This past weekend, I had the privilege of doing something I love doing: equipping college students to follow Christ. Spending time with them reminded me again of the importance of intentionally reaching this generation. Here are five posts related to that topic:
8 Reasons Why Your Church Needs to Connect with the Nearest College or University
9 Reasons Churches Must Reach College Students
9 Reasons Some Churches Will Not Reach College Students
12 Ways for Your Church to Stay Connected with High School Graduates and College Students
10 Reasons Why Pastors Need to be Mentoring at Least One College Student
University is a critical time in the life of young people. It is a time in which they may be influenced for good or ill by peers and the internet as well as professors. Young people spend a lot of time on the internet as elementary school, middle school, and high school students. They will even more time on the internet as college students. Every generation is different and we need to know AND understand how each generation differs from the previous generation. When we minister to college students, even as a fellow student, we need to set aside any preconceived notions that we have and treat them as individuals, not as a stereotype. I am a senior scholar at my local state university. I live in a college town. The young people with whom I interact at the university differ from the young people at my church. For example, there is a lot of gender fluidity, experimenting with gender identities different from their birth gender. This has increased since I began taking classes at the university several years ago. Whatever we may think of it, it is a reality with which we must deal if we are going to be faithful to the Great Commission and make disciples of all people groups. We cannot say to ourselves, “Well, I am going to evangelize my kind of people.” If we do that, we are not obeying our Lord’s command. Yes, it was not a suggestion. It was a command!!