I’ve been reminded over the past few weeks about the importance of establishing relationships with the students that we minister to. If you read this blog regularly then you know that I talk a lot about planning and making your group more effective. However, I believe that the single most important thing you can do is to build relationships with students.
When Cheryl and I first started working with BASIC and were attempting to start new groups at SUNY Geneseo and Monroe Community College all we had going for us was relationships. We didn’t have an exciting meeting to invite students to, extra meetings like social events, or even a reserved meeting space on campus. Usually we would take over a public lounge and I would lead worship with just my guitar followed by a Bible study style message and discussion.
One of my favorite starting out stories to share is of one meeting at the University of Rochester. We were still working to get the group officially recognized. So, we were meeting in a public lounge with about 5 students each week. We had invited Jon Burgio from the BASIC staff to come share that week. After worship Jon began to speak, but over the course of the next 15 minutes a juggling club and dance team started practicing behind him.
His back was to all the activity and he had no idea what was going on, so it made the meeting quite interesting as we all tried our best to pay attention and hold back our laughter. Needless to say, we found a new meeting spot the following week. Looking back I can say without a shadow of a doubt that those groups are thriving today because of the relationships we built with students.
The thing students will remember most about your ministry when they graduate is the relationships they shared.
There’s no doubt that Jesus thought strategically during His time on earth, but above all He always took time to spend with people. He knew that the most important thing He could do was to pay attention to someone and impact their life. To use the now cliche Christian phrase, Jesus took time to “do life” with the disciples.
So, I want to challenge you this week to take a step back from meeting planning, graphic design, or whatever else it is you find yourself focusing on week to week and make some time to focus on building relationships with the students in your ministry. Take a half hour to go out to lunch with a student. Invite a few of them over to your house for dinner one night. Find out when they are hanging out and go on campus to join them.
Whatever you do, make sure you don’t miss out on the most important part of ministry – spending time with people. You’ll find this even easier if you already have an established ministry because you can delegate those other tasks to your leadership team without missing a beat.