Church partnership

The Case for Campus Ministry

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 05:00:00 +0000

April 12, 2010

The Case for Campus Ministry

Pastors are invited to speak to ��Ƶ chapters on a regular basis. They bring a fresh voice to campus and speak with spiritual authority. As a matter of policy, ��Ƶ encourages our chapter members to be active in a local church.

Recently Tim Deatrick, pastor of Ashworth Road Baptist Church in West Des Moines, IA, spoke to the ��Ƶ chapter at Drake University. He not only shared a message with the students, but afterwards shared with the readers of his weblog some reasons why churches should support ��Ƶ and other ministries on campus.

Here are his first three reasons:

1. Campus ministries have unprecedented access to students. They are able to efficiently serve the students of their campus because they “belong.” They are able to work freely in the environment of the campus because they are insiders.

2. Campus ministries have a continuous presence. They don’t come and go. They possess an air of permanence which gives students unprecedented access to ministry. Students don’t have to wonder where to go for ministry or leave campus. (Don’t forget, not every college student has a car!) It’s available right there on the bottom shelf.

3. Campus ministries are able to focus on the students. Ministry is designed for the students with their needs in mind. In the case of ��Ƶ, students are encouraged, trained, and involved in leadership.

Read the rest of pastor Deatrick’s blog at TimDeatrick.com

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Church partnership

The First 72 Hours

webteam@intervarsity.org — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:00:00 +0000

News

February 24, 2010

Gordon Govier

The First 72 Hours

Few freshmen arriving on campus for the start of a new academic year realize how important their first 72 hours will be. The outcome of their entire collegiate career hangs in the balance. That may sound extreme, but John Decker, an ��Ƶ volunteer at Syracuse University, has seen it over and over again.

Everything is different on campus
“The Christian kids are landing in a perfect storm of loneliness, temptation, and culture shock that tragically pulls the majority of them away from Christ. If they are connected ahead of time to a campus ministry and church, most of them succeed and enter a time of accelerated spiritual growth,” John said.

Jeff Schadt saw the same thing as a staff worker with Campus Crusade for Christ. To help facilitate the transition from high school to college, especially for Christian students, he launched the Youth Transition Network (YTN), which now works with more than 65 partner organizations, including ��Ƶ and Campus Crusade.

“Most incoming freshmen believe that the transition will be easy and they don’t have to prepare,” Jeff said. “But then they hit campus and are overwhelmed.”

Resources are available
For the second year in a row, YTN is offering SUCCEED 2010 to give high school juniors and seniors and their parents an opportunity to attend a live simulcast that covers the social, spiritual, financial, academic, and time-management issues that students face. “We address their practical needs as well as their spiritual needs,” Jeff said.

SUCCEED 2010 was held Saturday, February 27, 2010, at 50 locations around the country. More information on this simulcast is available at YTN’s parent and pastor website www.YTN.org. Those who did not attend this event can still sign up at the website to be notified about future similar events, or to get information on a DVD package that will be offered with similar content.

SUCCEED 2010 offers new opportunities for communication. A father who attended last year’s simulcast wrote: “I could have never had the discussions with my son apart from the college student videos and speakers opening him up to the challenges and issues ahead, paving the way for discussion and giving me access to help my son in transition.”

The simulcasts are typically hosted in churches. Jeremy Taylor, the high school director for Black Rock Congregational Church in Fairfield, CT, saw 10 of his students participate in the simulcast last year. “Most of them were blown away by the idea that their first 72 hours at college were the most important in staying strong in their faith,” he reported.

“Talking with the students later, they said that much of what they learned from the webcast was true about their first days at college. Many of them were able to find Christian roommates and plug into campus ministries because of the website. The result, all of the graduates continued in their faith and connected to ministries.”

YTN has a specific website www.LiveAbove.com to help incoming students connect with ministries and potential Christian roommates at their school. Campus ministry staff receive email notifications from inquiring high school students.

