VISION
To create a faith and family experience for college students.
ABOUT
Adopt a Student is an intentional program that matches college students (Undergraduate and Graduate) with an EFam (Element Family) during their time here in college. We want every student to have a spiritual home away from home they can lean on for support and care. We hope the student-family match will create lifelong relationships that span far past each student's time here in the East Lansing area.
Click below to see some answers to commonly asked questions. Contact Kinsley (kinsleym@theelement.church) if you should have any further questions or concerns.
Students
FAQ
After you submit the Adopt-A-Student sign-up form, we start working on pairing you and up to four other students with families. We try to pair students and families together based on many different factors. We want your adopted family to be a vital part of your experience while you are here.
We will plan a kick-off dinner after pairing everyone together. More details will be released at a later date.
We are asking for you to make an intentional effort to be an active and dependable student while you are in this program. Please be kind and considerate to your Adopt-A-Student family by:
- Communicating with your EFam within 48 hours of them reaching out to you
- Respecting and honoring the families and their homes that you will be invited into
- Asking how you can participate (i.e., wash dishes, watching kids, help cook a meal with the family)
- Attending at least 1 EFam gathering per semester
- Communicating with other students in your EFam group
It is our hope that when you participate in the Adopt-A-Student, you are committing yourself to your EFam for at least 1 academic year.
However, we understand that throughout college and life as a whole, commitments may change. If at any time you decide you no longer want to participate, it is your responsibility to communicate this to your adopted family and our college ministry team.
Families
FAQ
After you submit the sign-up form to be an Adopt-A-Student family, we will set you up to go through on online training and background check. Upon completion of both the training and background check, we work to pair you with 1-5 Element students. We will do the best we can to pair families and students together based on preference or requests, but we may have to make some adjustments.
Our students sign-up at the end of the Spring semester and within the first few weeks of starting school in the Fall.
We plan to have a kick-off dinner after pairing everyone together. More details will be sent to families and students who sign up.
- Commit to a full school year August – May
- Pray for your students by name
- Communicate with your student(s) regularly (call, text, social media, email, etc.)
- Invite your students to do something together 1x-2x a month
- Process ways the students can participate (i.e., wash dishes, help with a meal, play w/ kids, etc.)
- Prepare a care package for students at least once per semester
- Help student(s) take steps toward Element Church Involvement
Families can help students to get more involved at Element Church by encouraging them to participate in:
- Next Steps | Step 1 & Step 2
- SOAP
- 21 Days of Prayer (Jan & Aug)
- Serving on a Team
- Giving
- Attending Service & Offering Rides to Church
- Monthly College Student Lunches
- Involvement in a Campus Ministry
We want you to make an effort to include your adopted student in activities other than just church services. Some activities may include (but are not limited to):
- Family Dinners
- Inviting them over for holidays
- Washing Clothes
- Grabbing Coffee
- Meet up on campus
- Movie Night or other social activities
- Show them around the Greater Lansing area