College transition is a hot topic in youth ministry circles. More and more parents and churches are recognizing that many students are not prepared for the challenges that college brings. Anecdotal evidence is easy to find. We all know students who have grown up in the church and have made commitments to follow Christ, but have walked away from the faith during college. Some students, of course, return to faith and church later in life, often after marriage or having children, but it’s often not with the same vibrancy exhibited during their teen years. Clearly, college has been a difficult place for Christian students. Many students come out the other side no longer identifying themselves as Christian.
Solid statistical data, however, is hard to come by. There have been a few studies completed, and they often affirm the anecdotal evidence, but this is not an easy phenomenon to track empirically. Over a decade ago George Barna conducted a study revealing that “65 percent of high school students stop attending church after they graduate.” This statistic helped to ignite the national conversation about college transition. Fill a room with 100 Christian students and 65 of them wouldn’t be Christians after high school? That was hard to believe, but with anecdotal evidence so strong, this statistic was rarely questioned at first. Various denominations followed suit and estimated that between 65 percent and 94 percent of their high school students stopped attending church after high school as well. But like any statistical data, there are holes in the research. The Barna statistic, for example, was the result of a survey that included Christians as well as non-Christians. The denominational statistics were more anecdotal than scientific. The truth is we don’t have concrete, scientifically verifiable, statistical data to determine the number of students who seem serious about faith in high school but then walk away from it in college. But we do know that it happens and there is a growing concern something should be done about it.
I am convinced that a new approach is needed when confronting the issue of college transition. Rather than questioning the statistics, or giving too much weight to individual stories and experiences, we need to be reminded of this remark from the writer of Ecclesiastes: “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” This verse helps us keep things in perspective. In all times and in all places, at some point young people have to take ownership of their faith. This is not new. We can debate the statistics, trying to convince ourselves that it is not as bad as some say it is; or tell personal stories to make it seem even worse; or we can recognize that the challenge for students to make the faith their own is a perennial one. The challenge will always be with us.
I was reminded of this recently when I read Real Christianity by William Wilberforce, the member of the British Parliament who worked to abolish slavery. Written in 1797, Wilberforce makes keen observations about why young people often walk away from the faith. We can learn much from his insights regarding the human condition:
“Think about what happens to many young people who are raised with all the benefits of prosperous parents who are cultural Christians themselves. As children, they are taken to church, where they hear the parts of the Christian message that their particular church embraces. Although it is rare in our times, maybe they even receive some measure of religious instruction at home. Eventually, they leave home, and launch out into the world. Some go to work; some go to college. They face temptations that they have not faced before and give in to them. Their lives might get out of control with the use of alcohol, and they might give in to sexual indulgence. At the least, they never read the Bible or make any attempt to develop a spiritual life. Most don’t even attempt to take what knowledge is at their disposal and form their own beliefs and convictions. They don’t learn to think.
Maybe they travel to a foreign country. Things are even worse there. They begin to embrace the ideas to which they are exposed. By the time they return home, they are further away from faith than before. Along with their previous frivolous way of life, they now begin to be consumed with the demands of making a living in the workplace and the desire for a career and success. Most of what they hear about Christianity is in a negative context. If they go to church at all, they hear things that either make no sense to them or that they find offensive to the way they live. They have no grasp of the Bible to compare with what they hear.
The result is an attitude toward Christianity that is not only negative but also one that is rooted in a faulty sense of intellectual superiority. The young also have a way of seeing right through the charade of those who profess the faith but don’t live the life. What began as a vague, almost imperceptible doubt soon grows. By slow and steady degrees, the doubt becomes most fixed in their minds. In a twisted kind of way, the young men and women begin to hope their doubt is well founded. Any reason that reinforces it is welcomed. Doubt becomes greater, not based on evidence, but merely by dwelling in the mind. This is certainly not always how it goes, but in general you could think of this scenario as the genesis of unbelief. This is not always the process, but generally speaking, it is the natural history of skepticism. If you have carefully observed someone you know drifting into unbelief, you have probably seen something like this occur.”
Wilberforce perceptively describes the process by which young people walk away from the faith. His hypothetical scenario may not be true for everyone who leaves the faith, but there are four timeless truths concerning those who walk away from the faith that can be drawn from his words. Being attentive to these areas can help us as we prepare students for the challenges ahead.
First, students who walk away from the faith succumb to temptations they haven’t faced before. Many students may have been exposed to the temptations of alcohol and sex in high school, but in college, being away from home and parents, makes the challenges more difficult to withstand. As one student recently said to me, “I didn’t know it was possible to go to college and not drink!” Parents and youth workers must work diligently to remind students of the dangers of alcohol abuse and promiscuous sex, while also casting a better vision for what college can and should be. It is possible to find a caring community on campus that fosters a healthy social life, but it requires intentionality. Help students to make the needed college connections before they head off to college.
