This resource, written with the intention to support a new Lay Servant Ministries course, will give readers a general understanding of the developmental needs of the 18- to 26-year-old demographic in the United States; general categories of institutions of higher learning; basic structures for campus ministries and offices of spiritual and religious life on college or university campuses; a framework to discern how United Methodist congregations may be called to serve students in their local context; and tools to begin bridging the administrative structures at the institution of higher learning in question to gain appropriate access to students.

The approach of this text (and its companion PDF leader's guide, available separately) is fundamentally student-centered and contextual, placing the needs of students as the foundation of congregational discernment and institutional bridging to build and/or support a student ministry. (The scope of this text is limited to higher education in the United States, as models of higher education differ greatly in other regions of the world. This text also primarily targets the 18- to 26-year-old demographic, recognizing that many students in the United States may fall outside this age range.)