My friend from high school is dying from cancer.”

A student I have been discipling this semester recently shared this with me.  It is one of several hard conversations I’ve had with students these last few weeks.

One student I have connected with this year is dealing with mental health issues that concern his family enough to keep him from leaving home right now.

A female student connected to our community suffered a panic attack the other day.

I have multiple students who are trying to heal from abusive family relationships.

I am grieving alongside a student whose dad suddenly passed away earlier this year.

I am caring for a couple students who saw a significant relationship come to an abrupt and difficult end.

Ministry to college students is hard. 

So many students in our ministry are dealing with significant issues.  While the pressure is on them to get a good education to get a good career, many are also coming face-to-face with a sin-fallen world.  And I don’t seem to be alone in my Kansas City ministry when it comes to experiencing hurting students.

I’m not going to lie… while God is doing some exciting things in our ministry, this past month has been emotionally hard as I’ve become increasingly aware of the difficulties these students are facing.  But while I experience sadness with them, these relationships serve to remind me that ministry to college students is necessary.

Matthew 9:36
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them,
because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

If you’ve spent any significant time talking with me about college ministry, you’ve heard me share this verse.  It is a theme verse connected to why we need college ministry.  We have students on our campuses who are harassed and helpless in a broken world.  We need to connect them to the Good Shepherd.

While walking alongside students who are experiencing these difficult situations is hard, I’ve also come to realize that, at the end of the day, ministry to college students is simple.

I can often find myself exerting a lot of mental energy strategizing on the most effective ways to reach college students, but at the end of the day what students seem to respond to the most are simply genuine, healthy, godly relationships.  People who care about them, are present with them, and serve as the body of Christ to them.

It’s what I think Jesus had in mind when he went on to encourage his disciples to pray for God to raise up laborers.
Matthew 9:37-38
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 
therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
We need men and women who are willing to simply labor alongside students.  It’s why our team is currently working on launching an Adopt-a-Student ministry where families can welcome a college student into their lives and provide healthy, caring relationship to them. (More details to come about this ministry opportunity.)

In the midst of these challenging times, I do have some good news to share:

Our Collegiate Impact Intern, Trey, has been able to launch student gatherings this semester at Donnelly College, one of the 17 Kansas City area colleges we seek to minister on.

Our new international student ministry at UMKC, International Fellowship, has been able to gather students for a Bible Study.  A Chinese student attending the study gave her life to Christ at the beginning of the year!

Last fall we published our first Bible study, Discipleship Lab – Gospel Foundation.  This study is designed for college students, but can be used by any group wanting to grow as followers of Jesus.  We have recently finished a Leaders Guide to go with the study.  Both can be found at www.discipleshiplab.org.

We are currently making plans to partner with area churches to host Global Project sites for students this summer. This 10-week program provides training for college students in evangelism, disciple-making, and missions mobilization.

God has led Benjamin Kirtley, a Midwestern Seminary student and MBC Collegiate Apprentice to be our Campus Missionary at UMKC.  He will be finishing his Apprenticeship and moving to Kansas City in the summer of 2022.

We are grateful for God’s provision and grace to our ministry during this unique time.  Our desire is to bring the gospel to many more students this year.  We would love your help in this!  If your church is currently ministering to college students or desires to, I would love to come alongside and help.  Please contact me ([email protected] or 816-838-2801), and let’s find a time to discuss this possibility.

If you would like to stay updated with us, I encourage you to follow us on social media.

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/collegiateimpact.kc