I had the opportunity last week to speak with one of our supporting churches about Sojourn's progress and growth over the last couple of years. We've spent a lot of time working through our language, process, and simplifying how we talk about our work in Boston. I felt it would be helpful to share some of thoughts in this space. Over the next three days I'll explain the why behind campus, church, and community.
Why_we_do: Campus...
Over the course of the next four weeks the student population in Boston will swell to over 250,000 (some put this number much closer to 300,000 now). I don't know if this is true or not, but I do not believe that there is such a concentration of students anywhere else in the world (close to 300,000 in a 15 mile radius).
There are over 35 different campuses in the immediate Boston area (more if you go out farther). This includes Harvard, Tufts, and MIT, routinely listed in the top Universities in the country.
20% of these students are international, and the majority of them will return to their home country after their studies are completed.
25% of the major world leaders have spent time studying in Boston (including our current president).
100% of these students will spend money, go to class, read books and articles, engage in academic thought and process, and spend significant time with class mates and professors.
Most, if not all, will use social media, watch tv, date, discover passions and gifts and talents, make and lose friends, use public transportation, move several times, and make major decisions about who they will be, what they will do, and who they will do it with.
At best, 2% of them will have any significant involvement in church or a campus ministry.*
And that keeps us awake at night and energizes us when we wake up in the morning. It doesn't matter what group of people you are talking about, 5,000 of 250,000 should be incredibly unsettling and seen as a major missional opportunity. (With our expansion to Providence, where the percentages are very similar, we are able to reach another 80,000 students, and 10 more campuses including Brown University).
That need, coupled with the tremendous potential for influence represented by the type of student Boston attracts, is why we care about Campus.
*stats are pooled from various campus ministry reports.
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