Tag: church

Christianity in the Face of College Culture

What does it take to live as a follower of Christ in college? I’ve been living this reality for almost 3 years now, and at times, it’s a very lonely road. My journey has changed so much from when I first started at my university to now. I can happily say that my relationship with Christ has come out stronger, amidst the challenges college has thrown at me- but it is NOT as simple as that. There have been a crazy amount of highs and lows, and this journey is far from over. Research is showing that an alarming 70% of young adults leave the church as college students (Christianity Today, 2019). Finding this statistic really grabbed my curiosity. Why are so many college students leaving?

Obviously, moving to a new town for college plays a huge roll in church attendance. Speaking from my own experience, it’s pretty intimidating trying to find a new church, especially when you’re by yourself. Finding Christian friends has been difficult in college, and so I ended up going to several church services by myself. However, a growing reason being cited in surveys for leaving the church is political and spiritual concerns (Christianity Today, 2019). I’m sad to say that this was not shocking information to me. All you have to do is jump on social media and look at the tweets from college students. “Spirituality” is a HUGE topic, but not spirituality in any sort of biblical sense.

Have you ever heard the term “manifestation?” I see it everywhere, and it actually makes me sick to my stomach now. Manifestation is the idea that you can speak something into existence. I hope that believers can see right through that idea, but unfortunately, it seems many people who profess to be Christians fall right into the trap. Astrology is another thing that I have witnessed too many people get caught up in. Astrology appears to say that the alignment of the stars, many times on the day you were born, influences your life and who you are. I’m sure you’ve seen a post about Virgos, Cancers, Geminis, etc. I confess that even caught my attention at some level, and I found myself looking for my “sign.” Thankfully, I didn’t dive deeper into that. The deeper down the rabbit hole you look, the eviler it gets.

Those ideas only scratch the surface level of what is pulling on college students. Being surrounded by those and many other unbiblical ideas, it seems very difficult to stand up for what you believe in. But I believe, that is getting to the root of the problem. Why are these things able to pull Christians away from the church and/or away from their values and what they believe? Why is going into your new college town to look for a church “too hard?” Here I ask you to look within. As we all need to do, these students need to examine their hearts. Do they actually believe in Jesus Christ and the resurrection? Do they believe in the gospel that the Bible teaches? I think the answer is no.

I recently had the opportunity to watch a documentary called American Gospel. It is extremely informative and I think everyone should watch it. It discusses how the gospel message has been twisted and turned to meet what we want, as humans, effectively producing something coined the “prosperity” gospel. Unfortunately, I believe that is the gospel many people believe, not to mention adding in all the other “gospels” being preached from college campuses. Of course, they don’t call themselves such, but they claim to be the truth. And that is where the problem begins…

Sometimes, you get burned.

Hello everyone! The past week went by sooo fast. Because everyone has been at school for a few weeks, all the clubs and organizations are starting to get established. Which means we all become 3x busier…

Sometime a couple weeks ago, the school held an activities fair where students could walk around and talk to all the different clubs. Typical freshman, I signed up for 8 (ish) clubs and there is no possible way I will go to any of their meetings. Last week, all the clubs sent out their emails for their first meetings. I noticed that at least three of the clubs all met this week, on the same day. I wrote them all down in my planner, organized student that I am, and didn’t think anything of it. Until yesterday. Yesterday, I put this week’s athletic schedule in (games, practices, individual sessions, etc.) It just so happens that we have a home volleyball game the day of all of those meetings.

Coincidentally, all of the meetings occur right before or right after my game, but they are just close enough in times that the chances of me making any of them are slim to none. Leaning more on the none. Moral of this story, don’t sign up for 8 (ish) clubs.

On a completely differnt note, my search for a “college church” continues. It’s hard to not judge every little detail of a new church, comparing it with what I’m used to. Some of the things I’m judging don’t make it wrong, just different. I’ve been to two different churches since being here and still don’t feel quite like I’m home there. Of course, it’s hard to tell in just one service what a church is like so I’m trying to just focus on the main aspects of what I’m searching for. Back home, I go to a large church with an amazing praise band that I now realize I took for granted. You can’t find a praise band like that just anywhere. My pastor tells funny stories, not all pastors do. (It certainly makes the sermon more interesting, though!) At my church, the offering plate goes all the way down every aisle. In others, they have some sort of weird pattern that I can’t figure out. Basically just a bunch of small details that make my church search more refined because of what I’m used to and what I like.

Speaking of church, Sunday morning was an interesting morning for me. I woke up an hour earlier than I intended (no clue why or how) and I wasn’t tired. I decided to take advantage of this extra time to curl my hair. I haven’t really had time while at college to set aside for myself for doing my hair,

This is what the burn looked like Sunday evening.

painting my nails, etc. As I was curling my hair on Sunday morning, I began to feel a burn on my wrist. I had set my wrist down on the curling iron….go me. I think I had it sitting there for a while because it is quite the burn.

I’ve been keeping neosporin and a band-aid on it to prevent infection. Yesterday at practice, I passed a ball and felt a little pain from my wrist. Instantly, I had the thought that the blister had popped. This thought was soon confirmed by the feeling of liquid gushing out. As my dad said, “that’s gonna leave a mark.”

College has taught me many lessons while I’ve been here. Sometimes, when you sign up for too many things, you’ll get burned and won’t be able to keep your committments. Or, you get burned out on doing something you used to love doing. You might have to burn bridges connecting you to other people, but it might be for the best. Othertimes, you’ll literally get burned. By a hot object. Who knew growing up could be so painful?