Why Uni Ministry Sucks

What are some things that really suck about AFES-style uni ministry?

  1. You are spending a lot of time doubling up - training and pastoring people who are already being trained and pastored by local churches. If the local churches aren't doing their job, perhaps it'd be better to tell people to move churches, rather than picking up the slack in parachurch.
  2. Uni ministries work best when they are supported by a church with a strong uni-ministry. So why not just have the local church?
  3. You are pretending to be a student union while in practice being run by an external minister. It is dishonest.
  4. It is tacitly supporting the Student Union concept, which may get in the way of sharing the gospel with Young Liberals.
  5. Universities are no longer hubs of social and cultural activity, so it is less of a legitimate mission field.
  6. More time ends up be spent in training than in evangelism. An evangelistically-driven uni ministry may look very different to current AFES-style ministries.
Anyone else got thoughts? I plan to follow this up with a post about the Why Uni Ministry is Totally Bodacious, but for now let's leave our Black Thinking Hat on. I reckon there are enough people who read this blog to come up with another 6 reasons at least. Come on, I dare ya!