2nd Most Important Task of a College Minister?

If you were to ask College Ministers what the most important task they have, most would say, "share the gospel" or "teach students to walk with the Lord".

But, what would they say is number two? Would it be leadership development or teaching students how to do personal Bible study?

Here is my Number 2: helping connect students to a local church. If they develop that life long commitment, it will help grow them, encourage them in difficult times, give them opportunities to serve, and if they have a family, be a blessing and help to them.

One criticism some pastors have had of campus based college ministries is that they replace church and even lead students away from local church involvement. Overall, I don't believe that is a valid criticism....at least not with the college ministries I have observed.

November 15 is the Sunday set aside as an emphasis on encouraging college students to connect to a particular local church. In Southern Baptist life, it is called, "Why Church 2015. The idea is students have had time to visit different churches and likely have decided where they best fit. The trend in recent years is for students to just attend....not make any commitment to officially connect. But, a part of our teaching them about being a part of a church is teaching them to make a commitment.....not just float or be a visitor.

Many students don't join a church because they don't have a clue how or they grew up in one church and don't know how to officially to move their membership to a different one. This can be an opportunity to teach them different ways to connect to a church. College Ministries can talk about the different ways. Some Church ministries have a meeting of all students interested in possibly joining and explain the different options their church offers. In previous years some churches found that students were more willing to take this step when they knew they would not be the only one.

One church that has a large college ministry sends out a letter to all students who have
attended since school started inviting them to join on this day and telling them joining options.

If you lead a campus based ministry, you can partner with area churches in promoting this special Sunday. Or, you can simply challenge your students to connect to their different churches by taking the next step of membership on that day.

Some churches tie the Connect Sunday to a home football game weekend. Obviously, each situation can do what works best for their schedule and that might mean setting a different date.

Go to www.whychurch.net for more help and suggestions. Other than sharing the gospel with student what else can you do that will benefit their life more than helping them connect to a church? I believe it is the second most important thing we do!