Want to grow in ministering with faculty? Here’s how to get started:
1. Pray for faculty, administrators, and staff that they would glorify God in their work.
2. You don’t have to meet faculty during the New Student Outreach (NSO) season. Faculty are also swamped during this time. However, a brief communication a few weeks before school starts and then connecting again a month or so into school year would be a great time to make contact.
3. Contact your chapter advisor in the summer or a couple weeks before school starts. Most of us don’t communicate with them but they want to hear from us! Instead of being a necessary hurdle to get on campus, see them as having the potential to be your #1 volunteer! Try this:
- Send them a text or email: “I know life may be crazy, but can we meet for 5-10min (on Zoom or on-campus) so I can give you an update? I’d also love to hear how we can pray for you.”
- “If you’re too busy, please send prayer requests and we’ll pray for them.”
- Circle back after NSO and send an update and ask how you can pray for them
4. If you are a staff director: send faculty advisors a gift and say thank you.
5. When you do meet, ask how they’d like to be involved or serve with your group. Most faculty/advisors have ideas of what they want to do (like host a meal or help meet and welcome students). Most don’t need to give a talk, but if they do, try using an interview-based format vs. having them prep a formal talk (it minimizes their prep).
6. Remember, faculty can handle email and they will email you back.
7. Reaching faculty is part of our vision, too (“Students & Faculty transformed”)! We’ve had lots of success with faculty ministry even during the pandemic. It has been a significant bright spot, especially meet & greets, even on zoom.
8. Helping support a faculty group could be one your most impactful campus ministry strategies. Consider this: A 5-person faculty group would touch 500,000 lives over the span of one career! Faculty groups can take turns helping the chapter and spread the load of leadership around, providing stability to the chapter
9. Community college faculty and staff groups have been very strategic and helpful and reaching them is a great first step in planting at these campuses. Remember, community college faculty care about the mission and serving students.
10. Faculty meet & greets have been a successful way to serve and connect with faculty. These meetings are about partnership: grad and undergrad ministry working together to love and engage faculty. Contact an InterVarsity campus staff minister or connect with Faculty Ministries directly to talk more about this approach.
More Resources to Get Started Curious about helping to start a faculty gathering on your campus? Get started with the Faculty Gatherings Toolkit:
