Last month I read a blog post from Justin Christopher about the way campus ministries have changed to become more unified and less competitive with each other. Justin seems to be doing a great job of uniting campus ministries for prayer at the University of Texas. I’ve seen a need for ministries to go out of their way to promote unity and I wanted to share some ideas and concepts that can help you work with other ministries and secular groups this fall.
Change Your Mindset – Justin points out in another post that, “In God’s eyes there is one church on our campus.” While most campuses have at least several Christian ministries who have their differences, we should all be working toward the same goal – to see students come to Christ and Christ glorified. One of the things Justin has noticed that has caused Christian ministries to unify better is the shift from competing to recruit as many Christian freshmen as possible to working to reach unbelievers and bring them to Christ. While we should look to get solid Christian students involved in our ministries, our ultimate goal should be the mission to reach unbelievers. When we shift our mindset to focus on the unbeliever we are no longer competing with every other group to recruit the Christian students who are available.
Reach Out –Don’t wait for groups to come to you. If you’re serious about working with others be proactive and look for ways to get involved by reaching out to other groups. Often I’ve heard of secular groups on campus sending representatives to visit the meetings of other groups in order to make contacts and look for ways to work together.
Collaborate – When your group begins planning an event ask the question, “How can we involve other groups on campus?” The post I shared a couple weeks back about doing a Social Justice Event is just one of many ways to work together with other groups. Form a committee with representatives from a number of groups to share event ideas and actively keep each other informed of what is happening in each organization. On many campuses the Christian groups have formed a board of representatives to plan monthly or bimonthly prayer meetings, worship meetings, and other unified events.
All of these are great ways to better work with other Christian and secular groups on campus. The world needs to see that Christians care about more than just themselves and their agenda. Many campuses have a negative view of Christianity, but working to promote unity can go a long way in changing that. Have you done anything to collaborate with other groups that has been successful? Please share any ideas below in the comments.
John 17:20-21 (NASB) “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”