Monday, December 6, 2010
Postmodernism, Emerging Church, and Religion
At the beginning of the semester Dr. Drumm came and spoke to the class about postmodernism. What is postmodernism you ask? Well that is the funny thing. Honestly, I have no idea. I have heard many people talk about it, and many people try to explain it, and no one has given a definition that even remotely makes sense. It has something to do with a reaction to modernism. Helpful, right? It has something to do with the way my generation thinks. Dr. Mike Miller, my roommate’s pastor, also came to class one day to talk about it and he helped a little bit. He discussed the emerging church which is a contemporary attempt to make church available to all. The emerging church is apparently the Christian’s answer to postmodernism. Dr. Drumm said that postmodernism is the single greatest threat to Christianity, greater than Islam or Atheism. Well I do not at all agree with this statement. No doubt that Dr. Drumm is smarter than me, but I just can’t agree with him on this point. My reason being, you can go into any church and ask hundreds of thousands of people what postmodernism is and I am willing to bet that 90 percent of the church has never even heard the term before. If that many people have never heard of something, how can it be the biggest threat to our church? The biggest threat to our church today is the church itself. The fact that ninety percent of the church (again a stat I am just making up that I think is probably true) probably does not know what postmodernism is, is a prime example of the church killing itself. If a church is not aware of the issues of the day, how are they going to combat the complacency to accomplish anything at all? Church today has become about getting members and not about reaching people for Christ. I am simply going to use Wikipedia’s definition of postmodernism. This is a simple definition and does not at all encompass the entirety of the idea. “Postmodernism is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the rejection of objective truth and global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. A meta-narrative symbolizes all the ideas that we have been told and have grown up learning. Postmodernism rejects any objective truth (although saying there is no objective truth is a self-defeating statement because if there is no truth then the statement itself cannot be true). Postmodernism is a threat because people are becoming less and less concerned with the church and any spiritual ideas or questions. However, if the church is doing nothing to spark this interest, it is the church’s fault. If a person does not hear about Christ, it is not that person’s fault it falls on the shoulders’ of the church. The emerging church is an attempt to show postmodernist that worship and Jesus can be fun. These churches are changing their traditions and practices (and some are changing all core beliefs) in order to reach these intellectuals. I have always hated the fact that churches split because of slightly different interpretations of the Bible. If the churches worked together instead of fighting, postmodernism, atheism, and other religions such as Islam would not be as big of problem as they are. Dr. Stewart came to class to give us an overview of some other religions. I am a philosophy major to we all know that to me it is extremely important, especially in ministry, to really know what and how other people think. If I know nothing about Islam, how am I ever going to witness to a Muslim? The point in all of this is that the church as a whole needs to get its head out of its rear and start focusing on what is actually important. I love Jesus. The words of Scripture inspire me. I am not perfect and I am not all knowing. Far from it. I cannot solve all the problems of the day. However, the church can. People ask how God can exist with so much evil in the world. The question I ask is, “How can there be so much evil in the world when God has put the church here to combat it?” God has put the church in charge of the safekeeping of the world. I don’t know about you, but I would say the church is doing a pretty crappy job. Let’s forget about whether or not Methodists, or Baptists, or even Church of Christ is the right denomination and let’s start focusing on changing the world. Let’s live like Jesus and these problems will cease to be problems.
