Research:
School Research:
By: Christian Smith
Campus Ministry Strategy Paper
A paper presented to Dr. Brown for
YOUT 350-001
In Asheboro, North Carolina there are 5 schools that are within a ten mile radius
of my church, Oakhurst Baptist Church. These schools are Southwestern Randolph
High School (SWRHS), Southwestern Randolph Middle School (SWRMS), Asheboro
High School (AHS), South Asheboro Middle School (SAMS), and Fayetteville Street
Christian School (FSCS). Out of these three schools I attended and graduated from
Fayetteville Street Christian School. The next few paragraphs will go over the details of
the separate school and will answer the questions about their demographics, their size,
the Christian organizations involved, and the number of youth from that school that
attend my local ministry.
The first school on the list is Southwestern Randolph High School. Southwestern
Randolph, more commonly known as Southwest, is a relatively large high school for my
county with approximately 1,157 students who attend the school. When looking at the
demographics of SWRHS it is a tough choice on which one to call the school. There are
some that attend the school that would fit better into the social demographic, but at the
same time there are those that would fit quite well into the ethnic demographic. Some of
these that would fit into both demographics would be the “redneck” group that the
school is mostly made up of. This group is one that would fit into both because they are
a very social group when with each other, but at the same time they seem to take their
“redneck-ness” and treat it as if it were a lifestyle that they live by in their everyday lives.
After talking to student who attended SWRHS I found out that they do have an FCA club
that runs through and with the school. This was a very encouraging thought for me
because I did not know that they had one up until this point. It is good to know that
these programs are involved in the schools around my home church because I will be
looking forward to partnering with them in the ministry to reach the six or so students
from my youth ministry that attend SWRHS.
The next school is Southwestern Randolph Middle School. Southwest Middle
(SRMS), as it is often called, is the middle school that many of the students in
Southwest High attended. Though much smaller with only 601 average students
attending. Like SWRHS, the demographics of the school are about the same as what
you will later see in the high school, but instead of being set in a certain demographic
the students are picking and choosing the one that they want to be recognized by when
they get older. This is a very important choice for them because for many of them it
means choosing how the “world” will see them when they emerge from middle school.
One thing that I really like about Southwest Middle is that FCA starts there. I think that
this is very important because they get involved with Christian organizations while their
younger and then they hopefully will stay with the organization as they go throughout
high school. I hope that I will be able to partner with FCA in both the high school and the
middle school campuses of Southwest so that I can reach the eleven students who
attend these schools.
The third school on the list is Asheboro High School. AHS is the largest high
school in the area where I conduct my ministry with 1,228 students attending. Unlike
Southwest, Asheboro High’s demographics are much more preppy and wealthy than the
other schools. Many of the students who attend AHS are from wealthier families who
are able to afford the nicer houses in the city limits. AHS, like Southwest, has a youth
organization that is run through it, but instead of FCA, Asheboro has Young Life. I think
that this difference from the other schools is a blessing and is something that can be of
benefit to the school. Even though only three of the youth attend AHS, I think that they
would all be interested in Young Life more than an FCA because none of these students
are sports enthusiast like you might find at Southwest.
Right across the road from AHS is South Asheboro Middle School, or SAMS as it
is known by everyone from Asheboro. SAMS, as would be expected, is the largest
middle school in the area with 562 students, three of which attend my personal ministry.
Again like AHS many of the students who attend are from wealthier families which
produce preppy or well-to-do children. Sometimes this wealth that they have can make
it very hard to minister to the students because even in middle school they start to think
that money can solve all problems and that they don’t need any help from anyone, even
Christ. Sadly in SAMS there is not youth organization to reach the children. This
saddened me because it would be very nice if the students could get involved early in
one of these organizations that way they can stay with it for the remainder of their
middle and high school years.
The last school on the list is Fayetteville Street Christian School. Fayetteville
Street, or FSCS, is where I went to school and graduated from. It is a relatively small
Christian school with only 156 students from kindergarten all the way to the 12th grade.
