COLLEGE STUDENTS LEAVING YOUR CHURCH: Ministering to Your Church's College Students

I live in a college town. Just this week I met a young girl who will be attending college here this fall, so I asked her if anyone from her home church recommended a good church to her while she completes her studies. To my amazement she replied that no one from her home church, including her parents or pastors, had said anything to her about finding a good church in the town where she is attending college. Of course, I suggested that she should try our church; but that conversation left me wondering.

Are pastors and youth pastors talking to their church’s graduating high school seniors about getting plugged in to a good church while they are away from home attending college?

Here are 5 practical suggestions for ministering to your church’s college students who are away from your church while they are in college.

1. Encourage your church’s college students to find a good church immediately when they arrive on campus!
If nothing else, take the time to talk to the college students from your church who are away from home about finding a good, Bible-preaching church in the town where they are attending school. You might also want to take the time to investigate the churches in the area where your students are living to make informed recommendations to them. This will not take a long time with the wealth of information available on the Internet. Make sure your young adults are plugged in to a good church nearby the college or university they are attending. Believe me; this is also important if your students are attending a Christian college or even a Bible college. Experts on this age group are saying that college-age habits are usually formed within the first 2 weeks they are away from home; so this suggestion is very, very important for their spiritual growth and development while they are away in college.

2. Stay in touch with your church’s college students encouraging them in their walk with God.
Your church’s college-age young adults are leaving home sometime during the next couple of weeks to begin this year’s academic schedule. Make sure you know their mailing address, e-mail address, and cell phone number so that you can stay in touch with them while they are away in college. Put it on your personal schedule to send them an e-mail or a text message just to find out how they are doing in college and to let them know that people from their home church are praying regularly for them.

3. Send them a “love gift” from home within 2 weeks of when they arrive on campus.
Make sure your church sends them a care package (home-made chocolate chip cookies are a must for college students!) in a couple of weeks. You might also want to send them a gift card for a free pizza. Why don’t you recruit a team of church people to handle this important detail? There’s nothing like the encouragement from receiving a love gift from people back at home.

4. Suggest ways they can stay connected with their home church while they are away at college. College students often feel out-of-touch while they are away from their home church. Perhaps it would be a good idea to send each of them your church’s weekly church bulletin and prayer request list. Put this simple practice on a tickler file as a reminder to send them this information on a regular basis.

5. Recruit a team of people in your church to pray specifically for those students while they are in college.
I can’t tell you how important it is for today’s college students to know that caring people back home are praying regularly for them while they are away at school. Put together a complete list of all of the young adults from your church who are away in college (and in the military, for that matter) and add them to your church’s prayer list. Then make sure you remind your church people to pray for them regularly and faithfully. This simple act of prayer will be a real source of encouragement to your church’s students who are studying away from home.

Please don’t forget that these students are still your church’s young people. Your church has invested so much in their lives during their formative years as children and youth. Don’t drop the ball on them while they are away in college!

THE CHURCH GOES TO COLLEGE: Ministering to College-Age Young Adults in Your Church

According to a recent article in the New York Times, the largest generation in American history is now enrolled in college. That statistic is amazing in itself, but added to that is the fact that current research has revealed that ministering to college age young adults may be the weakest area of ministry in many, many local churches. We need to change that trend!

I am convinced that any church can and should minister to the young adults in your area by implementing a few proactive and simple strategies. However, before I list those ideas, I must emphasize the fact that a ministry to this age group requires a commitment to do it. Many churches see high school kids leave the church following high school without tracking them to see where they are going to church or if they are even going on for God. We must close this gap and reinvest in this “missing generation” in our church. A ministry to this strategic age group begins with an investment of people resources. In other words, churches must decide to make college-age young adult ministry a priority.

Here are some ideas on how your church can minister to this large and needy people group:

1. Start by developing an opportunity to teach them God’s Word!
This really is a simple place to start. Does your church have a Sunday School class for college-age young adults? If not, why not start one right away? Even your recent high school graduates need a place to study God’s Word following their involvement in the youth group. Recruit significant, Godly adults in your church to lead this new ministry – and remember that this current generation is not looking for a revision of what they got in youth ministry. College-age students want to be treated as adults; in fact, many of them many be enrolled in high-academic college or university majors. It doesn’t make sense for the church to give “fluff” to this age group when they are craving serious and important truth! If your church does not have the resources for a traditional Sunday School class, you could develop a regular time of Bible study for them instead. This age group needs Biblical answers that counter the various secular world views they are hearing in college. So, a teaching ministry is the place to start!

