Adult Mentors

I've appreciated Chuck Bomar's continuing emphasis on having adult mentors as a basic component of a congregation's college ministry.

The recent Princeton Seminary's Emerging Adult Conference returned to similar themes of adult involvement again and again. Kara Powell, from the Fuller Youth Institute's College Transition Initiative reported that from their "Sticky Faith"(how can a young person's faith stick through the emerging adult transitions) research a necessary component of congregational life should be intergenerational experiences. Christian Smith, in Souls in Transition, listed the teenage years factors which correlated most strongly with stronger emerging adult religious practices. The top three: (1)the teen's personal faith commitment, devotion, and experience. (2) the religious commitment and practice of their parents, and (3) other supportive religious adults in the congregation.


Adult relationships and presence is important as young people try to discern how they are to navigate adulthood. I've always appreciated the faculty or staff member who "adopted" students and invited them into their homes, lives, and families. Their impact is significant, and many graduates still stay in contact with them.

Congregations near campus often try the "adopt a student" / "adopt a family" / "adopt a grandparent" of matching students and interested adults, often with mixed results. The thought of a long-term commitment (by both parties!) seems intimidating, and having more than one student with each family might reduce the anxiety of thee unknown.

Perhaps more modest opportunities for the generations to connect might work. A morning together building a Habitat House followed by lunch, a combined work project with the campus ministry group and one of the congregation's groups. A few families might be flexible enough to informally invite a couple of students to lunch after the Sunday worship.Pairing students and adults as church school teachers might provide some opportunities for intergenerational relations. (This means not seeing college students as bodies to help out in the church school, but mentoring as an outreach ministry in itself.) The congregation could invite the campus ministry group to join them on a mission project during Spring Break and provide some scholarship assistance to the students.


What other ways are there to give students the contact in faith with adults?

Migration Season

The Migration Season for our college age young people has begun. Youth Sundays with recognition of the graduating seniors is the congregation's way of launching them out of the nest. Launched with the unspoken assumption that they will test their wings and eventually return when it is time for them to have children. Sent off with little or no support.

How many times have you collegiate ministers received communication from a congregation informing you that one of their members has enrolled in your institution? For me, in 22 years, less than 10 letters or e-mails! That's neglectful, and pityful.

We wring our hands because our congregations are getting smaller, yet we allow a whole segment to leave by the back door. We forget our vows we made to them when they were baptized.

Chuck Bomar, who blogs at College Ministry Thoughts, is doing good work in thinking about and addressing this area of congregational inaction. He pushes for every congregation to have some intentional strategy for ministry to the college aged, whether that congregation is near an higher education institution or not. And he emphases personal connections over programs.

His new book, The Slow Fade, (written along with a pastor and a recent college graduate) encourages congregations and families to invest in college-aged people, to prevent the "slow fade" from active involvement in faith communities. Investing means connecting students with the full life of the faith community by providing them with nurturing inter-generational relationships and meaningful service. This is not campus ministry, but might overlap into it.

The Slow Fade is a helpfull little book for congregations near your institutions, or for fculty or staff who might be feeling called to be more involved in the spiritual life of students.  It is a plea to understand the twenty somethings and an encouragement for adults in the congregation to be involved in the life of a college student, not just for the well-being of the college student, but for the enrichment of the entire faith community. 

Campus ministry can't do it all.