October 28, 2011

Just Skimming the Surface
 
Young Christians who want more of God say the church is too shallow
 
by Thomas Hardesty
 
(WNS)—When Ashley Thomas was a freshman at Indiana State University, members of her home church in Chicago called her weekly to check on her spiritual state and ask about life on campus. Not every first-year college student would appreciate so much oversight, but for Thomas, the weekly calls served as a reminder that the people who watched her grow up cared deeply about her and her developing faith.
 
Unlike Thomas, many young adults don’t come to college with a deep faith experience supported by a strong spiritual family. According to the findings of a research study recently released by the Barna Group, many young adults are walking away from the church because they’ve had a “shallow experience of Christianity.”
 
Nearly a third of teens and those in their twenties who responded to the survey found church “boring,” and 24 percent said “faith is not relevant to my career or interests.” Another 23 percent said the Bible was not taught clearly or often enough in church, and the remainder, 20 percent, said God seemed to be missing from their church experience.
 
To reverse that trend, campus ministers and students involved in ministry say the church needs to focus teaching on scripture and emphasize authentic relationships.
 
Andrew McCarty, a campus staff member with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Indiana State University, said the responses to the Barna survey reflect the attitudes of a growing population of students he meets on campus.
 
“The number of casual or cultural Christians is really increasing,” he said. Instead of talking about and experiencing God, many students are told to “go to this building, read this book. They’re looking for something more.”
 
Jared McCormick, a member of Christian Student Fellowship at ISU, said church for many of his classmates was reduced to a “one day a week tradition.” One of his friends, who was raised in a family that was very involved in church, walked away from his faith because it was built around a weekly trip to Sunday service, instead of on a relationship with God, McCormick said.
Church leaders and campus ministers like McCarty are trying to counter the increasing number of ‘cultural Christians’ by changing the way students read the Word.
 
“Obviously churches they’ve grown up in haven’t used (the Bible) a lot,” McCarty said. Building his goals around scripture, McCarty tries to teach “straight out of the text,” instead of finding a topic he thinks students will like and then looking for scripture to support it.
 
Adam Caldwell, associate minister at Christian Student Fellowship, at Indiana State University, focuses his teaching on applying scripture to everyday situations.
 
“My goal in this is always to help them delve into the Word … not just look at it academically, but to really chew on the practical application … and then act upon it while they are in college, to hopefully set the tone for the rest of their lives,” he said.
 
Student ministers also encourage young adults to build close relationships with other believers, which helps keep God in the church experience, they say.
 
After speaking at a recent campus ministry retreat, Shane Taylor, senior minister at Le Claire Christian Church in Edwardsville, Il., made a direct appeal to the college students in his congregation: “You guys are going to need to have a group.”
 
Taylor said if he had to choose between the two, he would rather his members be active in small groups than attend church on Sunday mornings because the intimate interaction with other believers fosters accountability and spiritual conversation about God.
 
McCormick encourages churches to balance outreach with fundamental teachings for new believers and the necessary deeper teachings for more mature Christians.
 
“Build a foundation, then build on top of that,” he said.
 
Thomas, who gained spiritual strength from the weekly calls her home church members made to her during her first year in college, said churches need to start building relationships with young adults from the moment they walk in the door.
 
“Try to see where they’re at and look at their perspective,” she said. Church leaders need to realize they are dealing with a highly educated and demanding group, she said.
 
“Since this generation has access to so much, they need to see a need for Jesus, for God’s love,” she said.