This week I wanted to share a guest post with you from Ryan Alsheimer. Ryan is a full-time campus minister with BASIC at SUNY Oneonta and a good friend. He and his wife Kimmy serve together and live in Oneonta, NY.
Honestly, I was furious. I consider myself to be a fairly patient and laid back dude, but this situation baffled me. All semester long up until this point the campus ministry that I have the honor leading had been road blocked by the college administration on several occasions. We had run into problems when requesting approval to be an officially recognized club, reserving meeting spaces, hanging flyers, and reserving advertising tables and spaces. That morning I opened a series of e-mails from an administrator stripping us of our ability to worship God with music at our meetings and accusing us of breaking and stealing their equipment. This news on top of the already hefty hardships that we’d been facing sent me over the top.
You’ve undoubtably faced situations like this on your campus or in your ministry in general. You’ve been scrutinized for the way you do things, accused of stealing and breaking, and threatened with your position of spiritual authority. So how should we as leaders, examples, and more importantly followers of Jesus Christ respond to this kind of adversity in our ministry?
Jesus promised that we would face adversity as long as we follow Him. In fact, if you are not getting a little pushback, you’re probably not doing something right. Scripture is also clear on the fact that our enemies are not people, but spiritual beings who are opposed to God and His redemptive plan. When facing adversity, it’s important to remind ourselves who our enemy really is. My enemy in this case was not that administrator, it was a powerless spiritual opponent who was scared about what was happening on my campus and the potential that we carried. Eventually this became encouragement to me, that I was involved in a movement that made Satan shake in his boots. The administrator on the other hand was just taking orders and doing their job and didn’t deserve any harsh retaliation from me or my students.
If there is a remedy for facing adversity, it’s Godly community. Acts 4 tells the story of how Peter and John faced persecution for preaching the gospel. They were imprisoned and severely threatened to contain their faith in Christ and their spiritual authority. Eventually Peter and John were released and responded in a powerful way; they immediately went back home to their newly established church community, told them what happened, and prayed with them. I would have loved to be at that prayer meeting! Imagine the amount of encouragement and revitalization that Peter and John received from the other apostles and their friends! We’re told that after they prayed together, the place was literally shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and anointed with a new boldness to preach the gospel. Peter and John set themselves up for success before they even faced an ounce of persecution by identifying themselves with a Godly community that they could fall back on to encourage and pray with them in the face of adversity.
When this situation happened with me on my campus, I immediately responded by confessing my frustration to both my wife and my team of student leaders. The response was overwhelming. My team banded together to encourage me and to pray for me. That day I watched my team of student leaders increase in boldness. They were confessing their faith in Christ all across social media, inviting friends to our weekly gathering later that night, and even painting Bible verses on their dorm windows for the campus to see. That night was one of the fondest memories of my ministry so far. The presence of God was overwhelming at our meeting as I gave a message on adversity and many students responded in a powerful time of ministry after the message.
I had taken advice from Peter and John. I had set myself up for success with a community of Godly people who I could fall back on for support and uplifting ministry to help me bounce back and be a bold witness on my college campus.
Do you have your support community set in place? Are you actively serving other people who need this kind of encouragement? Are you ready to face adversity on your campus?