Here are my observations of and suggestions for the “Every Nation Campus Ministry Discipleship Process” or ENCM.DP. I apologize for any nonsensical ordering of ideas.
As someone considering Campus Ministry after the alter call at Campus Harvest, it seemed as though there were only two options for me to pursue in order to get more insight into what campus ministry looked like, or to continue to discern God’s calling on my life.
- Go to another conference [week long in Austin I think]
- or commit to an entire summer of “pseudo-seminary”
Both are great and I believe are very effective at what they do, and I think they are a great component of the ENCM.DP, but I hesitated about going to them. The week conference in Austin is great for college students who want to learn more about campus ministry leadership, but maybe the idea of going to another conference like the one you just came from [CH] might seem redundant. The School of [Campus] Ministry over the summer is great for recent grads and people who know God is calling them into full time ministry now, but seems a little intense for people still discerning God’s call, who are unsure about full time ministry, or who are committed to their family or a career at the moment.
An additional component to the ENCM.DP that I think would be effective in cultivating campus ministers/leaders follows the existing EN Discipleship model. [implied “duh!” or “aha!”] EN has a very effective literature driven discipleship processes in the One to One pamphlet and the Purple book that are meant to be studied and walked through with a pastor, ministry leader, or friend. If the ENCM.DP [probably content from CH, the Austin conference, and the School of Ministry] was presented as a literature or set of literatures, both printed and digital, prospective campus leaders/ministers could go through the .DP with a church pastor over a period of several months or even years, becoming, at the very least, a more effective member of the body of Christ and potentially a campus minister/church planter. It seems like it would be great for a ministry founded on campus ministry and church planting to have a process to teach campus ministry and church planting “in-house” on a daily basis through discipleship. [I’m picturing a recycling graphic that goes with this]. Churches teaching how to reach the campus and plant churches in order to reach the campus and plant churches.
I guess the main idea behind this is creating a step between the alter call at CH and the School of Ministry where you can learn more about campus ministry/leadership, begin the process of campus ministry discipleship, and make the transition from college to ministry less intimidating. Also, having this resource online to refer them to at CH for more information would be helpful.
Fabricated 