If students want a Christian roommate, both will need to inform their college by around May 1st. YTN encourages the college ministries to suggest to incoming freshmen that they add themselves to the Roommates Wanted section of LiveAbove.com at the campus they will attend. The number of roommate candidates will grow as LiveAbove.com becomes a standard part of the youth ministry in more and more churches.

College can be a Time of Accelerated Faith Growth
John Decker, who serves as YTN’s Northeast director as well as an ��Ƶ volunteer, is well aware of the studies reporting that up to 80-percent of Christian high school students leave their Christian faith in college. He says the outcome can be different for those students who connect with campus ministries, radically different. It can be a time of accelerated growth in their faith.

“When a freshmen is on his/her own for the first time, and in the midst of a campus community who is serving Christ of their own volition, an awakening and ownership of the faith happens. The Holy Spirit has more access to them than ever,” John said.

When students are pre-connected to a campus ministry, it’s easy for them to naturally and relationally invite non-believers to new student outreach activities during the first weeks on campus. John cited two students who came to the University of Nebraska from different parts of the country, and decided to become roommates through www.LiveAbove.com. “They knew ahead of time which ministry they wanted to connect with. During their first days on campus they invited four people from their dorm to go with them to that ministry. Now, all six are walking together with Christ.”

Jeff uses a football analogy to encourage parents to take advantage of YTN’s resources. He compares the SUCCEED 2010 simulcast and DVD to the two-minute drill used by football teams at the end of the ball game. “Don’t fumble the ball in the last few minutes,” he said.

With www.YTN.org and www.LiveAbove.com, Christian parents have the resources they need to prepare their high school student for success in college—educationally, spiritually, and socially. YTN encourages campus ministry staff and college students to inform their pastors and friends about these websites so that this year’s wave of high school graduate will survive and thrive on campus.

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Church partnership

Pastor Partnerships in San Diego

webteam@intervarsity.org — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:00:00 +0000

News

December 11, 2009

Gordon Govier

Pastor Partnerships in San Diego

For the first time ever ��Ƶ leaders at the University of California—San Diego reserved Mandeville Auditorium, the biggest auditorium on campus, to host their first large group meeting at the beginning of the fall semester. They had worked hard and planned well; they were hoping for 800 students to attend the Wednesday night program.

The day before, they had cooked and given away 1200 burgers, to help spread the word to students about ��Ƶ’s activities. They had set out an information table to talk with students and invite them to the meeting. They had prayer-walked the campus, and held numerous planning sessions.

They had also invited local pastors. The half-dozen pastors who responded were not in the auditorium though. They were two floors below in a tiny basement recital room, interceding in prayer for the students to respond to God’s call.

Pastors Come to Pray
“We weren’t on the platform, up in front,” said John Moser, pastor of Mt. Soledad Presbyterian Church, one of those pastors. “We were praying on our knees. We were doing what we tell our people to do.”

Since arriving at Mt. Soledad church two and a half years ago, John has been reconnecting with ��Ƶ’s campus ministry. ��Ƶ discipled him in the faith during his undergraduate days at the University of California—Santa Barbara and helped him clarify his decision to become a pastor. “Daily Bible study, getting into the text, understanding its context, letting the Bible speak for itself—those are instincts and reflexes that have really served me well in 30 years of being a pastor,” he said.

John met ��Ƶ campus staff member Brandon Buzbee not long after arriving at Mt. Soledad. Brandon shared about ��Ƶ’s ministry in a Sunday service and taught an adult Sunday School class. He also invited John to come on campus and see ��Ƶ in action during the New Student Orientation events at the beginning of the semester.

Prioritizing Partnerships
Brandon and his fellow campus staff members in San Diego have been prioritizing their partnerships with local churches. So when John and almost a dozen other pastors responded to an invitation to attend a Sunday afternoon meeting with ��Ƶ’s student leaders, ��Ƶ staff felt like they were seeing the partnerships pay off.