Discipleship Model
Discipleship is one of the most important aspects of ministry but also one of the hardest things to really accomplish affectively. It becomes even more difficult when dealing solely with collegiate students because they are so much more diverse than other groups of people. Coming up with a good discipleship model should be one of the major goals of any collegiate minister who wants to be successful in not only reaching the lost but mentoring those already in the ministry. Creating a successful discipleship model is difficult because there are so many variables that have to be considered. One of the most important aspects of ministry is going to be the location of the ministry. An event that might receive an extremely warm welcome in the south may not necessarily get such great acclaim in the northern states. Another variable is whether or not the ministry is campus based or church based. There is absolutely no model that is going to be successful everywhere, in every situation, and within any ministry. This being said, it is possible to come up with some semi-generic model that can be used, and modified where needed, that can be successful. There are three areas that must be considered when coming up with a discipleship model. Different things are going to reach different people in different stages of their spiritual journey. It is important to reach those who are lost, connect with people of all backgrounds and all faiths, and to strengthen those relationships that have already formulated. Strengthening relationships can refer to helping those who already have relationships with Christ grow further in the Lord and also can refer to strengthening the relationships built with the students in a ministry or on a campus. Even within the confines of these three categories of discipleship, it is necessary to distinguish the discipleship of one-on-one relationships, small groups of people, and large groups of people. Focusing on one particular group over another is going to leave some people out. Some people are uncomfortable with one on one contact yet very comfortable in a small group setting or vice versa. Any combination of those can be arranged that would make it impossible to disciple to everyone if only one area is focused on in a ministry. Because every category, and every group, is different, it is a necessity to distinguish between all of these groups in each stage of their development.
Reach
An extremely important thing to remember regarding any ministry is that the goal should never be simply to get people to fill all the seats. Ministry is more than that. The term reach is not about simply letting people know that a ministry is there and available to them, although that is certainly part of it, but it is about actually reaching the lost people for Christ. Reaching people is possibly the hardest stage in ministry, although this could vary depending on location. In a ministry reaching people must start very far in advance. It cannot start in August when the school year starts. There are many ways to reach students on an individual level before the school year begins, and this is especially important with incoming freshman. Most colleges hold events for prospective students each year, and it is completely necessary that a ministry make itself known at that very beginning, at the first impression a student has on a campus. Getting information and forms of contact from these students is vital, whether it be a cell phone number, email address, or a Twitter of Facebook account. If this information is gathered, it becomes possible to get to know these students before they even set foot on campus to begin classes. This connection becomes extremely important because the beginning of the year is the most crucial time for a college ministry. If the beginning of the year is spent trying to get to know all the incoming freshmen on a personal level then there is going to be no time for any other students. However, if you already are familiar with a lot of new students, it becomes possible to get to know any students who had not previously been on campus, and also try to get to know current students who may not have been to your ministry. It is very important to really know the students. No ministry can be run by one person. There must be delegation involved, and in a ministry, it is vital that the delegation be given to the right people. Any person on any leadership team must have a strong relationship that he or she models to the community and to fellow peers. If a student leader goes out partying every night, that person is not going to be a very good witness or spiritual leader. Choosing the leaders is so important. In order to choose good student leader, a minister has to know the students from the onset of a ministry and build those relationships over time. However, reaching individuals does not stop once the beginning of the year is over. Reaching the lost through evangelism should be a never ending process. Jesus tells us our entire purpose on earth is to make disciples of all nations. This calling never diminishes. So what are some ways that can actually be implemented in order to reach students on an individual basis throughout the year? Although getting people in the door should never be the main focus, it is still an important step. After all, if a student never comes to a ministry it is a lot harder to disciple that person. However, reaching students individually cannot remain within the confines of the ministry. A college minister must go out to the students just as often, and probably more often, as they come to him. At least a couple times a week throughout the year it is important that the campus minister be on campus talking to students, getting to know them, and sharing the gospel with all the people on campus.
Reaching people in a small group is going to be completely different than trying to reach individual people. Knowing how to reach small groups is important, because not everyone is going to be comfortable with talking to you in a one on one setting. Reaching a small group of people can be done in a variety of ways. Maybe one day a week a minister should go sit with a table in the cafeteria and get to know those students. Share with those students ideas about the ministry, and see if they have any ideas to share that would be beneficial to your ministry. The best place to get ideas on how to reach students is from the students themselves. This cannot only be the job of the minister though. Students within the ministry should do the same thing. The student leaders should be assigned at least one day a week, where all days of the week are covered, to really just go talk to some small groups of people and get to know them. Even if ministry is never mentioned at the onset of the relationships formed, those relationships can lead people to Christ.
