I am back this summer with three brand new reasons why you should connect your student to Lutheran Campus Ministry...
1. You can’t!
Well, you can and you should, well, maybe that’s not the best reason to start with…
This is time of year when people tell me that the biggest reason they don’t connect a student with campus ministry is because they want to the student to make that decision.
I get it. You want to honor your student’s burgeoning freedom. College is the process of beginning to make for ourselves the important decisions that will shape the rest of our lives...But...There is this important fact I’ve learned about college students…unless you’re holding grades or money over their head, you can’t make students do what they don’t want to do. Trust me, no student has ever stayed connected to campus ministry because of parental guilt. Even if you sign them up, the decision still rests with them.
It can be difficult to navigate the changing relationship with your student as they head off to college. There are a number of things you probably should not do for them:
- You probably shouldn’t text them multiple times a day, every day.
- You probably shouldn’t pick out your students major.
- You probably shouldn’t call their professors to talk about their grades.
One thing you probably should do is connect your student with supportive resources that will walk with them as they make the increasingly important decisions they’ll be faced with throughout their time on campus. My suggestions for a knowledgable, supportive, and faithful resource whose only goal is the health and well being of your student…Hmmm...How a campus pastor!? Like me, or my hundreds of colleagues around the country. If your student doesn’t know we exist, it’s a lot harder for them to make the decision to take advantage of a life-giving resource.
2. You’ll get good grades…and save money!
I know I said this last year, but the research keeps rolling in. Study after study shows that students who have a supportive relationship with a non-student on campus have much higher retention and graduation rates than those who do not. But what non-student on campus has the time to get to know and build a supportive relationship with your student? That’s a tough one...whew...How about a campus pastor?! That’s, literally, my job description. Connect your student to Lutheran Campus Ministry, your student will get better grades, and it’s much more likely that you’ll only be writing out those tuition checks for four years!
3. Because we’re Lutheran….and connecting your student to Lutheran Campus Ministry is good theology.
You see, in the coming years your student will have to make important decisions that will shape their future. As you send them to college I hope that you send them held in the promise of the God who holds them and refuses to let them go regardless of the the decisions they make and the places they go. Because that’s the God of grace that we proclaim as Lutherans, that’s the God who doesn’t let us decide if God is going to love us or not. Connecting your student to Lutheran Campus Ministry is one way of sending them held in the promise of the God of grace.
When you connect your student to Lutheran Campus Ministry. We’ll send them a welcome packet, full of our promotional schwag. They’ll probably receive some form of invitation from the students in our groups, but I can guarantee you that they’ll receive an invitation from a campus pastor who wants to get to know them and help them make their way on campus.
Those are three awfully compelling reasons for connecting with campus ministry. Here’s one more piece of good news. You can connect your student to Lutheran Campus Ministry at college campuses around the country at www.elcacampusministry.org. Just select the campus your student is headed to, submit the information that you’re comfortable sharing, and through the magic and power of the internet that information will find its way to the campus where your student is headed in the fall.
Check out the website, enjoy the rest of your summer, and we look forward to welcoming your student in the fall!
