You can grow a student ministry without growing the Kingdom of God.
By that, what I mean is that it’s easy to define the purpose of student ministry as gathering church-hopping Christian freshers and ticking the box of reaching and discipling students.
The problem is, growth then becomes about numbers rather than mission.
Don’t get me wrong- helping Christian freshers find a church to call home whilst at university is of vital importance.
But what if student ministry isn’t only about maintaining the Kingdom, but about actively growing it?
As a member of the Fusion team, but also as a local student worker, we decided to try something different so that we could reach students and build the Kingdom of God.
As a united student team made up of volunteers from 4 Churches across Lincoln, we decided to take Alpha to the students.
It is amazing that students are curious about faith and rocking up to Church- but what about the ones who aren’t? What about the ones too anxious to walk into a foreign building? What about those who would never walk into a Church building?
Between October and December, we ran Alpha at the central student union pub in the heart of Uni of Lincoln campus. It was only once we’d begun Alpha that we learnt that more than a decade ago, a local Church had done exactly the same thing.
In all, over 40 students booked onto ‘Try Alpha’ in the pub and explored faith in Jesus. As a student worker, there is genuinely no greater joy than seeing a room full to the brim with students exploring faith for the first time. In response to being asked what has changed for them since starting Alpha, a student responded ‘Well, I’ve become a Christian! I have also become a lot more open to reaching out to people.’
The call of the great commission was never to go and collect pre-made disciples, it was to GO and make disciples. Spread the gospel, introduce people to Jesus, and see a generation discipled to know Jesus.
Where could you become more courageous in reaching non-Christian students with the love of Jesus? It’s great when students come to us, but what about the lost sheep? Those who don’t yet know they are welcome at Church?
What would it look like to grow the Kingdom this year, not just your student ministry?
