Promoting Your Church Through The BCM

One of the purposes of the BCM is to promote local church attendance and involvement of students that are involved in the BCM. Here is some ways a local church can promote their church and partner with the BCM in ministry to college students.

1. Place information in BCM publications/newsletters/e-newsletters for incoming freshmen about the church. The church may need to help with printing and or postage costs.

2. Participate in ministries sponsored by the BCM to kick off the fall semester. These may include picnics, dinner, Survival, scavenger hunts, etc…

3. Place information about your church on the website of the BCM.

4. Ask the BCM to provide your church with the names and contact information of first time visitors to the BCM. Provide follow up contact of the students and invite them to your church.

5. Participate in “Church Night” worship services of the BCM. Set up a table display with information about your church.

6. Recruit church members to help with dorm move ins on the campus.

7. Recruit church members to adopt an International student involved in the BCM ministry. The member(s) would have in their home, take them out to eat.

8. Attend Collegiate Week at Glorieta in August with the BCM.

9. Partner with the BCM in sponsoring and participating in a mission trip.

10. Publicize special events and ministries of your church through BCM emails, announcements, etc…

11. Provide the names of the high school graduates of your church to the BCM Direct of the college or university they will be attending.

12. Participate in regular meetings of all of the collegiate ministers of the local collegiate churches of the BCM and the BCM Director for fellowship, calendar planning, prayer, etc.

13. Participate in a “Collegiate Ministers Panel” at a BCM lunch or worship night.

14. Participate with State Collegiate Ministry Conferences of your State Convention. Some are in the fall, some are in the spring.

By: Steve Masters

Churches and Campus Based Collegiate Ministry-Roles and Cooperation

The campus based collegiate ministry of the SBC has various names that vary from state to state. The most common name is Baptist Collegiate Ministry which will be the name that represents the SBC campus based ministry in this section.

Baptist Collegiate Ministry is the ministry arm of the local and state churches to a campus. The BCM is not a church. The BCM is a religious organization whose purposes include: 1. Share Christ with students that do not know Him as Savior. 2. Provide opportunities for participating students to grow and mature in their faith in Jesus Christ. 3. Develop students as Christian leaders. 4. Provide opportunities for students to participate in local, state and national mission ministries. 5. Help students to stay or become involved in a local church.

There is much discussion today about college ministry. In some places, the discussion relates to how to do it better and deal with the strong response. In other places as finances decline, the talk is whether to do away with it or not. College ministry is necessary if we care about the future. Some would advocate doing away with campus based ministry and doing it solely out of churches. Others suggest that we need to plant churches on campuses and that is the only way to do it. In other situations, the campus based ministry is having to compete with the very local churches it is trying to help. Many of these tensions can be eased simply by appreciating the value of both church and campus-based ministries. Their differing roles allow more students to be reached and discipled. In fleshing out this partnership, several aspects need to be considered.
First, we must recognize that no simple answer fits all situations and locations. Those that suggest that college ministry should only be done out of churches almost always come of large churches or even mega-churches with considerable budget and staffing. This is not the norm. In many situations, if the campus based ministry were not there, there would be little or no intentional ministry with the local campus. Church based and campus based ministries really have different roles. The campus based ministry relates to a college administration, is involved in leadership development and often is able to provide specialized ministry to such groups as freshmen and international students. The campus based ministry is a convenient entry point for many students that would not attend a local church, at least in the beginning.
A huge role of the church based ministry is to help students to connect to, love and see the value of the local church. This cannot happen anywhere else. When students graduate from college and move into young adulthood, will they connect to a church? The church based ministry can have a huge role in that happening. The grads that have been in the total life of a church see its value. In some situations the church based ministry copies a successful campus based ministry. When this happens, it often results in the emphasis being placed on week night student only events. This does not connect students to the total life of the church and instill a “love for church”. The church based ministry needs to recognize this and work to see the students connect through the Sunday School, Sunday Morning Worship, etc.
Campus based ministries have the responsibility to train leaders for our churches of the future. Many church leaders received their first experience in serving and leading as a “BCM committee member or leader”. It is also the task of the campus based ministry to encourage and help local churches in their ministry to students. For churches with full or part-time staff this means it’s critical that the church based collegiate minister and the BCM director meet, plan, evaluate and work together to maximize their partnership and understand their different roles in the lives of students. The BCM based ministry provides the college ministry for the smaller churches that cannot provide one.
Some denominational leaders advocate doing campus based collegiate ministry at a local church. If only the “mega-church” provides a college ministry, should the college students from other churches move to that church?
One well known college church pastor has advocated the idea that students be active in the campus ministry their freshman and sophomore year and a local church their junior and senior years. This raises the question of who will be the role models and the leaders for the campus based ministry? In most situations, some students will lead out on campus and attend their college church. Others will simply attend some on-campus events and lead out in their church. Again, it is not a one size fits all answer. Both the church based and the campus based ministries should give consideration to when each schedules their events. Many have simply said, the church based ministries get Sundays and Wednesdays and the campus based take the other week day nights.
No one ministry can do it all. Church ministries can best help students connect to all generations and learn to love the church. Campus based ministries can best help students understand and deal with the transition to college life and see ways to minister on campus. In some places there are no local churches for college students and there the church on campus approach meets a need. But, in situations where there are local churches actively reaching out to students, to start a church on campus is to provide what is more likely an unhealthy competition.

