Day: July 10, 2023

Growing the Budget: Raising Ministry Finances

Posted on by baptistcollege

If you are campus based you most likely have to raise your ministry budget.  This is a part of my job that I originally hated.  I felt awkward asking others to support our ministry and give sacrificially to the work we were doing.  The finances were stressful!  During my first year we had a major partner restructure their finances and decide no longer to help fund our ministry.  This was a major blow and caused me a lot of stress and anxiety.  I questioned what we did wrong or what we could have done differently.  In that season I learned several lessons that I wanted to share with you.

1. I had to understand that not everyone would want to partner with us and that is okay!

The partner who removed their partnership began to focus their funds in a different direction.  I prayed for their endeavors. They were focusing on good things. It does no good to fester over what could have been. Remember the adage, “If the world were filled with if’s and but’s everyday would be Christmas with candies and nuts.” We have found others who greatly wanted to partner with us who seemed to appear out of nowhere. Move with the movers!  Do not spend your time regretting “the one that got away.” Instead, focus on being faithful.  

2. Cast your cares upon God.  He is better than we could imagine. 

If God is sovereign over your ministry, He is sovereign over your budget.  1 Peter 5:7 reads “casting all your anxieties on him, because He cares for you.”  In the midst of one partner stepping aside, I had to learn to trust in God even more. He opened the door for other partnerships to be strengthened and new partnerships to be formed.  God is good!

3. Don’t put God in a box.

Often when we pray we want God to act in a specific way.  But often it seems God answers our prayers in ways we did not expect.  We pray for a mountain to be moved, but the mountain that was moved was our own hearts towards His will. I won’t say something as cliche as “where one door closes, another door always opens”… that is nowhere in the Bible.  But I will encourage you to leave no stone left unturned, to revisit other partners and pray for new partnerships.  Several of our partners saw the good work that was being done and wanted to strengthen our partnership.  All it took was an ask. 

4. Continue in the mission.

There are many seasons in ministry. There are seasons of abundance and seasons of more utter dependence (we should always be dependent upon the Lord).  Either way God is faithful and we are called to push forward with the mission of building His Kingdom.  People want to contribute to something they believe in and somewhere they believe God is working.  Continue in the mission in the good and the bad seasons.  We have had several new partnerships arise as we were faithful in our mission! 

5. People want to invest, not give to a charity case.

When we lost our ministry partner, it was a huge blow.  We lost nearly half our ministry budget in one hit.  I felt like I had to scramble.  I felt like I may need to call in some favors or start showing people how desperate the situation was.  But people only respond to those dire situations every so often.  People will start to question if you can handle your finances or why others pulled out if you always show those cards.  I am not saying there is not a time and a place for that, but you must be wise.  INSTEAD celebrate the wins!.  Show them how their money is being spent.  Celebrate all that God is doing in your ministry.  Learn to tell your story.  God has continued to bless our ministry.  Last semester we shared the Gospel nearly 900 times. We have greatly increased our freshman ministry.  We are looking at taking nearly double on our spring break trip.  These are the stories and figures that get people excited.  What are some of the things you need to let your partners know about?  Consider a newsletter or a fundraiser dinner to celebrate these stories. 

I no longer hate the fundraising side of our ministry.  Instead I am just bragging on God and asking people if they want to invest in something worth investing in.  It has become one of my favorite parts of the job.  It allows me to meet new people and brag on God.  What could be better?

Daniel Johnson serves as the Lexington Regional Campus Minister and the Campus Minister at the University of Kentucky. You can follow the ministry on Instagram @ukbcm.

Taking the First Step: Meeting International Students this Fall

Posted on by baptistcollege

If you spend time on a college campus of any size for more than a day, you will see that the world has come to U.S. schools through international students. These are not just any international students – they are the best and brightest from their countries and they will someday return to take influential positions of leadership in companies, industries, and governments back home and around the world. They will be the world leaders of the next generation!

As of January 2023, the U.S. government says that there are 1.08 million international students attending higher education in the U.S, almost back to pre-pandemic numbers. The top nations represented are China, India, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Vietnam, Taiwan, Nigeria, Japan and Saudi Arabia, many places where it is difficult for missionaries to enter and engage in gospel sharing. 

