What do we want students to know about us? When they hear the name Campus Crusade for Christ, what will come to their mind? When a student hears about something we're doing on campus, what will they assume about that event?
One of the things we talked about in staff meeting this morning was the distinctives of our movement. Students are able to view this or at least be introduced to who we are at our weekly meeting so it really matters what our weekly meeting looks like.
I came across this article from Benson Hines, and will be processing through these questions over the next few days. If your involved with our movement or ever have been, or if you just have some thoughts of your own on weekly large group gatherings for college ministry please join the conversation.
forty-NINE decisions you’ve already made about your college ministry’s large group meeting « Exploring College Ministry blog (daily notes about our field)
forty-NINE decisions you’ve already made about your college ministry’s large group meeting « Exploring College Ministry blog (daily notes about our field)
I agree Scott - for better/worse, students on campus associate the Cru brand with your weekly meeting.
ReplyDeleteI also liked that Benson Hines article. Great stuff to process. Not sure if you saw this on the CruPressGreen blog but Bob Fuhs had a great article on this topic a few weeks ago:
http://crupress.campuscrusadeforchrist.com/green/index.php/blog/entry/the_best_weekly_meeting_advice_i_ever_got
Great insights on that post. One thing I disagree with in Bob's post - we don't do any games. Our meetings are pretty serious. I just think anytime you do games it's easy to come across pretty Junior HIgh/Young Life-y. The feedback we've gotten from students is that they appreciate us treating them like adults.
I think the "fun" part of Cru is just mingling before and after the meeting. We get a local bakery to donate donuts to us every week and we provide drinks to make it a more fun "afters".
Another random thot - I don't speak a ton - I try to load up our speaker lineup with the best speakers around (from local churches or CCC staff who happen to be near us). We usually give $35 gift cards to anyone that speaks.
Tim Casteel