Retaining New Students - Ministry Exchange (MX)

Retaining

New Students
As New Student Outreach winds down this fall, don’t set yourself up for
discouragement by expecting all the people you have contacted to keep
coming. Some people will join other Christian groups; others will not even
be ready to commit themselves to following Christ. That means that during
NSO we should contact many more people than we can actually assimilate into
our campus fellowship—and take special care of those students who do seem
most eager to grow.
Here are some ideas on retaining the new students who show up at NSO
activities.
Follow up promptly. During the first weeks of school, I-V staff, student
leaders and other members should divvy up names of freshmen, so that those
new students can interact with a variety of people from InterVarsity. Don’t
assign just one or two people to do all the contacting. If you rely on only
one or two people to follow up, some newcomers who don’t click with them
may never have a chance to meet others in I-V whom they can relate to.
Take a special fall retreat. At Illinois we hold a chapter retreat
especially for newcomers after the first month of school. Held Friday night
and Saturday, it helps us identify and get to know key freshmen who show by
their attendance that they are looking for a committed group of Christians.
Host a frosh banquet or frosh nights. These ideas bring freshmen together
and meet some of their needs in the process. By eating together at banquets
and taking time to share about themselves, freshmen get to know one another
and feel a part of the larger I-V group.
Similarly, a chapter can organize “frosh nights”—a series of dinners (held
on Sunday nights or whenever meals are not served in the cafeteria)
centered around different discussion topics of special interest to
freshmen. At such events, be careful to avoid talking down to people. Even
freshmen who are looking for help don’t want to be treated like children.
Recontact people. At the end of the first term or the beginning of the
second, recontact people who showed initial interest in InterVarsity but
did not join. Some students are simply not ready to get involved until
after their first semester. (Some of my best leaders did not attend I-V
during their first semester at school.) Send out an updated “welcome
letter” with current information about the chapter’s activities drop them
an e-mail message, and divide up names and phone numbers to set up
appointments to get reacquainted with new students and ask how the year is
going.
Prepare small groups well.Plan now to get enough small-group leaders in
place next spring. Your ability to retain new students is tied to the
number and the quality of your small-group leaders—the shepherds who will
have the most impact on freshmen lives. At Illinois we can nearly always
estimate the total number of students who will become involved in I-V by
multiplying the number of small groups we have set up by 7. If we plan for
50 small groups, we will involve around 350 students. Getting these small-
group leaders in place requires action not only in the spring, but also
now, in the fall. Although recruitment (identifying, searching and
assessing potential leaders’ abilities, then training them at camp) should
happen in the spring, you should now be considering how you can increase
the number of small-group leaders who will become available next fall.
One of the best ways you can do this is not to burn out the leaders you
already have. The best small-group leaders are those returning with
experience; if they feel a lot of frustration and little support this year,
they may not want to try it again. We support each small-group leader with
a co-leader as well as a “support” I-V member.
Make strategic housing decisions. Toward the end of the fall term, your
chapter members should discuss housing decisions for next year. Will
leaders and influencers be located strategically so that they can maximize
their ministry with freshmen and newcomers? If you discover that the core
of the I-V chapter is moving into apartments even though most new people
live in the residence halls, you will be diminishing your ability to reach
and to retain new people. Visitors stick around when the Christian
community around them is full of love, full of truth and easily accessible.
John Roeckeman, I-V staff worker at U. of Illinois