2. Provide Godly older mentors to build growing, personal relationships with this age group.
This age group needs older people! The church can and should provide Godly older mentors for this generation of emerging young adults. So many college-age para-church organizations tend to separate young adults from the church by gathering groups of peers together on college or university campuses. Friends, this is a mistake. This demographic cohort desperately needs the church. The church can provide the human resources of a “family” of older adults who are willing to develop growing relationships and connections with college-age young adults. (For more information on the subject of church-based mentoring you can contact the author at: mel@visionforyouth.com.) Encourage and teach your church’s older adults to take the time to build personal relationships with younger adults.

3. Supply opportunities for this age group to have fellowship.
Friends are the life-line for this age group. That’s another reason why churches should “do something” for young adults. The church can and should provide real fellowship – with other members of this age group and with other ages. It’s a shame, in some ways, that college and university students tend to develop their friends outside of the church. This generation is not looking for a series of “youth group games” or activities. A ministry to college-age young adults should look differently than that. Fellowship for this age group will probably feature hanging out around a cup of coffee instead of taking the members to the nearest amusement park.

4. Give them leadership opportunities in the group and in your church as a whole.
One of the most effective ways to offer something for this age group is to give them some specific leadership responsibilities within the group – and within the greater structure of the entire church. In other words, give them something to do. This generation can lead Bible studies and will have influence on their peers. They are no longer teenagers – they are emerging adults. Give them leadership opportunities and work to train them for future positions of leadership in the church.

5. Offer resources to help this age group become involved.
A very effective way to minister to this age group is for the church to supply resources for this generation that is in so much transition. Mentoring is one way to do that, but there is a vast variety of ways that a church could minister to college-agers. One church (located near a major university) hosts a meal for college students every Sunday afternoon. Another church provides transportation to and from the nearby college campuses. My home church recruited a team of families to host college-age students in their homes on Sunday afternoons. The point is that every local church has a supply of resources that could be utilized to minister to this age group. Ideas abound.

These simple ideas do not do justice to this important aspect of church programming. However, it is a shame for churches to do nothing – especially when the number one time people walk away from church is immediately following high school. It’s time to do something!

It’s Time to Gear Up for Fall

“Gentlemen, start your engines!”

Our “neck of the woods” is busy and bustling with excitement and energy this week as the NASCAR universe prepares for its race at Pocono. Every hotel room for miles around is full and the highways are already jammed with race fans crowding into Northeastern Pennsylvania for this weekend’s annual event.

It’s always interesting to watch the sleepy countryside of this region’s Pocono and Endless Mountains come alive in preparation for the huge onslaught of NASCAR enthusiasts and consumers. There are car races each weekend somewhere during the summer, but on this particular weekend our area plays host – and Pennsylvanians are getting ready for the big race.

Since it is already the beginning of August, this weekend always reminds me of the preparations youth workers should be working on now to welcome students into the Fall programs which will be starting in just a few, short weeks. Here are 5 quick ideas to help you think through your preparations as you gear up for Fall:

1. Make the time for individual appointments with incoming students.
If you haven’t done this yet this summer, take the next few weeks to meet individually with your group’s incoming new students. These appointments would be the ideal time to welcome individual kids into the group and to share your vision for the church’s youth ministry with them. Of course, this would also be the perfect time to talk to each teen personally about their salvation experience and their personal walk with God.

2. Make the effort for a renewed “splash” for your Fall events.
Someone once said, “It it’s important, it’s worth talking about.” I am a firm believer in promotion and advertising, but not in a “consumeristic” or carnal way. It’s a good idea to promote your Fall program in order to create energy and enthusiasm for what you are trying to accomplish this year in your ministry. Some youth workers repaint or redecorate the youth room, others send out creative promotional pieces. The important thing to remember is that what you are trying to do to minister to and to reach out to kids is important. Treat it as if it is important!

3. Make sure to communicate your plans to the parents of teenagers.
Work hard right now to develop a plan to regularly communicate the details of your Fall program to the parents of teenagers. Send out e-mails, develop a group Facebook page, put stuff in the church bulletins, obtain the parents cell phone numbers and send them text messages, etc. Do whatever you can to put the most information you can into the hands of parents. Let’s face it; they will never really be on your side unless they know what is going on.

4. Make the commitment to see how your plans fit in with the overall plans of the church.
Take the time to meet with your senior pastor to go over your plans for the Fall with him. It will help him to know what is going on and it will help you see what his plans are for the big-picture of your church’s ministry. Be prepared and be willing to tweak your ideas some to fit in with his philosophy of what he wants for the church.

5. Make sure to cover your Fall program in prayer!
Now’s the time to commit everything you want to do this Fall to the Lord and to ask for His blessing! It’s also imperative that you meet with the other members of your youth ministry’s leadership team to encourage them to pray specifically for the teens this Fall. I also encourage youth workers to meet with your church’s senior citizens to ask them to pray specifically and individually for the students. Do whatever you can to recruit prayer warriors for the youth ministry!

Thanks for reading. It’s time to gear up for Fall!