One thing that I really loved about going to FSCS was that there were all types of
students who attended the school. Some came from wealthy homes while others came
from homes that were doing all they could to send their child to a Christian school. This
made the demographics of FSCS a very interesting thing because you would see all the
demographics you could think of on a single day. FSCS does not have any youth
organizations that run through it, though I would personally like to start a FCA group or
possibly a Young Life group in the school to reach to not just the students, but also the
friends of the students. Even though Fayetteville Street is a small school we still have
three youth members who attend there. This is a great sign because if I get a youth
organization started within the school I will lean on these students to help get it up and
going.
Student Research:
To start off with my strategy I think that it is important to note that the type of
school that your students attend will make a huge impact in the way that you, as the
youth leader, will be involved in the schools or in the school activities. When looking at
these five different schools mentioned it is clear to see that they are different. Some of
the schools are known to be preppy, while others are known to be very southern, and
while one is known to have all sorts of different “styles” that come out of it. This goes to
show that a student’s educational environment makes a huge difference to the youth
leader and how he will approach the school. Most youth leaders are going to look at the
schools that are set before them and automatically realize that it is easier to approach
the Christian school/schools just because of the obvious Christian influence that the
students are already under. But it is important for the youth leader to not shy away from
the public schools and to be seen and known around all the campuses that are within
his churches “limits”.
To reach the different schools in my ministry I think I would try to partner with a
youth organization such as FCA, Young Life, or Youth for Christ. I think that partnering
with one of these organizations would be a tremendous advantage in reaching the
campus for Christ. Some of these organizations have already rooted themselves in the
campuses and to become involved with them would only allow easier access to the
unsaved students and the saved students who attend the ministry. Another good thing
that would come through using one of these ministries is that the unsaved students
would get to hopefully hang out and become friends with those students who are
already in my ministry. This would be a great opportunity for those saved students in my
ministry to witness to their unsaved peers. Of course, I would first have to go through
and show the students how to witness to those that they come in contact with during
school hours. This is a definite priority in my ministry because after doing my Student
Research Project I learned how many of the students in my own student ministry are not
willing to witness to their fellow peers because of risk of ridicule and of being an outcast.
This is a somewhat understandable reason not to witness, but I would still talk to them
and try to get them to understand how important it is to witness and how they shouldn’t
be ashamed, but instead should be bold in their witness. I think that it would be a great
way to reach the campus if I could get the students involved in doing so with me. After
all, they are the missionaries to the school campus.
Para-Church Research:
After doing research on each of these organizations and seeing what each of
them is all about I personally think that a partnership with any of these great
organizations would be a good thing as I try to minister to the local schools that are
around me and my ministry. I am very happy that a few youth organizations have
already begun to get involved with the local schools so that I will be able to go off of
what they have done and continue working with their ministry to reach more lost
students.
One of the organizations that I think I would be most interested in getting
involved with would be the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. FCA stuck out to me and
seems to be an organization that is well formed and is constantly trying to grow and
reach students for Christ. I believe that the best place to start one of these youth
organizations out would be in the middle school. I am a firm believer that students are
creature of habit. I believe that if you can get the habit of going to a FCA event set
inside a student’s mind while they are young they will continue to keep that habit for the
remainder of their middle and high school lives. I was so happy when I read that
Southwestern Randolph Middle School had already allowed the entrance of the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes organizations into the school because this will hopefully
help to grow the interest and the size of the organization on the high school campus.
The main thing that really turned me on to FCA was how they want to have the
public communities students reached for Christ. I think that this simple fact is one that
can be overlooked, but at the same time it is one that is so important when looking at
different ministries that you would like to get involved with to reach your local campus.
Without strong desires to do something, the something that you want to get done will
never get done. You must have a desire to reach the lost students if you ever want to
actually go out and reach the lost students. This is why I think that their desire to reach
the students is so important; because I know that they will reach them because they
have already made it known that they have a desire to do so on the student’s high
school or middle school campus. I think that having FCA come along side and help in a
ministry, or vice versa and I come along and help their ministry; would be a perfect
scenario. I would love to have the Fellowship of Christian Athletes helping me as I tried
to reach the schools that are around my home church.