Second, students who walk away from the faith didn’t learn to think. The problem that Wilberforce diagnosed over 200 years ago is still with us today. Many students lack critical thinking skills, failing to take what knowledge is at their disposal to form their own beliefs and convictions. We must continually create space for students to wrestle with the big questions of life. College should not be the first time that students engage in abstract or deep thinking, but for many students it is. Critical thinking and Christian discernment are spiritual disciplines that need to be developed. Like anything worthwhile in life, the developmental process takes time and is difficult. A youth group devoted to these activities may not draw the biggest crowds, but if we are serious about preparing students for life after high school, helping student to “learn to think” will be a mark of our ministries.
Third, students who walk away from the faith are consumed with the demands of making a living and the desire for success. It is so easy to get caught up in the world’s definition of success, and it’s often difficult to understand how faith relates to day-to-day choices and career decisions. In contemporary American culture, the chief end of man is often expressed as: “He who dies with the most toys wins!” The student who mentioned that he didn’t realize that it was possible to go to college and not drink could easily add: “I didn’t realize it was possible to go to college and not follow the American Dream!” The temptation to live a life based on material possessions and upward mobility is pervasive, and many students find it too difficult to live a counter-cultural life based on following Christ. The attitude becomes: “You can’t follow Jesus in the ‘real world.’” Once again, community is essential to withstand the challenge. College students need to be surrounded by other people who live life differently than the world around them. Teenagers need to be continually exposed to examples of what it looks like to be in the world but not of it. For Christians, calling is more important than career.
Fourth, students who walk away from the faith see right through the charade of those who profess the faith but don’t live the life. It was true in Wilberforce’s day, it is true in our day and it will be true until Jesus returns: the problem for most people who walk away from the faith is not Christ, but Christians. Students who are contemplating leaving the faith are longing not to be around perfect people, but to be around people who are perfectly honest about their own shortcomings and desire to change. Honesty must always trump superficiality.
Wilberforce’s words remind us that the problem of students leaving the faith after high school is not new, and the reasons for why students drift away are unlikely to change. Learning from the past can help us in the present to ensure that our ministries are addressing the central challenges students face. If Wilberforce’s timeless diagnosis is correct, youth ministries that focus on community, discernment, calling and honesty will better prepare students for life after high school.
1. Remember the words of English philosopher John Locke in (Some Thoughts concerning Education 1693) that the first concern of education should be to instill into the student an anxious concern for evidence. Don’t be gullible or follow the crowd. Check your facts and think for yourself.
2. Remember the importance of sustained effort. Don’t allow your initial enthusiasm for your subject, or your journey into understanding, to tail off. Stick at it. You will never stop learning.
3. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ that you should love God with heart, soul and mind.
4. God is the author of all truth. Truth is like a tunnel. In this life you will not reach the light at the end of it – but it is a great adventure to get a little closer to the light.
Roger Steer is author and historian whose books are widely read in Britain, North America, the Far East and Australia. His most recent biography of John Stott (published as Inside Story in the UK and Basic Christian in the USA and Canada) was one of three nominations for Christian Book of the Year in 2010.
On Saturday, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote address at the Faith for Thought Conference held annually at Penn State University. CCO’s Erica Reitz and her team put on another incredible event for students. Check out the list of breakout presenters and the topics covered. And, of course, our good friend Byron Borger was there selling helpful resources from Hearts & Minds Bookstore.
The theme of the conference was “In Practice.” What does it look like to connect our faith to every area of life, in practice, on the ground, everyday? Students were challenged to think more deeply and Christianly about their daily habits and disciplines, their calling as students in and out the classroom, and their future callings as neighbors and citizens. The conference also included a panel discussion among Christian faculty at Penn State, moderated by Steve Lutz. It was helpful for students to listen as professors explained to them how they integrate their faith in their profession. It also created space for the faculty to explain limitations they have expressing their faith in the classroom.
The conference concluded with a beautiful testimony from a recent college graduate. Dana Ray shared about her own successes and struggles as someone following Jesus through the university years. She has graciously posted her comments at her blog, Need.