Reaching people through large group gatherings is another venue that can reach people for Christ. One of the best ways I have seen on campuses to really reach large numbers of people is through a lunch that is hosted by the ministry at least once a week. College students are usually tight on money, but love to eat a good meal, especially for a good price. A way to get people to the lunch is to offer it for free for first time guests. This will be very appealing to any student. After the initial free lunch, or dinner, offer the lunch at a very reasonable price. Between a dollar and five dollars would be ideal, because students can always find that much change in their car once a week. This event can easily bring a large number of people into a BCM building or at least make them aware that the ministry is in fact there. One way to make this even possible is to partner with local churches on who cooks, or caters, the meal. If different churches could sponsor the event throughout the year, it would be much easier financially to hold the event. A weekly lunch should not be the only event to try to reach a large group of people. Especially at the beginning of the year there should be events to let large numbers of students know that the ministry is there and trying to make a difference on campus and in the community. Having previous students helping people move in could be a way to impact a lot of students in one day, especially if the campus is located somewhere that is always hot. Reaching large groups of lost students is a hard concept to try to figure out. Most large gathering are going to be focused on people within the ministry. Reaching people on an individual or small group level is going to work better, because people want to feel important and loved and this feeling is hard to achieve in a large group.
Connect
Connecting with students is what ministry should be all about. Ministry cannot exist with just a minister. College ministry is students ministering to other students. Reaching people is all about bringing those students who are lost into the ministry and sharing the gospel with them in such a way that is also attractive. Connecting with students is all about building relationships. Once a person is in the ministry they cannot be pushed off as someone else’s responsibility. Reaching people is important, but if a person actually comes into the ministry and is then forgotten about, that person is not likely to stay in that ministry. Now it is illogical to think that a minister can be best friends with every single individual in a ministry. However, it should be a reality that every student in a ministry should be loved and wanted. One way to connect to students is to have at least some event on every day of the week. Although this initially seems like a bit much, in reality it really is necessary. Students are busy people and they cannot be expected to not be busy on the same night every week. If a ministry really wants to connect to people, there must be ways for those students to be connected. If there is some event, even if it isn’t a major event, every day or night of the week, there will always be some way that a student can connect. If this task seems too daunting, it is possible, in a large ministry at least, to delegate some responsibility to student leaders. As leaders more can be expected from these students. If there is a group of five students in charge of an event on Tuesday night, there will be at least one student of that group that can be at that event every week and they can alternate weeks of facilitating the event.
Once the seed is planted in an individual, it is important to build relationships with those individuals. Connecting is all about that relationship aspect. Like mentioned before, it is impossible to be best friends with all the students. However, it is not impossible to let the students know that you are available for advice. A minister is always going to be busy, but it is always necessary that the minister always have time for the students. A minister that has no time for his students will soon have all the time in the world. Connecting with individuals is really up to the individual. Every person is different. As a minister the office door must always be open. Students are the most important component of ministry. Connecting with them on an individual level is going to have a great impact on what kind of ministry you want to have. In order to connect with students, there should be designated office hours every day so that students know when they can come by without an appointment and talk about anything they need. Connecting with students does not always have to be about the minister actually connecting with every student. Connecting is about every individual feeling comfortable in the ministry. Without this connection, no student is going to want to remain in a ministry.
