Despite challenges with the structure of smaller and technical universities, Alabama Baptist Campus Ministries has become creative and flexible with events and opportunities to minister to students.
The need for ministry is just as important to students at two-year universities as it is at four-year institutions, since the college years are a formative time for young adults. Despite many students still living at home, BCM campus ministers realize they want to make their faith their own, not just their parents’.
‘Real compass’
“Their faith becomes the real compass of their lives in college, or it doesn’t,” said Christy Hicks, who directs a nonprofit organization whose goal is to reach college students in north central Alabama.
Ministries at two-year higher education institutions face the unique challenge of students attending the school for a shorter time, which limits ministry availability.
“Our ministry is constantly rebuilding,” said Jonathan Lancaster, BCM campus minister at Snead State Community College in Boaz. “One year we have terrific sophomore leaders, the next we have a large group of freshmen who are still deciding if they want to plug in.”
Metro Mobile BCM campus minister Jerrod Brown said the culture of the campus determines what kinds of ministries are used. Campus ministers at two-year schools learn to be flexible when planning events.
Catching students when they are on campus is a huge challenge, Hicks said.
Due to many students being commuters and working full- or part-time jobs, they work ministry around the students’ schedules, through meals and activities during the day.
BCM ministers also partner with local churches and university coaches to reach students in multiple settings.
“We are very quick to encourage students to connect with faithful churches in the area that are offering events for college students on other nights of the week if their schedules conflict,” Lancaster noted.
“When it comes to our athletes, most of the coaches we’ve come in contact with are very excited that their players want to be involved with BCM.”
Lancaster added that his family and families within local churches also help minister to students by attending athletic events and inviting them into their homes, resulting in ongoing and deeper relationships.
“My wife and I try to attend athletic events to cheer on our students, especially those whose families aren’t able to regularly attend games,” Lancaster said. “Families from local churches have opened their homes to students for meals or to stay the night when the dorm was closed over a break.”
Baptist ministries at a smaller school often have strong partnerships with local churches and organizations, which help provide resources and opportunities for students to become part of a Christian community and local church. “We have a very good relationship with the local churches and Baptist associations,” said Christina Meigs, BCM campus minister at Southern Union State Community College in Wadley.
Church support
“They are very supportive of our BCM program and of the students at Southern Union. They are always willing to help with providing meals for our weekly services, contributions for projects we do and worship opportunities.”
Common events for BCM include lunches or dinners for students, often in collaboration with a local church or ministry. The meals provide a more intimate setting for campus ministers to talk to and minister to students. College ministries also provide a gateway to plug students into missions involvement.
Jake Duke, Baptist campus minister for the West Alabama area, helps students find ways to serve so they “will begin to make missions a daily part of [their] lives and not something we do for a week or a month or a season.”
Taking students on missions trips is a “blessing,” he wrote in a blog post at onemissionstudents.org, because such trips help students realize “we can serve and be on mission every day wherever God has planted us.”
Great impact
Despite the quick turnover of students and unique challenges that arise due to the structure of a two-year college, BCM campus ministers have seen how a college ministry can greatly impact students’ faith.
“Our ministry investment means something eternally, no matter how limited the time may be,” Brown said. “I have been amazed at how God has used many short conversations to further the gospel going forth, to encourage struggling students and to help students grow more consistently in their faith.”
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