Two years ago, I was preparing to move into Nash Hall at Western Washington University. I really can't remember much about the weeks leading up to it, other than my stress and anxiety about finding meaningful friends and a good community. Nothing about living away from home, taking college classes, or living the dorm life really stressed me out: all of my focus was on hoping and praying for finding community.
But fast-forward two years later, and I am finding myself soulfully knitted with a large community of compassionate and loving Jesus followers at WWU! As a senior, the friends and community I have found in Campus Christian Fellowship have changed the entire trajectory of my life!
As I reflect on the past couple of years (and as I head into my third year of being apart of the CCF community), one unique quality of Christian-oriented college community really sticks out to me as the reason I felt so included and apart of this specific family of students:
It wasn't assumed to be the job of higher up student leaders to reach out to me and love me.
Most of the time with living in the residence halls or being apart of student clubs, it can sometimes feel like those "higher up" care about welcoming you and making you feel included and appreciated. The RA's have scheduled times to meet with you in one on one meetings, club leaders are consistently reaching out to get you connected into their group...but besides that, there isn't much intentionality with any other students in the residence halls or clubs.
That's where CCF taught me differently. I immediately noticed that every student apart of the community knew of their relevancy and importance when it came to building and growing the family of believers.
This isn't referring to numbers, either! Sure, CCF is a decently sized group of students from all over campus who strive to serve and love WWU, but the reality is that when I found true Christian community, I found a group of people where even the returning sophomores knew of the influence they had in terms of reaching out and building intentional relationship with first-year students.
From playing Super Smash Bros. in the main lounge to hiking and conquering Oyster Dome, even the least "popular" of the students in CCF made it there mission to welcome me and get to know me as a freshman. This revolutionized how I thought Christian community works, and it's why I believe the Good News of Jesus is truly good news for college students.
To any returning, Jesus-following students who will be coming back to school this fall quarter: you are the most important agent when it comes to allowing God to welcome and reach freshmen (and any student new to campus).
Every invitation you make to new students could lead them on a collision course for what God is trying to offer them while at this important, and often scary, time of their lives.
This fall quarter, when you find yourself making plans to hang out with friends or grab lunch, try to invite and reach out to those new students. Having an intentional heart and approach towards welcoming students into the community is exactly how God will show our college campuses just how different and inclusive and better living as a Jesus-following college student is!
