Not Just Adding to the Noise

In my post yesterday I talked about some of the hurdles I’ve seen in forging partnerships in college ministry. It’s no easy task… but with such a clear common end-goal in mind it sure seems that we should make every attempt to work [better] with one another.

With that in mind, I’ve got a few ideas (or upcoming events) that I want to make you aware of (if you’re not already), with the hopes that it might encourage you to participate in these great conversations/events and/or spark some creative thinking in you that will result in some new, creative initiatives that will help to:

further equip campus and college ministers,
challenge us all to think outside of our contextual or denominational box/es, and ultimately
help to reach our students for Christ

So here are some things coming up that I think are worth mentioning:

Today our office is hosting a Community of Campus Ministers lunch. We have invited:

faculty and/or staff advisers for our religiously oriented student orgs on campus,
professionals that are invested in these same faith development orgs,
local pastors and college pastors that we know love college students and reach out to our campus in unique ways.

We have settled into a twice a semester schedule with this group and it is serving to:

bring awareness to WHO is doing WHAT with our students,
build relationships between campus ministers and other school officials who all have a shared love for Jesus and college students,
foster growing levels of unity in our purpose and desire,
identify upcoming events that others might be interested in partnering in,
provide a space for all of us to talk about what we’re seeing on campus, in college students, etc., and
provide a space for ministers to NOT have to lead or serve, but to enjoy some fellowship with co-laborers.

If you don’t have something like this in your ministry context I would strongly encourage you to be the catalyst for this important kind of ongoing meeting.

Crossing the ‘tribal’ lines: I’ve been invited by some United Methodist friends to be a part of an all-day prayer event happening tomorrow. The event is put on by some of the folks heavily involved with College Union and the 40 Days of Prayer event that happens in the fall and is geared towards the ministry and efforts of college ministers and ministries. It looks like it will be a great time of fellowship, teaching, praying and conversation… and if you’re in (or near) Nashville, TN there might still be some space available at the event – otherwise it looks like you can stream the it live by clicking here.

Thinking towards the fall: I’d encourage you to consider taking part in the 40 Days of Prayer experience that co-insides with the start of the academic year, I found it to be an incredibly encouraging and powerful way to kick-off the school year. I’d also like to point you towards an initiative that Benson Hines [author of the Exploring College Ministry blog] has started that would bring together all of us in college ministry (in some informal ways) at the Catalyst conference that takes place in Atlanta in October. If you’re anything like me, the big conference environment might not be your thing, so this college ministry cohort idea might be just the right thing to bring a more intimate feel to a gathering of more than 30,000 Christian leaders. You can read more about his big idea here.

Finally, I’d like to invite you into a practice that I just started (yesterday), in an attempt to be more intentional in how I go about contributing to our collaborative work in the field of college ministry. As I continue to blog out my own experiences in, and thinking about, ministry with college students – hoping that they may serve as a catalyst for some online conversation and co-education – I am committing to regularly reading [and POSTING] on others’ blogs and engaging in the conversations that they [YOU] are wanting to have. I honestly believe that we have so much to learn from one another – and that EVERYONE has SOMETHING to contribute to the conversation – but when we don’t ‘comment’ we are shorting out the [co-] part of the educational experience. SO, will you join me in ‘chiming in’ to conversations happening around the web?

I’d love to know what you think.

What efforts are you making to be a part of the LARGER conversation about the field of college ministry?

Grace and peace.

[Take a second to answer this week’s questions in the sidebar: What’s the biggest issue facing graduating seniors?]