When my wife and I moved to our new church in September of 2011, I also increased my responsibilities. At our first church, we primarily worked with middle and high school students. At our new church, we work with middle school, high school, and college students. I’m very excited to be in this role because I also love young adults.

I have quickly learned in my new role that there is a pretty significant difference between the way you reach teenagers and the way you reach young adults. For example, in student ministry, you may attend school lunches, ballgames, plays, and so forth to build relationships with students and parents. In college ministry, while you still want to be a presence on the local college campus, I find myself doing more discipleship over a cup of coffee. Furthermore, going to a major university’s ballgame may not have the same impact as going to a local middle school football game. This is partly due to the number of people who will end up attending that type of event.

Also, the type of conversations I have with college students usually differs from those I have with middle/high school students. In student ministry, conversations can easily swing to… “I broke up with girlfriend because…” or “What are we going to do next, Daniel…” or “Are we going to that…” With college students, the conversations are more like, “Daniel, I think I may be getting engaged this semester…” or “Daniel, this company wants to hire me…” Both conversations are okay to have; they are simply different within their context. With all this being said, here are a few things I’m learning about reaching college students.

College students desire deeper, solid Biblical teaching. This is an obvious desire for any ministry within the local church, but I’m learning more and more that college students are okay with the technical theology/philosophical terms. Most don’t shy away from that; they embrace it. Therefore, the manner in which I teach is different in college ministry. That is not to say that a high school student can’t handle deep thinking, but rather, my approach as a communicator is slightly different. The other night, I was asked about the doctrine of predestination from a college student, and this realization hit me… college students want to dig deeper. They want to wrestle with theological concepts and determine why they believe what they believe. They want to be taught, in an exciting, relevant way, theology.

College students want to learn life leadership lessons. College students are preparing for how they will live and manage their adult life. It’s important to teach through subjects like financial responsibility, family life management, career paths, etc. These are major life lessons for maturing young adults. My hope in our college ministry is that we are teaching college students how to make smart, biblical choices in these critical areas. Too many college students think that life is like a light switch… “When I become an adult, I will know how to be an adult.” May the church come alongside them and teach them what God expects in a Godly husband, dad, wife, mom, and so forth. This isn’t just a light switch; we, as the Church, must teach them these aspects of the Christian life.

College students love having fun while maturing as an adult. Part of what I love about being a student and college pastor are the fun moments. There is a difference between having fun and being immature. College students are not kids anymore. They must know that leaders, society, and family expect more from them. However, college can be the greatest 4, 5, 6, 7 (haha) years of their life. The relationships you build with lifelong friends, for many, find their spouse while in college, the clubs and organizations they are a part of, and so on are really exciting times! This is exciting to not only watch but experience with them. So, while we teach them what it means to be a mature Christ follower as an adult… have a blast while doing it!

I’m excited about working with both teenagers and college students and feel very blessed that I have the opportunity to be a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.