Pastors and Church Planters: Get On Campus!

I have seen pastors and churches make two opposite mistakes when it comes to engaging with college students. There is a model of church planting that seeks to plant churches made up mostly, or entirely, of college students. The heart behind these church plants is wonderful and the results are often impressive. Unfortunately, this model falls short of the Scriptures’ description of the church as an institution that transcends all human boundary markers. Just as you would not want to establish a church made up exclusively of one vocation, gender, or economic class, a local church should not be confined to one stage of life. 

The other serious mistake is for a pastor or church to not engage with college students at all. College students have unique barriers to church attendance that will rarely be overcome without intentionality on the part of both the student and the church.

Pastors and church planters: I urge you not to fall in either of these ditches. Do not build a church entirely on college students but please do not neglect them either!

In a future blog post, I will offer some ideas of how a pastor can engage effectively with students. For the moment, I’d just like to offer you some reasons it is critical. 

It Will Give You Life

Engaging with students will breathe life into your ministry in at least two ways. First, it will breathe life into you personally. Students are fun. Working with them is fun. Working with students gives opportunities to do things that students love to do. Playing video games, disk golf, or pick up basketball all qualify as time well spent when you are with students. Also, the average student is less jaded than the average 45 year old. They are more likely to respond with excitement and eagerness when they learn something new from the scriptures or are challenged to take a new step of faith. I can almost guarantee you will feel more, not less, energized, after an afternoon hanging out with students.

Engaging with students also breathes life into your church. As students begin to attend worship they will bring an energy (even to liturgical Presbyterian services) that is lacking without them. Older folks look at students and are encouraged that the younger generation is hearing the gospel. Youth and children look at students and are encouraged that people they look up to consider church a worthwhile use of their time. As my former pastor Bill Leach used to say, the gospel seems more plausible to youth and children if college students are around.

They Are Receptive

You have likely heard statistics about how young people are more likely to become Christians than other stages in life. This has been true in my personal experience across a spectrum of people. Do you live in a community with a lot of people from another faith? Perhaps the best way to begin to engage them with the gospel is to begin with their college students. Are you having trouble crossing ethnic barriers in your community? These barriers are often more porous when people are younger.

But it's not just in conversion that students are more receptive. They are also more likely to hear you share a hard truth and actually receive it and make changes. Students are used to making decisions that will alter the course of their lives. They just made one to decide to go to college and they will make another when they graduate and get a job. This means that if you are preaching about the sin of greed, lust, or racism, they just may hear you and be willing to change the trajectory of their lives.

They Are Close By

You may assume that this blog post is only for churches in large college towns. You would be mistaken! There are nearly 4,000 colleges in the US . There is very likely a college within the geographic scope of your congregation. Even if it is a little far, there is a community college that young people in your scope are commuting to. Engaging with that college will help you engage them.

Some may feel that engaging with community colleges is less exciting than engaging with large influential universities. Let me assure you, that is not the case. My favorite ministry here in Dearborn is hanging out at the local community college. The students at these schools have far fewer opportunities for clubs and orgs than those at major universities. They are therefore more likely to be looking for opportunities to get connected. In addition to that, they are more likely to be from the area and more likely to stick around after they graduate.

They Desperately Need a Church

When thinking about needy people in your community it could be easy to overlook college students. Their needs are not as visually obvious as those of the urban poor or seriously ill. Students are often young, healthy, and investing in their future. Don’t be fooled by their external put-togetherness.

The majority of college students are spiritually lost. This is tragically even true of college students who began their studies as Christians. 

Not only that, they have deep and obvious emotional needs that the church can truly help them with. One in three students experience significant depression or anxiety today.

Students need your church.

It Isn’t as Hard as You Think

You don’t need to start a new organization. You don’t need to get a certification. Ministering to students is not as difficult as it may seem. It can start with just showing up. Take a morning a week to do sermon prep in the student center of a local college and see where that goes. 

In my next blog post I’ll offer some simple ideas of how to get started.

You can contact Jerry at jerry@gracedearborn.com.