Decoding AI

Today I spent a few hours at the Art Institute of Minneapolis, just down the street from the regional office. A coworker of mine, Jim, has been involved on and off with students at AI for the last 5-6 years, and took me there today so I could decode the campus (one of my assignments from my New Staff Development training).

Decoding is the process of gathering information and relationships to help you figure out what God might be doing on campus. Getting the right info about a campus is the starting point of decoding, but seeking out relationships with people is the most important part of the process.

There were a few things about the Art Institute that made it seem like any other college. We couldn't even get inside the building without swiping an ID card, but we just waited until we could follow someone through the door. There were students chilling in the basement of one of the buildings, hanging out and working on homework.

That's about all of the similarities between AI and the typical 4 year university. At AI, there are four quarters of 12 weeks of class, with a one week break in between. Students can't miss more than one quarter of class at a time, and programs run for 3 years. There aren't sports teams, and there aren't many student clubs (there are 10, to be exact, and the only other non-art, non-academic group besides Campus Crusade is an LGBT group). There aren't any dorms (students can live in one of the dorms at the U of M). A large majority of the 1900 enrolled students commute from all over the metro.

Because of this, the typical campus ministry strategies must be modified. There isn't a Thursday night Cru meeting; there aren't any evening meetings, actually. There's a student-led Bible Study each Tuesday at 1pm this quarter, with attendance ranging from 1 to 8 students. The best time to meet with students is in the day time, usually between 12-2pm. Speaking of timing, with only 12 weeks in a quarter, there are really 9-10 weeks students are available to meet.

One of the themes that keeps coming up in my life lately is the realization that missions is no longer geographically distant- it's culturally distant. Even two blocks from the office, there's a small pocket of art students that is so different from any group I've met before.

Interesting that it's easier for us to go places all around the world, but harder to understand and cross cultures. Regardless, it was really fun to be back on campus today, meeting with students!