Connecting to students in a small group setting is accomplished by actually having small group sessions. A lot of churches have either Sunday school or community groups or something similar. People that may not feel comfortable coming to a large group atmosphere may love to come to a small group where there is food and fellowship. It is a lot easier to build relationships in these small gatherings. There does not have to be one specific night for small groups to meet. They should meet throughout the week in different locations at different time, to give everybody the opportunity to get connected. If a small group is the only event a student goes to within a ministry, that small group will still change the life of that student. Small groups are extremely vital. Without this small family of gatherers not nearly as many students can be reached. The leaders of these small groups need to be well trained and well monitored also. A small group that starts smoking weed may attract a lot of students, but will not be reaching these students for Christ, which is the goal of any ministry. There should be weekly meetings between the minister and the members of any leadership teams. This is not only a way to monitor the progress of each small group, but it becomes a small group in itself connecting the minister with the lives of each of these students. Small groups should only be structured enough to give some idea of what is going to go on. If they become too structured, they are going to become like the church and be very unattractive to outside students, and if they are not structured at all there may be some relationships formed, but no relationships that are strengthened through the will of Christ.
Connecting with students in a large group setting is difficult because there are going to be too many people to really connect with each student. However, large group meetings are important. Any large worship gatherings are going to be vital to a ministry. There needs to be at least one worship gathering each week. This needs to be on a night that does not compete with the worship gatherings at any local churches. If a college ministry’s worship gathering is on a Wednesday night, students will have to choose between a local church and the ministry and this conflict need never arise. A college ministry should never interfere with a local church. The two should be synonymous with one another. One goal of a ministry should be to plug the students into a local church. If they do not get plugged into a church in college, once they get out of college and that ministry is gone for them, they may not attend church anymore. However, if the ministry strongly encourages students to be involved in local churches, those students will remain involved in that church or another church for the rest of their lives. College ministry should never be about getting the largest group together that is possible. That thought is a worldly thought. Students will change from year to year. It is a college ministry’s job to equip these students with all the tools necessary for them to build a relationship with Christ and remain strong in that relationship throughout their lives.
Strengthen
Strengthening the students’ relationships with Christ is what a ministry is all about. However, this must be done in an attractive and fun way. The attractiveness and fun should never be the focus though. Ministry is all about Christ. Anything in a ministry should be aimed at getting students to this ultimate goal. Strengthening the faith of individual students will in turn strengthen the relationships of large numbers of people. One way to strengthen each individual student is through prayer. Not just prayer for the students on the part of the minister, but prayer by the students. A weekly prayer meeting, perhaps on a Sunday morning before church, would work wonders on the students’ prayer lives. Some people do not know how to pray and they are never taught how to pray. This prayer meeting should be extremely structured. Even so far as to have specific stations to pray for specific things. In one main room there should be a prayer walk set up. Each student can begin in one place and at each station there are specific things that need prayer. These prayers can range from things in an individual person’s life, things on the college campus, needs of the state, needs of the country, and needs of the world. This prayer walk should take about thirty to forty-five minutes to complete. In another room there should be a cross or image of Christ set up with soft music playing in the background. Passion conference one year had something similar set up. Individuals need to devote about thirty minutes to prayer for themselves, or prayers for specific instances in their own lives. This should be a time of focus and worship for the students to really just start their day and week of with reflection on the sacrifice that Christ made for them. Prayer is a very powerful tool and will affect a person’s life forever. So as students they need to be taught how to pray and given the opportunity to do so diligently.
Strengthening relationships in Christ through small groups should be through the weekly small or community groups. There is a reason the idea is not a unique one. Every minister I have talked to says that community groups are essential to really reaching and connecting to people. Bible study should be part of every community group. People who would never show up to an actual “Bible study” will show up to a “community group,” especially if the community group has food and fun, such as Rockband or Guitar Hero or something similar. This creates a unique opportunity to share the gospel. If an hour of time in community group is devoted to community and another hour or so is devoted to bible study, people will grow in their relationships with each other and with Christ, and people will be saved through the grace of the Holy Spirit through this event. This is not to say that we need to be sneaky and force people into Bible study. If a person just wants to come for food and fellowship and then leaves, that has to be okay. The conversations and the Holy Spirit will eventually take hold of that person. The point of these community groups is to instigate the possibility of bringing lost souls to Christ.
