The United Methodist Church (UMC) voted last week to affirm same-sex marriage and allow pastors to engage in same-sex relationships. A new conservative denomination, the Global Methodist Church, has already formed, and the UMC will likely begin a significant decline like other churches that embrace same-sex marriage. Yes, every church should care for LGBTQ people, stand against bullying and hostility, and treat EVERY person as neighbors who are created in God’s image. But embracing LGBTQ-affirming theology and same-sex marriage is the wrong response for several reasons.
Why? Because LGBTQ-affirming theology…
(1) rejects & tampers with what God gives as a gift to be received, namely gender & marriage,
(2) bends historic Christian doctrine to the cultural’s momentary obsession,
(3) lets inner desires rather than God’s revealed truth shape its moral conviction,
(4) calls good what God calls sinful, namely immorality,
(5) negates individual repentance from sin, an essential facet of the gospel,
(6) leads people into a lifestyle that is sinful and, ultimately, unsatisfying,
(7) finds ultimate identity in gender & sexuality, rather than in Christ, and
(8) twists God’s love for the church which Scripture compares to the love of a husband for a wife.
Last week, the UMC embraced a view of sexuality that is rejected by virtually all “majority-world” Christians in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It’s rejected by the persecuted church around the world and, actually, every church in history – from the time of the Apostles until fifty years ago after the Sexual Revolution. But the UMC’s new view of sexuality IS embraced by Hollywood, mainstream media, elite universities, and most major corporations. The UMC isn’t becoming more authentically Christian; it has become more worldly.
Perhaps the saddest part is the treatment of UMC churches from places like Africa. Last week, the UMC’s African delegates issued this statement: “The United Methodist Church has changed the United Methodist definition of marriage – not because the Bible has changed. But because western culture has changed. At this Conference, The United Methodist Church has chosen to follow what pleases man instead of what pleases God… In Africa we do not believe we know better than Jesus. We do not believe we know better than God. We do not believe we know better than the Bible. We must now return to Africa and tell our people that The General Conference did not listen to us, does not value us as partners, and is willing to lose us to pursue its liberal western agenda.”
The message from the UMC to their African churches is, “You are backward and primitive. If you want to keep using our resources, you have to conform to our ways.” It’s a new type of colonialism. Personally, I stand with my African brothers and sisters, with majority-world churches, with the persecuted church in Iran, the house-church movement in China, the consensus of church history, and the testimony of Scripture. Before God, we have no other option.
Are you a campus ministry leader looking to branch out to a nearby community college? Or maybe a local church leader with a nearby community college? Here’s a model for launching and maintaining a simple Bible study at a nearby two-year community college. We’ve used it in Texas BSM for years, and it only takes about THREE HOURS PER WEEK!
Welcome to the Four F’s model: Fliers, Food, Fone Numbers, and Follow-up!
Fliers – Print simple fliers! “Free Pizza & Bible Study, Wednesdays 12pm in the Student Center Lobby.” They don’t need to be fancy. Have your contact info and a social media handle. Hand out LOTS of them, especially in the hour or two before your meeting. Cast a wide net! The number of new students who come is proportional to the number we invite.
Food – Students aren’t picky. Cheap pizza draws a crowd! Order pizza and have it delivered, or get a friend to pick it up. Don’t worry about drinks; most students carry a water bottle. Spend your best time and energy inviting students just before your meeting. Do a discussion-based “Discovery Bible Study” using the GULSA questions: “What does the passage teach us about GOD? What does it teach us about US as people? What do you LIKE about it? How would you SUMMARIZE it? How can we APPLY it to our lives?” Start with the miracle stories of Jesus, the Gospel of Mark, Philippians, 1 Peter, or James. Pick your study at the beginning of the semester, and then you don’t have to think about it again!
Fone Numbers – Okay, maybe we took some liberties with the spelling! As you meet people ask, “Do you think you might be interested in Free food and Bible study? Let me grab your number and I’ll text you a reminder next week!” You can use your phone, a clipboard, or a simple survey form. Get as many phone numbers as possible. Create a spreadsheet. Send a group text to everyone every week on the morning of your Bible study to remind them, “Free pizza and Bible study today!”
