In today’s marketplace of college ministry, students are shopping to fill their spiritual needs with little brand loyalty, according to Baptist collegiate ministers.
Following a pattern that mirrors many young adults’ church-hopping spirituality, a student may turn to a nondenominational group for Christian fellowship, a Methodist ministry for Bible study and a Baptist effort to do missions.
The Baptist name carries little attraction for today’s college generation, said Allan Thompson, director of the Baptist student ministry at East Texas Baptist University. Most students do not see the value of denominations, he said. “Denominational loyalty is a thing of the past.”
Instead, student ministries today must rely on relationships to draw students, according to Clif Mouser, director of student ministry at Baylor University.
Students become part of ministries through their network of friends.
“In the 1940s and ’50s, the [Baptist] name drew people. Now relationships draw them,” Mouser explained. “They get involved because they encounter other Christian students who want them to get involved.”
Although the initial draw is different, students’ needs largely remain the same, added Arliss Dickerson, director of Baptist collegiate ministry at Arkansas State University. “I don’t think they’ve changed in what they want. I think they’ve changed in how they react,” Dickerson said.
Outreach techniques
Last year, 886 Baptist collegiate ministries nationwide reached more than 248,618 students using many of the techniques that have been staples for decades, including free lunches and evening worship services.
Student work is gaining in diversity as well. More than 10 percent of the 87,000 students actively involved in student ministries last year were blacks, and nearly 8 percent were ethnics, according to statistics compiled by LifeWay Christian Resources. Another 10 percent were international students.
Campus ministries outside the Bible Belt — such as in New England, California and the Northwest — are multiplying rapidly, thanks largely to the work of volunteers, said John Ramirez, director of collegiate ministries for the Baptist Convention of New England and a strategist for LifeWay.
Michael Ball, director of the Baptist Student Union at Mississippi State University, said students are looking for meaning in their lives. “At the heart of things, the needs are much the same,” Ball said. “When I first started out, … I was intentionally trying to challenge them. I think they’re really wanting purposeful commitments in their own lives.”
In this search for meaning, students are interested in exploring Christianity, campus ministers said. They are closely examining the faith and asking questions. “Students by and large are trying to find what life is about, and they’re open to examining God,” said Steve Masters, director of Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Louisiana State University.
Many college ministries are building on the popularity of praise and worship services, which incorporate musical styles more reflective of popular culture. The intense emotion of the services intrigues nonbelievers who want to know this passion, Masters said.
This college generation’s desire to participate in missions is extremely strong, campus ministers also reported. Overseas missions trips once seen as dangerous or exotic are a normal expression of the students’ faith.
Masters sees more students than ever answering a call to vocational ministry, but most are interested in becoming missionaries rather than serving local churches.
“When I was a student here [Samford University], virtually every ministerial student was going to work in the church,” said James Barnette, minister to Samford University. “Now, the majority of ministerial students are interested in missions.” Barnette said students look more toward short-term missions opportunities than career missions in one place.
“Servant evangelism” is a draw as well, particularly outside the Bible Belt. Such ventures vary from campus to campus, but examples include helping students move into dorms and serving hot chocolate during the winter in an effort to share the gospel.
“This generation is more about experience than exposure,” said Thompson of East Texas Baptist. “They don’t just want to know what’s going on. … They want to do what’s going on.”
But today’s college students’ strengths are balanced by their weaknesses, said Dickerson of Arkansas State. He said students seem to have trouble applying their faith to their lives. Although the large worship service brings people in, there is a great need for small-group Bible studies.
Additionally, statistics have shown financial contributions from this generation are significantly down compared to previous generations, a trend that could have major implications for the church, Thompson said.
Baptist collegiate ministers largely agree the changing world coupled with new stylistic expressions of Christianity will alter the church. The question is how much.
Thompson envisions churches that are defined more by their practical ministries rather than their doctrinal distinctions. Outreach will be global as well as local.
“If you think it’s a wild ride now, just hold on,” he said.” (ABP)
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