When I started college, I loved and followed Jesus, and I had lots of friends who did too. However, I had never truly experienced all that community for Jesus was about. I didn't necessarily go into college looking for that kind of community either. I mean, college campuses are supposedly super dark and lost places, right??? College campuses are where people fall away from their faith, not grow in it. However, I quickly began to see glimpses of the Kingdom on my school's campus at a campus ministry, and as I got more and more involved, I began to find something that was beyond this world.
If you're involved with a campus ministry, you get me. You know where I'm coming from. There is something about the energy of a college campus that, when paired with something as eternally joyful as the Gospel, is just insane. It's infectious, and when students see campus ministry, they often wonder what is so different. (Hint: it's all Jesus.) The more I reflect over my time in campus ministry, the more I find the Lord's complete and total hand in my college experience. Campus ministry is so cool and so important in the Kingdom work that is happening on campuses. It is radically changing what a college experience can mean to an incoming freshman, and it certainly did just that for me. It has been the best thing I've been involved with in college, hands down.
Campus ministry brought me people who love Jesus and the Gospel.
Not that I didn't have these people in my life before, but now they are my closest friends. We belong to the same family, and the love that is present among my closest friends, and even acquaintances that I may not know as well, is rooted in Christ. That kind of love is something powerful.
Campus ministry brought me people who love people.
I've been in environments where I felt lost and alone, but never once was that the case at my campus ministry. From the moment I walked through their door, I was welcomed and cared about. People talked to me. People remembered my name. Why? Because Jesus cares about me. So they did too. That's what happens in campus ministry. We love people because He first loved us.
Campus ministry brought me people who love teaching...and learning too.
I have learned so much in campus ministry, from both staff and the students. I have been challenged with hard truth. I have been in deep discussion. I have studied the Bible. I have studied books. I have studied films. I am learning daily what following Jesus looks like, and WOW it's great to do so surrounded by people older and wiser and peers who bring different (and deeper) perspectives to the table.
Campus ministry brought me people who love worship.
Worship sometimes looks like singing. Sometimes it looks like dancing. Sometimes it looks like jumping up and down. Sometimes it looks like quiet prayer. Always, it looks like a bunch of people standing in awe of the King. The Creator. The only one worthy of our praise. There is very little better than being in a room full of sinners saved by grace, lifting joyous praise to our Savior.
Campus ministry brought me people who love to have fun.
When joy overwhelms a place, as it does in campus ministry, that joy can't help but spill out. From pancakes to parties to water balloon fights, joyous fun centered around His love is just ridiculous. That's the kind of "fun" I'm about having on a college campus. And that's the kind of "fun" I want every college student to experience. So. Much. Joy.
Campus ministry brought me people who love building community.
From retreats to spring break trips to worship nights to baptisms to small groups to just hanging out on campus, campus ministry is all about community. Community rooted in the Gospel. And, wow, that's something crazy important.
I've said over and over that campus ministry brought me people, but campus ministry itself really didn't do anything. The Lord did it all, because The Lord brought me campus ministry. He brought me people. He brought me salvation. He brought me it all. Oh, what a Savior we have.
I encourage you to get involved in a campus ministry. It doesn't matter where you are. Just find people who love Jesus more than anything. Find people who, because of that love, love people. I can assure you, it will be the BEST thing you get involved in during your college years.
Thank you, Lord, for the glimpses of heaven popping up all over college campuses.
