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For decades college ministry meetings have looked similar to a church service. The meeting starts with some worship, followed by announcements and then someone shares a message. I’ve heard Benson Hines refer to this as “the sing and speak” method. It’s not a bad method, but with the way culture has shifted over the years it’s probably not the best method any more.
Now, I’m not saying you have to throw out the idea of sing and speak. It may be working great for your group. But I wanted to broach this topic to get you thinking about alternatives and consider if it makes sense for you to change what you’ve been doing.
There are a couple reasons why I don’t think the sing and speak method works as well as it used to:
- Fewer students have a church background and thus have no reference point for what worship is, which can make their first experience at your meeting very awkward.
- Students have been sitting in class all day and have shorter attention spans. The last thing they want is to feel like they’re coming to another class when they attend your meeting.
- Your meeting is not supposed to be a substitute for church and it’s easier for students to feel that way when they mirror each other.
So, what are some alternatives to doing the sing and speak? Here are just a few ideas:
- Start your meeting with a fun game in place of when you would normally do worship. Make sure it’s not a cheesy icebreaker (think party games instead), but something that is a group game and more interactive. Even doing a message after this works better because a game gets you out of classroom mode.
- Take a break from a normal meeting and do something that’s just fun. Have a night where you play the Just Dance video game or do a movie night with snacks (maybe rent a popcorn machine).
- Start the night off with a hangout time, free food and background music. You could do this like an open mic night or have a speaker afterwards.
- Pull together a panel of people who can answer questions from the audience or talk about a hot button topic such as dating and sex in college.
- Move your meeting outdoors and have a bunch of yard games available to play like Kan Jam and ladder ball. Just make sure someone is at your normal meeting room redirecting people.
- Do a night of team challenges that will promote fellowship and relationship building. This could be anything from who can build the most creative gingerbread house to who can build the highest tower using random objects.
These are just a few ideas to get you started. The possibilities are endless, but sometimes this will require more thought and planning. You don’t have to completely get away from the sing and speak, but alternating things to mix it up could go a long way in making new and/or unchurched people feel more welcome.
Just remember, I’m not saying to get away from challenging students and giving them opportunities to learn from the Bible or spend time in worship. I’m simply advocating for changing it up sometimes and considering different meeting structures.
Does your group always do the sing and speak? Is there any other things you’ve done that has worked really well? I want to hear your thoughts! Please share in the comments below.
photo credit: IMG_8270 via photopin (license)
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