Strengthening relationships with Christ in large gatherings is the easiest way to really reach those people in large groups. Worship gatherings are an important part of any person’s relationship with Christ. Although it is not necessary to go to church to receive salvation, it is vital if a person wants to grow in Christ. Worshipping the Lord and hearing the Word of God is the best way to really focus on God. These worship gatherings are not meant to replace the worship gatherings of the local churches, but merely an opportunity to preach the gospel to those who may not go to a local church. If this worship service shares the gospel with one person who has never heard it before, than it is all worth it. The worship service can be held in a similar fashion as a church service, with worship music, preaching, an offering, and more worship, but this is not necessary. That type of worship service may not work in some areas. However a worship service is orchestrated, it is a necessary aspect of any ministry. Some people may not feel comfortable becoming a member of a church and going to an actual church building, but may feel comfortable coming to a college worship service on campus. That should not be the only type of ministry to large groups though. Another great thing for a college ministry is the accessibility of conferences and other worship services such as Passion. These things should be readily available to all students. Mission trips are also a huge part of worship and growth. These events can sometimes be expensive so there needs to be some sort of fundraising in order to help students who may not be able to attend otherwise. One way to help this is to do not take huge mission trips every single year. Students cannot always afford to go to Africa or South America every year, but they may be able to go to trips within the United States or even within the state of the campus itself. There are so many ways to do ministry. The balance is making many options available so that students who cannot go to one event can come to another event. These events should also encourage students to take on their own challenges, such as volunteering and community service. Students need to gain the tools to think for themselves and it is the ministry’s job to equip students for absolutely any situation.
Finding distinctions between the reach, connect, strengthen ideas can be difficult because they often blend together, and this is an important factor. All the ideas should not be completely separate from one another. No one aspect should be more important than the other ones. Because of this is can be hard to distinguish but that is not necessarily a bad thing. If the lines are blurry, it becomes easier to plan events that are planned to reach, connect, and strengthen at the same time. The best way to model a ministry is to model it after Christ Himself. Christ was one man, just as a minister is one person. He, as an individual, ministered to individuals. He healed individuals. These actions did not remain with the individual people though. They spread his greatness throughout the world. He surrounded himself with twelve disciples, as a minister should surround himself with friends and student leaders. He prayed with the disciples, he preached to his disciples, and he trained his disciples to go out into all the world and make new disciples. He preached to large groups of people, he fed the multitudes not only with food but with the gospel, and he changed a world that needed change so desperately, as all Christians are called to do. Jesus started the greatest ministry the world has ever seen. Any minister who models a ministry after Jesus will never fail.
Reach
An extremely important thing to remember regarding any ministry is that the goal should never be simply to get people to fill all the seats. Ministry is more than that. The term reach is not about simply letting people know that a ministry is there and available to them, although that is certainly part of it, but it is about actually reaching the lost people for Christ. Reaching people is possibly the hardest stage in ministry, although this could vary depending on location. In a ministry reaching people must start very far in advance. It cannot start in August when the school year starts. There are many ways to reach students on an individual level before the school year begins, and this is especially important with incoming freshman. Most colleges hold events for prospective students each year, and it is completely necessary that a ministry make itself known at that very beginning, at the first impression a student has on a campus. Getting information and forms of contact from these students is vital, whether it be a cell phone number, email address, or a Twitter of Facebook account. If this information is gathered, it becomes possible to get to know these students before they even set foot on campus to begin classes. This connection becomes extremely important because the beginning of the year is the most crucial time for a college ministry. If the beginning of the year is spent trying to get to know all the incoming freshmen on a personal level then there is going to be no time for any other students. However, if you already are familiar with a lot of new students, it becomes possible to get to know any students who had not previously been on campus, and also try to get to know current students who may not have been to your ministry. It is very important to really know the students. No ministry can be run by one person. There must be delegation involved, and in a ministry, it is vital that the delegation be given to the right people. Any person on any leadership team must have a strong relationship that he or she models to the community and to fellow peers. If a student leader goes out partying every night, that person is not going to be a very good witness or spiritual leader. Choosing the leaders is so important. In order to choose good student leader, a minister has to know the students from the onset of a ministry and build those relationships over time. However, reaching individuals does not stop once the beginning of the year is over. Reaching the lost through evangelism should be a never ending process. Jesus tells us our entire purpose on earth is to make disciples of all nations. This calling never diminishes. So what are some ways that can actually be implemented in order to reach students on an individual basis throughout the year? Although getting people in the door should never be the main focus, it is still an important step. After all, if a student never comes to a ministry it is a lot harder to disciple that person. However, reaching students individually cannot remain within the confines of the ministry. A college minister must go out to the students just as often, and probably more often, as they come to him. At least a couple times a week throughout the year it is important that the campus minister be on campus talking to students, getting to know them, and sharing the gospel with all the people on campus.