It takes a lot of work to pull off a conference. Volunteers need to be organized, speakers need to be selected and invited, worship bands need to set up, food needs to be prepared, books need to be ordered, schedules and name tags need to be printed, registrations need to be filled out, students need to travel, the rooms need to be rented, and at the end of the day the space needs to be cleared out and cleaned. But it’s worth it! Conferences create reference points for students. An idea from a speaker, a song during worship, a conversation over lunch, a book bought and read a few weeks later can all lead to deeper faithfulness. Thank you to all who made Faith for Thought happen yet again. May it bear fruit for the Kingdom!
Jonathan has been a guest on Family Life Today and Point of View and blogs regularly on the intersection of Christianity and culture at www.ThinkChristianly.org. He and his wife Mandi have been married for 10 years and have two children. What follows is an interview with Jonathan about his latest book Is God Just a Human Invention? and about equipping Christian students for college.
Melleby: What motivated you and Sean to write this book?
Morrow: One of the things we have noticed in our experience with students and people within the church today (Sean as a Teacher and myself as a Pastor who works with students and adults) is that the New Atheists’ books, articles and debates, have been wreaking havoc on their faith. And so we wanted to write a book for this generation that would be understandable and engaging but that would also contain substantive responses to the eighteen biggest objections raised by the New Atheists. We also wanted to cover a wide spectrum of topics from scientific and philosophical issues to moral and biblical ones—all in one place. Most people aren’t going to read the best 5 books on a single topic, so we wanted to offer a resource that really hit all the big issues. The conversation about God and truth can get pretty heated. However, our goal was to have a productive conversation so we tried to maintain a civil tone while at the same time making a rigorous case for God and responding to the specific objections raised by the New Atheists. I guess the bottom line in writing Is God Just a Human Invention?, is thatSean and I wanted to make sure there would be someone to help guide young adults in their faith journey and ensure that they have the opportunity to seriously consider an un-caricatured, thoughtful understanding of Christianity because becoming a lifelong follower of Jesus Christ is the best decision one could ever make.
Melleby: How did you develop your passion for apologetics?
Morrow: For me, that journey really began as I was asking the big questions of life during college. This was aided by the fact that I also seemed to end up with every hostile professor to Christianity on campus! So I scrambled for answers and wanted to know if there were good reasons to be a Christian. Was it true? I had no interest in following fairytales and certainly didn’t want to base my life on religious wishful thinking. But, the more I investigated, the more confident I became that this really is true. I began reading people like Ravi Zacharias, William Lane Craig, Norman Geisler, and J.P Moreland and it was like a breath of fresh air for my soul during these formative years. That really gave me a vision for doing for others what they did for me (cf. 2 Timothy 2:2).
Melleby: A very helpful aspect of the book is that each chapter concludes with a “why it matters” section. Why was that important to you?
Morrow: We wanted this book to have a unique angle that speaks to this generation. And so we invited eighteen leading scholars to share a little bit of their own stories and how these truths were meaningful to their lives in a “why it matters” section that follows each of the chapters that we wrote. We thought it was important for students to see that this is not just an academic exercise for those who get into that sort of thing. These questions really matter. Ideas have consequences! We were blown away and humbled by the generous response of these scholars to give of their time to help encourage the next generation in their search for truth. Their willingness to participate really speaks to how important these questions really are for all of us.
Melleby: Many of the readers of this blog are concerned with the college experience for Christian students. How will this book help college students as they encounter tough questions about faith on campus?
Morrow: Specifically, I think it will help them in a couple ways. First, I think it gives them solid reasons to believe that God not only exists, but that he has also spoken in the person of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 3:15). This is something you can investigate with eyes wide open. Furthermore, it will help explode slogans and myths that get bantered about like “science has made God irrelevant” or that “Christianity is dangerous” or that “Christianity is based on blind faith.” Another way this book will help is that students will be introduced to 18 leading Christian thinkers as they read. Sometimes, people can get the idea that not many people take the life of the mind seriously in Christianity. This is simply false. We are commanded to love God with all of our minds (Matthew 22:37). In addition, we offer the top 2 resources for further investigation of that topic at the end of each chapter plus websites and DVD’s. Finally, we hope students who work through this book will walk away with a renewed sense of confidence that Christianity really is true and that they would seek out the unique part God would have them play in the mission of God.
Melleby: From your experience traveling and speaking, do you think the New Atheist Movement is growing or shrinking?
Morrow: One thing is for sure, they have the media’s attention. They are selling lots of books, developing apps for the iPhone, are active on social networking sites and Internet forums, and sponsoring billboard campaigns. One of the things that is “new” about this manifestation of atheism is the evangelistic zeal with which they are trying to get their message out. In my experience, people may not always be able to tell you the names of the new atheists, but they are raising the same issues and objections mentioned in their writings. So while this is still a relatively small percentage of the people in America, they do have access to the microphone to get their message out which means we need to be ready to engage.
