What have been your experiences trying to reach out to residential college students with the gospel?
- Having someone in the formal college hierarchy may help, especially with room bookings and holding things on campus: a chaplain or resident fellow
- Regular Bible studies or evangelistic Bible studies may not work the best, it's like trying to organise a share-house Bible study. Because you live at college and you are around so many activities all the time, it's very hard to be regularly committed to something.
- Find the keen Christians and devote a lot of time with them. Work really hard at creating a culture of college Christians being committed to local churches/ministries. It'll be hard to get them committed but if they do commit, they'll be very committed, since they are not bound up with many family duties and other social networks.
- Help the college Christians integrate their college lives and Christian lives. College is such a bubble, it can be hard to make it consistent with everything else. Encourage them to invite church friends up to college dinners, do your 1:1 meetings with them at college, rather than outside of college.
- Hold many hospitality events like 'philosophy gyms' , study groups or whatever. Contribute to the college community.
- Hold irregular evangelistic events, do them well, but informally, still be thinking in terms of contributing to the college community.
