Catalyst & College Ministry: The Tensions are Good (Part 2)

This is the second in a series of posts processing the tensions inherent in college ministry, in response to the Catalyst Conference. Read about the first two tensions here. Today we look at #3, “Now” and “Then,” and #4, Systems and Flexibility.

3. The tension of “Now” and “Then”

College ministry in the “now” is incredibly important. When done well, it is a life-changing, trajectory-altering experience for students.  Many students cram life-altering experiences and decisions into 15 week semesters.  College ministry is quite possibly the most strategic mission field in the world today. We know that conversion is much less likely after the age of 25. Christian students also need to be helped in making life decisions consistent with their faith. Faithful campus ministry works with students in the “now” to be faithful in their current setting.

 

But college is also temporary. It is 4-5 years of a person’s life at most, or only about 120 weeks.  In the grand scheme of things, it’s a small part of a person’s life.  A strong argument can be made that campus ministry should primarily focus on the “Then,” preparing students for a lifetime of faithfulness, not using them as replaceable cogs in our campus ministry machine.

 

So what should the focus be? Helping students in the “now” or “then”?  It would be too easy to say that one naturally leads to the other.  I’ve seen scenarios where an emphasis on one clearly takes away from the other.  Of the six tensions I’m identifying, I think this is where we’re most out of whack, in focusing too much on the “now” side.  But “now” and “then” is a tension to be managed.

 

One way to distinguish between a “problem to be solved” and a “tension to be managed” is to ask what would be lost if we removed whatever is causing friction.  With a problem, things improve.  But with tensions, valuable things are lost. Surely we don’t want to lose the immediacy of the “now.” Neither do we want to see students lose focus on “then.”

 

Manage the tension by calling students to a meaningful engagement in the “now” of campus life—both ministry and otherwise—while periodically immersing them in “then” kinds of experiences, and preparing them for life after college.  My colleague Erica Reitz’s Senior EXIT program is a good example of this.

 

4. The tension of Systems and Flexibility

 

Change, as they say, is the only constant. This is especially true in the incredibly fluid world of college ministry. Every year, thousands of new students land on our campuses and need to be evangelized, networked, assimilated, incorporated, and whatnot.  Students, their loyalties, and their level of commitment are as shifting and variable as the sea.  No one wants to be too tied down, lest they miss out on the next cool opportunity.  Everyone wants to be flexible.

 

Paradoxically, the response of many ministries to this ultra-fluid, flexible environment is to build a lean, mean, ministry machine, with multi-tiered hierarchical leadership, defined curriculums and benchmarks,  and one-size fits-all systems designed to create a systematic ministry that gets things done.

So do we need tighter, better systems, based on best practices and optimal ROI? Or do we need to let go, stop bathing, eat some granola, and just chill out, man?  Should we operate with centralized controls and clear org charts, or just let things evolve and give up the pretense of control?

 

I argue we need both.  We need flexibility, or we’ll leave ourselves unable to reach more than the handful of students that happen to fit our pre-fab mold. We need systems, or important values (and people) will get lost in all our organic flexibility. We need flexible systems.

 

Take for example the way a ministry places people in Bible Studies. This is a sophomore study, they say, and it will be taught by seniors.  But what if I’m a junior, and all my friends are sophomores. What if I’m a transfer student, and missed the first two years of a rigidly programmatic development track?  What if I had to take a semester leave, or studied abroad, or had a crisis of faith?  This student needs systems that can make sure he doesn’t fall through the cracks, but they also need flexibility to meet his needs.

Do you experience either of these areas as a tension? How do you manage them? What other tensions do you see in college ministry?

 

Tomorrow, the last two tensions:

5. The tension of “Doing Our Thing” and Unity/Partnership/Collaboration

6. The tension of Loose/Open and Closed/Tight