As much as I like FCA and all that they stand for and all that they are committed
too I think I would also have to look into Youth for Christ simply because of their variety
of things that they are open to for students. Youth for Christ is an organization that
literally has something for everyone. No matter where you are at or what your hobbies
or skills might be it seems like Youth for Christ will have somewhere that you will find
comfort and be able to express yourself through your talents and abilities. Youth for
Christ, like FCA, is very committed to going all out to reach students and bring them into
a relationship with Christ. I really like the fact that Youth for Christ is so open to anything
for the students. As much as I am a fan of FCA, I think that their focus on sports can be
somewhat of a hindrance when it comes to reaching out to the non-athletic students or
those who might have some sort of strong dislike of sports for whatever reason.
One thing that I really like about both of these organizations is the relationship
that they build before they just simply push Jesus on the student. I believe that this is
the most important thing to know when trying to reach out to students and witness to
them. Before any student is going to listen to me tell them about Christ they first will
want to know who I am and get to know me over a certain length of time. It is only after
they know me well enough that they will take the time of day to listen to what I have to
say about Christ and His love for them. Students do not want to have a onetime
encounter with a total stranger and here them talk about how Jesus can change their
lives, instead students want to know what we are all about and see us live out our
message in the way we act, talk, and just simply live our lives.
Lastly when looking at these organizations and how I might use them in my
ministry it is important to note how you are not just stuck with one organization per
school. Both of these organizations would work excellently in a school setting together.
The great thing when I look at these organizations and think about my ministry is how
when you put them together they seem to make a tighter web so that less students can
get by, and instead more students will get attracted to the different activities that are
offered by the different organizations. From the hardcore basketball player, to the quiet
person who likes to sit alone and likes to read books, there is somewhere in one of
these organizations that is built specifically for that student. This is what I love about
these organizations, their details to work together so that no student is left out. This is
one of the major reasons why I will use these ministries in my personal youth ministry
so that I not only can reach my students better, but I will also be able to reach lost
students better through these ministries.
Philosophy & Strategy:
Big Picture: Narrative
When I think about my future ministry and the things that I desire for my students
to learn one of the first things that comes to my mind is that they desire, and learn, to
witness to their fellow peers and classmates. I believe that this single factor can have
such an amazing impact of the lives of both my students, and the students who they
come into contact with on a daily basis. If the students of today will go out and minister
in their local schools then the entirety of the public school can change. As we learned in
class, students are the missionaries to the public school. It is important for me to teach
them how to live lives that others can see Jesus through the way they talk and also
through the way that they live. I have personally talked to people who have said that
before they accepted Christ all they did was watch the “Christians” and see how they
were living their lives. When they compared their lives to those of the “Christians” they
would always see that they didn’t live terrible lives and sometimes they acted better
than the “Christians” did. This is a very sad thing because to me it says that youth today
are acting like Christians only when they are at church or around other Christians. I
hope to run a student ministry that changes this.
Another thing that I want to teach my students is the Bible. I want to be able to do
this in a way that my students have a desire to learn the Word of God. I would love for
the students in my ministry to have a hunger for God’s Word and a strong relentless
pursuit of the things of God. If I could get my students to have this desire to learn the
things of God then I think it would help them to live more godly lives around their
friends, especially their unsaved friends. This would help the students to better want to
reach their school campus and therefore would hopefully produce more followers of
Christ.
The last major thing that I desire for my students is that they gain a stronger love
for God and the things of God. If I can only accomplish one thing while I am at my
student ministry it is that my students learn to love God more. This, I think, is the key
ingredient in producing servant leaders. If I can get my youth to love God and to want to
serve Him and obey Him then I have a greater chance of them going to their schools
and witnessing for Him, which in turn will open up the door for me to be able to come
into the schools and already have a small mission field to work in. This is my dream for
my students. It would make me happier than anything else if I could have youth that
went out with a desire to witness, a desire to learn, and a desire to love God more. This
would be the best thing that I can think of for a student ministry. If you can get the youth
in a student ministry involved in these three things then I know that God will take those
youth and use them to go out and change the world for Him.
