Ministry in Post Christendom

How do we start a Christian ministry in a culture that is increasingly resistance or numb towards Christianity?

Recent conversations from across our state...

"I am inviting students to come to Chi Alpha and to experience Jesus..."  I am not getting anybody who wants to come.

'Even the "Christians" don't seem very interested in actually following Jesus"

I am disappointed... "We only had one person come to our prayer gathering"

"I feel like I failed... I had 5 to 6 students last semester coming to our small groups... now they are all gone and I am starting over."

The traditional approach to launching a campus ministry or a church is to gather a core of Christians together who are excited about the vision of planting a ministry in this location/campus.

Questions:

What if I cannot find enough/any Christians who want to do this with me?  What if the Christians are disinterested or already busy doing other things?  (Can they be reignited or is that like raising the dead)

Do I change the agenda/mission of the group to attract the Christians interests?  (Is it about what they want to do or what we need to do? Selfish interests?)

How do you start a ministry in a mission field that does not have enough interested Christians in it to get it going?  (what would it be like starting a ministry in an area that has no Christians besides yourself)

Initial Thoughts:

As Christianity loses more and more influence in our rapidly increasingly moving culture... moving toward post-christendom... we need to examine what it means to be missional.

- We cannot simply offer programs or events.  (even good programs and events)  Ministry will require structure, but structure does not reach people... we can have tons of structure and very few people.

- We need to reengage relationally with students in their everyday life.  If you were throwing a dinner party... how many people would come to your party?  Jesus ate and interacted with "sinners".  They knew him... he took the kingdom message and the love of God and brought it to them.  He did not expect them to come find it.

- If you are doing ministry in post-christendom... start building relationships with people.  Lots of lunches together, grabbing a coffee, processing life, and sharing the gospel with them.  It is a journey and it is work.   However, if you interact with people like Jesus did... they will want to be at your dinner table.. and to process their spiritual journey with you.

We reach and love people, one person at a time.

For the sake of students,

Jeff