Simply by virtue of their position as postgraduates in the same institutions as their undergraduate contemporaries, masters and doctoral students carry a natural credibility as advocates for the gospel. This credibility is a privilege to be lived up to and to be carefully stewarded. More often than not, however, it is wasted.
Graduate and undergraduate communities typically run on parallel but separate tracks, occupying the same buildings but participating in different events. Graduate students pursue aggressive deadlines and extant funding mechanisms encourage them to give every available hour to research.
But these conventions can be challenged.
Working within the same academic faculties, and engaging with the same academic conversations, graduate students have the perfect platform for encouraging younger Christians and catalysing meaningful conversations about the gospel. Opportunities to serve in adjunct teaching roles further expand the usefulness of graduate students as respected voices who are ready (in appropriate settings) to give a reason for the hope they profess.
Graduate degree courses lasting from 2 to 4 years create ideal opportunities not only for one-off conversations, but for the formation of meaningful relationships that last and develop over time. Graduate students have the opportunity to invest in, and significantly strengthen undergraduate ministries during their time at university.