It’s been a few years since Elizabeth Turnbull graduated from Auburn University, but there’s one part of her education she looks back on especially frequently: what she learned at First Baptist Church, Opelika.
“I know that much of my understanding of who the Lord is and what He wants for me came from sitting in their pews and listening to an unfiltered proclamation of the gospel every week,” Turnbull said. “My faith became much more deeply rooted while a part of this church body.”
She doesn’t really remember how she got involved at the Tuskegee Lee Baptist Association church — it wasn’t fancy ads or gimmicky events.
“I was just invited there, and the thing that kept me there was the Word being preached, relationships with families at the church, the friends that I made while there and the couples who generously opened their homes to college kids,” Turnbull said.
That’s exactly the sort of thing Trace Hamiter, minister to college students at First, Opelika, hopes for.
“There is no strategy. I don’t do any advertising. We don’t pass out fliers on campus,” he said. “We just put the teaching of the Word and the discipleship of believers as a priority and students keep coming. They grow; they catch a vision for missions, evangelism and discipleship; and they go out and do it on campus.”
Hamiter said the most crucial thing is that the whole church loves college students and wants to reach them. “Our senior pastor (Steve Scoggins) and everyone else is passionate about reaching out to and welcoming college students into our church and to serve alongside us out in the community,” he said. “The whole church is in on it.”
And Hamiter said college students aren’t treated like high schoolers. “We treat them like adults — adults that are hungry and want to be stretched,” he said.
Brad Mills, associate pastor to college students at Cottage Hill Baptist Church, Mobile, in Mobile Baptist Association, agreed that students crave being stretched.
“I’ve found that many of our students lack a basic understanding of the basic biblical narrative and essential Christian doctrines,” Mills said. “So I preach systematic, expository sermons through books of the Bible.”
This fall, he’s preaching a 12-week series through 1 Thessalonians that will last until Christmas break.
“This has been a huge boost to our attendance and has driven the spiritual growth in the students’ lives,” Mills said.
And the college ministry fosters that growth through student-led community groups that meet on campus, at Starbucks or in homes.
“We’ve seen the largest growth in our ministry from students bringing their friends to their community group,” Mills said. “And it has been really cool to see students from different colleges become friends and expand their view of what happens in our city.”
The college ministry puts a big emphasis on getting them involved in the city, he said.
“We really stress that students should be serving in our city at least once a month,” Mills said. “At times, I feel like the transient nature of college life gets mixed in with the way they view church. So by having them serve with us and in our city, we believe it expands their view of their purpose in Mobile and connects them to people outside of the campus ‘bubble.’ ”
College students also take missions trips in the United States and abroad to broaden their perspective and build relationships by working together, he said.
A lot of these things are organized via Facebook, Mills said. “It’s a big tool for us in staying connected. I don’t know how college pastors did ministry without it.”
Another helpful tool for Cottage Hill Baptist has been the Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) at local universities. “They have reached out to the churches in Mobile and have included us in a lot of the events they do for incoming freshmen,” Mills said. “This has been our main way of reaching out to students.”
Mike Nuss, director of the office of collegiate and student ministries for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said connecting with BCMs can be huge for churches wanting to reach out to college students. And BCMs can help partner churches — especially small ones — with other churches in reaching and discipling students.
“The college or university campus is one of the most important missions fields facing Alabama Baptist churches today,” Nuss said. “The urgency of reaching students with the gospel compels every church to be on mission on campus. Big or small, every church has something to offer.”
Often, he said, churches think collegiate ministry is only for larger churches situated near a campus.
“My challenge would be to think beyond membership size or geography and find ways you can uniquely minister to college students,” Nuss said.
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