After helping me move in to my dorm room, I hugged my parents goodbye so they could get on the road back home. I watched my parents pull out of the parking lot and I waved goodbye. Excited – yet nervous, confident – yet a little afraid, I was finally here- a student on my own at college.

Do you remember that day? Perhaps it was a little different for you, but I’m sure you remember some of the feelings you felt. For me, it was exciting to be in a new environment. I enjoyed this new-found lifestyle of making my own decisions, discovering and defining myself, and preparing for the future. However, one of the things I really liked about my freshmen year was that I was not the only wide-eyed wanderer freshman. There were at least a couple thousand other students just like me searching out this new college life. There was just something comforting to the fact that I was not alone.

The university made it a point to organize various welcoming and orientation events so that we freshmen could meet each other. One of the really appealing things at this time were student organizations- groups that you could plug into and be a part of. At the time I couldn’t explain it, but something within me wanted to be a part of a group. Something within me wanted to belong. I wanted friends, I wanted a family. Amidst this foreign land and all of the newness of college life, I wanted community.

I also really enjoyed the dorms. I liked the fact that there were a bunch of us college students living close together. I remember several occasions where my roommate and I would join some of my neighbors down the hall and grab some Nerf guns and have an all-out war in the hallways of our dorm! It was also fun when people in the dorm would leave their door open and welcome conversations from those passing by down the hall. There was clearly a social element of college that people craved.

So all of this gets me thinking about the college experience- those 4 or so years of college, chock full of new experiences, new-found freedom, social and personal definition, etc. How does this affect the longing for community that every human has? How does the college experience affect the longing for community that Millenials especially demonstrate as mentioned in the last post?

Also, what is it about the popularity of greek life and other student organizations? What about the appeal of dorms and living on-campus?

Here are some of my thoughts: I think the college experience intensifies the longing for community in students…especially Millenials. I think there is just something about going off to a new environment, away from all things and all people familiar, that intensifies the longing for community, for family, for belonging. I think there is just something about being out on your own, making decisions on your own, and redefining yourself that intensifies the longing. I think there is something about being around many other students just like you that appetizes the longing for community. For Millenials, I think there is just something about the fact that “all of us students are in this together amidst a changing, and uncertain world” that also fuels the longing for community.

So what are your thoughts? I am really just thinking out loud here, so think with me!

One of my classmates made an interesting comment a few days ago. In discussing the millennial generation, he said something to the effect of how there is such a longing for community and yet most Millennials don’t know the first thing about it, let alone how to find it, form it, or keep community healthy. I think my peer makes a great observation. In fact, I would say that every human longs for community, but millennials especially long for it. I also think the college experience greatly intensifies this longing for community, but I will discuss this more in the next post. The unsettling thing is that as a result of this intense longing, the vast majority of Millennials will find community or form it regardless of whether it is healthy- all the while most churches stand by, neglecting the opportunity to open their arms and intentionally invite them in to theirs.

Two TV shows that I have been watching recently are Community (NBC) and Glee (FOX). Viewed through the lens of college ministry, these shows are uber insightful of our culture and especially of the Millennials to which they are aimed. Now both series have a clearly established community of which the main characters are associated with (for Community it is the study group for Spanish class and for Glee it is the glee club). Both series highlight these communities and explore various aspects of them including the members’ need to protect their community, protect each other, and learn lessons on loving each other, etc. Both shows are VERY popular and each have their own unique elements that make them successful. They each warrant discussion and contain vast insight into our culture, but for now, I just wanted to highlight their central theme of community. There are other shows that do this as well, but these two are particularly poignant especially to us college ministers. In fact, both shows have school as their setting (Community is set on a community college campus, and Glee is set on a high school campus) which make them particularly relevant to us.

I think the popularity of these shows are a good indication of the Millennials’ longing for community. I think the popularity of social networking is directly related to this longing as well. And have you ever thought about the popularity of games like Halo and World of Warcraft? There is a vast community found in these games online!

Perhaps your personal experience with students will indicate this longing. For example, upon the development of new “apartment style” student housing, I remember one of the common critiques amongst students was that it did not foster much social interaction as a dorm would. Now regardless of whether this is true or not, the fact is that these students were longing for more community. I think there are some other forces at play here (which we will discuss in the next post), but the very fact that Millennial students are even conscious of this says a lot.

So have you seen this longing for community amongst Millennials in your experience? Could you incorporate this characteristic of Millennials into your ministry in some way? How about in reaching them? In teaching to them? In ministering to them?
What are your thoughts?

It was one of my college students that showed me these…and I have become hopelessly addicted. Auto-Tune the News is a continuing series of YouTube videos by The Gregory Brothers where clips of news anchors, politicians, and the like are manipulated with an auto tuner and some video editing to compose HILARIOUS and witty songs and themes. Check them and a LOT of other sweet stuff out here.

The concept is brilliant. Take something a little mundane, throw in some technology and creativity and in a matter of months your reaching millions. But there is way more going on here. This phenomenon is quintessential of the millennial generation…my generation. For a fairly decent explanation on the millennial generation, check the Wikki page here. So let’s take a quick look at these. First off, they are taking the news…something typically bad, negative, discouraging, and making it hilarious. Moreover, the humor is not overly demeaning or personally attacking anybody. It’s a different sort of humor…positive and not hateful, evenly distributed and not to any one person or party’s demise. Third, they are using technology in a really fun way…ie the Auto-Tune effect, video editing, You Tube venue. 4th, it is clever. There are reoccurring themes, catchy melodies, and it is all recent and relevant. 5th, it is timely. They seem to put these videos out fairly quickly. And they are already trying out new things like Auto-Tune the Ads (yeah, like tv commercials!).

As college ministers, there is a lot here that we can tap into.

1. Are we being good students of culture and of those we minister to?

2.  Maybe there are ways we can “Auto-Tune” a few things in our ministry…announcements, marketing, encouragement, just for fun, etc. Now we don’t want to get too carried away with this, but a little fun and creative technology use is most welcome with students!

3. Perhaps this could be a way you could give some of your students some ownership and participation in your college ministry. Create a team or task group that could develop and implement fun technology use in your ministry.

4. Maybe you or somebody you know has a lot of knowledge in video or sound editing….so put on a workshop where you show students some of the basics. I think this could be a fun venue to hang out with current and new students.

Any thoughts?