Baptist Campus Ministry (BCM) and Kentucky WMU are partners in ministry in many ways. An important one is through the Eliza Broadus Offering which will provide $98,000 this year to assist with collegiate summer missions, evangelism, mission action, and international student ministry. Another is through WMU involvement on our campuses.
Brian Combs, Collegiate Evangelism Strategist for the Kentucky Baptist Convention, met with members of the Kentucky WMU Executive Board last fall and shared a host of ideas for ways WMU groups could connect with campus ministry. Many WMU groups have been faithful through the years to provide meals and other assistance, but we have also found that sometimes with changes in leadership either on the campus or with WMU, these ministries sometimes are discontinued. We would like to see WMU connections on our campuses renewed and strengthened.
Brian and our Campus Missionaries value WMU and are asking us to come along side them. Here are just a few of the ideas:
Social Justice Initiatives—Students are passionate about making a difference in the world. Issues of social justice are a natural connecting point to college students whether they are Christ followers of not.
Food—Food opens many doors. From International Cultural Nights to Outreach Luncheons, providing and serving meals creates opportunities to help people encounter Jesus. If ladies could come out, cook, serve, and even hangout with students, the benefits are even greater for all involved!
Gift Cards—International students often show up with little of their own. They have to purchase clothes, bedding, food, etc. as it is usually too expensive to ship/fly over. Gift cards from different stores have been a great resource for BCMs to utilize to connect with these students and help them encounter Jesus!
Relationships—Students don’t know what they don’t know. They often wonder why their relationships are as much “work” as they are. Most come from broken families. Many have experienced abuse in one form or another. Most have not grown up in loving environments that supported their effective personal development. WMU’s emphasis on building positive individual, marriage and family relationships is a great way to engage college students!
Adjusting to the Cold—We have several students that come from warmer climates and could use a good winter coat.
Discipleship/Missions Education—Many of our BCMs and churches provide great opportunities for students to learn what it means to be a disciple of Christ and to engage the Mission field. It would be helpful for WMU groups to work together to provide a leader kit for various Bible studies or missions education studies. These kits could be used over and over to lead multiple groups. Providing a leader kit could provide funds to allow more students to engage and learn about God’s plan for discipleship and taking the Gospel to all nations.
Bibles—International students often want to learn about the Bible, but are not able to comprehend enough English and would greatly benefit from a Bible in their language.
Jesus Videos—These are another great way for students to learn about Jesus. They are created in several different languages and provide a great way to expose international students to The Gospel. Consider donating Jesus Videos and helping International Students encounter Jesus!
In addition to these opportunities, Kentucky BCM needs more help to reach our campuses. They are addressing this need by working with local churches to discover, develop, and deploy Campus Missionary Interns to engage the campus. These are self-funded people that have dedicated a year at a time to serving on a campus. Consider joining the support team of one or more of our campus missionary interns through prayer, financial support, or housing. Many of these interns will be recent graduates. They will each be engaging in direct campus ministry and exploring a potential call to ministry. It would be wonderful if churches/individuals could provide a room or provide some way to help these missionaries interns have a place to live so they can focus more on engaging the campus and less on raising funds. In addition, the intern can also work with the local church in missions education or some other area of outreach. We think this type of internship / partnership could do great things in the lives of the students and benefit the work of the local church.
