Building a Core Group
After the visioning exercise, you should be able to begin to identify a core group of lay and student leaders. As your core group gets organized and becomes clear about the steps described throughout this chapter, you will need to secure approval from the Church Board and/or Staff to begin your campus ministry.Sizes of Core Groups/Structure by Size Recommendations
Campus groups with a membership of ten or less:
Physical Space: You will need a meeting space appropriate for a small group, usually a room on campus or classroom at church, which is inviting and accessible. Utilize people's homes cautiously and wisely in order to maintain a welcoming and visible presence for newcomers.
Program: The activities of the campus ministry should be monthly at minimum and regularly scheduled, with one or two irregularly scheduled special events around the holidays. Pizza and potlucks foster the social community, occasional yet regularly scheduled and pre-planned worships are the spiritual center of the group.
Organizational Structures: Hold a general meeting of the campus ministry once or twice a year focused on vision and activities brainstorm. Elect/select two or three coordinators for a year commitment. Coordinators meet before or after regular scheduled activities. Leadership will come from lay leaders with vision and the ability to include everyone. Plan to develop ongoing leadership, not to depend on the same people.
Finance: Develop a clear understanding of financial needs on the part of the group. Try to secure a $300 contribution from the local congregation. Figure an average of $30/student/year for your budget.
Membership of Ten to Thirty
Physical Space: You will need a regular meeting place, clearly public and well located. Use people's homes for special events or holiday parties.
Program: Hold meetings once or twice a month, with the possibility of four to eight week weekly programs or discussions. Pre-planned worship is led on a monthly basis with a core team of worship planners. Pizza and potlucks happen in between worship or before/after worship service. Plan joint activities with the church, such as adult religious education curriculum, church clean up day, or Sunday worship service. Events will draw friends and other newcomers.
Organizational Structures: Hold coordinating meetings every other month to assess the vision, organize upcoming activities, and direct participation from the church members. Intentionally orient new members and leadership each quarter or semester. Rotate leadership duties every three to six months. Develop a formal relationship with the church. In addition to the leadership provided by the general group coordinators, you may have short and long term teams focused on specific projects like a conference, soulful sundown, workshop, or outreach campaign. You might have a specific worship coordinator. Expenses should be paid for volunteers by the campus ministry. You may have a part time or stipend coordinator.
Finance: Budget building is related to program and is shared by the whole group. An annual budget request should go to the local church( es). There may be support for a joint church-campus coordinator staff position. Consider a special fundraiser, campus ministry Sunday, or annual request for donations from parents of students and alumni.
Membership of Thirty and Over
Physical Space: A group this size may sustain a dedicated space used year to year, something near campus and easily accessible with good parking and room for breakout groups. There may be an interfaith or united campus ministries center or the ministry may seek a "home of our own" rented or purchased by the church or generous donor.
Program: Provide consistent excellence with weekly opportunities and activities. Partner events with other faith and campus groups. Each event will not meet the needs of all students, but at least several events each quarter/semester will provide all students with an activity of interest to them.
Organizational Structure: There will be a monthly coordinating meeting and monthly office hours for staff. The governing committee should be selected/elected for one or two year terms. Members should hold specific roles for worship, finance, facilitation, church liaison, and outreach. Coordinators may meet in small groups with staff for guidance, coaching, support, and reflection. Leadership may be provided by a part-time or full-time minister, chaplain, or coordinator. Participants will learn to work as a lay-professional team. Provide intentional leadership development opportunities and trainings.
Finance: There should be full involvement and open information about the budget. Consider an annual campus ministry Sunday with a special collection for campus programs and more elaborate fundraising events.
Recruiting for Leadership
First Leaders in the Campus Ministry
The people best suited to start a campus ministry program are familiar with the physical college setting, have formal ties with a local Unitarian Universalist (UU) church, and are able to develop an accountable relationship with students to hear and respond to their pastoral and developmental needs. These people may be of any age, however having a non-student involved in campus ministry is critical to maintain a sustainable program during the ups and downs of college life.
Leadership structures will vary from program to program and may include a variety of roles:
- The Student Leader—Generally a sophomore or junior who was raised UU, understands the basic principles of UU, and is experienced with community or conference planning from church or district involvement.
- The Lay Assistant for Campus Ministry—An adult or two in the local UU Church who make this their "volunteer" project for the Church (like teaching Religious Education or working on the Buildings & Grounds committee), spending an average of ten hours a month providing support for the campus ministry program. This adult may have been a youth advisor or may work on campus.
- Church Religious Professional—Any kind of person paid by the church:
- minister (intern, senior, associate, lifespan), religious educator, paid
- young adult or campus coordinator, etc.
Securing a Volunteer Commitment
From New Members
You want to quickly identify how people in the group can help you build the campus ministry. Their tasks may fall into the following roles:
- Lead a group meeting.
- Lead part of a group meeting such as a worship activity, ice-breaker game .
- Phone, email and talk to other members about upcoming events.
- Staff an Information Table at a campus event.
- Staff an Information Table at the local congregation.
- Volunteer on a congregational project with other campus ministry members.
- Maintain a website or email list.
It takes skill and practice to build a list of interested individuals into a core group, which will carry the vision and become the community that is your campus ministry. Generally having three or four dedicated members is a good beginning for a core group, and most groups in the UUA are between ten to twenty members and stay together for a year or two. Remember there is a lot of transitioning that happens during college, such as study abroad programs, transferring to a new school, studying parttime and taking time off to work or attend to personal matters.
There are several good ways to secure a commitment from new members:
- Get to know everyone better, learning their name, family history, personal interests, educational goals and work aspirations. Use this information to facilitate connections between students and to spark conversations that are relevant to the things people are actively engaged in.
- Be careful to demand a lot of “help” in the first eight weeks of starting up a program (or even in restarting a dormant program) from new members. Ask members of your congregation to volunteer on a short-term basis to help maintain basic program needs, such as leading the group meetings, bringing food, and attending the campus ministry meetings to bring a welcoming presence from the congregation. Be patient for these eight weeks and allow the new members to bond, create community with each other without having to deal with the stress and anxiety of the logistical tasks. Once they have gotten to know one another better, it will be more likely that they will want to take on leadership responsibilities because they will understand better the value of maintaining and hopefully growing the campus ministry.
- Keep the focus of the group on the spiritual and the religious on a regular basis. Groups struggle when they are purely social and discussion orientated, and are not as welcoming for new comers who may be there seeking guidance in their spiritual life and are unfamiliar with the strong participatory nature of Unitarian Universalism. Quality social time, fellowship, community, comes naturally out of good worship and spiritual reflection.
- When you advertise and at the beginning of each meeting, clearly state the purpose and the length of time of the meeting so newcomers know what to expect and how long it will last. Also, remember to explain any insider information useful for newcomers about worship practices.
- As you get to know the students better, identify what their particular strengths, likes and dislikes are. This information will help you discern what gifts each student may bring to the group. Be conscious of their interests as these may be good topics for the students to lead a group activity in. Knowing their strengths will also allow you to encourage people into campus ministry responsibilities that they like and feel empowered by, rather than having a burden placed on them that they would rather not do but are doing out of sacrifice for the group. Too many sacrifices and people will burn out and lose their personal sense of meaning in the group.
Creating a Steering Committee
Having a team, sub-committee, chairpersons, facilitators, coordinators, chaplain, and so on and so forth provides a campus ministry program with the leadership necessary to maintain your activities. What structure is right for you? Generally you need a group of people, we recommend at least three, who see themselves as a team taking who will carry the vision of the campus ministry; see that the vision is developed and implemented and that its goals are carried out in a timely effective way; delegate responsibility for the work of campus ministry; and review and evaluate the work of campus ministry. You may wish to call this your Campus Ministry Steering Committee.
Recruiting for the Steering Committee
You may have a difficult time recruiting for the steering committee but don’t worry, this is normal. Because you are organizing a new group there may be a higher anxiety about failure and people feeling that their time may be wasted or undervalued. Be aware of these tensions and recognize that people generally make commitments to people and ideas they trust, which are easily articulated with simple goals.
As an organizer you should be intentional about asking people to help in this specific capacity and be clear with them about the term of their commitment, the expected number of meetings, and a simple list of possible activities they may become involved in. For a group of up to ten participants, try for one to three leaders; for each additional ten participants, try to add another leader. Your initial contacts should be the church minister (if any), an adult lay leader, and a student leader.
Working with your minister is an important step, even if they are unable to make a regular commitment to the campus ministry program. Because campus ministry involves faith development, religious education and spiritual care, the skills of your minister, board of trustees and/or lay ministry team will be useful to call upon and learn from. Often campus ministries are started by ministers, intern ministers or student ministers, either as a part of their studies or because of a compelling vision, however they are looking for lay people and students in the congregation to maintain and grow the program. If you have an engaged minister in your congregation work with them but know that they will likely have to transition into a less active role. It is good regardless of the involvement of the minister to maintain a regular relationship with the minister or if no minister the individuals responsible for pastoral and spiritual care within the congregation. This is important not only because of the services they may be called upon to provide for UU’s in your campus ministry, but because of their wisdom and knowledge about UU ministry in general.
Lay and student leaders may come in many forms. Often adult lay people are connected with the university somehow, or have children who are of college age. Other adult lay people may be young adults themselves, post-college, early professionals, or young couples looking to be active with college students. As you identify leadership, talk with people about their leadership interests, and listen to their stories about their Unitarian Universalist experience and why they are excited about building a campus ministry program. If you have a member of your church who teaches at the college, find out if one or more would be willing to be a faculty advisor for the campus ministry. This may be more of an honorary role, with a couple visits annually to the student group.
As your leadership team grows, or if you belong to a larger church with additional staff, you may also turn to the youth advisor or former youth advisors. They are excellent choices to become involved with campus ministry because of their experience working with youth, many of whom have likely bridged into college. Often they maintain relationships with their former youth group members through college, providing pastoral care, church information, and networking support.
Another person is your Director or Minister of Religious Education, who will know the inner workings of the church and be able to assist campus ministry with resources, materials, program ideas, and people ideas. Recently there has been a shift in religious education traditionally focusing on children and youth age zero to eighteen to be thought of as a lifespan religious education encompassing people from cradle to grave. This then gives a mandate for Directors of Religious Education (DRE) and Ministers of Religious Education (MRE) to be actively engaged in campus ministry, however this is still very rare within the UUA. You are best off considering the DRE/MRE an ally, and utilize them to help navigate church bureaucracy, finances, calendar, and publicity.
Steering Committee Examples:
Monthly Steering Committee
- Chair or Co-Chairs
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- 2 x Student Member
- 2 x Congregation Member
- Meets Monthly and plans events out two to three months in advance, directly assigns the rotation of leadership for the campus ministry group activities.
Advantages
- Good for growing groups
- Groups with a lot of people
- Creates a number of leadership opportunities
- Establishes a structure and more long term tradition and vision
- Frequent opportunity to make decisions, particularly those regarding money
Disadvantages
- Higher time commitment
- Need good facilitation to maintain focus and prevent burn out
- Learning curve, particularly around history and practice may be harder to teach
Quarterly Steering Committee
- Chair
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- 1 x Student Member
- 1 x Congregation Member
- Meets quarterly (four times a year) to review what has been happening with campus ministry and sets a basic schedule of events for the upcoming quarter, however other events and activities may be developed and the committee is less active in the assignment of leadership for the campus ministry group activities.
Advantages
- Only four meetings a year may allow people with limited time to be involved
- Maintains connection with congregation
- Basic agenda of goals
Disadvantages
- Requires strong day-to-day campus ministry leaders
- Less opportunities to make decisions together, particularly regarding money
Running a Meeting
How to Run a Successful Meeting
Here are the tricks of the trade to get the most out of meetings.
State The Purpose
Most important is to clearly state the purpose of the meeting. Many meetings are doomed before they start by improperly set expectations.
Greetings And Introductions
Meetings happen through speaking and listening. Greet each person and provide the opportunity for each person to get to meet others.
Have An Agenda
This can be done before the meeting or during the meeting just after the greetings and introductions. One good way to start this process is by asking the question, "When this meeting is over and a roaring success, what happened?" Write down the answers and design the agenda to make it happen. If done before the meeting, review it and provide the opportunity for additions and corrections.
Be On Time
Start on time and end on time. Set limits for each agenda item. Have a timekeeper. The more you take the meeting seriously the more the participant’s will. If you feel that you require more time, ask permission to go over, or you can arrange for another time.
Be Prepared
Often this means making phone calls before the meeting and gathering needed materials. Make arrangements for someone to capture the agenda, discussion points, and action items. Meeting time is precious. If you treat it that way, others will too. Be prepared!
Maintain Focus
Give people something to look at as well as to listen to. Exploit opportunities for movement. Ask the participants to get more involved by recording brainstorms, handing out papers, etc. It may help to have a "rat hole" monitor—one who's role is to call attention to the times when the discussion is off the topic. You can have a prop that can be picked up and waved by anyone. The main thing here is to have some process for handling getting off track.
Converting Words Into Action
Accomplishments happen when people take action. One way to move into action is with a request. You can ask, "Does someone want to do this?" Sometimes this works, but when it doesn't try asking, "Joe—will you ask the minister if we can paint her cat blue at the next con and report back on what she said at the next Wednesday's meeting?" The structure of the request is simple; Will who do what by when. A well formed request says what is to be done how will we know it was done. Also, a request without a due date seldom produces action. To be effective, requests are recorded, tracked, and reviewed at each meeting.
Review The Meeting
Successful meetings take effort and produce accomplishment. Schedule time near the end of the meeting to review what happened and acknowledge the effort. When people feel good about themselves and what's happening, they are more likely to make an extra effort to get things done.
Yield The Last Word
Allow each person the opportunity to say what-ever they wish as a last word for the meeting. Pay attention, this may be where the most valuable contribution is made.
