17 Ways to Welcome College Students

Your church can make a big difference in the life of a college student. Here are some fun and easy ways to welcome college students who visit your congregation. They’ll appreciate your efforts and your church will be enriched by their participation.

• Make a point to meet and speak to college students when they come to church. Feeling welcomed is the #1 concern of students who attend a new church.
• Invite students to sit with you during worship so they don’t sit alone.
• Treat a student to lunch after worship. Whether it be at home or a local restaurant, students will appreciate an invitation to talk and eat a meal that was not prepared at the dining hall.
• Bring extra food for after-church potlucks and invite the students to stay for lunch. Most students do not have kitchen facilities to prepare a potluck dish, but they want to participate in church activities.
• Make a personal phone call to a student who attends your church on Sunday morning, and answer any questions they may have about your congregation.
• Take a student for coffee during the week following their visit at church.
• Offer to drive students to worship.
• Send birthday cards, a bookmark, or words of encouragement throughout the year. Students love mail.
• Include college students on your Church Newsletter mailing list.
• Offer Sunday School classes on topics of interest to young adults.
• Organize a fellowship activity for college students.
• Present a plant to every new student who attends worship.
• Include students in worship, inviting them to read scripture, usher, or serve as a communion steward.
  17 Ways to Welcome College Students (Spanish)
  17 Ways to Welcome College Students (Korean)
• Create “care packages” for students before finals week. Cookies, small toys, pens, sticky notes, stuffed animals, and even a Slinky would be great gifts for stressed out students. Enclose a note wishing them well on their exams.
• Adopt a student for a year, inviting them to meals and calling to be sure they are all right.
• Include students in your family’s holiday activities. Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter are hard times to be far away from home.
• Design a flier describing your local church and post it in the Student Union on campus. Be sure to include worship times and a map to your church.

Compiled by Laurie Day, an alum from Willamette University, and Janet Cromwell, Wesley Foundation Director at the University of Oregon.