Introduction
There are few privileges compared to ministering to college students. Although it is said so often, it is still underestimated how true the following statement is: College ministry shapes the future of the Church.
The PCA has and must continue to prioritize ministering to college students across the country. It is a time where covenant children and unbelievers are faced with a myriad of false ideologies. Temptations are rampant. Peer pressure is overwhelming. Doubts arise. Faith is shaken. Nevertheless, Christ is sufficient.
We desperately need faithful men to accept the call to be Campus Ministers to take the gospel of grace to these students. We also sense the need for churches to be planted in college towns for the purpose of evangelizing the lost and discipling young believers.
This is why we want to provide a series of articles geared to equipping current and future Pastors to minister to college students.
Where This Series Will Go
Acts 2:42 is a summary statement of what the earliest post-Pentecost Church was devoted to. If that standard remains the same for us today (Mt. 28:18-20; Col. 4:2; 1 Tim. 4:13-16; 2 Pet. 1:3; Rev. 22:18-19), then we ought to do all we can to protect and promote the biblical standard of having an “ordinary means of grace” philosophy of ministry. This philosophy needs to be faithfully applied to all ages, demographics, life stages, ethnicities, sin struggles, seasons of suffering, or whatever other variables there might be. This is why the GRN is recruiting men who love ministering to college students to write about this most worthy endeavor.
In this series we will seek to winsomely and persuasively promote and awaken an interest in this most important truth for gospel ministry today. Future articles will be written on the following topics:
- Answering objections to a means of grace philosophy of ministry
- The Ruling Elder’s practice of ministering to college students
- Partnership between the local church and the on-campus college ministry
- Guarding the heart of the College Pastor
- The need for local church membership of college students
- Contextualization, Confessionalism, and Campus Ministry
- Shepherding, visiting, evangelizing, and discipling college students
- How Campus Ministers can partner with the local church Session
- Preaching the gospel of grace to college students
- Apologetics on campus
- The Sabbath is for college students too
- Folding college students (and college ministry workers) into the life of the church
- Preaching with college students in the congregation