Action Steps: List of Ideas
1.What are some areas that you desire to see God work in the lives of students in
your area?
There are three major areas that I desire to see God work in and amongst the
students in my ministry. The first area where I want to see God work is in the student’s
prayer life. I believe that there is power in prayer and that praying brings you into a
closer and deeper relationship with Christ. I hope that God will deeply impact my
student’s prayer life so that they can have a closer relationship with Him. The second
area that I desire to see God work in my student’s life is in their school lives. By this I do
not mean that He helps them to get better grades, but instead I hope that He helps them
to be genuine Christians when they are at school and among their unsaved friends. It is
important for them to be missionaries to the students that will have nothing to do with
me, the church, or God. I pray that God will allow my students to be bold in their witness
for Christ when they are at school. The last area that I hope God will work is in the home
life of my students. Like at school, it is important to keep your Christian integrity when
you are at home alone and no one is there to see what you are watching or what you
are looking at on the internet. I pray that God will work in and through my students to
make them strong with integrity so that they will not even have the desires to slip into
sin that could very easily ruin their lives.
2.How will you utilize the principles of contact ministry (include seen, known,
understood)?
Well when it comes to contact ministry I plan on trying my best to do all three of
these, and to improve on each of them every day. One way that I think I can work on
being seen by my students is that I will be in their schools as much as possible just to
hang out, or to bring them lunch, or just to be there if they need someone to talk to
about a certain issue. I want my students to be able to know that I am there and know
that I care about them enough to come and want to spend time with them. When it
comes to being known I hope that I can be known by all the students in my ministry. I
personally would love to get to know each and every student personally that way we
can better communicate and also because they will feel more comfortable coming to me
with their problems and their concerns and hopefully, through God’s strength, I will be
able to help them in whatever problems they might be facing. Lastly when it comes to
being understood by my students I hope that this is something that I can attain as well.
This is something that I know will not happen with all students, but it is something that I
will definitely strive to have with all my students. These will be the students who I know I
can trust to help me in situations and if need be they will be able to be a type of
chaperone for events if I do not have enough adult volunteers.
3.What is your plan to get students to reach other students?
My plan to get students to reach out to other students is to teach them first the
importance of ministering to others. I would do this by pulling stories straight from the
Bible about how Christ ministered to those around Him all the time. Next I would take
the time to make sure that each student knew the proper way to minister and to reach
the students around them. The last thing that I want is for a student to try to witness to
someone and mess up and completely turn that person away from Christ for all eternity.
Lastly, before I let them go and witness to their peers and others who are unsaved, I
would try to take them in small groups out into the community where they would have
the chance to witness to people that they don’t know. This would really place them
outside of their comfort zone, which would in turn make it easier when they go to school
or to sports practice and get the chance to witness to the friends that they have in these
areas.
4.Are you going to partner with other student ministries (both church and Para-
church) and if so how?
Yes, I plan to definitely try to partner with either FCA or Youth for Christ. I really like
what I have learned about these organizations lately and I plan on partnering with them
in order to better reach the students on the school campuses around me. The way that I
plan to do this, from the beginning anyways, it is become a volunteer for one of these
organizations and to start a club or a group in one of the schools around me. I would
choose the public school that has the most students from my ministry attending that way
they could help me get the group up and running. After I had done this for a few months
I would look at starting another group in one of the other schools that is in my area, and
so forth until all the major schools have Christian organizations running through them.
After I have started one or two organizations I would look at getting more involved with
the organization all together so that I can help to run the organizations better within the
schools in my ministry.
5.How do you plan to partner with schools officials or community organizations?
