If you could get an idea of what the future would look like ahead of time, would you choose to? There have been plenty of movies and TV shows made around this concept. There are plenty of areas in life that I would not want to see the future before it happens, but in ministry I think it could be incredibly helpful. I know this may sound a little crazy, but stick with me here.
If only in college ministry there was a way to see what the future of our ministries could possibly look like. But that’s just wishful thinking, right? Not necessarily.
The future of our ministries lies in the students who will eventually come through our doors.
In that case, we can begin to see into the future by spending time with students who are in high school and seeing what characteristics they have. Now, I’m not saying we need to become youth pastors on top of running a successful college ministry. However, doing an event here or there with your church’s youth group or kids in high school could teach you a lot about what the future might hold. Even just visiting a youth group meeting now and then would probably give you great insight.
Of course these students will change and mature some before they make it to college, but I don’t believe that the changes will be drastic enough for us to not pay attention now. Making connections with students in your area before they come to school will also encourage them to become a part of your college ministry when they do become freshmen and you have the potential of identifying leaders before they even set foot on campus.
So, I would encourage you to reach out to high school students and youth pastors in order to learn as much as possible from them and use that learning to prepare for the future.
Bringing some high school juniors and seniors from your church to the BASICcon is a great idea as well for preparing them to enter college.