Follow-up – Now that you have lots of phone numbers and some students who’ve attended your Bible study, start doing systematic follow-up. Do Gospel Appointments (gospelappointments.com) with as many as possible. Invite believers to participate in Bible study, ministry, and discipleship at your church or main campus ministry. Invite not-yet-Christians to attend Bible study and follow Christ.
This simple plan is easy, and it works!
You may ask, “What else should I keep in mind?” Here are a few things:
Community colleges are differentfrom universities or even junior colleges because they do not have campus housing, athletics, or much in the way of student life. Sometimes, they don’t even have a cafeteria or food court. But they do have students! And they’re among the students least engaged by churches or ministries. Finding students here can be easy because your Bible study may be the only exciting thing on campus.
Set different expectations. Maybe you’ve seen college ministry done BIG. This isn’t that. Don’t overdo things. Your goal isn’t to have all the bells and whistles. Your goal is to have a simple, streamlined effort with the maximum return on your time investment. Follow the 80/20 rule where you ask, “What are the few things that will help reach the most students?” And only do those things!
Aim for a weekly noontime Bible study. This strategic timing ensures maximum student participation. This is when the most students will be available. By providing inexpensive food, you make it convenient for students, eliminating the need for them to leave campus for lunch before work or their next class.
Be consistent. Go to campus on the same day and time each week. Community colleges are a revolving door of students. If you invite people to your Bible study on Monday and then host the Bible study on Tuesday, you’ll have a completely different group of students on campus!
Aim for an all-in-one trip to campus each week. Getting to campus takes gas and, more importantly, time. Making multiple trips makes you more likely to get burned out or over-committed. Go to campus once per week and have a tightly packed, well-planned schedule. Altogether, you’ll spend three hours or less, make quality connections with a few students, and help them dig into God’s word. Over time, you can invite them to your church or ministry at your “main” campus. Here’s the schedule I suggest:
11 am – Arrive at campus, walk around, and hand out LOTS of Bible study fliers.
11:45 am – Have pizza delivered to campus or a friend pick it up.
12 pm – Facilitate a simple discussion-based Bible study.
1 pm – Stick around and have follow-up conversations with people.
Where should you meet? Pick an area that’s open and visible but not so loud that it’s distracting. Most of the time, you don’t need permission for an informal Bible study. Just gather up in a circle and do it. As long as the campus is open to the general public, you can be there. But be sure to check on the rules first.
Should we become a student organization? Occasionally, this is the only way to host a gathering. Sometimes, having a student organization comes with perks like hanging posters or reserving rooms. However, it also requires extra time and effort, so weigh the costs and benefits.
I’m grateful to my friends at College Ministry Dot Com for the opportunity to create a couple of new resources.
1. Developing a Student Leader Strategy. This is a 40 minute Zoom training & PDF resource to help college ministers think through developing a healthy student leadership team.
For the first generation in history, men are more religious than women. The survey data is clear. 51% of Gen Z girls say they have no religious affiliation, compared to 42% of Gen Z boys: a startling 9-point difference.
A few years ago, college ministers started saying to me, “Our ministry is weird, we have more guys than girls.” But now it’s not weird, it’s the norm. That number is especially startling given that college enrollment is 60/40 women.
WHY? Multiple reasons, but here’s the big one: politics. The survey data is clear.
Girls are growing more politically progressive, and progressives are becoming less religious. Boys are becoming more conservative, and conservatives are remaining fairly religious. Sociologist Ryan Burge notes that Americans now change their religious convictions based on politics rather than changing their political convictions based on their religion. (Please note, this is NOT an endorsement of right-wing politics.)
Personally, after 25 years in collegiate ministry, I’ve seen a number of graduates deconstruct their faith and/or deconvert. And I’d estimate the ratio to be 4-to-1 women-to-men, often after adopting strongly held progressive beliefs about racism, sexism, and economic issues. I also teach a young singles class at church, and the ratio is about 70/30 men-to-women.
Gen Z already knows them and memes it. “Progressive women can’t find husbands, and conservative men can’t find wives.” Men and women have probably always been drawn in opposite political directions. But in marriage, they mediate each other and keep one another from either extreme. Now that adults are getting married so much later (30 is the average age for a first marriage), men and women are becoming more polarized in their views.
