Collegiate Collective

Clayton Bullion provides a roadmap for how to best use the Collegiate Collective. It’s a resource and a community, not a manual!

Last month I was sitting in a gathering of about 20 ministers from seven different states whiteboarding and think-tanking about how to reach our campuses. In the middle of the conversation someone mentioned Collegiate Collective. Then came these remarks:

“I just don’t even know where to start with Collegiate Collective, there is just so much information there! Sometimes I just get overwhelmed by it all!”

Have you ever felt that way? I have. If I could be really vulnerable for a second, I sometimes feel like Alice falling into the rabbit hole when I visit this website. If feels like it just gets deeper and deeper without end. I click on a link and read something and before I know it I’m ten articles deep and wondering if I should change everything I have ever done.

Or even worse than that, I read an article about somebody who is absolutely killing it on their campus and I begin to feel like I’m not doing enough and my ministry is inadequate. I am tempted to create a task list of how to be more effective:

• Add six staff
• Build an alumni network
• Write 100s of thank you cards
• Plant 3 new ministries this fall
• Work 80+ hours this week
• Cancel Christmas plans and leave my family for 4 mission projects over winter break

Oh, and I should pray more and NOT STRESS OUT!

Have you been there?

Admittedly, all the info here can be overwhelming. Don’t let that be a distraction. It’s all good and can help you elevate and advance the gospel on your campus, but sometimes it just helps to know how to navigate the body of information. Let me offer you a few tips that can serve as a roadmap to Collegiate Collective.

IT IS A RESOURCE NOT A MANUAL
This is not a one-size-fits-all how-to manual to do college ministry. There are some great resources here, but just because it shows up on the Collective doesn’t mean it is the golden ticket for your campus. You’re the expert on your campus. Filter through the information. What’s the context they are writing from? What’s similar/different about my context? Am I in a place to implement something like this this year? Are we in a spot where we should consider doing this in the next year or so? Ask yourself these questions. Don’t feel the pressure of being a cookie-cutter version of someone else!

USE THE SEARCH BAR
Looking for ideas on interns? Use the search bar. Trying to create a missions culture? Search for sending and missions in the search bar. Use Collective as a handbook to reference not a textbook you have to read and memorize. Use the tags on the right sidebar.

DIGEST IT LIKE AN ELEPHANT (ONE BITE AT A TIME)
Don’t be the “new fad” guy or girl. Don’t look at every article and decide you’ve got to change your model to look exactly like the articles published that week. You can’t change your large group, small groups, leadership structure and sending capacity all in one semester. Your students can’t take that much change. Take the tools presented, work on one or two areas and once you and your students have a rhythm in that area then move on to another area to build up. To focus on everything is to focus on nothing. Take it one step at a time. Build up your ministry one bite at a time. Don’t feel the pressure to change just for change sake.

USE THE FACEBOOK GROUP
The Facebook group has been a huge addition to the Collective community! It’s been useful for great dialogue and the sharing of resources not just the presenting of resources. It is a great place to ask questions and get some great feedback. Please share your thoughts there! We need to hear from you! The more voices the more robust the information. And if you’re not on there yet CLICK HERE, request access, and be sure to friend me (shameless plug) because I want to be able to keep up with what’s happening with you and on your campus. It’s where I steal my best ideas!

DON’T JUST TALK ABOUT IT, DO IT.
Don’t spend all your time worrying if you’re doing college ministry “right” or if you are doing it as well as “that guy or girl.” Don’t let fear of having the right methodology keep you from trying. We all have to be careful that we don’t become like the Athenians in Acts 17:21 “Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.” Let’s not be like those guys. Doing college ministry is exponentially more valuable to the kingdom and produces more disciples than just knowing about college ministry. Go love college students! Get off your computer and get on campus! Put your thoughts into practice!

There are more resources and information on college ministry in our present day than ever before! Let that be a tool that can help you elevate and advance the gospel not give you paralysis of analysis. Don’t get overwhelmed with the information, ideas, and methodologies. Do what you can do, have faith, and let God fill in what’s lacking. See you on campus and see you in the Collective!