Recognizing and Awakening Missional Christian Graduate Students on Campus

In graduate student ministry, finding students who feel called to invest as leaders on campus is essential. Such students are already invested in your community and have shown evidence that they care about its presence on campus. Likely, they’ve already shown their willingness to serve by volunteering to help with short-term tasks. Not all missional graduate students will be available to devote their time to planting and building InterVarsity chapters on campus at any given time. GFM staff must engage in locating missional graduate students, or apprentices, who are willing and able to develop flourishing communities on campus.

Special Cases and Student-Led Groups

A special case arises in student-led groups working in partnership but not affiliated with InterVarsity. Staff are there at the invitation of students and it is especially important to work with them to answer questions of “why leadership” and what qualities and commitments a group should look for in its leadership. Then staff work alongside students in thinking through the people in the community they want to invite. Staff can serve such groups in working with them to identify training needs and offer the training they request.

Balancing Discipleship and Community Building

InterVarsity staff work requires balancing discipleship and building witnessing communities. Because of the time challenges and transitions graduate students face, GFM staff will need to help students become grounded in their understanding of their whole calling before inviting them to be part of leading a witnessing campus community. Asking too soon may result in having students who are not prepared for leadership.

Groups that do not have a model of a healthy leadership culture, either because of decline (a re-planting or turnaround situation) or planting situation, may take staff forming a missional core group in which students develop vision, share leadership, serve the larger community, and in time, become its leadership.

Students in Two-Year Master's Programs

At the same time, you may have students in two-year master's programs who are ready to lead on arrival and don’t want to wait a year, so discernment is important. Handled appropriately, a call to serve as an IV graduate student apprentice or leader should be part of the call to serve Christ for a lifetime. Involvement should provide training and experience for service and investment in their arena of work now and in the future.

Developing Leaders

Developing leaders is a critical ministry practice for all staff ministers. This work is never finished in graduate ministries that have a continuing presence on campus. Graduate students will often need to step back from leadership in the dissertation phase of their work. Thus, for groups to expand their capacity to engage their campus, they will need to enlarge the team of people devoted to developing a flourishing community on campus. This often happens best when people have the chance to apprentice alongside a current leader, observing how they lead and then practicing leading themselves. This is ideal in graduate student settings where people are often reluctant to lead alone and prefer to team up with others.

Identifying Missional Graduate Students

InterVarsity identifies a missional graduate student as: a student who is motivated by their relationship with Jesus to advance the Gospel on campus, and who is willing to devote time and resources to the campus mission, taking risks, and engaging with cynics and seekers.

The Life Context of Graduate Students

Graduate students are young adults in a different life stage and a different environment than undergraduates. They are often:

• More engaged in their local churches, attending small groups and participating in other activities in their congregations.
• In a stage of faith development which is about developing independence rather than following an authority figure.
• In a daily environment more like their first professional job than the university public square. They are being inculcated as apprentices into the epistemology, methodology, philosophy, and people networks of their profession.
• Facing academic demands which dominate their schedules, at times precluding adequate self-care, relationships, and time with God.
• Either finding ways to integrate their studies and professional life with their beliefs or beginning to separate their public and private lives.

We will work with graduate students in various kinds of programs:

• One or two-year master's students. If they join our community, they likely want to jump in right away. They may be transitioning into their next industry or professional position the last half of their second year.
• Professional school students in 2-4 year programs. A number will identify with a professional school fellowship if there is one. Otherwise, they are likely to be most available in their first years.
• Doctoral students. In most cases, they will be with you 4-6 years. Often, their first semester is focused on surviving/transitioning to grad school. They often will be more available before they enter the dissertation phase of their work and may be able to do more individual influencing during their dissertation.

As graduate students negotiate these life stages, it may appear that there are fewer missional graduate students available. God will bring leaders as we pray, cultivate leadership and vision, and encourage students to grow in their understanding of their own vocation.

Characteristics of Missional Graduate Students

A missional graduate student does not always look like a missional undergraduate student. Missional graduate students are often those who:

• Are aware of the culture of graduate schools in the university and have sensitivity to the need to be a witness within that culture.
• Understand that there is a relationship between their studies and work and God’s redemption in the world.

Those who come from strongly missional undergrad work in IV or another ministry will be helped by thinking through ways the mission is the same and how, contextually, it is different. This includes understanding how time expectations for leader involvement in grad school are lower, reflecting their calling as students. Most will be relieved!

Often, with the previously noted exception for master's students, identifying missional grad students and inviting them to consider leadership takes longer than it does in the undergraduate context. However, graduate students are older and often bring more maturity and wisdom when they do get involved.

Demographically, graduate students are divided by discipline. Look for people who are respected among their peers and colleagues. Don’t assume they will be those who are most readily identified as leaders in a more diverse social setting.

A missional graduate student may be more motivated to focus on their department or professional field, or their local church or neighborhood.

A missional graduate student may not have time to devote to fellowship activities, despite having an interest. Sometimes this is conceived in all or none terms. Fellowship can mean something as simple as meeting once a week over lunch with a prayer partner. If they can identify something they can do, it relationally positions them should their time permit greater involvement.

A missional graduate student may be faced with higher risks and challenges when engaging with others within schools and departments, their daily arena of work and interaction.

A missional graduate student may be a reluctant leader with limited experience who needs to develop social or leadership skills to be effective.

