Where Do I Start?
David Kyncl

One of the most difficult steps in organizing a ministry to a secular college/university campus is to know where to begin. Here are a few pointers that will help local churches begin an outreach ministry on the campus near you.

1) Begin to pray for the members of the campus.
This is an obvious first step, but it is often overlooked. Place the names of area campuses on your regular church prayer list. You could organize a prayer walk across campus. Ask interested members to meet at a common location on campus (i.e. the student union) and spend some time taking a walking tour of campus, praying for the students, faculty and staff members represented by the different areas. You might even take a guided tour the first time on campus. Ask for the campus visitor’s center to find out when tours are held.

2) Contact the Office of Student Affairs and/or the Student Government Office and ask for a list of religious student organizations. You also could ask for the requirements of beginning a student organization.

3) Select a few Christian organizations and contact one of the officers or faculty advisor.
Let the organization leaders know that your church is interested in reaching out to the members of the campus. Your church may be able to “adopt” an existing ministry on campus. Many para-church organizations do not have permanent facilities. You could offer your church facilities to the organization for one of their special activities. You might look for Campus Crusade for Christ, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship or Navigators as a place to start. (The church in Pittsburg, Kansas, opened their church gym to students involved in FCA. This brought several students to the church building every Friday night, and soon some of those students began to come to regular church services and activities.)

4) Contact the Office of Admissions and/or International Student office on campus to obtain general demographic information about the campus population.
You also could spend some time on the college or university website. Be sure to read the welcome from the President’s office. Some key pieces of information you will want to find are: the school’s total enrollment; total number of full-time and part-time employees; the enrollment of international students and their countries of origin. You also should as the International Student office if there are any host family or international friends programs. Most campuses have these programs that encourage American families to host an international student while he/she is student. Hosting usually DOES NOT mean the student lives with you, but that you invite the student to share dinner with your family, or allow the student to do their laundry at your home, or take the student with you when you go shopping, etc.

5) Pray for an awareness of needs on campus.
As you talk with members of the campus community ask for discernment about unmet needs of individuals on campus. There may be certain needs that your congregation could address as part of your mission to the campus. What current ministries of your church address needs of the campus. Does your church have a Mother’s Day Out or Daycare program? Could your children’s pastor or program promote activities around the married student housing complex or apartment complexes close to campus? Do you have a College or International Sunday School Class?

6) Assess Current Needs of your Congregation.
Are there needs in your congregation that could be met by members of the campus community? Several campuses have special days for volunteerism. Your church could sign up to host students for the day and get some of the work done around the church. If you do this, be sure that you have a good lunch available. Also, it is good to have friendly church members helping. That can be the student’s first interaction with your congregation. I also know of congregations who recruit choir members through the campus music department. Some of these churches also offer pay to the students or provide a free lunch every Sunday.

7) Cast a vision to the congregation about reaching the campus.
Many people in the church may not be aware of the international mission field that is in their own backyard. Choose one or two specific events or areas of ministry for your initial focus. You can always expand to other areas as your ministry grows.

8) Become part of the Nazarene Secular Campus Missions community.
Register your church at the scm.nazarene.org website. Also review the various resources available on the site. Finally, consider attending the M7 Conference in Kansas City in February, 2007. This conference will include six specialized secular campus workshops and a discussion forum for all college students in attendance. Bring some of your key leaders with you to the conference.