Supporting Campus Ministries on Secular Campuses
Mark A. Taylor urges churches to recognize and support campus ministries serving students on secular campuses. He highlights financial support, local church involvement, prayer, and intentional encouragement of college-bound students as vital ways congregations can help.
- Campus ministries supported by Christian churches and churches of Christ serve students across the United States and around the world.
- Local churches can help through giving, volunteer service, hospitality, and prayer.
- Students should be encouraged to consider campus ministry opportunities as part of their college decision-making.
By Mark A. Taylor
As we have for several years now, this week we’re publishing a directory of all the campus ministries supported by Christian churches and churches of Christ across the United States and around the world. Although these congregations pour millions of dollars into Christian colleges and universities, we do well also to remember the ministry on secular campuses indicated by the listings in this directory.
How Churches Can Support Campus Ministries
Our support of campus ministries will include financial gifts, of course, but that’s only a beginning. Many of them eagerly look for involvement by local churches. Contact the campus minister close to you and ask how you can help. Maybe the ministry is using a facility that needs paint or repair. Maybe the campus minister could use volunteers for service or outreach projects. Many campus ministries are reaching lonely international students eager for friendship from American hosts; they’d welcome an invitation to your home.
And always campus ministries need our prayers. Nebraska campus minister Greg Swinney told us about the dangers accompanying the mission trip he describes in this week’s lead article.
The trip I led was small by design, due to the violent nature of the border region where we worked. We did not want to endanger our own students or the Mexican people we worked with. We took primarily alumni and veteran mission trip participants to assess the danger in the region. . . . In the cities where we served there were two people killed the week before we arrived, and while we were there two people in the American consulate were shot in the street just 50 miles from our location.
Greg reports that about 100 students from secular Nebraska campuses participated in spring break mission trips this year. This is just one indication of the ways campus ministries challenge students to a lifetime of Christian service.
Helping Students Connect with Campus Ministry
Students are the most important factor in the campus ministry equation. And every campus minister seeks help from local churches in locating and serving more of them. This may be the most important way you can support the campus ministries near you.
Encourage students in your congregation to learn more about campus ministries at the schools they’re attending. Show this directory to this year’s seniors who have chosen a school. Encourage younger students still deciding about college to put schools from this directory on their list.
We’re praying this directory will become a vital resource for youth ministers and parents talking to students about their possible college choices. Surely strategies for spiritual growth and Christian fellowship are as important as any other factor in a college choice. Campus ministries can be the key to pointing young disciples to a mature and effective faith.
Author: Mark A. Taylor
Mark A. Taylor, who served as Christian Standard editor from 2003 to 2017, retired in June 2017 after almost 41 years with Standard Publishing (Christian Standard Media).
