Keeping Collegiates in Your Ministry…or Keeping them from Running to the Back Doors!!

By Pat Reho 

This is a constant battle of local churches, how do you keep young people here?  We sometimes give them their own music, they have their own time slot with the ministry focused around them, and yet they still do not stay active in the church…What is the deal here?  Familiar questions, you’ve been there, or maybe are having this crisis now…

As I was reading through the Old Testament, I ran across David and his great horrific downfall.  If you think about it, the root of his problem was idleness.  David was not where he was supposed to be and thus got off track despite having a strong desire to serve God.

Now we, as the church, sometimes don’t encourage healthy growth in our college students, almost like we stop caring about them after they graduate from high school.  This, like in David’s case, allows them more of an opportunity to get off track.  Idleness often leads to more bad than good and that is something we need to take into account in church ministry as well.

Students don’t want to sit around and be idle, but prefer activity. Some suggested activities to get them involved in are: leadership teams, mission teams (that work on planning yearly trips, raising funds, etc.), student newsletter or church blog (you know Facebook is hot now.)  It is important for you to realize that these students want to be a part of a team and that they have great ideas and servant hearts.   If we don’t challenge them in our ministry, they may leave the ministry altogether.

What activities have been most successful for you? Share your thoughts.

The intent of the team blog website and format is to aid collegiate/young adult leaders in their ministry to college age students in Texas.  The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention does not necessarily agree with or condone all of the thoughts in every blog written by ministers, they simply are providing a platform for resources and thoughts to be shared through this blogging opportunity.  If you have any questions please contact our offices.

Young Americans: Good News and . . . a Challenge.

By Terry Coy

Recent research by the PewResearch Center on Millennials has pointed to their much greater tolerance and openness to race relations, inter-racial marriage, immigration, and cultures other than their own.  This openness – really, this downplaying of differences – is part of what makes them a “third culture” generation.  Dave Gibbons, in his book “The Monkey and the Fish” defines third culture as “the mindset and will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort.” 

This is good news missionally speaking!  Racial and cultural barriers, although real, are no longer seen as significant.  They are more willingly crossed, if they are even there.  College students and young adults can move easier between races, cultures, and nationalities than their parents could.  Differences are seen as differences, not threats.

Yet, the same research also gives cause for concern and a challenge.  If that Millennial openness and tolerance is given free reign, it becomes relativistic and open to just about anything, including morality.  The same Pew research revealed that the Millenial generation is also comfortable with accepting homosexuality as a legitimate alternative lifestyle.  Gay marriage is no big deal to many of them.

This is certainly no big news to college ministers and cultural observers.  The challenge, therefore, is to keep students and young adults grounded in scriptural absolutes without losing compassion for real people who are real sinners in need of a real Savior.  The challenge is learning how to really love the sinner without compromising the fact that his sin is also real.  Could Millenial followers of Jesus teach us older boomers how to do this better?

Helping Students Find a Balance in Serving Between Collegiate Ministry and Other Ministries in the Church

By Aaron Clayton

Do you struggle getting your people to commit? If you can get them to commit, do they flake out at the last possible minute...or just not show up at all? Do you find it hard to make plans because you never know what to expect? Congratulations! You’re in college ministry.

All this hesitation toward commitment is not all that unexpected with 17-23 year olds who are independent for the first time, but there is one area that is of particular interest to those of us who shepherd this generation: their commitment to the church.

In Romans 15:19 Paul says, “I have fully proclaimed the good news about the Messiah from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum.” How could Paul possibly say he had done this? Because he had preached the message and established local churches in those areas. Those local churches were the agent of the gospel in those areas.

We see a pattern in the NT of God using the local church as his agent in the world. Nothing happens outside the context of the local church. Those who are sent are always sent from and return to the church. There is always oversight and support given by the church. Seeing this pattern, it is fair to say that to disengage from the local church is to disengage from the mission of God because God has chosen the church as his missional agent. It is our responsibility to implant this understanding in our students. But, how?

If all we expose our students to is “college ministry,” it is very possible that they could grow and have a great time while they’re with us, but completely miss the bigger picture of what the church is.

One way to pass along a vision that is bigger than college ministry is to involve your students in areas of the church outside of college ministry. They will see the value and the joy in plugging their lives into the lives of people from other generations, and they will connect to the bigger ideas and vision of the church.

The intent of the team blog website and format is to aid collegiate/young adult leaders in their ministry to college age students in Texas.  The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention does not necessarily agree with or condone all of the thoughts in every blog written by ministers, they simply are providing a platform for resources and thoughts to be shared through this blogging opportunity.  If you have any questions contact our offices.