Yet, God has brought these students to your campus where you can show Biblical hospitality by offering friendship, living out the gospel in front of them, serving them at a time when they feel vulnerable in a new country, and building trusting relationships where you can plant gospel seeds. 

As a BCM staff member or volunteer, your days are packed with preparing for new freshmen, planning free lunches, training student leaders, leading Bible studies, raising support and more. There is no shortage of work, but what could God do on your campus if you gave some specific time, prayer and effort towards connecting with the international students on your campus this fall? How might the world be reached with the gospel because you started planting global gospel seeds right on your campus? 

Here are just a few ideas that could help you start taking some steps in that direction this Fall.   

Practical Steps

Prayer walk your campus at a peak time of day.

Where do you notice international students hanging out? What do you observe? Ask the Lord to open your eyes to the international students’ rhythms and experiences on your campus. Ask the Lord to spark an idea for beginning international student ministry through your church or BCM.  

Get a list of the home nations of international students on your campus (usually available from a campus census report or the international office) and then begin praying for the students and for their nations.

Look up news stories to know what’s going on back home for these students and pray for these situations. Learn about the typical spiritual backgrounds for students from these countries and cultures. Ask God if there is a certain group of students from this list that He would like you to focus on this year.

Set up a meeting with the leadership of the international student office on your campus.

Ask them if there are a few things they wish they could do for the international community on campus but haven’t had the time or resources to do. One of the beautiful things about Baptist work is our incredible network of churches. You might just have the resources or connections to make one of these desires happen for the international office and community on your campus. Fostering a relationship with and looking for ways to serve the international office is a key part of international student ministry. 

Take stock of what international student ministry is already happening, if at all, on your campus.

Are there other campus ministries or churches serving international students in some way? Talk to these groups. Ask what they are learning about the needs of the international community on campus, how they are seeing God work, what they are doing to serve students, and how you can work together to do more. Think partnership and cooperation! Relationships, not events, are key in international student ministry. With that, there usually are more international students to relate to, and more work to do on a campus than one ministry can do alone.

Look into felt needs and see how you can practically serve international students.

Would it be helpful to international students on your campus and help with building relationships if you offered airport pick ups to new students, weekly rides to the grocery store, English conversation classes, a weekly chai and chat booth, free furniture or housewares, friendship partners with local Americans, holiday host families, free lunches, cultural outings, Discovery Bible Studies, culture and resumé help during career fair season, cooking lessons, etc.? Consider not duplicating efforts by other ministries on campus but adding to the broader mix of ministry to international students. 

Simply teach your student leaders and volunteers to invite a couple of international students to a meal or coffee – either at a restaurant or in their home or apartment.

Many international students never get invited into the homes or lives of Americans and simple hospitality goes a long way. Food is a fantastic way to build a relationship with international students. Consider taking turns preparing and sharing favorite meals or even enjoying cultural experiences together like the county fair or a high school football game. 

Train your volunteers and student leaders in cross-cultural gospel sharing.

Knowing how to share the gospel is foundational for every Christ follower, but knowing how to address unique situations and questions that come from Hindu, Muslim, Agnostic, etc. worldviews can be very helpful in international student ministry. Teach how to build relationships through being intentional listeners, asking really good spiritual questions, and having patience. Earn the right to be heard and to share the gospel by first listening to the student’s spiritual story. Know that it is rare for an international student to respond to the gospel after one conversation; it usually is a spiritual journey over months and years. Also, many international students are warned by their friends and family back home to be wary of people trying to convert them. Thus, a believer is already in a position of needing to earn trust before the students even arrive.

Some helpful tools for equipping in international student ministry are…

Don’t get overwhelmed by all these ideas! You won’t have the capacity to start every effort at once. Start by asking God where He wants you to begin with international student ministry. Then get started. God can do much with a dependent, expectant heart focused on Jesus and willing to take a first step to serve international students on your campus! 

Also, don’t miss this! Each month, the International student ministry team for BCNet hosts a Zoom call to share ideas, hear about ways God is moving, and to pray for each other. The next call is Tuesday, September 12 from 3-4pm. Sign up at this link to join: http://ismbaptist.net/connect

Kaitlin Warrington is the Cross-Cultural Consultant for the UT Dallas BSM. Her e-mail is: kaitlin.warrington@texasbaptists.org.