Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference
Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry
Recommends:
Ways to Welcome College Students
Your church can make a big difference in the life of a college
student. Here are some fun and easy ways to welcome college students who are a
part of or who visit your congregation. They will appreciate your efforts and
your church will be enriched by their participation.
1. Make a
point to meet and speak to college students when they come to church. Feeling
welcomed is the #1 concern of students who attend a new church.
2. Invite
students to sit with you during worship so they don't sit alone.
3. Treat a
student to lunch after worship. Whether it be at your home or a local
restaurant, students will appreciate an invitation to talk and eat a meal that
was not prepared at the dining hall.
4. Bring
extra food for after‑church potlucks and invite the students to stay for
lunch. Most students do not have kitchen facilities to prepare a potluck dish,
but they want to participate in church activities.
5. Make a
personal phone call to a student who attends your church on Sunday morning, and
answer any questions they may have about your congregation.
6. Take a
student for coffee during the week following their visit at church.
7.
Offer to
drive students to worship.
8. Send
birthday cards, a bookmark, or words of encouragement throughout the year.
Students love mail.
9. Include
college students on your Church Newsletter mailing List.
10. Offer
Sunday School classes on topics of interest to young adults.
11.
Organize
a fellowship activity for college students.
12. Present a
plant to every new student who attends worship.
13. Include
students in worship, inviting them to read scripture, usher, or serve as a
communion steward.
14. Make
opportunities for students to teach or assist in the nursery and Sunday School
programs. Students like to feel
needed.
15. Create
"care packages" for students before finals week. Cookies, small toys,
pens, sticky notes, stuffed animals, and even a Slinky would be great gifts for
stressed out students. Enclose a note wishing them well on their exams.
16. Adopt a
student for a year, inviting them to meals and calling to be sure they are doing
all right.
17. Include
students in your family's holiday activities. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter
are hard times to be far away from home.
18. Design a
flier describing your local church and post it in the Student Union on campus.
Be sure to include worship times and a map to your church.
Compiled by Laurie Day, a sophomore at Willamette
University, Janet Cromwell, Wesley Foundation Director at the University of
Oregon, and the WPAC Board of HECM.
Please copy, distribute and post in your local church.
|
