The city is a strategic place to plant and cultivate gospel-centered churches. I am grateful for the church-planting efforts in urban centers. I am also thankful for the renewed emphasis on church planting in other places such as small towns.1 From time to time, I even hear about the importance of churches in university towns—but not often enough in my estimation.
Colleges and universities can be found everywhere. New York has several universities and colleges, and so does rural Iowa. But there are some communities that are particularly defined by the presence of one or more university campuses, even beyond their being defined as urban, suburban, or rural.
I happen to live in one such community, as I pastor a church that is between the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill and Duke University. We are also attuned to the presence of North Carolina State, Meredith College, North Carolina Central University, Elon University, and several other nearby colleges. This area, the Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill Triangle, is not a huge metroplex like Boston, San Francisco, or New York, so the university ethos of our area is more than a minor descriptor—it is a central reality.
Places such as this are important to consider when we look at the practice and the future of church planting. I thought I would reflect on the lessons and joys that have gripped me in the blessed endeavor of planting a church in a community defined by a college or university. Three aspects of pastoring a collegiate community have surprised me: preaching, multigenerational influence, and the art of sticking to the first things. Read More
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