A Ministry Happy Hour

This summer I have been assigned to head up our church’s College and Young Adult Ministry.  I have been doing Youth Ministry for over 13 years and have worked with college students before, but never in the “Point Person” position before.  So, I’m in student mode where I am learning a ton about college and young adult ministry, but at the same time, I am trying to create and develop a ministry on the run.

Why create on the run?  Because I want to do something this summer so I can give college students (especially those who go away to college during the year) a taste of what this ministry will look like.  I have this summer window of opportunity that I want to take advantage of.  I have already established a ton of relationships because of years working with youth so my hope this summer is build a community fellowship centered around Christ.  But what does that look like?  How can I establish a Christ-centered community with a group that has been neglected for so long at my church?

One idea that I had and just recently tried was a “happy hour” idea.  Happy Hours are typical at most restaurants where they offer people reduced prices on food and alcohol during the 4-7 pm hours during the week.  As a former college student and young adult, I know that these are favorite times for them. So, I had the idea of creating a ministry happy hour at our Church. We called it Chillin’ & Grillin’.  At Chillin’ & Grillin’ we would offer free food and drinks (non-alcohol drinks), loud music, volleyball and a friendly atmosphere for people to come together and socialize.  Also, there would be NO program or structure.  College students and young adult would come as they were, whenever they wanted and left whenever they wanted.

My goal for the night was create an environment where young adults would begin to develop community so that they would start to feel more comfortable around each other.  That way, when they see each other at church, they would realize that there are more people just like them and that they would have people they could honestly connect with.  Also, it is my hope that as we establish a connection with one another and build a little bit of community amongst the group, that getting them involved in community fellowships like small groups becomes easier and almost a no-brainer.

When it was all said and done with, we had 25 students come (although not all at once) and we had a lot of them stick around til after the event was over, just hanging out.  In fact, I had to kick them out after a period of time.  So I felt like we had a great start and am already looking forward to our next time together.

Now, creating a “happy hour” type event is not for every church, but I think the concept is good.  So what could you do to establish community and a connection with your college and young adults at your church?

My suggestion is that you TAKE A MINUTE and…

• poll a bunch of the young adults who come to your church (whether you know them well or not) and find out what they were looking for.  What would they come out to?  Many of the ones I talked to said they were looking for opportunities to connect with others just like them and they wanted a place where they could just hang out and relax.  BINGO!  For me, that looked like our Chillin’ & Grillin’.  But for you that may mean something else.  Find out what that might be for your specific group.
• after you poll them, create and start promoting your event.  Whether it ends up being a small turn out or big one, promote it and encourage the young adults to come and work your tail off at establishing a community, relaxed feel to your time together.  It is 1 step at a time, but I believe when you start with community and build a group identity, it will lead to bigger and better things.

What do you think?  Post a comment so that we can all benefit from it.