Melleby: What do you think the rise in popularity of the New Atheists has taught the church? What should Christians learn from the kinds of questions the New Atheists are asking?
Morrow: The New Atheists present both an opportunity and a challenge for the church. The difference between an opportunity and a challenge largely depends upon how a person responds. The New Atheists want students to question their faith. In a sense, so do we. If Christianity is really true, then it has nothing to fear from honest and vigorous investigation. Let the best ideas win! In the end, everyone has to answer the big questions in life: Where did I come from? Do I matter? Is there a God? If so, does this God care about me? Was Jesus really who he claimed to be? What is the good life? Is there life after death?
We see this as an opportunity because when Christian students come out on the other side of wrestling with these fundamental questions and the challenges of the New Atheists, they will have formed convictions—and passion flows from conviction. After all, we are called to contend for the faith (Jude 3).
But here is the challenge. The church must do the hard work of equipping the next generation to think about their faith. This will take time, resources, mentors, study and careful thinking. And it will not always yield “immediate results.” But the return on investment will be huge down the road. There is no shortage of books and polls documenting that an increasing number of students seem to be checking out from their faith in college and beyond. I think recovering an emphasis on apologetics and Christian worldview training is one important part of the remedy, along with cultivating strong peer and mentor relationships.
In a previous post, Dr. Kara Powell offered advice to students on how to make college count. Kara is the Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI). FYI’s mission: leveraging RESEARCH into RESOURCES that ELEVATE leaders, kids, and families.
One of FYI’s current research projects is around issues students face transitioning to college. Here’s the focal question: “What can youth pastors and parents do to better prepare students for the spiritual challenges college brings?” FYI has recently released a video (above) reminding youth workers and churches to remain connected to students who are away at college. For more information on why it is vital to make contact with students during their first few weeks of college, see FYI’s helpful article: You Make the Call What College Freshmen Need to Hear from their Youth Pastors.
What college students should do to make college count:
1. Don’t let your mistakes and struggles keep you from God; let them draw you closer to God. Invariably, you will make decisions that you regret, and you might even feel guilty about them. So many students let that guilt and shame keep them from God and the church. Do the opposite. Know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance.
2. Find a church that fits you. Note there are two parts to that sentence: first, find a church. Second, find one that fits you. Maybe even try to investigate churches (or parachurch ministries) ahead of time by checking out their website, calling them, or asking around.
3. Keep in touch with 3 adults (other than your parents) and 5 friends from home. As you start college, it’s a good idea to stay connected to the support system that helped you in high school.
I saw The Social Network over the weekend. It was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Everything about the movie was well done: acting, story-telling, sets, music, dialogue. There has been much written about it being revisionist history. And that may be true. Nothing in the movie seemed impossible to me. But, of course, that doesn’t make it true, just plausible.
We may never know the completely True story of how Facebook came to be, but we do know this: Facebook has revolutionized the way we communicate with each other. What surprises me the most is how popular Facebook has become in a relatively short time. Facebook, originally launched as a website for college students in 2004, has only been available to anyone with a viable email address since 2006. Yesterday I spoke at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church outside of Philadelphia. I asked to see hands of those with Facebook accounts. There was a diverse age range in the room, and only a few people didn’t raise their hands.
Speaking to teenagers and parents yesterday on Identity Matters reminded me of another aspect of online social networking: it has caused a lot of pain for teens. I could easily list the countless ways Facebook is beneficial: reconnecting with friends and family, staying connected with friends who have moved away, communicating with friends (through words and images) things that are important to you. I don’t think online social networking is inherently evil or wrong. But people have been hurt by it, of course. Maybe we haven’t thought deeply enough about the difference between face-to-face and online communication. My challenge yesterday to the families at the church was to create space for conversations about some of the negative aspects of online social networking. I’ve found that it often doesn’t take much to get the conversation going.
One of my favorite lines from The Social Network is this: “The Internet is not written in pencil, it’s written in ink.” Now there’s a good conversation starter at your next youth group meeting, college fellowship group or family dinner!
Oh, and while I thinking of it… thank you for all the birthday wishes on Facebook!
What college students should do to make college count:
1. Join Reformed University Fellowship, InterVarsity or another solid Christian Fellowship on campus, and find a good local church to attend–you need older and younger people in your life to help you stay grounded.
2. Get connected to a club/group in your major.
3. Get up early and do your work. Then dawdle at lunch and dinner to talk with people in the dining hall.
4. Take some classes that will deepen your soul instead of just prepare you for a job.
5. Skip going to frat parties. They’re lame. Trust me.