SO WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT? Certainly, churches should NOT adopt progressive political positions to appeal to progressive Americans. A few denominations have done this, and they’re dying faster than any other. Churches must get their doctrine, practice, and values from God’s Word. And an authentically Christian church will never be right-wing or left-wing; it will always be counter-cultural.
SO WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT? Pastors, student ministers, and parents: it’s a discipleship issue!
First, we must help our students be formed by God’s word and their identity in Christ, not by social media and worldly ideology. Teach them that God’s word is true and reliable, and teach them to test ideas against God’s word. Hold off on smartphones and social media as long as possible.
Second, show students that Scripture commands compassion, and that Christianity has produced IMMEASURABLE good for the world. Christianity is done more than any other force to elevate the status of marginalized people. This is a historical fact (and also helps protect boys from the opposite extreme of right-wing politics.)
Third, pray! Both young men and young women need a personal, transforming relationship with Jesus. Let’s pray for revival in this generation!
The newest research suggests that creating a “bubble of safety” around kids to prevent risk or discomfort is the biggest contributor to the youth mental health crisis. Yes, Covid isolation and social media have made it worse. But they’re not the cause. An explanation…
Never letting kids take risks makes them terrified of risks. Asking them to dwell on feelings can cause them to fixate & ruminate on feelings. Jumping in to mediate every conflict at school makes them unable to deal with conflicts themselves. Calling common difficulties “trauma” convinces them they’re traumatized. Labeling annoying people “toxic” erodes vital relationships. Never letting them venture out on their own makes them dependent on “adults” to solve their problems – even when they ARE adults.
These trends in parenting, education, and entertainment decrease students’ ability to cope with normal levels of stress. When society is obsessed with kids’ comfort and safety, they become obsessed with their own comfort and safety.
However, their generation is actually growing up in BY FAR the safest and most prosperous time in human history. But adults tell them the world is dangerous, and social media tells them the world is ending. Plus, things aren’t getting worse, they’re getting better by every measure. But that news doesn’t get clicks or attention. We created a generation that feels broken even when things are okay.
To make things worse, we’ve medicalized ordinary emotional discomfort. Students (and their parents and teachers) use therapeutic language to refer to normal challenges. Students aren’t stressed out; they’re anxious. They’re not feeling blue; they’re depressed. People who don’t meet the actual criteria still claim the label. Talk to those who work with teens and they’ll tell you many WANT a label. And some adults want them to have it. Then, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Want a deeper dive? Jonathan Haidt’s upcoming book, The Anxious Generation, and Abigail Shrier’s book, Bad Therapy, share keen insights on parenting and education. You May not agree with every conclusion, but they get to the heart of the problem. I highly recommend them.
All that to say – I believe in Gen Z! They’re smart, resourceful, and creative. And they’re a BLAST. That’s why I’m giving my life to serve them. But society MUST help kids and teens develop INDEPENDENCE and RESILIENCY if they will have productive and fulfilled adulthoods. It’s out of fashion to tell a kid who falls down, “You’ll be fine. Suck it up. Dust yourself off. Get back out there.” But most of the time, that’s what they need. Don’t just tell them they’re strong, expect them to be. Parents, please let them venture out and take risks. It’s more risky NOT to. Help them serve others more and think about themselves less. They’ll be better for it!
COLLEGE STUDENTS: Stop trying to find God’s will 😲 We don’t FIND God’s will, as if it’s hidden from us. That kind of thinking is looking for a fortune-teller to show you the future, not a King who rules over your today. Scripture doesn’t talk that way.
WE DO GOD’S WILL. He’s less interested in showing you the future than in guiding you and walking with you today.
WANT TO KNOW GOD’S WILL? Here’s how it works: Immerse yourself in Scripture and genuine Christian community. Walk with God daily, abiding in Him, repenting from sin, and DOING his will. Then, guess where you will find yourself? IN THE CENTER OF GOD’S WILL 🎉
He never promises to show you the future. God is not a crystal ball, a tarot card, or a ouigi board. That’s paganism. God is a person, and he invites you to walk WITH him. Knowing HIM is way better than knowing the future!
