It is no secret this is a time of change and flux in college ministry. A dear friend who formerly worked in campus based college ministry and is now pointed toward church planting, told other friends, "Campus based ministry is a thing of the past". Those he told that to said, "He drank the cool-Ade".
Simply put, they are referring to the idea being advanced by some now that the ONLY way to go is planting a church on college campuses. First, some facts to consider, there are 819 campus based Southern Baptist College ministries where 358,000 students attended this last year. There are 45 Southern Baptist campus church plants. I know of no figures on how many students attended.
Some situations call for a collegiate church plant and others call for campus based ministry. This past fall I was privileged to visit with one of the very successful pastors of a college church plant. They have 600 students total in their two Sunday services. Some have pointed to this as an example of "college church plants are the better way to go.". In visiting with me, he told of his 8 or 9 full time staff members. I don't know of a single campus based Southern Baptist ministry that would have that many staff members. There are a few that have 4 or 5...while most have one. We aren't comparing apples to apples.
Simply put, let's don't be arguing that a ministry that is on 819 campuses needs to be shut down because we have seen a few places that something else is really working well. To make that argument, you have to drink the Cool-Ade!
I guess I just don't get it. I don't see how closing college ministries and starting Plant Churches is a good thing. It would seem that it would; a) be expensive, b) be harmful to the local churches, c) not allow students to connect with persons outside the campus, etc., etc. Again, I don't see how this new movement is good for anyone involved. But, I'm sure much "smarter" people than me are looking into this.
ReplyDeleteJon Davidson