LOCAL RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY RESOURCE GUIDE

Ways to Connect and Serve College Students

As part of its mission supporting students in their faith & spiritual journeys, the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life is excited to help make the connection between religious communities and students.  While we have 25 recognized on-campus student organizations & over 20 chaplains, campus ministers and affiliated support staff working on campus, we also recognize the importance of making connections to faith communities in the Fort Worth & beyond.

Please familiarize yourself with Tarrant County Public Health information and TCU’s COVID-19 Policies before inviting TCU students to events.  

Here are just a few ways your congregation can get involved:

Host College Sunday: Plan and advertise a Sunday early on in the fall semester for students to intentionally be invited not just to come to church, but to connect with your church community in an intentional way.  Some ideas include hosting lunch after worship, a special Sunday school class, or an outing to someplace like the movies, putt-putt golf, or Flight Deck.

Provide Care Packages: Churches and religious communities can make care packages during midterms or finals for students living on campus that are a part of your identified denomination or tradition. The RSL office can get you an estimated number of care packages to make and provide you with information on how they can be distributed.  For food safety reasons, food cannot be homemade.

Host a weekly Bible study, discussion group, or book club:  While local congregations cannot host official events on campus, many meet at local establishments such as Einstein’s Bagels, Dutch’s, McAllister’s, Potbelly, etc.  Many informal groups also have been known to meet at the TCU bookstore coffee shop, Chick-Fil-A, or other eating establishments on campus.  Since reservations cannot be made by off-campus organizations and university policy prohibits outside programs in residence halls, this is often a good way to have informal gatherings on or near campus.  Since church affiliated groups (which are groups led by a specific church staff or church member and/or unestablished groups where more than 25% of student membership is affiliated with a specific church) cannot be officially recognized groups on campus, this provides a means to be an active presence in the surrounding area. 

Plan a service or mission trip:  While students schedules are often full, many of them have spent years being involved volunteering in their local communities and beyond. Planning a service day can be a great way to get students introduced to your community while making a positive impact on our communities.

Cosponsor an event with an existing on-campus student religious organization:  Over the years, student organizations and local congregations have planned and sponsored everything from concerts to lectures to social nights. Please keep in mind that the sponsoring student organization must be present and host the event. For a listing of those organizations and their contact information, please click here.

Ways to Get the Word Out

Getting a word out to college students is difficult challenging anywhere, and TCU is no different.

The Skiff and TCU 360 – TCU 360 is TCU’s student led media source, and it is available in print as the TCU Skiff (as well as online).  The Skiff is distributed in all academic and residential buildings on campus in addition to several nearby businesses.  You may contact advertising executives for help with your needs by phone (817) 257-7426 or by email at ads@tcu360.com.

Utilize the TCU Mailbox Program – Off-campus organizations, including places of worship, can have bulk mail distributed to all TCU student mailboxes for the cost of $50.  Currently, there are approximately 3,800 student mailboxes on campus.  Please contact Judy Cartmill in TCU Mailing Services (817-257-5831) for more information about this program.

Social Media – Advertising to Facebook and other social media can be a way to get the word out.  When submitting a profile to the TCU Connecting With Churches Portfolio, please be sure to include a website address.

Advertise with Community Partners – Many of our vendors in the community, such as restaurants, coffee shops, etc., provide spaces for you to post to boards with news about local events including what’s happening with local congregations. A great way to reach out to students is to post at these places around campus, at the Hulen/Bellaire area, and near 7th street.

For questions, please contact us at faith@tcu.edu or by phone 817–257–7830.

Have a great year and Go Frogs!