Ministering to College Students
("I have asked Robert Polen and Luke Herche to present the ministry of City College and Career. Here is the first of Luke's two postings. I am including, as well, a "generational imperative" that addressed the subject of college ministry when we developed our church mission statement:
College Ministry. Tenth will establish a spiritual presence at colleges and universities in Center City, prioritizing campuses in close proximity to the church while at the same time providing a welcoming spiritual home for students from across the city.)
How will we minister to college students?
The first step is to go—to go to the campuses. The job description for my internship is to be a campus minister to the art schools in Center City. There are five art schools in Center City that I (alongside others) will be focusing on: Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), University of the Arts (UArts), Moore, Art Institute (AI), & Curtis. There is currently a Bible study for Curtis Students (meeting at Paul Jones’ house), a Bible study on the UArts campus, a Bible study on Moore’s campus, and a prayer group that we hope to continue and be a part of on PAFA’s campus. Please pray for each of these groups! There is currently, to my knowledge, no active Christian group at AI, but that is in part because AI has even less of a campus than any of the other Center City schools. Please pray that we alongside students at each of these schools would see opportunities to reach unbelievers on these campuses. Please pray that we would think of creative ways of reaching out and loving others as Christ has loved us—in their context, speaking their language.
Of course, ultimately, for those who have no home church, we will want to bring them to Tenth. City College & Career is a gateway into Tenth. It provides opportunities to get to know people who are in a similar context, people who can introduce them to the larger body, help get them involved in a variety of ministries in the body, as well as mentor them in the faith. A church planter from our church once said, “You want people to embrace Christ and the community [of the church] at the same time. If they embrace Christ outside of the context of the church, it’s all the harder to get them to come into the church.” This is why City College & Career is so important. It provides a context where college students can grow in their relationship to Christ and his body in at least some of its diversity. Only in this way will they begin to be challenged to truly see Christ as he is: building a church—in all of its variety—for his glory.
College Ministry. Tenth will establish a spiritual presence at colleges and universities in Center City, prioritizing campuses in close proximity to the church while at the same time providing a welcoming spiritual home for students from across the city.)
How will we minister to college students?
The first step is to go—to go to the campuses. The job description for my internship is to be a campus minister to the art schools in Center City. There are five art schools in Center City that I (alongside others) will be focusing on: Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), University of the Arts (UArts), Moore, Art Institute (AI), & Curtis. There is currently a Bible study for Curtis Students (meeting at Paul Jones’ house), a Bible study on the UArts campus, a Bible study on Moore’s campus, and a prayer group that we hope to continue and be a part of on PAFA’s campus. Please pray for each of these groups! There is currently, to my knowledge, no active Christian group at AI, but that is in part because AI has even less of a campus than any of the other Center City schools. Please pray that we alongside students at each of these schools would see opportunities to reach unbelievers on these campuses. Please pray that we would think of creative ways of reaching out and loving others as Christ has loved us—in their context, speaking their language.
Of course, ultimately, for those who have no home church, we will want to bring them to Tenth. City College & Career is a gateway into Tenth. It provides opportunities to get to know people who are in a similar context, people who can introduce them to the larger body, help get them involved in a variety of ministries in the body, as well as mentor them in the faith. A church planter from our church once said, “You want people to embrace Christ and the community [of the church] at the same time. If they embrace Christ outside of the context of the church, it’s all the harder to get them to come into the church.” This is why City College & Career is so important. It provides a context where college students can grow in their relationship to Christ and his body in at least some of its diversity. Only in this way will they begin to be challenged to truly see Christ as he is: building a church—in all of its variety—for his glory.
posted by M Clark at 8/01/2007 12:43:00 PM
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