Baptist Student Ministry: Object Lessons in the New Reality for Denominational Ministries

The world in which we live is a world filled with opportunity. It is an exciting time to be alive and involved in ministry. This is especially true for those who minister to the more than 14 million university students on campuses across America today. To work on a university campus is to experience the quickening of the Spirit. There is a very real sense that one is ministering on the cusp of the postmodem world. In contrast with earlier generations of students, the beginning years of the 21st century are times in which students are characterized by an optimism very different from the cynicism and hopelessness of their Gen X older brothers and sisters. Indeed, instead of a countercultural rejection of society\u27s institutions, there is almost a heroic desire to improve these institutions and make society better. Neil Howe and William Strauss, characterize this generation as the next great generation, a reference to the World War II generation of Americans? Or, as Ann Quindlen of Newsweek put it as quoted in Millennials Rising, Meet the Millennials and rejoice