No one ministry can do and be all. We need both church based and campus based ministries and we need leaders that see the value of both and work for the good health of both.

By Arliss Dickerson, Leadership Contract Worker

How Churches Can Reach Freshmen Through The BCM

Reaching freshmen is one of the priorities of the campus based ministry of our denomination. Incoming freshmen who are living at home will be referred to as commuter freshmen. Freshmen that move to a dorm or apartment to attend college will be referred to as resident freshmen. The partnership between the BCM and the local church is critical in regards to helping students either stay or become involved in a local church during their college years. For the commuter freshmen that are still living at home their involvement in BCM can be an encouragement to them to stay involved in their church. It can also help them be involved in small group Bible studies, participate in mission trips, meet and get to know other Christian college students, etc…

Being involved in the ministry of the campus based ministry by a commuter freshmen can also greatly help their church to reach the resident freshmen that have moved to the university to live in the dorm, an apartment, a fraternity, sorority house, etc.

The partnership of the BCM and the local church is at its best when these resident freshmen meet and get to know commuter freshmen that are involved in a local church. If the commuter freshmen from a church are not involved in the campus based ministry then their church loses representation, a voice, a touch, etc. to that student. The resident freshman will end up visiting and attending and joining the church where other college students meet, get to know and reach out to them at BCM ministries.

BCM ministry is not a church and has no desire to be so. One of the major goals of BCM is to help students stay or become involved in a local church. In order to do so in the most effective manner it’s important that local churches encourage their commuter students to be involved in the BCM to help them reach out to the new resident students. It’s also important they encourage their resident students, freshmen and upperclassmen to stay involved in the BCM after they have become involved in the local church. If upperclassmen from a church are involved in the BCM they will be able to reach out to freshmen in the BCM. BCM and church involvement is at it best when it is a “both and” and not an “either or”.

The BCM secures names of incoming freshmen in a variety of ways which includes: 1. The college or university admissions office 2. Local and state churches 3. Conferences such as Centrifuge, Missionfuge, World Changers, etc. 4. Orientations for freshmen. The BCM then contacts these students by telephone, newsletter, email and facebook to invite them to become involved in the BCM ministry and to either become or stay involved in a local church. If your church would like to help with this contacting of these incoming students then please contact your local BCM director. They would greatly appreciate your partnership in outreach.

As freshmen attend the BCM the name and contact information of these students is available for local church ministry follow-up by the BCM. If the student is not a Christian this provides a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel of Christ with them. If they are a believer the local church can invite them to become involved in their ministry.

It is important that the BCM and the local churches do all they can to reach out to freshmen during the first few weeks of the fall semester. However, it’s also important to remember that the reaching freshmen is not just limited to that period. Freshmen can be reached throughout the year.

Many freshmen are overwhelmed by all of the changes in their lives as the fall semester begins. As their lives begin to settle into a routine they may realize their need for spiritual growth through the BCM and or a local church. It’s important the local church ministry realizes this and continues to reach out to students throughout the school year. In situations where there are multiple collegiate churches of the BCM it may be November, December or even the second semester before they choose a local church to be involved in.

Involvement in the BCM ministries, events and conferences by a collegiate minister of a local church can greatly help the spiritual growth of BCM students from all the local churches and not just the church of the collegiate minister. In this case the collegiate minister develops relationships with, provides spiritual leadership and examples to students that don’t and may not ever attend their church. This enriches the unity and community of the BCM and its sponsoring churches and benefits students in their growth in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

By: Steve Masters, BCM Director at LSU