"But the one who received the seed
that fell on good soil is the man
who hears the word and understands
it. He produces a crop,
yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty
times what was sown."
Matthew 13:23
We are beginning a fund drive for 100
individuals and/or churches who will
commit to $100 a month. By reaching
this goal we will be able to initiate a
new campus ministry every year. Each
ministry will be staffed with a trained
passionate minister who can relate
and coordinate activities and organization
on the local university as well
as promote spiritual development
with involved students. It is an exciting
opportunity for sharing Good News.
DONATION INFORMATION
Sponsoring Congregation: Park Plaza Church of Christ
Donations payable to: Park Plaza Church of Christ
Memo: CMU
Attn: Matt Robinson
4930 S. Sheridan
Tulsa, OK 74145
Untitled Document
Campus Ministry Training
Our Training Philosophy
Studies have shown that the most evangelistically effective leaders have been trained, and evangelistically effective campus ministries don't pop up by accident.
Our God wants all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), and 'all' leaves out no one! The entire purpose of Jesus' ministry is summed up in one statement found in Luke 19:10: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." Jesus' purpose was/is 'to seek and to save,' and, while He is the only One who ultimately pays for our sins, His plan was never for Him to be the only One involved in the salvific work of reaching lost people.
Jesus sent His disciples out into the world to continue His mission of seeking and saving the lost. His final marching orders recorded in Matthew 28:18-20 to go into all the world making disciples of all people, baptizing them and teaching them to obey God weren't just for the early disciples - they're for present disciples too.
But Jesus never intended for anyone to go into the world making disciples unprepared.
Jesus spent nearly three full years with His disciples before sending them out to continue His work. Jesus didn't enroll them in a school - the disciples walked with Him, for He was the school.
Consider the apostle Paul's work with Timothy and Titus. Neither of these young men were sent into the field to take over ministries of their own without first walking with Paul learning by being with him. Fast forward to the present. If you'd like to become an evangelistically effective campus minister, you'll do so by first walking with someone who already is.
CMU has identified the most evangelistically effective campus ministries among the Churches of Christ, and has partnered with several to provide opportunities in practical, hands-on training for interested parties. Bible degrees are a good thing, but they're not good enough on their own. Practical training is a must, and that's what CMU offers.
If you're interested in learning more, click here for more information of how to reach us!.
If you are interested in bible study resources or want to learn more about becoming a Christian, go to the download link and download the Bible Study Guide!
LYNN & CAROL STRINGFELLOW
Lynn and Carol Stringfellow are now serving as Directors of Ministry Advancement for Campus Ministry United. They are passionately pioneering the vision of campus ministries expanding all over the United States. They realize the need to reach peoples’ hearts with the gospel at the most pivotal time in a lifetime. They also realize the potential for global influence in campus ministry from the international environment at universities. Lynn and Carol experienced this need through the campus ministry in Tampa, Florida for the past 11 years. They started small and believed wholeheartedly in the Great Commission’s instruction to "Go" to the students at the University of South Florida. The ministry in Tampa witnessed young peoples’ lives being changed, both through conversion to the gospel and conviction with a Biblical purpose. Lynn and Carol have relocate to Tulsa, Ok under the supervision of the Park Plaza Church of Christ to continue this vision. Contact with this couple can be made through campusministryunited.com and stringfellow1@juno.com.
OutReach America is an organization dedicated to spreading truth and life to North America by starting new churches and helping existing churches grow. Check out OA's links page.
If you're a campus minister and you aren't signed up here, you should be. This is the largest social networking site in the world, and your students use it all the time. Their friends do too.
Relevant information regarding spirituality in the United States. Comprehensive studies and authoritative statistics covering a wide range of topics. Recommend signing up for their monthly newsletter.
"Ask the Lord of harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest field." - Luke 10:2
*Rollover the subscript to see the Citation Source.
What is Campus Ministry United?
Campus Ministry United (CMU) was founded in 2005 and is a non-denominational organization affiliated with the Churches of Christ. CMU is committed to uniting Christian universities, stateside campus ministries, students, churches, and individual Christian men and women to reach the lost with the Good News of Jesus Christ on every major university campus in the world. Our board of directors is made up of campus ministers, educators, and evangelists from all over the United States.
Why is Campus Ministry Important?
While many college professors today profess belief in God, very few profess belief in the one true God embodied in Jesus Christ. Armed with this knowledge it is interesting to note that millions of their students are searching for meaning and purpose in life.
Why Effective Campus Ministry is Vital
Bill Bright[1] was known for saying: “Change the campus today and change the world tomorrow.” There isn’t a mission field in existence today poised to shake the foundations of global spirituality like the university campuses of the United States. Today’s students are future world leaders. Future doctors, lawyers, teachers, and professors – future journalists, counselors, businessmen, and businesswomen – future military officers, company executives, media professionals, and government leaders – all are found on the university campuses today.
