this blog is dedicated to YOU

I just finished a book by Chuck Bomar called, College Ministry From Scratch, and in it he talks about the perception of a successful college ministry most often being numerical growth and the recognition from people who think it’s great to see “this many college-age people connected to our church”.  I understand what he’s saying on a personal level.  People in the church and even students in the college group [and myself included on occasion], oftentimes equate numbers, or lack thereof, with success or failure in ministry. 

Chuck goes on to say that even though he was doing well in the numbers department, the students in his ministry were not really connected to the church at all.  They were connected to the ministry as the college group became almost like “a parachurch organization that happened to meet on a church campus”.  So would this still be considered a successful college ministry?

This question really hit me because I just read a recent study by the Pew Research Center that said of the 32% of 18-30 year-olds in America who consider themselves to be Christian, the overwhelming majority of these 18-30 year-olds feel disconnected from the church as a whole.

This really broke my heart.

So going into my 3rd year of college ministry, I’m totally rethinking everything at this point.  Have I just kept students busy with fun activities and drawn them in by talking about relevant issues but not really provided a place for them to connect to the church as a whole so that after they graduate and try to assimilate back into the life of the church they feel even more disconnected and alone in their faith journey? 

I can understand this as I hear of students who go away to school, only to come back home and feel disconnected.  I know that some students who consider their primary spiritual community to be an on-campus ministry or another local church, that when they come back home, naturally, there is a disconnect.  But to think that even for students who do come to our ministry regularly, and who do remain local, that they can still feel disconnected to our church as a whole - I think this is one of the ways in which I’ve failed them and failed the church.

So what do I do?  Where do I start?

This blog is my first attempt to help people feel connected to our college ministry and our church on some level.  There’s still a lot more I can do – some of which I’m not even sure what it is yet.  But here’s my first attempt.

I’m not the best writer, the most interesting blogger, my jokes are not always funny [or so i've been told], and my thoughts are oftentimes ordinary.  I’ve actually never posted anything on Facebook and the reason I’m not on Twitter is because I would probably average maybe 2 tweet-worthy tweets per month [if even that].

So now that all expectations are at an all time low for this blog - I guess there's nothing but sunny skies and green pastures from here on out.  I hope that on some level, as you read this blog, you can feel somewhat connected to the college ministry of GVBC and even our church as a whole.

Enjoy [or not] this blog and everything that comes along with it.  Either way, it’s for YOU, whoever you are.

Chris