Churches, campus ministries help students find, stay involved in church in college towns

For many Christian college students, the pursuit of higher education brings the challenge of greater independence and freedom. Along with that comes the call for spiritual independence. 
   
This manifests itself in a couple of ways, said Mike Nuss, director of the office of collegiate and student ministries at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
   
Some find their own church to be involved in and their faith grows. Others take the opportunity to explore other denominations or faiths or want to see what it’s like to stay in bed on Sunday mornings, he said.
   
According to studies by the University of North Carolina and the University of California, Los Angeles, the number of students choosing to stay in bed or do activities other than church is growing, said Tony Arnold, director of media relations for Campus Crusade for Christ.
   
“There is a nationally charted decline in church involvement that occurs in college,” he said. “But it doesn’t have to be that way.”
   
Churches near campuses can hold events and activities for incoming freshmen and minister to them as they get settled, Arnold suggested.
   
Nuss noted that it is important for college students to find a church home close to their school. “As a campus minister, I encouraged students to move to campus literally and figuratively so they began to make their faith their own and explore ways of expressing their faith.”
   
This means churches “back home” need to give their students “permission to be a good churchman or [churchwoman] where they go to school,” he said, even if it means changing their membership.
   
This is part of growing up, Nuss said. “The search for intellectual growth should go hand in glove with the search for spiritual growth.”
   
Churches can also prepare their high school seniors for college by making them aware of churches or Christian ministries at their prospective schools such as Baptist Campus Ministries. 
   
“It’s important to let them know what opportunities are there before they leave,” Arnold said. “You plant the seed and awareness so that when freshmen go away to school, they’ve heard these names before.”
   
Christian college students also “need spiritual influences and Christian encouragement and friends,” Nuss said. They will be “challenged in ways they weren’t in high school, and the church needs to be there to help them … along with campus organizations.”
   
For information about Alabama Baptist collegiate ministries, contact Nuss at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 276.