‘This is the time … we decide what we believe apart from our parents’

‘This is the time … we decide what we believe apart from our parents’

Student, University of North Alabama, Florence

The Well is the focal point of the college ministry at Highland Baptist Church, Florence. The weekly worship service is both an avenue for college students to plug into a local church and a way to reach out to others on college campuses in the area. I have been a part of this ministry since the very beginning of my college career. After joining The Well leadership team as a freshman, I was able to see the ministry from the inside out. I quickly discovered this was more than just a fun place to hang out on Tuesday nights. This was important. Through all of our meetings as we plan events and make to-do lists, we are conscious of one goal: to share the love of Christ with our campus and our community and to see others come to know our Savior.   

Highland Baptist’s associate pastor for college and young singles, Allen Tate, recently asked the leadership team to share why being a part of this ministry is important. My answer was simple: “Because it matters.”  

College ministry is significant because it is biblical. God said so, and that is reason enough. Christ is continually building His Church, one stone on top of the other. The Church is called to teach the next generation about the Word of God and to share with them the ways in which the Lord has been faithful. He has invited every generation to be a part of that building process.  

This is the time as college students when we decide what we believe apart from our parents, apart from the church where we grew up, apart from our hometowns, our high schools and our children’s ministries. We are required to stand on our own two spiritual feet and our legs are shaky. We wobble back and forth, and our spiritual limbs ache with growing pains. We need a place to lean. We need a place to go for answers. We need the Church. In a world that is doing everything to ensure that our generation walks away from the things of God, we need people who will fight for us. We need the body of believers to stand in the gap on our behalf, all the while teaching us how to wield the sword of faith on our own. 

Lessons learned

College doesn’t last forever. Eventually we have to move on, get jobs, start families and begin new phases of life. Yet the lessons I have learned about ministry and serving the Church will far outlast the four years I spend at this university. Through college ministry, the Church is training students like me to reach out with fierce intensity and biblical fearlessness and grab the other end of the baton so that we may “run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1).