There are over 29,300 students on campus at the University of Texas, San Antonio. That is the number of a city. Of those 29,300 students, approximately 500 or less are actively connected to a Christian student ministry organization.
In other words, Christian organizations on campus are about as effective as the church is to the city. That sounds harsh, but it is a reality.
Of course, there are variables: There are certainly students who follow Christ on campus who are not connected to a Christian organization, and not every student connected to a Christian organization is necessarily following Christ. Still...that number, that ratio haunts me.
Many students who come to our campus as freshmen have the same mindset many believers have when it commes to the church: "I need to find a place where I can connect, get fed, and be safe." We have many students come to our organizations from churches that fall into one of the following categories:
1) Students who are looking for a safe place to be with others who also desire safety. Every god imaginable is on our campus. Every worldview imaginable is on our campus. Some come simply to connect and to find commfort. Such students will often rotate from one Christian campus organization to another, nightly, to stay safe in a Christian 'bubble.' Like church members who fill their nights and activities solely with church members, such young people are so focused on staying safe with others they do not dare engage the lost person who sits next to them in class.
2) Students who are making decisions as to whether they are going to continue in some kind of Christian commmunity while at college or slowly drift away. Almost eighty six percent of students who 'grow up in the church' leave the church for good after graduating from High School. These students are torn between continuing in what they were taught as young adults and exploring alternative worldviews.
3) Students who are looking to invest. This is a small minority group-but we are blessed beyond measure when students arrive on campus with a heart for being on mission and the desire to connect with a community, to invest in that community, and to be a missionary to the campus.
4) Students who want to reproduce their youth group experience on campus. Well-intentioned but often lacking in the area of discipleship, these students just want to be around other believers, be good people, do some good things and have fun. The larger issue of the Kingdom of God and following Christ daily is still something that needs to be taught. With these students, we go over foundational issues again: How to have a quiet time, how to pray, learning the Scriptures, growing in relationship with God.
There are certainly other sub-categories. This is a broad view. And I want to boast in Christ-what He has done and is doing-and how our young people are responding to Him. I have great reason for hope on our campus!
I am proud of Baptist Student Ministries-our young people-at the University of Texas, San Antonio! God has been workin in our group in remarkable ways, teaching us what it means to be a community of faith on mission together. I see young people going to the edge of lostness to share their faith, to develop (intentionally!) relationships with the lost for the sake of the Gospel. Our young people understand that being on mission is not something we do once a year on 'mission trip,' but rather something we do daily. We are a community on mission.
Our students are developing relationships with Atheists, with the irreligious, with skeptics, with students from other faith backgrounds, all for the sake of the King and His Kingdom. They are praying for our campus and putting feet to their prayers. They have rejected the idea of Baptist Student Ministries being a safe Christian 'bubble' and have embraced the idea that we are a community of faith on mission together.
These young people bless me tremendously. I am encouraged by their faith, by their love for others, by their desire to journey together into the harvest fields. When we gather to worship or to study, it is to glorify God and to edify one another and to exhort one another on. We continue to see new students, continue to develop relationships with the lost-the process is slow at times, but our young people continue to pray and to persevere, to plant, to water, to invest.
So, as you read about our Baptist Student Ministry Mission Trip, please know this one very important thing: Our students are on mission daily on our campus, in our city. They have not compartmentalized 'missions' as something we do from time to time-rather missions is a part of who we are as a faith community on campus.
God is working in wonderful ways, and I praise Him! Please pray for our students as they continue to, in faith, reach out to the lost, the marginalized, the cynical, even the hostile. God is at work, and I see wonderful and amazing things ahead. God is forging a group of students who are hungry for Him, who have a passion for Him and His Kingdom, who are collectively saying, "Here I am, send me!"
And for this, I am blessed. I pray you are as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment