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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Saving our own kids

From NCN News Facebook Photo page.






This map shows an interesting statistic.  In 2009, Global Ministry Center asked the following question:  Quickly: This info was taken from the local church perspective. Of your students in college, how many are in Nazarene schools? Non-Nazarene?
While it is not surprising that the districts with the highest percentage of Nazarene students attending Nazarene schools is the host district, it is surprising how low the overall percentage is.

This graphic helps me see the great mission field right before us.  Most Nazarene teens in local churches do not go to Nazarene schools.  Two thoughts come to mind.  1)  We must do better at encouraging our students to be discipled at a Nazarene school.  2)  What are happening to the over 70% on average that are not attending regional universities.  What an amazing opportunity.  

What's more amazing to me is that the Church of the Nazarene has less a ministry presence on less than 25 campuses.  The United Methodist Church has nearly 600.  And, if you take away local churches (i.e. Sunday School Classes, etc.), our number goes down and the number of UM ministries rises.


While many who see the above graphic are saddened by the number not attending Nazarene schools, I am burdened by the responsibility and opportunity to reach these "other" students.  


And that is why we are here at Boise State, and why others are on the mission field at other universities.  More thoughts on this will be coming later...but until then, I close with this thought from Benson Hines:
"If we reach college students well for the next 5 years, and then stopped, we would effect the culture for the next fifty years."  

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