Personal revival is a hunger for Jesus. Not a hunger for the benefits he brings. Not seeking joy, fulfillment, or comfort. Not even hunger for a revival movement. A hunger for Jesus. Wanting HIM. More of His presence & more of his power.
So Christian leaders, let’s stop talking about Jesus as a means to an end. He’s more than a path to relieve anxiety, find purpose, or receive blessings. Jesus HIMSELF is the goal of Christianity. He IS the gospel. He is the sweetest name we know, the treasure hidden in a field, the pearl of great price, the groom we wait diligently for! Let’s push one another to thirst for him like “like a deer thirsts for water.” (Psalm 42:1)
For me, the obstacles to personal revival are SIN and DISTRACTIONS. If I want more of Christ, I’ve got to continually repent from sin and clear out distractions.
Today, I’m praying Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” And Matthew 13:22, “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
Let’s examine ourselves and remove obstacles. Pray, God (1) convict me of sin, (2) clear out my distractions, and (3) send a revival to your church, starting with me. 🙏
(Click here to get a downloadable, customizable version on Google Docs.)
Growing up on a dusty cotton farm in West Texas, we lived by annual cycles. There were…(1) periods of high intensity – planting and harvesting were long, strenuous days with little rest. There were (2) periods of steady rhythm – summers of “normal days” plowing fields and controlling weeds, and (3) periods of regrouping & planning – winter when you repaired equipment and prepared for next year
During my first few years of campus ministry, it was hard to know how to spend the “seasons and off seasons” of ministry, how to survive the intense periods of Fall Kickoff and spring break mission trips, how to budget time during a typical week, and how to plan and prepare well during “off seasons.”
THE BIG IDEA: In campus ministry, there are 4 seasons (6-8 weeks each) & 2 off seasons (summer & winter). Understanding seasons makes planning easier! Each 6-8 week period has a specific goal.
Campus ministry experiences a different cycle than church-based ministry. Church life is built around a weekly rhythm that doesn’t change dramatically throughout the year. Campus ministry is seasonal. Campus ministry is built around annual rhythms even more than weekly rhythms: periods of great intensity, some weeks of regular rhythms, and some seasons, like summer and Christmas, where students are away from campus.
Farmers don’t toil the ground week after week just because they’re “supposed” to do that. Everything they do has a specific goal in mind: producing a harvest. Likewise, campus ministry will feel like an aimless activity if you don’t have the correct goal in mind: producing students who are lifelong disciple-makers! All of our activities should contribute towards that aim.
Every season has a purpose!
THE FOLLOWING WORKSHEET IS DESIGNED TO HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE ANNUAL SEASONS IN CAMPUS MINISTRY SO YOU CAN PLAN MORE THOUGHTFULLY AND EFFECTIVELY.
During a “normal week,” you have a daily schedule that, ideally, is full of events and high-value activities like evangelism and disciple-making. But these normal weeks are punctuated by strategic and catalytic events that mark the transitions in seasons: Fall Retreats, Spring Break Trips, Winter Conferences, etc. In campus ministry- not all seasons are the same, but they are all important to success.
Intensity – the first 5 weeks of fall kickoff.
Busy but steady – from midterms to December
Off-season – Some regrouping & preparing during winter break
Then, you kick off again in January (but maybe a little less intense than in the fall) until spring break
March & April are future-focused as you send graduates and recruit staff & student leaders for next year.
Finally, in the summers, the fields may be fallow (with fewer students around), but you’re preparing wisely and well for next year’s intensity.
AN OVERVIEW OF THE MINISTRY YEAR
Disclaimer:Your plan may look somewhat different from this overview. It’s not as a rigid guide you must follow. But use this worksheet to sharpen your thinking about each season of ministry.
There are 4 seasons (6-8 weeks each) & 2 off seasons (summer & winter).
Understanding seasons makes planning easier. Each 6-8 week period has a specific goal.
SEASON 1: First 6 weeks
GOAL: It’s all about contacts & personal connections.
There is a narrow window, 3-5 weeks, where new students will attend LOTS of stuff. They’ll try out lots of groups, then decide on the few they will be involved with. THESE WEEKS ARE CRITICAL.
