Campus Ministry Basics How to Start and Run a Campus Ministry
“These who have the Spirit of God, who have the truth wrought into their very being, prudent men, wise in their methods of reaching others, should be encouraged to enter colleges, as students live the truth, as did Joseph in Egypt, and Daniel, and Paul. Each one should study the situation and see what is the best way to represent the truth in the school, that the light may shine forth. Let them show that they respect all the rules and regulations of the schools. The leaven will begin to work; for we can depend much more upon the power of God manifested in the lives of His children than upon any words that can be spoken. But they should also tell inquirers, in as simple language as they can, of the Bible doctrines.... "But I scarcely dare present this method of labor; for there is danger that those who have no decided connection with God will place themselves in these schools, and instead of correcting error and diffusing light, will themselves be led astray. But this work must be done; and it will be done by those who are led and taught of God.” (3SM 233) Throughout time secular universities have been a launch pad for great movements. These God led movements include: Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Huss, John and Charles Wesley and many more. Even GYC is a Campus Ministry based event/ movement. Today an estimation of 75% of SDA young people in North America attend secular institutions of higher learning. It is said that 7080% of Christians lose their faith in college. It is a time where young adults discover, know, and believe for themselves. Without the proper evidence, support, and resources that young people need to contradict the many fallacies they hear at school, it is easy for many to get swept away in the doctrines and beliefs of the secular world. It is here that campus ministry work has a twofold purpose:
1. It is effective in keeping Adventist young people in the church and connected with God in the midst of the secularism and false theories they hear on campus. It enables them to have a deeper understanding of what they believe for themselves while engaging them in active evangelism and soulwinning. Offers opportunity for mentoring others in the faith.
2. It is an effective ministry in bringing souls, not only to Christ, but to an understanding of the precious present truth that we’ve been given. It has a unique place in that college campuses have many hungry and searching souls that come to you, rather than you going to them.
There is huge potential and benefits of investing in campus ministry work. Following are only some of the benefits of campus ministry work:
1. The increased membership of young adults into a church bring an infusion of energy, youthfulness, and discipleship opportunities on the local church level.
2. An investment in young professionals attending college is an investment in future tithe base. 3. There is an exponential potential of evangelism on campuses. If each student reaches one student a semester or even a year, the process of discipleship is able to bring many souls in, very quickly. The work is additionally able to spread as students transfer from one campus to another and thus the work is able to spread very quickly.
4. There is the potential for foreign mission work with international students that, once experiencing Christ while attending school, would be able to carry what they have learned back to their home country as well as have an understanding of how to share it.
5. Getting Adventist young people to create an active ministry on a secular college campus is able to increase Adventist exposure on secular campuses.
● Vision: A Biblebased revival movement in which every student is a missionary ● Philosophy: Academic excellence combined with spiritual excellence ● Methodology: Biblical simplicity: “Your success is in your simplicity. As soon as you depart from it,
CAMPUS Ideals:
your power is gone...” (2T 608)
● ● ● ●
Goal: Double our membership every year Watchword: Each one reach one Mission: To prepare secular university campuses for the imminent return of Christ Motto: “Taking Higher Education Higher”
Starting a Campus Ministry:
● Pray first. You want God to be leading you and He alone is able to make this work successful. ● Try to find one other SDA that is willing to help you. (Try visiting churches in the surrounding area if need be to find young people that attend that college.)
● Become an official organized club on campus. This will give you backing from the school and most likely the use of campus facilities for free. This may entail finding an adviser for your club, in which it is fine to have a Christian adviser if you can't find an Adventist one. You can start holding Bible studies on campus while you are sorting all these details out. ● Get the support of your local church. They can not only offer their counsel and experience to you, but their financial support as well as a place for you to connect contacts into a greater body of Adventist believers. Involve them in your ministry plans and try to find successful ways to bridge people to the church as much as possible. Request the financial support of your church to fund advertising on campus for your group events as well as any other club expenses that you won't be able to cover on your own. (i.e. flying in a speaker, food for public events, GLOW, Bible study materials, etc.) Getting a church to help you is not always immediately essential, but it will help your work to be much more successful.
● Recruit Adventists to support your group as much as you can, and involve them in your ministry plans, in teaching Bible studies, or any other way you can. This is an opportunity for you to mentor and teach them if they haven't done this before. While you are building your Adventist base, you can also start holding and advertising for your small group Bible study or event, and you are good to go. Means of Doing Ministry:
● Target Audience: Pick the ripe fruit first. Mentor Adventists that are in your club, and seek to keep them in the church by keeping them involved and make them part of your leadership team where appropriate (inreach). There are many Christians on campus, even more than there might be atheists or agnostics. This is your prime target audience in doing outreach. Still reach out to the atheist or agnostic, but realize that your focus should first be on those that already have possible special interest in the Bible.
● Advertising: If you don't advertise, no one will know about your event, and no one will come. Personal invite is the best, but especially for bigger public events, make sure you invest in getting the word out. On our campus, we could easily hand out 7,000 8,000 fliers. Try to find a graphic designer to help you if you can.
● Small group Bible studies: These are good to make friends with people, creates a social environment with the study of the Bible and will help you to connect with students on campus. Study
something neutral, even go through the book of Daniel, but avoid having specifically “doctrinal studies” that will make most Christians skeptical and turn away. Use this study time as a base to get to know people and as opportunity comes, offer one on one studies to people individually.
● One on one Bible studies: This can be seen as the goal in a sense, and other events that you hold are a means of helping you get them, but don't forget to be friends with people, and to show genuine interest in peoples lives (friendship evangelism). In your studies with people, seek to teach them the basic beliefs of Adventism, but realize that you are also a spiritual counselor to them and you might have to do some research to help them with different areas that they might struggle with along the way.
● Events: You can do probably just about anything on campus, but the most effective events are those that are well advertised and that is relevant to meeting the needs of your campus. You can do health expos, health lectures, lectures on creation vs. evolution, the existence of God, the character of God, or even prophecy. Be creative and make sure you spend time in prayer over your plans and ideas and ask for God's leading in them. At the end of events, where appropriate, it is good to have some kind of survey/ feedback card, on which you could get their contact information, offer Bible studies, or more information about the topic presented or your club. It's a great way to get contacts. You can also do different types of outreach, and as more of an inreach exercise, get some of those in your group to do a GLOW blitz to hand out GLOW on campus.
● Socials: People need community. This is one of your greatest tools in reaching hearts for the Gospel. Friendship evangelism is key and people won't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Plan specific events that are just social events. Creating a sense of community will keep people coming back to your group.
● Leadership: In your plans for doing campus ministry at your school, also consider that you won’t be there forever. It is important that you mentor those under you as soon as you can, so you can eventually transfer leadership to an able and willing person. When filling out paperwork to become a club on campus, they will ask you for names of officers. What is on paper won’t matter as much as your efficiency as a team, and that you can work together to accomplish your goals, so despite what’s on paper, make sure you have clearly defined roles for everyone on your team. Make sure you take time to invest in your core leadership, and to spend time with them outside of ministry meetings. This will promote the unity in your team. Keep your core leadership Adventist by all means, but also seek opportunities to get nonAdventists helping and incorporated to the club, and even helping with little things for events and outreaches, as it will aid to their commitment to the club and their mentorship.
● Remember that those who pray together stay together. “Only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good.” DA 362.2 Resources:
● ● ● ● ●
CAMPUS: www.campushope.com STRIDE: www.strideonline.com Adventist Christian Fellowship: www.acflink.org 3 Selected Messages, Chapter 26 “Attending Colleges and Universities of the Land” Steps to Jesus Bible study guides