Job Descriptions
For the UU Campus Ministry that successfully becomes a club on campus, or for those that form an official committee through a local UU congregation, these job descriptions may be a helpful outline of duties and responsibilities.
Coordinator/President Job Description
The following represent duties for which an organization president might be responsible:
- Preside at organization meetings
- Facilitate leadership board meetings
- Represent the UU Campus Ministry to the University and Congregation
- Meet weekly with the adviser
- Be aware of all money matters
- Assist all executive officers
- Serve as spokesperson for the executive board
- Provide motivation for the organization
- Prepare for all meetings
- Coordinate campus wide programs
- Serve on various committees or task forces
- Prepare prior to all interviews
- Be open to all opinions and input
- Provide follow-up to organizational tasks
- Inform the leadership board of other meeting
- Organize leadership board retreats
- Coordinate the leadership board transition
Coordinator/Vice President Job Description
The following represent duties for which an organization vice president might be responsible:
- Preside at organization meetings in the absence of the president
- Direct constitutional updating and revision
- Facilitate elections
- Submit term reports
- Serve as liaison to committees
- Perform other duties as directed by the president
Treasurer Job Description
The following represent duties for which an organization treasurer might be responsible:
- Prepare the organizational budget
- Serve as chair of a finance committee
- Prepare purchase orders, requisition forms, or supply requests
- Audit books twice per term with adviser (for those campus groups with a budget from the school, you may have funding from the congregation as well or in addition)
- Maintain a financial history of the organization
- Maintain a working relationship with congregation and/or university accounting
- Inform the leadership board of all financial department personnel matters
- Serve on various committees and task forces
- Coordinate solicitations/fundraising
- Claim all stolen or lost equipment
- Maintain an inventory of all equipment and its condition
- Make quarterly reports of all receipts and disbursements
- Perform other duties as directed by the president
Secretary Job Description
The following represent duties for which an organization secretary might be responsible:
- Record and maintain minutes of all organization meetings
- Send minutes to all appropriate members and institutional staff
- Prepare an agenda with the president for all meetings
- Keep the organization informed
- Maintain attendance (roll call) at all meetings
- Maintain a calendar of events
- Serve as the organization's recognition coordinator
- Maintain a phone and email directory of all members
- Maintain name tags and folders for all members
- Organize an end-of-year slide show
- Reserve meeting rooms for the term and year
- Advise on public relations
- Maintain the office
- Perform other duties as assigned by the president
Internal Group Communications
For announcements, specific and short information, set up an email listserv, through the university or church if you can, through yahoogroups.com or another free email listserv program otherwise. For those of you getting started, make sure if you have a list of people from the university, church, or referrals from parents, students, or other people who know about potential student members of your campus ministry, to send out a message letting them know how you received their email and that they are being contacted because you believe they may be interested in the campus group. Email is often very easy for most students and staff to use but it has a clear dark side. Groups are at serious risk of losing their identity and slowly alienating students if email is used too much. Be sure to balance other forms of communication to maintain the personal touch and to allow those who are not as email savvy to feel connected. Avoid the "death by email" syndrome where email becomes the sole source of communication as this tends to alienate people from the community.
For check ins, crisis, or counseling, the telephone is one of the most excellent ways to communicate in lieu of a personal visit. Students often remember the times when people from the church make personal efforts to connect with them outside email. We highly recommend a mindfulness to utilizing phone and the written correspondence as sole reliance on email can minimize the potential for deeper more intentional relationships. Make sure you ask for phone numbers and keep a list, making it available to other students if the people are willing. For your core leaders try to use the telephone twice a month to stay in touch more deeply than an email. For your regular group members, use the phone to inquire about unusual absences. Develop a system of calling each other, possibly a phone tree.
A quarterly calendar or announcements of special event should be mailed. Make sure to collect full snail mail contact information, don't forget that zip code. This mailing list will be very helpful to let students know more intimately than email about events and to reach those without regular or any access to email. While snail mail is more difficult to manage, often church offices can incorporate this mailing list for you and produce labels upon request, or even help mail for you if provided originals far enough in advance. Remember, for students, mail is extraordinary and memorable.
Personal visits are great for community building and leadership development. It is a wonderful thing to have a Unitarian Universalist drop by to say hi, or to have a more intentional visit together, such as a lunch or cup of tea. Generally if you can meet face to face with a couple of your key students outside regular meeting times this will greatly strengthen your relationships with one another and provide support that is very hard measure. They say that 90% of communication is non-verbal.
Lastly, consider maintaining a website, even if it is a static site with contact and activity information about your group. With our current technological use in the 21st century, it is fairly easy to find someone to develop a one page website that can be uploaded and maintained either on the congregation’s webserver, college’s webserver or easiest but less desirable a group members personal webserver.
Dynamics >
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
