Preparing Students to be Back on Campus

We have a responsibility as Christians to evangelize the world. We have to use our lifestyle, our story, our words, prayer, and even acts of kindness. There are many ways to share the gospel. The most important is whatever way you decide to do it.

Matthew 28, Mark 16, and Luke 24 give us the command, the methods, and the scope of a Christian’s responsibility for evangelism.

As youth leaders, we also have a responsibility to prepare students to evangelize on their school campus.

Here are some practical helps to sharing your faith story!

It begins with understanding your faith story. Your story is the before and after, the dark and light, the lost and found description of your life before and in Christ. All of us can relate to this. 

First, write your faith story in 300 words or one page.

Second, memorize it so that you can talk about it at any time.

If we are going to do good apologetics, we must begin with our personal story.

Now, the next step. Here are practical ways to share your faith story on the school campus:

Practical Campus Presence

30+ ways to create a faith presence in the middle and high school campus.

  • The best way a Youth Ministry gets on campus is with campus missionaries (training the students who have access daily)

  • Being involved on your Youth Ministry is a great way to have a presence on your school campus

  • Social Media strategies involving church and school activities

  • Make yourself available to the school for crisis counseling

  • Run for school board or other educational positions in government and local elections

  • Look to get involved in the myriad of extra-curricular activities at school (purchase a season athletic pass, attend plays, concerts, and performances)

  • Find the Christian para-church organizations that are recognized clubs on campus and have a presence or leadership in those ventures

  • Send birthday cards to your students friends and faculty with youth ministry name on it

  • Use seasonal and holiday themes to attend concerts and plays

  • Have students wear youth ministry themed clothing and gear to familiarize the school with your youth ministry at events or daily at school

  • Attending the funerals of youth, school staff, or faculty can build relationships in the school at important crisis moments

  • Monitor current events and headlines and be ready to offer lecture, counsel, or intervention

  • Pray publicly at community events where school officials are present (elections or banquets)

  • Involvement in FCA can help access you to many students and staff

  • Use your skill-sets in many different areas:

    • Coaching athletics

    • Choir

    • Band

    • Theatre

    • Officiating

    • Teaching       

  • Use school facilities for a Christian concert or conference/seminar

  • Have your students promote youth group activities or events

  • Prepare christian topics for class assignments

  • Encourage youth ministry students to invite the youth pastor to classroom as a guest speaker for a religious or non-religious subject

  • Organize a Super Bowl party and use the school facilities to host it

  • Promote your youth group website on clothing, gear, locker, or book stickers/covers

  • Attend the Young Life, Youth Alive, or other campus student led organizations

  • Organize a 7 Project or Youth Speaker at your school

  • Organize a clean up crew for after football games to sweep the grounds

  • Ask to sing the National Anthem (or youth choir) sing the National Anthem at a game

  • Attend or promote the weekly bible study at your school

  • Offer a place for a class at school to build the Home-Coming float

  • Purchase school t-shirts for a pep rally before an important game (place the youth ministry logo on the shirt)

  • Chaplaincy and Prayer before or after a game

  • Attend See You At The Pole every September

Finally

I want to challenge Next Gen leaders to prepare our students to be campus missionaries. Campus leaders. We must see our middle and high school campuses as a primary mission field. 

It will take creative ideas like these and a planned apologetic emphasis in the youth ministry to prepare our teenage campus missionaries for the last tribal stop. Maybe the final place the church can reach these students with the gospel.

One important emphasis is to create a theology of unconditional love that students should get students to move past their fear or inadequacy to be a faith leader on their campus. It can be intimidating. But, as we we have shown you in this post, be creative. There is no closed campus. Only a closed vision.

Jeff Grenell