Absence of Ministries…
By Chuck on Aug 28, 2008 in Featured
We all know that college-age ministry is a sort of “red-headed step child” of the church. This is rapidly changing in many contexts, but at the same time many (in fact most) churches have yet to embrace this age-stage ministry as vital in their church. I have yet to hear ANY valid reasons given and I talk to people all the time!
What are some reasons you have heard leaders give as to why their church doesn’t emphasize this ministry?
I’m a new college minister but have been working in and with college ministries for several years. I’ve never heard a church say why they don’t have ministries for college students, but most leadership is befuddled by this age group. They travel so much and can seem so indifferent, that it’s difficult for some leaders to know what to do for the college years. Normal programming doesn’t work, so they try to start a class and hope that it works. It’s also hard for some church leaders to know what success looks like in college ministry. I’m emphasizing with the church leadership here that successful college ministry turns out mature Christian adults, not large groups of passionate college students. College students will be passionate, but if they don’t live out their faith for the rest of their lives, then college ministry was just an episode that didn’t mean anything.
JF Radosevich | Aug 28, 2008 | Reply
I am a college aged christian myself and have been helping lead a college ministry for about 2 years now. There are 2 major reasons, that I know of, why churches don’t reach out to college aged groups; 1. They are an extremely difficult group to cater to. At this age they begin to gain their freedom and if you can’t do something BIG to grab there attention most of them won’t even notice you are there. 2. It’s unfortunate to say but most small churches look at the investment it takes as a financial one not a spiritual investment. College aged groups normally require events to gain growth and then caring leaders to mature them as they grow curious about our faith. The problem is most college aged people don’t attend church and if they do few of them will tithe. As I said it’s unfortunate but a lot of churches figure why invest the money into a ministry that will not return what they put in financially. Thus why you now have ministry orginizations like Campus Crusades who focus on reraching college aged students and are funded by other means.
Josh | Aug 28, 2008 | Reply
Told that there is not enough college aged students to attend a college ministry. How is that translated= all of our church kids go off to Christian colleges far away.
What is right down the street? A community college.
Tyler | Aug 28, 2008 | Reply
The one that makes me laugh the most is that all they do is take from the church. They are an age group that will never tithe an yet they always cost money. I’m currently in seminary getting a Masters of Divinity in college ministry and I usually am the one standing up in class defending college students. They might not tithe in the since of money, but they give their hearts and time to other ministries. Then, I always bring up how at Passion 07 college studens gave thousdands of dollars to help and “tithe” to help God.
Vaughn | Aug 29, 2008 | Reply
The excuses I have heard are “the church is too small” and “we don’t have college aged people attending here”. Funny how those are the same excuses I hear from the college aged people “that church is too small and doesn’t have others my age attending there”.
Sadly the one other excuse I have heard is a pastor who refused to start a ministry because it wasn’t his idea, even though others were willing to step up and lead the group. In fact, it was already getting started in a non-official capacity and the church staff killed it through their control and chased the men who were starting it from the church.
Sherie | Sep 1, 2008 | Reply
I have previously been a youth pastor and now am a volunteer “Young Adult” leader at our current church while I am in school. Having been part of college ministries both as full-time paid staff and as a volunteer I have seen both growth and some struggle. In regard to the question I have 4 observations.
1. In most places, the morning is not the opportune time to develop an effective college ministry. We are struggling with consistency right now and I believe it has much to do with the fact that our class currently meets at 9am. College students want to sleep in — especially those whom are now free to decide if they want to go to church or not. In January, we will be moving to Sunday evenings for our meeting time.
2. When there is a college or university near the church, there are typically more opportunities. This is not to say college ministry is impossible if there are no significant schools in the area. However, it does make it more challenging.
3. Where there are no relationships, there will be no ministry. When college students know they are being cared for and loved, they typically respond. They want to be known, loved and accepted. Are we any different? Would we want to be part of a ministry where people didn’t really know us? They long for authenticity.
4. Get over how many students attend. I heard Jim Burns once say at a Youth Ministry Conference, “God does not care how big our youth groups are.” I think of King David’s “other sin”. We know about Bethsheba, but we don’t pay attention to the time when he counted the number of soldiers he had. Needless to say, that was when God allowed the enemy to overwhelm the Israelites — until David repented. If 3 people attend, minister and love on those three people. If 100 people attend, minister and love them, don’t count how many are there. Success needs to be redefined.
All this to say, College Ministry, whether they meet on a Sunday morning or Sunday evening is not as much the issue as the idea of the leaders “being Jesus” to them, or being involved in their lives. I am not suggtesting the time we meet is irrelevant. We should attempt to meet at a time when the opportunity for ministry is most evident. However, it is not nearly as effective as the relationships we pursue and build. That will determine the success of the ministry.
Jon | Sep 11, 2008 | Reply