So on Tuesday, we began thinking ahead and discussing the vital need and importance of transitioning high school seniors to college. We specifically looked at ideas and ways that church-based ministers could assist in this transition. To check out that post, click here.

Today, I want explore ways that youth ministers and campus-based ministers could do their part in this critical transition process.

Youth Ministers:

The chances are, your church does not have a college ministry, or maybe you are doing both youth and college ministry. Even if your church does have some sort of college ministry, transitioning your high school seniors is a critical issue that you must consider. I would even argue that this should be a part of your ministry. So here are some thoughts/ideas:

1. Simply teach/equip them. As Benson Hines pointed out in his comment on the previous post, perhaps the best thing youth (and college) ministers could be doing to assist in the college transition is simply teaching and equipping students on the matter. Get into the Word and explore the biblical concepts of what they will be experiencing, (for example, do a study on what real “Freedom” is). Also, give them some principles that you found to be helpful when you where in their shoes. Perhaps you could bring in some college students or others who have already attended college and have them share their advice!

2. Incorporate practical ways to transition your students. Again, I want to suggest the research and connect idea I posted on idea 3 in Tuesday’s post. I would also recommend that you consider recruiting some of your leadership and/or parents to help you with this. I know it is a resource consuming idea, but I think it is WELL worth it.

3. If possible, invite campus-based college ministers (or even church-based college ministers…why not!?) to visit. One of the things I did while I was a campus missionary with the Baptist Student Ministry was to join our BSM director and a few other students to go lead worship and speak at various youth groups throughout the spring and summer. We would tell the youth all about the BSM and the importance of finding a church home. We would also give them advice and answer any questions the students had about college life.

4. See if your denomination has any system in place for assisting in the transition. A beautiful example of this is what the BSM through the Baptist General Convention of Texas offers to churches at texasfreshmen.com. Here, parents, students, and youth ministers can submit contact information, indicate where they (the students) will be attending college, and then a BSM director, church leader, or student from that university/town will get in touch with them. Perhaps your denomination has something like this in place already. Go and research it and then take full advantage of it!

So I am definitely not a youth minister, but I strongly believe that transitioning youth to college needs to be considered more by youth ministers. There are surely more ways to assist youth in college transition, so if you have any more, just comment below!

Campus-based college minsters:

1. Go visit youth groups. Really I just want to reiterate the idea mentioned above. Take some students and go out and speak/lead at various youth groups. Bring a message on how to prepare for the transition to come. Tell the students about the BSM. Bring some college students and have them give the youth advice on the transition.

2. Get to know youth ministers and church-based college ministers. Seriously, we all should be working together and collaborating more, and honestly, youth and church-based college ministers may feel more comfortable sending students your direction if you know them.

3. Take advantage of your university’s “preview days.” Most universities have some sort of late spring/summer preview days for the next class of entering freshmen. Typically, they will have a student organization fair that allows student organizations to set up a booth and tell the prospective students about their organization. So GO TO THESE! I know this may be old school or typical, but don’t count this out! Oh, and get some of your extroverted college students to work these tables! Gather contact information and hand out some free stuff!

4. Encourage your students to get involved in giving campus tours! Yep, this is a really sweet way for your to get your college students to connect with and help transition next year’s freshmen. Now clearly there will probably be some guidelines they have to follow in order to be tour guide, but still, this position could create opportunities for your students to offer advice about college life to next year’s freshmen. Who knows, maybe they can even plug your ministry!

So again, these are just a few ideas that came to mind. If you have any more, throw ‘em at me!

Well, I guess this concludes our first glance at thinking ahead on next year’s freshmen. Ultimately, it is my prayer that college and youth ministers would consider the college transition process of our youth a much higher priority than what it has been in the past.

So from time to time I want to post some issues and ideas in a “Thinking Ahead” series. They will just be periodical, but I think something like this would be really sweet.