Reaching people in a small group is going to be completely different than trying to reach individual people. Knowing how to reach small groups is important, because not everyone is going to be comfortable with talking to you in a one on one setting. Reaching a small group of people can be done in a variety of ways. Maybe one day a week a minister should go sit with a table in the cafeteria and get to know those students. Share with those students ideas about the ministry, and see if they have any ideas to share that would be beneficial to your ministry. The best place to get ideas on how to reach students is from the students themselves. This cannot only be the job of the minister though. Students within the ministry should do the same thing. The student leaders should be assigned at least one day a week, where all days of the week are covered, to really just go talk to some small groups of people and get to know them. Even if ministry is never mentioned at the onset of the relationships formed, those relationships can lead people to Christ.
Reaching people through large group gatherings is another venue that can reach people for Christ. One of the best ways I have seen on campuses to really reach large numbers of people is through a lunch that is hosted by the ministry at least once a week. College students are usually tight on money, but love to eat a good meal, especially for a good price. A way to get people to the lunch is to offer it for free for first time guests. This will be very appealing to any student. After the initial free lunch, or dinner, offer the lunch at a very reasonable price. Between a dollar and five dollars would be ideal, because students can always find that much change in their car once a week. This event can easily bring a large number of people into a BCM building or at least make them aware that the ministry is in fact there. One way to make this even possible is to partner with local churches on who cooks, or caters, the meal. If different churches could sponsor the event throughout the year, it would be much easier financially to hold the event. A weekly lunch should not be the only event to try to reach a large group of people. Especially at the beginning of the year there should be events to let large numbers of students know that the ministry is there and trying to make a difference on campus and in the community. Having previous students helping people move in could be a way to impact a lot of students in one day, especially if the campus is located somewhere that is always hot. Reaching large groups of lost students is a hard concept to try to figure out. Most large gathering are going to be focused on people within the ministry. Reaching people on an individual or small group level is going to work better, because people want to feel important and loved and this feeling is hard to achieve in a large group.
Connect
Connecting with students is what ministry should be all about. Ministry cannot exist with just a minister. College ministry is students ministering to other students. Reaching people is all about bringing those students who are lost into the ministry and sharing the gospel with them in such a way that is also attractive. Connecting with students is all about building relationships. Once a person is in the ministry they cannot be pushed off as someone else’s responsibility. Reaching people is important, but if a person actually comes into the ministry and is then forgotten about, that person is not likely to stay in that ministry. Now it is illogical to think that a minister can be best friends with every single individual in a ministry. However, it should be a reality that every student in a ministry should be loved and wanted. One way to connect to students is to have at least some event on every day of the week. Although this initially seems like a bit much, in reality it really is necessary. Students are busy people and they cannot be expected to not be busy on the same night every week. If a ministry really wants to connect to people, there must be ways for those students to be connected. If there is some event, even if it isn’t a major event, every day or night of the week, there will always be some way that a student can connect. If this task seems too daunting, it is possible, in a large ministry at least, to delegate some responsibility to student leaders. As leaders more can be expected from these students. If there is a group of five students in charge of an event on Tuesday night, there will be at least one student of that group that can be at that event every week and they can alternate weeks of facilitating the event.
