5 Myths of University Ministry and the Local Church

1. Reaching university students will grow your church quickly.
2. University students will work really hard for our church.
3. University ministry is too much cost for too little results.
4. The best place for our Christian college students to attend is a Bible college.
5. If university students don't come to my church, we're not reaching them.

Many youth pastors teach their students to be missionaries to their friends. Unfortunately, many times this mentality changes as they graduate on college. We've got to believe in our students and their call to "go unto all the world" as teachers, doctors, lawyers, etc.

Fear plays a large part in these myths. We must trust that the God who saves us from sin is big enough to keep our students in His hand as they "go and make disciples of all nations."

I believe the best thing for the university students AND the local church is for the church to invest into the students' ministry. Teaching them to reach their peers will produce marketplace Christians in the local church armed not only with a degree, but with a passion and ability to relate to their peers in the secular world.

Our primary focus can't just be about growing our ministry today. We have to think bigger than ourselves and see how we can touch the lives of the future leaders of our communities, cities, and nations. We can reach 10 generations instead of one!

In the short-term, it will cost more than you gain. But with patience, long-term vision, and trust in biblical discipleship, we can literally impact a city and nation by reaching, training, and releasing university students.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We are blessed to have such a great team committed to reaching Ireland through university students.

5 Reasons the Local Church Should Invest in University Ministry.

5 reasons the local church should invest resources into university ministry.

1. Vision

• University students understand where society is heading better than anyone. 
• They can help the local church communicate effectively to future generations.

2. Strategy

• University students are the future leaders of the marketplace and our nations. 
• Reaching, training, and releasing disciple-making graduates is like sending finely tuned special forces units into the heart of the world's need.

3. Revitalization

• University students have fresh perspectives and loads of energy ready to be spent. 
• When they catch the vision to spend that energy reaching and discipling their peers, it will inspire and challenge the local church to do the same.

4. Timing

• University students are forming opinions and making decisions that will impact their entire life. 
• It can be intimidating but this is THE PERFECT moment to get them thinking about God.

5. Responsibility

• A local church in a university town has a responsibility to reach it's community including the university and it's students.
• We must not be fearful of the liberal university culture. We must see that this is a moment in these students' lives where they are open to new ideas, curious about life, and are desiring to impact the world.
• We have a responsibility to reach those places in our community…include university students.

If your local church is in a university town, you should be investing resources (time, money, prayer) into the ministry on that campus. If there aren't any ministries on that campus, I challenge you to start one.

If your local church is not in a university town, I challenge you to find the closest university and invest (time, money, prayer) into a ministry on that campus. See if God doesn't bless you for pouring into local missions efforts. (And yes, university ministry is a missions outreach…but that's another blogpost.)

Next week I'll be sharing 5 myths of university ministry. Stay tuned!

SFC Europe Prayer Weekend

For years Students for Christ Europe (SFC) has gathered in January to pray and fellowship together. It is an amazing time for the SFC family to share our trials and rejoice in our victories as a family. This year we met in Graz, Austria with leaders from Germany, Belgium, France, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, and the US.

Katy and I feel so refreshed and energized. We were prayed over, we prayed over our friends, and had much needed quality time with other people dedicating their lives to reach university students all over Europe. 

In a moment of personal prayer, a friend shared an image of a bird clumsily knocking things over as it flapped it's wings and moved about on a table. He said he felt that there are (and will be) giftings and opportunities in our life that we will grow into that may feel cumbersome or clumsy right now. Our situation will evolve, we will grow as a family, and the Holy Spirit will move allowing us to use these gifts and opportunities in His timing.

We're so grateful that you are on our team. WE as a team will walk in faith plating and watering, and God will do what he does best…make things grow. Every year this weekend is essential to life and ministry in Europe.

I can't think of a better way to start the year!