The first topic that I am already thinking about is next year’s college freshmen (or this year’s graduating high school seniors). Honestly, this transition from youth to college is so underdevelopled and so critical!!! One statistic that is a constant, vivid reminder of this to me is the Barna research that indicated that 61% of young adults that were involved in church during their teen years are now disengaged from the church. You can see this research here. Now granted, this research is a little older (2006), but it is a chilling indictment nonetheless! What this tells us is that transition from youth to college ministry is simply not happening. You may have even experienced this yourself. Now this isn’t about pointing fingers or anything other than to tell the enemy that lack of education and awareness in this area stops here!!!

So these next few posts go out to youth ministers, church-based college ministers, AND campus-based ministers. We NEED to make transitioning our students more of a priority. Here are few ideas of how we could do this:

For church-based college ministers:

1. Start your college ministry with students early. Take the occasional opportunity to get to know the high school Juniors and Seniors early. -Speak on occasion at your youth group’s large group gathering. Maybe you could even speak about college. (You should definitely do this with your graduating seniors towards the end of the semester anyways!) -Simply attend your youth group’s gatherings from time to time and get to know them that way. -Be a Disciple Now leader for the Seniors or Juniors. -Attend youth camp and be a counselor. -Start one-on-one mentoring with some of the seniors..(guy to guy, girl to girl). -Take them to coffee….high school students love Starbucks!

2. Get parental support. I think this one is a HUGE idea (Thanks to Dr. Jay Sedwick on this one!). Organize a meeting with the parents of your graduating seniors where you can rally their support on encouraging their students to find and plug into a church home as soon as they get to college. Perhaps you can give parents ways and resources to assist in transitioning. Really think about this one. We college ministers can encourage youth all day long about the importance of getting plugged into a church at college, but I think the strong encouragement of a parent will go much, much further.

3. Include youth-to-college ministry transitioning into your yearly routine. Towards the end of the Spring semester, a good amount of graduating high school seniors already have a decent idea on where they will be attending. For each student, research and scout out the ministries, churches, and environment, of the city of the college they are attending. Research the campus ministries on the student’s future campus. In regards to churches, look for those that would provide for an easy transition such as those with similar core doctrines, size, and characteristics. (Now this is only for research purposes and suggestions. We want to be sure to allow for God’s direction and the student’s freedom to find the right church home.) Furthermore, get into touch with some of the ministers there! This would be a sweet time to get to know your brothers and sisters serving in the same field as you!!! Also, they could provide you with even more detailed info on the church and ministry scene on campus and around town. You could also research the locations of these churches and ministries. Some churches even provide shuttles or rides between campus and church. Also, consider the environment of the new location. For example, culture is way way different when you get outside of the bible belt! Compile your research and sit down with the seniors over coffee and inform them of your findings. (Maybe you could make them a nice packet or something.) If they already feel confident about getting involved with a campus ministry, then get them in touch with that ministry even before their first semester starts! (Email and Facebook fit nicely with this!)

Now this is all a lot of work….but it is SO WORTH IT! Besides, you will find that some students will go to the same University. Also, over time you will build up a sweet database of info that you can draw from (however you will want to update it from time to time). You will also gain many useful contacts and even make new friends. Furthermore, you can draw on your away students that are already attending there. Finally, you can spread all of this out over the spring and summer.

I am always touched about how receptive high school seniors are of this one. Remember, deep down inside, many of them are at least a little nervous about what lies ahead. It is very comforting to them knowing that you are involved in easing their transition! I can’t express this enough. Also, doing this does not hurt your image with the parents and the rest of your church. Clearly the point of this is not your image, but it definitely helps to have them happily behind you!

4. Get your existing college students involved in the transition. -Arrange a Q&A session between the high school seniors and some of your college students. -Sometimes the advice coming from current college students just connects better! Encourage your college students to mingle with and get to know the high school students at church and/or before Sunday school. -Get your college students to be D-now leaders or camp counselors if appropriate. -Also, connect the graduating seniors with the your away students that are already attending their prospective school.

It appears that I need to break this post up!  So in the next post, we will look at ways and ideas campus-based ministers and youth ministers can assist in the transition.

If you have any more ideas on how church-based college ministers can help in the transition PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave a comment and add to the discussion!