Once the seed is planted in an individual, it is important to build relationships with those individuals. Connecting is all about that relationship aspect. Like mentioned before, it is impossible to be best friends with all the students. However, it is not impossible to let the students know that you are available for advice. A minister is always going to be busy, but it is always necessary that the minister always have time for the students. A minister that has no time for his students will soon have all the time in the world. Connecting with individuals is really up to the individual. Every person is different. As a minister the office door must always be open. Students are the most important component of ministry. Connecting with them on an individual level is going to have a great impact on what kind of ministry you want to have. In order to connect with students, there should be designated office hours every day so that students know when they can come by without an appointment and talk about anything they need. Connecting with students does not always have to be about the minister actually connecting with every student. Connecting is about every individual feeling comfortable in the ministry. Without this connection, no student is going to want to remain in a ministry.
Connecting to students in a small group setting is accomplished by actually having small group sessions. A lot of churches have either Sunday school or community groups or something similar. People that may not feel comfortable coming to a large group atmosphere may love to come to a small group where there is food and fellowship. It is a lot easier to build relationships in these small gatherings. There does not have to be one specific night for small groups to meet. They should meet throughout the week in different locations at different time, to give everybody the opportunity to get connected. If a small group is the only event a student goes to within a ministry, that small group will still change the life of that student. Small groups are extremely vital. Without this small family of gatherers not nearly as many students can be reached. The leaders of these small groups need to be well trained and well monitored also. A small group that starts smoking weed may attract a lot of students, but will not be reaching these students for Christ, which is the goal of any ministry. There should be weekly meetings between the minister and the members of any leadership teams. This is not only a way to monitor the progress of each small group, but it becomes a small group in itself connecting the minister with the lives of each of these students. Small groups should only be structured enough to give some idea of what is going to go on. If they become too structured, they are going to become like the church and be very unattractive to outside students, and if they are not structured at all there may be some relationships formed, but no relationships that are strengthened through the will of Christ.
Connecting with students in a large group setting is difficult because there are going to be too many people to really connect with each student. However, large group meetings are important. Any large worship gatherings are going to be vital to a ministry. There needs to be at least one worship gathering each week. This needs to be on a night that does not compete with the worship gatherings at any local churches. If a college ministry’s worship gathering is on a Wednesday night, students will have to choose between a local church and the ministry and this conflict need never arise. A college ministry should never interfere with a local church. The two should be synonymous with one another. One goal of a ministry should be to plug the students into a local church. If they do not get plugged into a church in college, once they get out of college and that ministry is gone for them, they may not attend church anymore. However, if the ministry strongly encourages students to be involved in local churches, those students will remain involved in that church or another church for the rest of their lives. College ministry should never be about getting the largest group together that is possible. That thought is a worldly thought. Students will change from year to year. It is a college ministry’s job to equip these students with all the tools necessary for them to build a relationship with Christ and remain strong in that relationship throughout their lives.
Strengthen
Strengthening the students’ relationships with Christ is what a ministry is all about. However, this must be done in an attractive and fun way. The attractiveness and fun should never be the focus though. Ministry is all about Christ. Anything in a ministry should be aimed at getting students to this ultimate goal. Strengthening the faith of individual students will in turn strengthen the relationships of large numbers of people. One way to strengthen each individual student is through prayer. Not just prayer for the students on the part of the minister, but prayer by the students. A weekly prayer meeting, perhaps on a Sunday morning before church, would work wonders on the students’ prayer lives. Some people do not know how to pray and they are never taught how to pray. This prayer meeting should be extremely structured. Even so far as to have specific stations to pray for specific things. In one main room there should be a prayer walk set up. Each student can begin in one place and at each station there are specific things that need prayer. These prayers can range from things in an individual person’s life, things on the college campus, needs of the state, needs of the country, and needs of the world. This prayer walk should take about thirty to forty-five minutes to complete. In another room there should be a cross or image of Christ set up with soft music playing in the background. Passion conference one year had something similar set up. Individuals need to devote about thirty minutes to prayer for themselves, or prayers for specific instances in their own lives. This should be a time of focus and worship for the students to really just start their day and week of with reflection on the sacrifice that Christ made for them. Prayer is a very powerful tool and will affect a person’s life forever. So as students they need to be taught how to pray and given the opportunity to do so diligently.
