Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) across the state kicked off the fall semester of ministry with over 1,200 students in weekly worship across ten locations! Arkansas Baptists maintain an active ministry presence at over 30 college and university campuses across the state. Ten of those campuses have a full-time campus minister funded through Arkansas Baptists’ Cooperative Program giving. While each full-time campus minister’s salary is funded by the Cooperative Program budget, local ministry budgets are funded via local church, association, and individual giving to BCM budgets.
At several campuses, growth in the ministry of BCM has required some creative solutions. At Conway BCM, worship gatherings cannot fit within readily available meeting spaces on campus or in the ministry house owned by Arkansas Baptists near the University of Central Arkansas. Therefore, Conway BCM kicked off their year meeting in Harlan Park Baptist Church where over 170 students gather on Monday nights.
On August 14th, University of Arkansas BCM launched a second service to accommodate the growth of their large group gathering! After their fall 2022 services launched with 195 in the room, student leaders and staff at the ministry determined to move to two services in fall 2023. Those services launched with 240 students in August.
University of Arkansas Monticello has one of the most robust Baptist Collegiate Ministries in the nation. Because their ministry has outgrown the ability to meet for weekly gatherings in their building on campus, UAM BCM meets on Tuesday nights at First Baptist Church in Monticello. There, they kicked off the semester with over 90 students in the room – 4% of the entire student body!
Each week BCMs meet throughout the state in university spaces, ABSC-owned ministry buildings or in local churches, with one purpose: to give every student the opportunity to encounter Jesus and experience life. By enabling the work of BCM, Arkansas Baptists are engaged in ministry to the most strategic place on earth – the college campus. Where else can you identify that God has brought so many 18–22-year-olds together that they might hear and respond to the Gospel?
If your church is not currently invested in the ministry of your local BCM, would you consider reaching out to your local BCM campus minister to investigate ways that you can partner together? God is doing an incredible work on college campuses, and I would personally hate for you to miss it.
To find your local Baptist Collegiate Ministry, click here.