding jobs and making […]
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, […]
4 Principles for Creating a Sermon for a Collegiate Audience
Sermon preparation is both a science and an art. That is, there are certain principles that are good safeguards for anyone to follow in order to make sure the message they craft is biblically faithful. That’s the science. But there’s an art, too. That’s when messages get infused with our personality. Our understanding. And our […]
Are You Developing and Sending Your Students Well?
In Gaining by Losing, J.D. Greear shares the vision for a ministry that celebrates a sending capacity over seating capacity. As a college ministry, we have no choice but to send people! After four or five years, our students leave whether we want them to or not. For the college minister, the question is not […]
4 Non-Negotiables When Speaking to College Students
I love communicating to college students. It’s rare to find a more attentive, engaged, and moldable group of people than an auditorium full of young men and women at university. It makes sense when you think about it. College students are bombarded, some for the very first time in their lives, with freedom. They have […]
One Question that Can Change a College Student’s Life
College is a time for questions. Students are inundated with questions from professors about their lectures, from parents about their lifestyles, from new relationships about their backgrounds – questions everywhere. All the time. And if we are doing collegiate ministry, we ought to be masters of asking questions. But our questions should go beyond the […]
Understanding Student Populations
If you are seeking to minister to students on your local college campus, one of your first steps should be to spend some time seeking to understand the types of students on your campus and what their unique life rhythms and needs are. No two students are the same, but often the ebb and flow […]
Building Key Relationships in College Ministry
Ministry is all about relationships. In addition to the students on the campus, there are relationships that must be nurtured in campus ministry. Key relationships on the campus: • The most important campus connection is with the office (usually Student Life or Student Activities) that is responsible for approving campus organizations. The persons in […]