Strengthening relationships in Christ through small groups should be through the weekly small or community groups. There is a reason the idea is not a unique one. Every minister I have talked to says that community groups are essential to really reaching and connecting to people. Bible study should be part of every community group. People who would never show up to an actual “Bible study” will show up to a “community group,” especially if the community group has food and fun, such as Rockband or Guitar Hero or something similar. This creates a unique opportunity to share the gospel. If an hour of time in community group is devoted to community and another hour or so is devoted to bible study, people will grow in their relationships with each other and with Christ, and people will be saved through the grace of the Holy Spirit through this event. This is not to say that we need to be sneaky and force people into Bible study. If a person just wants to come for food and fellowship and then leaves, that has to be okay. The conversations and the Holy Spirit will eventually take hold of that person. The point of these community groups is to instigate the possibility of bringing lost souls to Christ.
Strengthening relationships with Christ in large gatherings is the easiest way to really reach those people in large groups. Worship gatherings are an important part of any person’s relationship with Christ. Although it is not necessary to go to church to receive salvation, it is vital if a person wants to grow in Christ. Worshipping the Lord and hearing the Word of God is the best way to really focus on God. These worship gatherings are not meant to replace the worship gatherings of the local churches, but merely an opportunity to preach the gospel to those who may not go to a local church. If this worship service shares the gospel with one person who has never heard it before, than it is all worth it. The worship service can be held in a similar fashion as a church service, with worship music, preaching, an offering, and more worship, but this is not necessary. That type of worship service may not work in some areas. However a worship service is orchestrated, it is a necessary aspect of any ministry. Some people may not feel comfortable becoming a member of a church and going to an actual church building, but may feel comfortable coming to a college worship service on campus. That should not be the only type of ministry to large groups though. Another great thing for a college ministry is the accessibility of conferences and other worship services such as Passion. These things should be readily available to all students. Mission trips are also a huge part of worship and growth. These events can sometimes be expensive so there needs to be some sort of fundraising in order to help students who may not be able to attend otherwise. One way to help this is to do not take huge mission trips every single year. Students cannot always afford to go to Africa or South America every year, but they may be able to go to trips within the United States or even within the state of the campus itself. There are so many ways to do ministry. The balance is making many options available so that students who cannot go to one event can come to another event. These events should also encourage students to take on their own challenges, such as volunteering and community service. Students need to gain the tools to think for themselves and it is the ministry’s job to equip students for absolutely any situation.
Finding distinctions between the reach, connect, strengthen ideas can be difficult because they often blend together, and this is an important factor. All the ideas should not be completely separate from one another. No one aspect should be more important than the other ones. Because of this is can be hard to distinguish but that is not necessarily a bad thing. If the lines are blurry, it becomes easier to plan events that are planned to reach, connect, and strengthen at the same time. The best way to model a ministry is to model it after Christ Himself. Christ was one man, just as a minister is one person. He, as an individual, ministered to individuals. He healed individuals. These actions did not remain with the individual people though. They spread his greatness throughout the world. He surrounded himself with twelve disciples, as a minister should surround himself with friends and student leaders. He prayed with the disciples, he preached to his disciples, and he trained his disciples to go out into all the world and make new disciples. He preached to large groups of people, he fed the multitudes not only with food but with the gospel, and he changed a world that needed change so desperately, as all Christians are called to do. Jesus started the greatest ministry the world has ever seen. Any minister who models a ministry after Jesus will never fail.
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