Tag: college students

The Local Church

Competing Missions

In a previous post I explored the question: Are we the local church OR an arm reaching on to the campus?

One of the big reasons I tend to believe that we are an ‘arm’, and not the local church, is because of the context — and more specifically — who controls it.

Campus ministry is, to a certain extent, subject to the academic institution. Unlike the local church, campus ministries will have to — again, to a certain extent — play by a certain set of rules… that they have no say in creating.

Spiritual Formation

Extreme Measures

The picture to the right is of a man (yes, fully clothed) running through Death Valley.

Extreme athletes will often go to extreme measures in their training in order to be most fully prepared for their upcoming event/s.

It’s a part of what makes them great!

Their willingness to push themselves beyond their limits — and far beyond what most of us would be willing to do — is what distinguishes them from the rest of us.

Transitions

Setting the Table

If you had the chance to communicate one message to incoming students — 2 months before their arrival — what would it be?

We are in the midst of our summer orientation here at BU. It’s probably not too different from what happens on most other campuses around the country that practice this same methodology of “introducing” new students to campus.

Transitions

Free-Falling [Like Wile E.]

As a kid I loved watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. I especially liked watching Wile E. Coyote attempt to catch the Roadrunner – forever without success – he always made me laugh!

As I’ve observed our students for the past 7 years attempt to transition into this place [spiritually speaking] the best [and most unfortunate] image that comes to mind for many of them is the one to the right.
80% of our students self-identify as Christians.

What that means [for them] exactly, I don’t know.

The Local Church

Hocking Jesus

I wrote this blog post after returning from a mission trip with eleven students. It is mostly in response to a deep conversation we had about what will happen when the students leave college. See, they get it – they’re tired of churches that are more concerned with creating their own world rather than changing THE world for the sake of The Kingdom.

So as our students walk across their stages and receive their long-expected degrees, will there be a church they can be part of? Will there be a movement of Jesus followers who actually pray as Jesus taught us… and believe it?