The first thing that I will do when partnering with the school officials is to go and
personally introduce myself to them. I would like to go in and tell the school officials
about myself and what I desire to do for the school and for my students and also the
students that attend who do not know me. I would make sure that the officials knew that
I was there to serve them and that I would never try to take control of the school in any
way. Also I would make sure that they know that I am here to help them to run the
school better if they ever need me. I would be willing to partner with the local schools as
a substitute teacher if necessary and I would do it for free, just to show the school
officials that I am truly here to serve them. When it comes to community organizations I
would make sure that as a student ministry we are volunteering to help them out at least
three to four times a year. It is just as important to be in the school as it is for the
students in the church to be out in the community serving others like Christ served.
6.What will be your prayer strategy?
When I look ahead and think about my prayer strategy the first thing that pops into my
mind is the prayer strategy that Liberty University has for its Office of Student
Leadership. I love how this office has everyone prayer for somebody and then someone
praying for those people, and so forth and so on. This just seems to be an excellent way
to pray and it is the prayer strategy that I plan on following after when I get my own
church. I am going to have the small group leaders from each small group pray for the
students in their small group by name each and every day, while I pray for the small
group leaders by name each day. I would also prayer for every student in my ministry,
and all their leaders, by name at least once a week. The power of prayer is one of the
strongest things that a Christian has in their arsenal and I plan on making it a huge part
of what my student ministry is run on.
7.What will be the locations used within your strategy? Will it include homes,
schools, churches, other locations?
For my prayer strategy I plan on using multiple locations. Of course I know I will not
be able to meet with all my leaders individually during the week so therefore most of the
praying on their part is going to have to come from their own homes. I will require that
the leadership team meets monthly to discuss growth and also at these meetings I
would like to have a prayer time for the students. Other than when the leaders pray for
the students at their home I can only think of us using the church as a place of prayer
for the students. I think that it would be important to have a prayer night once every
three months with the students just so the small group leaders and I can see how they
are growing in the Lord and how their relationship with Him seems to be doing.
Time Line:
First Six Months:
During my first six months as a new youth pastor I hope to be able to start off by
learning all my student’s names. I think that this is a very important part about being a
youth leader because it tells the students that you care enough about them to
remember their names. I also would love to be able to learn their interest and the
activities that they are involved with in their local school. This would help to show that I
truly do care about them and their interest, and it would also help as I try to get a
Christian organization started in the local school. This would be one of my main
objectives. I hope within the first six months that I have a church I can get involved, or
start, a local organization that will reach into the school campus to help students learn
about Christ.
Another thing that I would love to do during to first six months as the youth leader
is to find a Christian camp that is nearby to the church that I would be able to take my
youth to. I think that it is very important, especially for teens, to change up their
environment so that they get outside of their comfort zones and will be more likely to
open up to those around them, especially God. Using camp is a great way to do ministry
and it is definitely one that I will use many times during my career as a youth leader. The
changes that are made at camps can be changes for life and I hopefully will be able to
take my students on at least one trip per year to a local Christian camp where they can
learn about God while being surrounded by the beauty that He has created for us to
admire.
The last big thing that I hope to accomplish during my first six months at a new
church is to take the students into the local community, or possibly even a county or two
over, and let them serve the community. This would be a way for me to teach the youth
how to serve and how to have a servant heart like Christ. Another great thing about
these short trips to local areas to serve is that I can learn how they will react and how
they will work if I take them on a larger, farther away mission trip in the future.
Six to Twelve Months:
After my first six months at a church I should be getting to know not only the
youth, but also their family pretty well and I would have hopefully built up a trust
between the parents and myself so that they know that I can be responsible for their
children. Once I feel that I have this trust from the parents I will start to look at more
adventurous activities to take the youth on. One of the favorites for me when I was in
youth was going white water rafting. I think that white water rafting would be a great way
to get the kids out and into God’s nature so that they can enjoy the extremes of His
creation.
I also want to keep my student ministry busy helping the community around
them. I understand that not everyone is going to like being out in the community serving,
but I will try to make them understand how important it is to show God’s love in our
actions and in the way that we serve those who are around us. Some of the things that I
would like to do is plant flowers for local businesses, take care of the elderly yards and
houses, especially in the fall when all the leaves have fallen off the trees, and also just
getting up with the local officials at the local schools and trying to serve the schools as
best as possible.