Numbers are most important in this season…
50%+ of the contacts you make all year will happen in these 5 weeks. If not, you’re behind.
If your annual goal is to connect with 2000 students, you should aim for 1000-1250 of them now.
PLAN LOTS OF ATTRACTIONAL EVENTS IN THE FIRST TWO WEEKS. Parties, fun socials, hang-outs, food events.
The purpose of these is to connect with NEW students, not fellowship with returning students.
Students are looking more for FRIENDS than for a friendly group. They looking for a place to belong more than activities to attend. Be highly personal.
Plan ambitiously, spend a good portion of your program budget, and make as many waves as possible.
Do as many highly social outreach events in the first two weeks as possible. Some don’t have to cost much or any money but have LOTS of places for people to connect.
“A slice of pizza may be first step in a transformed life.”
Make a BIG DEAL of the kickoff of your weekly worship service. Offer free food. Do it on campus if possible. Publicize like crazy. Make it the #1 thing you want everyone to attend.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CONTACTS! At every event and campus outreach table, GET PEOPLE’S PHONE NUMBER.
Get names and phone numbers. AND. FOLLOW. UP. WITH. EVERY. ONE.
The absolute best follow-up strategy is Gospel Appointments. These should take up a huge portion of your energy – and your student leaders’ – during the first few weeks.
Freshmen will fill out almost any survey during the first couple of weeks. Take advantage of openness.
Freshmen may be more open to spiritual things now than during high school. You will see the most evangelistic fruit during this time if you share the gospel personally and invite a response.
Share and ask for a gospel response at Gospel Appointments and your weekly worship service.
Although the campus ministry I led at UT Arlington was known for doing cold-contact evangelism, we do less contact evangelism during the first few weeks and focus on more personal connections and Gospel Appointments.
During season one, you are building up towards a catalytic event, ideally a road trip like a great Fall Retreat.
WHY? If they take a road trip with you, they will most likely join your group. “If a freshman goes on Fall Retreat, we’ll have them for four years.”
Before the trip, they say, “I go to that ministry.” After the trip, they say, “I’m part of that ministry.”
THEN you can train & disciple them for the rest of their time in college! They can become Luke 10:2 workers for the harvest.
During the retreat, onboard them to your culture & values. Share the importance of discipleship, evangelism, and missions.
All of your events before the Fall Retreat should enthusiastically promote the Fall Retreat.
DON’T FORGET: Literally EVERYTHING for the first five weeks can be planned before school starts: weekly calendar, speakers, curriculum, materials & supplies, planning events, scheduling lunches, outlining sermons, and ordering printing.
FALL RETREAT: Strategy and Goals
GOAL: Freshmen go from “I attend that ministry” to “That is MY campus ministry.”
Focus on getting a high attendance, especially freshmen, not a perfect program. They’ll have a blast just being together!
Focus on relationships and a great experience, not heavy Bible content.
Get a guest speaker so you can focus on relationships and meeting with students. You can still MC, lead prayer times, share your ministry’s values and vision, etc.
The ideal time is five or six weeks into the semester. Do it too early, and freshmen aren’t yet comfortable enough to attend. Do it too late, and studies keep students from attending.
SEASON 2: The next 8 weeks
GOAL: Steadily engaging students in great weekly rhythms: small group Bible study, worship & preaching, Christian community, service & evangelism, and ongoing outreach.
Like water and sunshine on a tree, these rhythms produce imperceptible but certain and steady growth.
Don’t be discouraged if you FEEL you that you’ve lost some momentum. You’ll get it back. A drop in attendance is normal.
This is when you recruit ALL your new staff members for next year (if you’re able to invite graduates join your team) and many of your summer missionaries. It’s perhaps not when they officially sign on the dotted lines, but lots of ICNU conversations now lead to big decisions later.
If your ministry adds new student leaders twice a year, you’re also recruiting student leaders during this time.
OFF-SEASON 1: Winter
GOAL: Catch your breath, evaluate, get organized for Spring
Make sure you’ve made plans for your winter conference & Spring Break Trips.
Even if you don’t have lots of time, 1-3 great planning days pay HUGE benefits. Do things like schedule weekly speakers, lunches, plan your student leaders’ orientation, clean and organize your building & storage closets, etc. This is a great time to thank your donors and send a good newsletter.
