On any playground where children are playing you
will hear the phrase, "eeny meeny miny moe" and know that a decision
or choice is being made. What you don't expect to hear is that same phrase
being used in your Student Ministry's conference room in a major planning
session about reaching the local campuses! However, even if unspoken, this is
exactly what is happening so often in Student Ministries across the country. It
wasn't but just a few years ago, the reach of any given church and its Student
Ministry would simply be to the local middle or high school in their community. These schools were filled with rich relationships of church members who are teaching, coaching or
leading the schools faculty and all the students in the church attend that one
school. The reality of our current context, however, is very different! A
highly mobile, technological, and a probable disconnect from deep meaningful
relationships in leadership means making an impact on your local school campus
can present some heavier challenges than before. Not to mention the sheer
number of school campuses that are possibly represented in your ministry
automatically make the "choice" a bit harder. But it doesn't have to
be...
Hopefully, the importance of reaching your
local campus doesn't need to be addressed here but just as a reminder here's a
snapshot for you: Hundreds if not thousands of teenagers confined to one
place for approximately 1600 hours a year! Your local campus MUST be an
important place to do ministry. Now there are many ways to approach campus ministry
and again this particular discussion isn't trying to convince you of a Why? or
a What? but simply a basic How? For many Churches campus ministry is boiled
down to either proximity or presence. With proximity a church
will simply look at the closest school to their campus and focus their efforts
there. Now I am not at all saying that where God has placed you and your team
is NOT where he wants you to minister. As a matter of fact, I would usually
lean toward if you are in a specific place that’s where you should focus your
efforts. The other approach is in presence. In this approach your ministry will place its focus where a majority of students who already attend their church attend school. Thus that specific campus is where their possibility for "greater impact" exists. Again, I am not saying that where your people are is not where your
efforts should be focused either. In fact proximity and presence
are two great indicators of where your Student Ministry should focus its
efforts in campus ministry. However, over the years I have served in places
where the traditional one campus in a small town was my context and I've served in
contexts with several 4A or 5A schools with in just minutes of our Student Ministry building. In both, there were tensions that would always exist between
the Why’s and What’s, but we would always settle the “How” quickly. Here's my suggestion, cliché as it may seem- Pray, Watch,
& Go!
I’ve had the "privilege" of transitioning to a new
ministry context several times over the past 20 years and each time I've had to meet
new people, learn new names, and find new fried chicken joints to eat at. But
every time, I've had to make a decision on which school campus we were going to
focus our efforts on. Each time I have gathered leaders and students around
this approach. Lets Pray! Early in ministry I would learn from Henry Blackaby to
"see where God is working and make adjustments in your life to join
him." This principle has guided me in ministry all these years and it
still does. We pray, asking God to show us what he is currently doing on the
local campuses in school clubs, athletics, faculty, band, etc. I think this
also applies to the flip side of that coin, if there is NOTHING happening on a
campus perhaps that’s your answer to pray. Either way, pray and ask God to
reveal to you where your maximum IMPACT should be. Secondly, we watch for
opportunities to jump in, support, fund, maximize, or celebrate what God is
doing on a certain campus. Many will use "vision alignment" or
budgetary guidance in this particular phase and I encourage that. The point is
that if you have asked God through prayer to reveal to you a way to engage the
campus, watch for ways to "do something" until the answer is clear!
Then finally, when, NOT if, God reveals to you his desire for your ministry to
reach a campus or two, GO! You and your team have been praying and
watching together so when its go time, you must be obedient even if it does
stretch your man power, vision, or budget! There will probably never be enough
dollars to go around, but you must never let budget stop you from engaging your
local campus.
When you Pray, Watch and Go you not only invest your time into joining with God in his Kingdom advancement but you model for leaders and students how to navigate living on mission for the rest of their days on planet Earth! Now, Pray, Watch, and Go...