Also during my first year within the ministry I would look at getting another
Christian organization started within one of the local schools. I think that these can be
used as one of the greatest assets to the youth ministry all around the public schools. I
plan on doing all in my power to help these organizations grow and produce servant
leaders for Christ. I will do all that I can to help these organizations succeed. I plan on
being involved within the school so that I can hopefully lead these groups and be
someone that the faculty of the school can trust and rely on as I help to lead these
students. I would make it a point that the leadership staff in my student ministry are
involved in the schools as well so that they can get to know not only their students
better, but also new students who might be coming into the ministry.
One to Three Years:
After my first full year of ministry within my church is done I will look into taking
my student ministry on weeklong mission trip outside of the United States. International
Missions is a very important aspect of the Christian life because it is through doing this
that you obey Christ by going into the entire world and reaching the lost people there.
Also mission trips allow for the students to really see how well they have it here in
America. This would be a great way to change the students and the way that they view
the lives that they live back home in America. It is important to always challenge
students so that they will constantly be thanking God for all that they have instead of not
being happy with it all.
Again I plan on taking the teens to camp at least once a year and continuing to
do community service with them throughout the year. These two things are two very
important things that I don’t plan on ever changing as long as I have a youth group and
as long as they are still interested in going. Throughout my time in my own student
ministry these two things had huge impacts on my life and the way that I lived for God. I
cannot begin to explain the impact that it has on a student when they get to go to camp
and be surrounded by fellow Christians who are on fire for Christ. It is during times like
this that they come back into a close relationship with Him and one that they will
hopefully be able to keep for the rest of their lives.
I would make sure that my students are being involved in the local Christian
organizations in their specific schools so that it did not look like they didn’t need to be
involved because they are already in church. It is incredibly important to have the small
group leaders and the youth leader involved and easy for the students to be able to find
at these events. Without good leadership at the events you will simply have a student
hang out and not ministry will be accomplished.
The last big thing that I would like to try to start after my first year as the youth
leader at a church is possibly having student teaching nights at least two or three times
a year. One of the best times to do this would be at the end of a school year. I would
love to have the seniors of the local schools take over for one night of teaching so that
they can talk to the students and give them advice before they have to go off to college.
Also I think that this would be good for the younger youth because many of them will
probably look up to the older youth and listen to whatever they say because they want
to be just like the older youth in the student ministry.
Three to Five Years:
After three years of being involved in a student ministry I will hopefully be able to
go on another international mission trip with my students. I will still be pushing that they
learn from the mission trip and not just go to say that they have been to a foreign
country. I want my youth to understand the reason that they are going on the mission
trip and to understand it is not about them, but instead it is all about Christ. I will
continue to remind them daily as the mission trip comes up that they need to be
preparing their hearts so that they can go to the different country and get their hear
completely broke for the lost people there who have no idea who Jesus is, or who He
could be for them.
I would again be looking at starting more ministries in the schools that are around
me, and possibly those that are a little farther away from my church. I would definitely
be looking to the small group leaders to be involved in the student ministry as it
hopefully begins to grow to a larger size. I will need as many strong Christian small
group leaders as I can get if I want to reach the local campuses through these
organizations and also through the students that are under these leaders each week. It
will be extremely important for the leaders to help keep the students accountable for
their actions that way when they go into their campuses they will be able to speak the
truth with integrity to their fellow peers.
Also it is around this time of year that I might look at switching up the camps that
my student ministry attends. Not that there would be anything wrong with the camp that
I am already going to, but instead so that the students can get knocked back out of their
comfort zones so that they will be able to experience God again in a new and different
surrounding. It would be completely up to the students on whether or not we would stay
at this new camp, but at the same time I would take into account the differences that I
see in the youth when we return from the new camp. I would, of course, make the final
decision in whether or not we would stay at the new camp or go back to the original
camp. These are the major things that I would do during my three to five years that I am
at a ministry. My main goal in all these things is to make sure that the students are
growing closer to Christ in all that they say and do.