SEASON 3: January to Spring Break
GOAL: Jump quickly into weekly rhythms: small group Bible study, worship & preaching, Christian community, service & evangelism, and ongoing outreach. These produce imperceptible but certain & steady growth.
Have a smaller kickoff than the fall but still have a great social event and a big emphasis on your first worship service.
Try and make new contacts, but following up with the previous semester’s contacts will be super fruitful. Circle back to people who didn’t stick in the fall. Many will give you a second chance.
At UT Arlington, we like to gather our student leaders a couple of days before classes begin and divide up every single phone number we collected in the fall, and call + text them all with a personal invite to worship.
During this season, plan a couple of fun events that your Christian students can bring non-Christian friends to. Don’t FOCUS on events but having a couple of great ones can help students do relational evangelism.
Emphasize students discipling other students, students starting evangelistic Bible studies, and students reaching into affinity groups.
Some students will be ready for a big challenge – doing personal evangelism for the first time, committing to missions, and asking them them to stay in dorms to reach freshmen the next fall. Be bold in what you challenge them to do!
Just like the Fall built toward Fall Retreat, the Spring builds toward Spring Break. Have one or more great spring break options. If not all of your staff team goes on a mission trip like Beach Reach, consider doing local ministry with international students stuck on campus.
At UT Arlington, we did a combo mission trip & fun trip with students working hard on ministry projects in the morning and afternoon, doing worship & Bible study each morning, then having fun social activities in the evening. Even non-Christians could come and have a blast.
SEASON 4: Spring Break to Finals
GOAL: Grooming students for (1) summer missions (2) ministry the next fall (3) post-graduation life.
Momentum will feel slower, but some SUPER important stuff is happening.
You may think this season is the least busy, but it can be surprisingly hectic since you’re (1) doing all your weekly ministry (2) fundraising for summer missions or projects (3) thinking about next fall… all at the same time!
Don’t plan big events. Finish steady & strong.
OFF-SEASON 2: Summer
My high school football coach had a saying, “Good off-seasons make great seasons.” There is a temptation in off-season to chill, read books, but not be thoughtful with your time. DON’T DO IT. One good day of planning saves MULTIPLE days of stress later on. Preparing well during off-seasons FREES you to focus on students during key times. Instead of saying, “Ugh, I wish I had done this months ago,” you say, “I’m so glad I did that months ago!”
Great off-seasons help you avoid the vicious cycle of stressed-out overworking and then going comatose with exhaustion. Break the cycle by understanding how seasons work! Here are some helpful suggestions about what to focus on during the summer.
GOAL: Planning like a BOSS.
Great fall semesters – actually great YEARS – are made in summer. Plan to WIN during the summer!
May is fundraising season. Go as all-in as possible.
Do financial support appointments for your personal support or your ministry budget.
Do you have other staff? Coach and encourage them and give them referrals for potential donors.
At UTA, we did ZERO events for four weeks in May and focused on getting staff fully funded.
During the summer, if you have some students around, it’s great to do a summer Bible study or discipleship training project. But don’t do it all yourself.
It’s a great time to empower students to lead since they have even more available time and crowds are smaller. Give them LOTS of leadership & responsibility. Let them lead Bible study instead of you teaching weekly.
Keep It simple!
Questions:
What will beginning-of-the-year outreach look like? How much can I buy, plan, and organize now?
What curriculum will small groups use?
Will we do a fall retreat? Have all the details DONE by July.
What systems and organization do we need? Contact management software/spreadsheet, mass communication like a text messaging service, training materials?
What publicity and promo materials do we need like postcards, banners, posters, etc? Design and order now it all now.
Plan a strong leadership orientation for August. Make all the arrangements ahead of time and communicate with your leaders a few times throughout the summer.
Make office visits to local pastors and youth/college staff for networking to develop stronger partnerships.
I MAKE A HUGE WRITTEN TO-DO LIST AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SUMMER.
This takes a whole day. It includes every last thing that I want to get done over the summer – broken down into categories.
Print it and post it next to your computer. Mark items off as you get them done.
If you have a team, include them in making the list and write names next to who’s doing what items.
