Emergent Campus Ministry:: What is the Future of Ministry among 19-29 yr olds?

I’m starting a new blogging series titled “Emergent Campus Ministry” as a way of reflecting on the closing out of a previous chapter of “Life Together” (in the truest sense of the phrase) with students at Western Washington University & University of Washington. Also because the next months ahead hold some stirring new possibilities among college students here in Houston…

But this post in particular is galvanized by the great writing at this article, The Future of Campus Ministry: A Look in Four Directions | Faith ON Campus particularly the following blurb:

On another note, local congregations will become a hub of ministry to emerging adults. Churches headed by pastors in their late 20’s and early 30’s leading congregations of 19-29 year-olds will become more common as ‘emergent adult’ ministry replaces ‘campus ministry’.

What an interesting statement.

I think what I hear being said is that more and more, the church will become the epicenter of ministry to students, not just para-church orgs (think, CCC, Intervarsity, etc). What is beneficial about this is that young people are becoming integrated into more diverse, multi-generational bodies, so that Christian formation takes place in a more holistic context – the church. These are not just children anymore needing a youth ministry. They’re adults needing to become integrated into a body.

20 somethings / late teens: would you rather be part of a church body or part of your own young adult group (or a bit of both?)

After almost a decade of ministering to college students together with my wife, I can look back and say that man, we were pretty radical – communal living, missionary mobilization, traveling to Africa, Eastern Europe, China bordering Tibet, Mongolia, South America, retreats, trying to get our ministries academically credentialed… I’m hoping to see the fruits of much of our endeavors here as well.