Respecting Challenges and Inviting Leadership

While we need to respect the challenges facing graduate students, we must also invite them to live as Kingdom people in graduate school and for the rest of their professional lives. Our invitation to them to invest in Kingdom work on campus should always be seated within the invitation to put Christ first, which will mean saying no to more involvement with InterVarsity for some. But many will find that reshaping their understanding of God’s purposes for their graduate years and engaging as leaders with InterVarsity is an antidote for some of the challenges they face.

This will also stretch our vision of who is a leader and what leadership positions they fill. We may be looking for a small group leader. They may want to focus on engaging their department with a GiG (Group investigating God) or a journal group or something else.

Helping Students Consider their Call to Mission

As Apprentices and Leaders

Often missional graduate students will develop because of our call for them to embrace the Gospel in their new environment. Here are some key activities for staff to encourage students to explore leadership:

• Get to know incoming students. Identify those with a heart for God and His work. Offer activities to introduce them theologically and practically to God’s mission on campus and in their careers.
• Support first semester students as they make the transition to graduate school. Invite them often. Share the vision regularly. Re-invite them at the end of the first semester.
• Notice who keeps showing up. Offer them opportunities to get involved and to invite their colleagues.
• Share a clear rationale for involvement in Christian community in the workplace as well as the church. Call students to be leaders in their professions. Treat the InterVarsity community as a training ground for a lifetime. Invite missional faculty who were part of graduate chapters to talk about the impact of their experiences.
• Encourage graduate students to see themselves as ambassadors and influencers within their professions.
• Speak out against idolatry of work, power or success and fear of failure which can eliminate time for community and relationships with colleagues.
• Be aware of the culture, challenges, and opportunities students face in their departments and with their advisors.
• Provide graduate students opportunities to shape the chapter vision directly. Host a “listening post” with new people and the leadership team as part of planning for spring semester, offering people the opportunity to get involved with their ideas.
• Help students identify their gifts. Cultivate a community which names and appreciates others’ gifts and invites students to use their gifts actively on campus, in the community, and in the context of graduate school.
• Encourage every current leader to look for and invite at least one person to be an apprentice. Here are three key steps:
  • Pray: Ask God who He might be calling into leadership.
  • Reflect: Who among your regular participants and other engaged connections seem to have a heart for the mission? Do this as a leadership team.
  • Give a clear invitation: Affirm their gifts and be clear about the expectations for the leadership position to which they are being invited.

We tend to think about leadership positions rather than teams which share a task. Having sole responsibility for something is often scary, given grad workloads. When people are slammed with a conference presentation or prepping for qualifying exams, it helps to know there are others to cover for them.

Moving From Apprentices to Leaders

The process of moving from apprentice to leader is much like their apprentice process as a graduate researcher, going through these stages:

Stage 1: I Do, You Watch, We Talk

In this stage, bring along your apprentice to “shadow” you as you do something for small group, like leading a small group meeting or prepping Bible study.

Encourage them to be intentional about watching what you’re doing and jotting down questions. You can explain important details to them in the moment if you’re doing something like prepping, or you can wait till the event’s over.  

This stage is like having your apprentice riding along with you, an experienced driver, and having them pay careful attention and ask clarifying questions.   

 

Stage 2: I Do, You Help, We Talk

This time, you do the thing but include your apprentice more by having them actively do something. They get a chance to try a new thing or problem solve on their own with you right there.

For the example of Bible study prep, you’re still the one planning things out, but you start including your apprentice in some of the decisions. You could present a couple different options for the icebreaker activity or ask if they’d be interested in leading the opening prayer time for the next group.

For the driving metaphor, you’re still in the driver’s seat, but now you’re having the apprentice(s) navigate for you, helping them gain more of a sense of responsibility and familiarity with the process of driving.   

 

Stage 3: You Do, I Help, We Talk

This is where things start to shift, and the apprentice takes more direct control in the moment. It’s like you’re partnering to lead.  

This could mean you’re dividing up Bible study prep into sections between the two of you. Or they’re leading a particular part of the small group meeting. You’re always there to jump in, answer questions, and provide guidance if you see things potentially heading off track.

This is the moment where the apprentice hops into the driver’s seat. You’re monitoring what they’re doing in the passenger’s seat and reminding them about turning on blinkers, etc. And if you have to, you can still grab the wheel or hit the brakes.   

 

Stage 4: You Do, I Watch, We Talk

This stage is what most people think of when they picture handing off leadership to someone else, when the apprentice is actually doing the bulk of the leading—though you’re still there to step in if needed.

This is when the apprentice is prepping the Bible study or leading the event without you giving much input until the end during your debrief.  

This is like when the apprentice has been driving with you. They have their license, and you’re just along for the ride. You may have a few thoughts or comments at the end of the drive, but that’s pretty much it.    

Stage 5: You Do, Someone Else Watches, We Talk

At this point, your apprentice is now able to do important ministry tasks without you! It’s time to help them either grow in another area or ask if they want to continue to become a small group leader. Help them pray and discern. You can also invite them to do a Ministry Playbook course together. They may even be leading their own small group by now.  

You’ll still meet up occasionally to check-in to see if they have any questions. And they’re actually taking on an apprentice of their own. This allows you to pick a new apprentice as well and start the process again with them because the culture of leadership development is a steady rhythm.

This is like having your apprentice get their own car and start training a new driver while you do the same.

Notice that the one common element in each stage is “We talk/debrief.” Experience becomes learning when we debrief and position people for the next stage.