The ��Ƶ staff members and student leaders were blessed when the pastors prayed for them and affirmed their outreach on campus. “That was a powerful moment,” Brandon said. “It encouraged us to know that we aren’t at odds with the church but are truly shoulder to shoulder in the mission.”

Tom Bush is another ministry leader who responded and prayed for ��Ƶ’s outreach that day. He is a prayer mobilizer with Vision San Diego, a Southern Baptist-affiliated ministry support service, and appreciated the chance to affirm ��Ƶ’s ministry on campus. “There is a mutual sense that partnerships are the way that we need to be doing church,” he said. “God is taking an active part in moving it along.”

Prayer Brings Results
John and some of the other pastors who prayed for the large group meeting made it up to the auditorium for the end of the program. “They got to see 35 students stand and make first-time decisions to follow Christ,” Brandon said. “Another 130 stood to commit their college years to God’s purposes.”

After grilling hundreds of burgers for ��Ƶ, bringing water and snacks to students at the outreach table, praying for student leaders during the Sunday afternoon meeting, and praying for students during the large group meeting, John was energized. “All of it was important for me to reignite my passion for collegiates to come to Christ,” he said. “It was really a life changer for me.”

Since the New Student Outreach John has shared with his congregation about the exciting things that are happening in campus ministry in San Diego. He’s also been meeting on a regular basis with a new prayer partner, a fellow pastor he met at the prayer meeting in the tiny recital room below Mandeville Auditorium.

___

You can make a direct financial donation to support ��Ƶ’s work at UCSD by following this link.

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Church partnership

Campus Ministry

Giving Thanks for our Partners

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:00 +0000

News

November 16, 2009

Giving Thanks for our Partners

��Ƶ is a trans-denominational Christian ministry of 859 witnessing communities on 589 college campuses throughout the United States. Our vision is to see students and faculty transformed by the love of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ, campuses renewed through the influence of our student-led witnessing communities, and increasing numbers of Christian students and faculty dedicated to changing this world for the better.

Sure, it’s an ambitious mission. But we never expected to do it alone. Every day we rely on the partnerships of students, faculty, volunteers, and donors to accomplish our calling. And for our partners’ dedicated work and financial support, we’re deeply thankful.

Grateful Hearts
Our thankfulness for our partners finds its source in our gratitude to God.

We’re grateful for God’s love. Our Purpose Statement says it plainly: “In response to God’s love, grace and truth: The Purpose of ��Ƶ is to establish and advance . . . witnessing communities of students and faculty who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord. . . .”

That’s why we’re evangelical. We believe that the biblical story of redemption must be told to each generation. Our response of gratitude to God compels us to reach out to people with the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ.

“Through ��Ƶ I learned that Jesus is God, and I learned to study the Bible,” said J. Rodriguez, a graduate of SUNY College in Buffalo, New York.

We’re relational too. Gratitude for God’s love opens our hearts to partner with other Christians and cooperate with non-Christians to improve this world through practical missions projects. So when sharing the story of God’s redemption on campus, we cooperate with various Christian churches, denominations, and organizations; and when demonstrating the gospel’s relevance to ordinary life, we invite non-Christians to join us in missions projects that improve people’s lives.

Because we affirm the diversity of the body of Christ, we cooperate in ministry with Christians who come from different denominations. Because we believe that all people are created in God’s image, we honor people from every ethnicity.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the amazing relationships that were fostered through my involvement with ��Ƶ during my college years. I was challenged to grow more than I thought possible by the strong Christian community at USD,” said J. Hill, a graduate of the University of San Diego.

And we’re missional, as well. We’re outwardly focused on God’s mission in this world. In gratitude to God, we develop in students and faculty a missional lifestyle that sees the needs of others and reaches out to them in love.

After graduation, alumni of ��Ƶ witnessing communities often become leaders in their local churches and continue their missional efforts to change the world.