This is the time in life when their worldview will be shaped. They’re seeking answers to questions like, “How did I get here and why do I exist? Is there a God? Does life have a purpose? Should I be religious? Are all religions the same?” For their sake and the sake of the people their lives will influence, truthful answers must be provided, and the only real source of truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must make it our mission to be among them to provide these answers!
The need is greater today than ever before – a strong case for this can be made just by examining the numbers.
Campus Ministry: The Need According to the Numbers
In 1965, a Houston area preacher named Wes Reagan made a presentation at the Abilene lectures entitled, “The Lost Frontier” (later printed in 20th Century Christian[2]). This presentation emphasized the urgent need for evangelistic work to take place on university campuses in the United States. When Reagan initially presented his speech, a little over four million students were enrolled full-time in American universities.[3] Today, enrollment is at a record-breaking 17.5 million, and that number is expected to increase another 13% by 2015.[4]
At the time of Reagan’s sermon, if we had converted just one out of every 1,000 international students in our country, we would have produced 100 new missionaries to be sent home facing no language or cultural barriers in spreading the gospel.[5] If we did the same thing today, efforts would produce over 550 new missionaries annually[6] – this would greatly exceed the current missionary efforts of all of our brotherhood universities combined.
In 1965, our people were active on 80 campuses out of a possible 2,120 (mainly as educators – not evangelists).[7] Today, we are active on less than 150 campuses[8] out of a possible 4,100.[9] That means over 95% of the colleges and universities in the United States lack an effective Church of Christ campus ministry!
When you consider the fact that almost every great spiritual awakening in the United States had its beginnings among students on a university campus,[10] and that 77% of Americans who become Christians do so before the age of 21,[11] you have a very powerful case for why our fellowship must make a concerted effort to plant effective, Jesus-loving, gospel-sharing campus ministries.
Youth ministries are common nowadays, and more youth ministers are being trained by brotherhood universities than there are jobs available. It is time to stop overlooking campus ministry. Effective ministries must be planted!
OUR MISSION
CMU's mission is three-fold. This organization exists to:
I. Provide ministry-enrichment materials for existing campus ministries.
Currently, we are accomplishing our first goal through our yearly ministry enrichment workshop held the week after Independence Day on the campus of Harding University in Searcy, AR. Lectures are on topics like student leadership development, spiritual mentoring, evangelistic Bible study, curriculum planning, history, small groups, ministry philosophy, etc. All of the classes and lectures from our workshops are made available free of charge through this website's audio/video page. More will be added in the future.
In addition to this, we sponsor evaluative studies pertinent to the Church of Christ campus ministry community, and are also in the process of putting together a campus ministry textbook to be used for our training courses as well as other practical guides and training materials to be made available through this website.
II. Assist Churches of Christ sponsoring new evangelistic ministry plants.
There are many existing Churches of Christ without campus ministries whose facilities are situated near major universities. Many of the church leaders we've contacted in these congregations have wanted to establish a campus ministry for a long time, but didn't know where to start or what would be involved.
CMU will put interested church leaders in contact with experienced campus ministers who can help, and, where possible, will provide trained personnel to work as a part of the congregation in establishing a new campus ministry.
Congregations that are serious about establishing an effective campus ministry should consider making a new staff position available to be filled by a full-time campus minister.
III. Provide training and mentoring to empower future campus ministers and ministry planters to be effective.
To help accomplish this, experienced campus ministers affiliated with CMU are in the process of developing a training program in conjunction with the Harding University Center for Advanced Ministry Training. Qualified applicants to this program will be required to complete a one to two year apprenticeship in a CMU affiliate ministry.
It's one thing to read a book or hear a lecture about campus ministry - it's something else entirely to actually engage in campus ministry. We firmly believe that students learn best from doing, and this program will emphasize that heavily.
Lynn and Carol Stringfellow are now serving as Directors of Ministry Advancement for Campus Ministry United. They are passionately pioneering the vision of campus ministries expanding all over the United States. They realize the need to reach peoples’ hearts with the gospel at the most pivotal time in a lifetime. They also realize the potential for global influence in campus ministry from the international environment at universities. Lynn and Carol experienced this need through the campus ministry in Tampa, Florida for the past 11 years. They started small and believed wholeheartedly in the Great Commission’s instruction to "Go" to the students at the University of South Florida. The ministry in Tampa witnessed young peoples’ lives being changed, both through conversion to the gospel and conviction with a Biblical purpose. Lynn and Carol have relocate to Tulsa, Ok under the supervision of the Park Plaza Church of Christ to continue this vision. Contact with this couple can be made through campusministryunited.com and stringfellow1@juno.com. 
