I'm at Campus Crusade's Denver Winter Conference this week. It's already been enjoyable to participate in a conference outside of my region (California) and experience the differences and nuances of another sub-culture of CCC.
In my seven years on staff I've noticed that college ministry's bend three different ways:
1. Save the Lost
2. Serve the Poor
3. Savor the Body of Christ
These are obviously deep themes in the Word and central in God's heart.
Here's the shift I'm seeing:
- In the modern era these bends were mostly mutually exclusive from one another in the context of a local ministry.
- The post-modern era raised the value in interconnecting these three bends within the context of a local ministry.
- Strategic thinking is CRUCIAL as ministries integrate their 'weak' bends into their existing structure.
CCC has always been strongest in Save the Lost and weakest in Serve the Poor. We are now in a season of integrating Serve the Poor, and I have seen awesome examples of strategic partnerships with other ministries that excel in serving the poor.
I've noticed that in some ministry contexts enthusiasm and excitement can lead to haphazard and unfocused resource allocation. Another harmful trend is looking to start something from scratch within the organization rather than looking outside the organization for those who are already thriving in these areas of weakness.
The PSW Winter Conference in San Diego partnered with Compassion International--awesome! I would love to see the bar raised even higher in this area and a new level of interdependence develop between ministries.
Have you seen good examples of intentional/strategic partnerships in your context?