“I’ve received letters from ��Ƶ alumni,” said ��Ƶ’s President Alec Hill, “who are now missionaries outside the United States or are ministering within the poor neighborhoods of our nation’s cities and they tell me that it was at ��Ƶ’s Urbana Student Missions Conference that they first heard God’s call to global missions. Take Sharon Cohn Wu, for example. Urbana 1991 helped define her call to missions. And in subsequent years she became more and more intentional about ministering to people who’ve suffered social injustice. Today she is the Senior Vice-President of International Justice Mission.”

We’re grateful for how God is using us on campus and for all our partners in this ministry.

If you would like to partner with any one of ��Ƶ’s campus ministries, please visit our Contact Us webpage for a list of ministry departments, email addresses, and phone numbers. We’ll be delighted to explain how you can be a part of ��Ƶ’s campus ministry.

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Features

New Jersey Church Partnership

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 05:00:00 +0000

News

August 10, 2009

Gordon Govier

New Jersey Church Partnership

Located directly across the street from the campus of the College of New Jersey in Ewing, New Jersey, Central Baptist Church is ideally positioned to reach many of the approximately 5,600 students who attend the school. But leaders of the church know that a good location doesn’t guarantee an effective student ministry. So they decided to team up with ��Ƶ.

Sam Hood is the church’s liaison to campus ministry. He met a chapter member at the ��Ƶ booth during the college’s Community Fest and was impressed by ��Ƶ’s commitment to reaching students. He approached the church leadership about supporting ��Ƶ.

Students reach students best
“I really believe students are most effective at reaching other students,” he said. “These students are already doing the job. They’re out witnessing. They’re involved in discipleship activities. All the right things are happening. What really would make sense is for us to go alongside and help them.”

The relationship between the church and the chapter is developing slowly. There aren’t many models for this level of partnership. So far Central Baptist has provided resources for two campus-wide evangelistic outreach campaigns as well as small group study materials from the church bookstore. It has also helped with planning activities for the year, and prayed as a church body for the outreaches and ongoing ministry. The church has also matched mentors with some of the students.

Staff members appreciate a supportive church
“What the partnership enables us to do is to think and dream and plan bigger, with broader scope for impact, than we would otherwise have,” said Laura Vellenga, ��Ƶ’s team leader (pictured above). “It’s like a dream come true, knowing that we have a church across the street that is so committed to our ministry that we are regularly prayed for as their college ministry.”

A new Sunday contemporary worship service at 11:15 a.m. is attracting many students. One of the chapter leaders has found a job in the church book store and another is helping out with graphic design projects. But not all students in the chapter, or staff members, attend Central Baptist. Laura stresses that the ��Ƶ chapter is still inter-denominational, it’s not Baptist. She works with Anthony Gilmer, the pastor of spiritual development, as well as Sam Hood, as they move step by step towards building a stronger partnership.

Laura has been on staff for 15 years, long enough to know that churches and campus ministries can have different perspectives on reaching students. “I say to Anthony and Sam, ‘you guys don’t know how unusual this is.’ And they say, ‘we just want to help people get to know Jesus. Whatever is the most effective, we’ll go with that.’”

Prioritizing Relationships
Pastor Gilmer said, “We’re trying to focus on relationships instead of religion, building relationships between people and Christ.” The church is in the process of a name change to highlight the priority of relationships. It will soon be known as Central, a Christ-centered church.

Noting the reports of growing interest in spiritual issues among college students, Sam Hood said that a church located next to a college is well served to complement its prime location with a partnership that helps them connect with students.

“We have both an obligation and a privilege,” he said. “Students are asking the why question, ‘why am I here?’ They’re searching in so many ways. We have the answer.”

Working together as a team, ��Ƶ and Central Baptist Church are able to reach more students and more lives are being transformed by the gospel.

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Church partnership

Campus Ministry