COLLEGE MINISTRY PONDERINGS

During the Sunday Collegium of the TFB College Ministry, we've been looking at who we are and why we are here. The goal is to set a path for the coming year. The following is a 'reader's digest' version of a longer post I wrote back in June that summarizes where we've been going on Sunday mornings.

The goal of the TFB College Ministry is to know the story, be the people, and expand the kingdom. Knowing the story begins with all the content of Scripture, and goes on to include our active participation in God's kingdom. Being the people involves a horizontal relationship with other believers and a vertical relationship with Christ. Expanding the kingdom involves increasing breadth by making follower-learners increasing depth by deepening our obedience to all Jesus’ commands.

We have three intentions: First, we intend to be so certain of Jesus’ continuing presence that we are free to tell God and each other the true story about ourselves. Second, we intend to expand God’s kingdom by recognizing, preparing for, and participating in God’s continuing story. Third, we intend to expand God’s kingdom by working together to tell God’s story to all who will listen and by challenging listeners to become followers.

The college years are a dangerous time for God-followers. In this time of upheaval it is all too easy to divide your life into separate boxes that allow you to keep up appearances while doing as you please. Because of this, Collegium and the Gathering must be a safe places to explore and own your faith; these must be safe places to fail or to succeed.

To this end, I will focus on three specific goals. First, I will intentionally guide collegians to understand the truth about God and the truth about humanity. To do this, we will study the Scripture in substantial chunks and relate those chunks to the whole of Scripture. Second, I will intentionally develop collegians as the people of God, connecting them to the church through ministry and challenging them to trust Christ and become follower-learners. Third, I will equip collegians as maturing disciples who go out into the world and make disciples. This means making space to investigate ideas and practice skills.

The college years are a time when individuals either successfully or unsuccessfully negotiate the transition from childhood faith to adult faith. Childhood faith is a received faith, believed because it was transmitted to the child by parents or other authority figures. Adult faith is owned faith, believed because it has been intellectually questioned and experientially proven by the individual. College ministry allows for and encourages such questioning, and provides opportunities for collegians to participate with God in his work and experience his Spirit in the daily life of the community. Effective college ministry creates an atmosphere where collegians challenge one another to follow God and move from childhood faith to adult faith.

To this foundation, the students have added:

To become what God wants us to be in three years, we will focus on:

• Inreach
• Outreach
• Being all about Jesus

We will put that into practice this coming year by

• Intentionally encouraging one another
• Having shared events with other adult groups at TFB
• Reinstating Worship Experience and starting Prayer Experience (alt.worship stuff)
• Having at least one concert in a local park or other public local

Long version: Philosophy of Ministry

Tag: collegeministry

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