Do some personal development like reading great books. For books, choose a balance between skill development, spiritual life, and fun interests.
Take a long vacation where you can fully unplug from ministry for at least 8-10 days.
At the conclusion of each SEASON is a time for some evaluation and planning. Take a few hours or a day to catch your breath and honestly evaluate and plan before diving into the next busy season. Consider evaluating all of your events and processing using this grid and/or using assessment tools like this Campus Ministry Pathway Assessment to evaluate regularly and ask, “Am I on the right track to become a multiplying ministry?” Because plans are only as good as the information they are based on, you are in a good position to tweak your plans for the Second Quarter after the conclusion of the First Quarter.
I’m always on the lookout for ministry insights that can help college ministers like us. And here’s one!
One of the most influential books on missions is When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor… and Yourself by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. This book helped change the conversation about mission work in the developing world. The premise is that, sometimes, our well-intended efforts to help those in need can unintentionally do more harm than good. Sometimes, “helping” can disrupt local economies, foster dependence, and undermine local institutions. For instance, a village might be able to feed itself; the village doesn’t need immediate relief, they need help getting BETTER at agriculture. But instead of helping the village DEVELOP sustainable agriculture, a missions organization provides immediate RELIEF: free food. Over time, the village doesn’t improve; it becomes dependent on the relief – and maybe even LESS able to provide for itself. “Helping” ends up hurting. Instead of simply giving handouts, mission organizations should help local people and churches be empowered, educated, and entrepreneurial.
To break it down, there are three categories of need which require three categories of help:
RELIEF: Someone is in immediate, life-threatening need and can’t help themselves. They need immediate, material assistance. Victims of natural disasters or famine often need outside intervention to survive.
REHABILITATION: People have suffered a loss and need assistance getting back to a healthy and sustainable place. They need someone to work alongside them, not to provide for them. Someone who has lost their job or become homeless may need a temporary place to stay and some training to get back on their feet. But just getting a financial handout might not empower them; it could just create dependence.
DEVELOPMENT: Someone is surviving just fine, but with education and empowerment, they can flourish and even begin to provide for others who need rehabilitation and relief. Development aims to eliminate the need for relief organizations.
In college ministry, our goal is evangelism and disciple-making in the next generation. And our students have the same three needs.
RELIEF: Sometimes students have a mental health crisis, get kicked out of the house, or have a ruptured appendix when their parents are out of state. They need the Body of Christ to offer some immediate assistance.
REHABILITATION: Often, Christian students are mired in addiction to pornography or other self-destructive behavior. They have great potential, but are not ready to lead others. They need someone to walk beside them to wholeness before they become a self-sustaining disciple of Jesus.
DEVELOPMENT: A few students are doing great walking with Jesus. But with some ongoing training and attention, they can thrive! They could become disciples who make even more disciples of Jesus. These are the students who we recruit to training and leadership development. We let them lead Bible studies, disciple new believers, and lead other students. With a little help, they can multiply ministry and the Kingdom of God!
But in college ministry, sometimes our best-intentioned efforts to help can hurt. Some college ministries can overlook students who need relief and rehabilitation in their zeal to produce disciple-makers. We’re teaching the senior-level class when they need the 101. One particular ministry’s solution for everything was, “Just share the gospel more.” A member would say, “I’m struggling with my mental health or an addiction.” The answer came, “Just share the gospel more.”
Sometimes, a student needs a lifeline. We must be willing to occasionally be crisis counselors and humanitarian workers. Sometimes, the student needs a loving, firm mentor patiently walking beside them. They may not be ready for intensive training on being a disciple-maker until they work through some deeper issues.
On the other hand, we can treat students with “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” They need development, but we only offer relief. It’s tempting to have a savior complex and feel we must always do for them what they could and should do for themselves. A student needs clear discipleship, but, in our low expectations, we don’t push them to be in God’s word daily, memorize scripture, repent from sin, serve others, or share their faith. We want to be sympathetic counselors when they need inspiring trainers! In the short term, it might feel great to feel needed or to have a room full of people listening to us teach. But in the end, they’re not being transformed. So, let’s always strive to help and never hurt our students!
GARY STIDHAM 