Imagine a world where God doesn’t matter, where salvation is irrelevant and the simple act of praying before a meal is something done only in the privacy of your home.
That world is closer than you may think, said University of Mobile (UM) campus minister Neal Ledbetter.
“We are living in an increasingly post-Christian culture,” he told college students as they prepared for UM’s monthlong Youth Hostel Missions program. The summer backpacking trip across Europe takes students out of their comfort zone in Alabama where evangelical churches can be found on nearly every street corner and places them in a world where beautiful cathedrals are viewed more as museums than places of worship.
It is a world in which God isn’t so much rejected as He is ignored.
“The culture here has absolutely no desire for Christ at all. So this trip will not be successful without total reliance and faith in God,” wrote T.J. Joy, of Enterprise, on May 13 from Amsterdam.
Joy, a 2008 graduate and UM campus life coordinator was part of a 10-member team that spent 32 days this May and June traveling to 14 cities across Europe for one purpose — to take the good news of Jesus Christ to unreached people. Team members wrote about their experiences online at www.youthhostelmissions.com.
Ledbetter, who as director of spiritual life is responsible for the campus ministries program at UM, started Youth Hostel Missions in 2005. The idea was part of the university’s multipronged response to the command of the Great Commission. Since then, 30 students have participated in the intense summer program, which includes 14 weeks of advance preparation including Bible study and prayer.
During the trip, UM students stay at low-cost youth hostels, where an estimated 1 to 2 million college-age travelers stay each year. Most travelers are seeing the world during their “gap year,” the transition year between high school and college, or between college and the “real world.”
“All are on a physical journey. Many are even on a spiritual journey asking difficult questions of life in an attempt to ‘find themselves,’” Ledbetter wrote on the program’s Web site. “Every day is a new adventure as students encounter people from all walks of life wrestling with very important issues. Through those encounters, students will have ample opportunity to point out how Jesus meets their deepest needs.”
A key is to listen, he noted.
“Do you actually listen to people when they talk, or are you waiting to correct or teach or preach?” he asks students. By taking time to listen to the stories of each person’s life, team members can help people understand their personal stories and experiences in light of the gospel.
Chase Alford, a business major from Semmes, wrote in his May 15 blog about his acquaintance, Jerome from Quebec.
“You know, I have always heard there are people around this world that have never heard of the gospel, but for the first time in my life last night it became a reality and there he was sitting right across from me,” he wrote.
Several days later, Alford saw Jerome again. Their first conversation had sparked a long list of questions from Jerome, from “What is the gospel” to “Can a person have meaning and purpose in life outside of Christ?”
“I’ve never in my life seen a human being so intrigued by the Bible. He would pick it up, look at it, flip through it asking us to explain different things to him,” Alford wrote. “God … brought a French person from Quebec to a hostel in Amsterdam where he would sit at a table across from two guys from Alabama and hear the gospel for the first time!”
Bethany Arndt, of Crystal Lake, Ill., and a UM graduate who participated in the 2008 Youth Hostel Missions trip, said she still keeps in touch with Anastasiou from Greece, Chrissy from the United States and Sarah from Germany.
“Sarah is now walking with the Lord and it has been such a blessing to be able to encourage her and continually build her up in her faith,” Arndt said. “That all started because I intentionally sat next to her in the hostel lobby one night and just truly wanted to get to know her and her story.” (UM)
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