CONNECTING WITH THE CAMPUS 

  

The man suddenly showed up on campus with a box of Bibles and handed them out at the front door to anyone who would take one. Soon the principal came out and told him he had to leave. 

 

“These students have a right to the Word of God,” the man said, refusing to move. He was creating quite a stir.

 

The principal called security, and the man was firmly escorted off campus, his “ministry” there essentially over.

 

Getting on and staying on a campus involves much more than showing up with a box of Bibles and demanding your rights. In fact, it calls for just the opposite.

 

Youth leaders from across the country tell me that it’s impossible to get on their school campus, and I understand why. Often someone like the man handing out Bibles spoils the opportunity for everyone. We live in contentious times, and many people are either opposed to Christian beliefs or reluctant to show any partisanship that might erupt in controversy. Some campuses are more closed than others. 

 

But even when a school administration shows a completely closed mind to having religious people on campus, you can still have an effective ministry on the campus if you handle it the right way. In fact, if you carefully follow biblical principles and current legal guidelines, you can have a ministry on virtually any campus in the United States. (See Section 6.4 "Exercise Campus Legal Opportunities.")

 

Know the School

My friend Keith Naylor played basketball with Athletes in Action (so did I). He told me of a time years ago when his team was scheduled to play two games against the Yugoslavian national team soon after they had won the Olympic Gold Medal. The AIA team had only two months to prepare, so they ate, slept, and drank Yugoslavian basketball for those two months. Every morning, the scrubs (including Keith) ran the Yugoslavian offense. For four hours every afternoon, they watched and rewatched videos of the Yugoslavian team. They learned every detail of their strategy. By the end of those two months, they knew every play, every player’s strengths and weaknesses, and even their favorite restaurants and video games. As difficult and time-consuming as their preparation was, the Athletes in Action team was ready—and they won. 

 

The application to campus ministry is clear: the better we prepare, the better chance we have of success.

 

The apostle Paul knew that. When he arrived alone in the city of Athens, far from where he began, and was waiting for Timothy and Silas to join him, he walked around and observed the culture. He was “greatly distressed” to see that the city was full of idols (Acts 17:16), just as we might feel distress when we look at school campuses today. But during that week of preparation and observation, he found a point of connection. 

 

When Paul eventually spoke from the Areopagus—which was a huge rock where people often gathered to speak publicly—he pointed out how religious they were and that they had an altar “to the unknown God.” That was not an unusual inscription among Greeks, who wanted to make sure they didn’t leave out any important deities. Using that as a starting point, Paul went on to introduce them to the “unknown” God. That poignant point of connection created the opening he needed to share the truth about Jesus. 

 

From Paul’s example, we can notice at least three important actions he took because he “scoped out” his surroundings. These will help us find our own open doors to the campus.

 

Observe the School’s Environment

Rather than barreling into the situation, Paul took time to understand the environment. He “walked around” Athens (Acts 17:23)—a verb that in Greek implies continually passing through, not just taking a one-time look. He really wanted to understand his circumstances and the people who lived there. For hours, he observed their affinity for talking about religion and philosophy, and their interest in exploring new ways of thinking. He grasped the environment and mapped out his ministry area.

 

These two excellent tools - described in Section 1.3 - will give you specific direction to do what Paul did. They provide you with the ability to map your campus, to adopt your school, and then to lead your students to see their campus as their own mission field. If you have not already done so, use these two links (in the Resources below) to create your own strategic and specific campus ministry plan:

 

• Map Your Campus

• Adopt Your School

 

Walking around your school—whatever that means in your situation—and observing its environment puts you in a position to know and understand its culture and its needs. You get a sense of its basic personality—something every school has. Of course, if you have students in your church who attend that school, that’s a huge advantage. Either way, find out about the school’s events. Most of them are open to the public. In most schools these events comprise a high percentage of the school calendar.

 

• Athletic—include the most obvious and best-attended, but also some of the less-attended sports.

• Non-athletic—dramas, musical performances, pageants, debates, parades, etc. Many of these involve a crew of volunteers and may provide an opportunity to develop friendships with parents and other supporters. 

 

To get a good sense of all event options, go to the school’s website. If that doesn’t work, then call the school office and ask an administrator or someone in charge for a calendar of school events that are open to the public. If you have the time to volunteer, ask if they need any volunteers. If they ask you why you want that information, you can say that you live in the community, know students who attend, and want to support the school.

 

Once you have a good sense of the events, try to put some of them on your schedule and attend one or more events per week. It’s probably the quickest, best way to get to know the school and the people in it. The big advantage to attending these events is just showing up! Doing this will give you an opportunity to meet new students, parents, and teachers, and engage them in conversation.

 

Once you get acclimated, take some of your volunteer leaders with you and hang out with some students before, during, and/or after the event. Doing this builds relationships and forms a group of people with a common connection—the school. And along the way you will get to know plenty of kids who need to know Jesus.  

 

Take Good Notes On What You Observe About the School

Before you engage in school events, one of the best ways to get a head start on learning about the school’s unique environment is to study the school yearbook. You can borrow one from a student or ask the school if you can borrow or buy one. When you go through the yearbook, ask yourself some of the questions raised below. Looking for people and events that appear on multiple pages will tell you who and what students consider most important.  

 

When you are actually in, on, or around the campus or at school events and observing, queue up a few of these questions in your mind as you go. Create a text with three or four questions that make you curious, and then note your observations later. Eventually, ask and answer as many of these questions as you can:  

 

• What are some of the different groups represented here?

• Are any other ministries present on campus that you could collaborate with?

• What do students seem most interested in? 

• What do they wear?

• What appears to be cool to them? What is not cool? 

• What are the different ethnicities and do those students separate or integrate?

• Do some kids sit by themselves? 

• What attitudes do you observe?

• What are the faculty and coaches like? 

• Are many parents in attendance at events? Do moms and dads sit together?

• How do people respond when the team loses . . . or wins?

• Do you notice students drinking alcohol or taking drugs? 

• What is their social media platform of choice?

• What is one characteristic of the largest group? the smallest group?

• Where are the natural gathering places for students?  

 

Observing and then recording your observations will give you a pretty good sense of the school. Once you have hung out around the school environment, write down your impressions of the school’s personality and culture. After several events and conversations, you’ll begin to get an overall feel for the school. 

 

Remember Faces and Names 

Since relationships are the keys that will unlock the school and keep it open for you, pay close attention to the names and faces of the people you meet and what you learn about them. Write down names and observations, and then review this list and add to it frequently. 

 

Pretty soon, like Paul, you will notice a variety of connecting points—events, places, and particularly people—that will give you a sense of direction on how you, your students, and your church can connect with the school in some specific and meaningful ways. This will both deepen the relationships you have started with people at the school and continue to broaden the number of relationships you have developed. And you will have the opportunity to share your faith in Jesus when the time is right. 

 

Your Next Steps

We encourage you to keep notes of ideas, action steps, and resources that will help you advance your ministry. You can use the following questions and suggestions for brainstorming and developing your goals and plans. 

 

• Review and consider the suggested questions above as you’re making observations about the school. 

 

• From your notes, create a written plan—what you have learned so far and what you would still like to know. Include attending events, reading school publications, and building relationships with people. Then, as with a journal, keep adding to it.

 

Resources

• Every Student Every School, sponsored by the Campus Alliance, helps students and youth leaders pray for their campus and reach out to students. These excellent tools will give you what you need to map your campus and all of the campuses in your area, and to adopt your school with a "Prayer/Care/Share" strategy.

- Map Your Campus

- Adopt Your School

 

• Young Life Contact Work: younglifeaccess.com/contact-work