Why College Students are Important to Grace Church

I couldn't think of a better way to kick-off this blog than a personal treatise on why college students are important to Grace Church. Many ministries exist for the express purpose of reaching college students: Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ, and many others. While each of these ministries do an exceptional job of achieving their stated vision, it is important to remember that these ministries are not the church. They are para-church organizations, and it is the Church that Jesus has promised to defend, protect, cherish and use as the tool for accomplishing His Master Plan.

I have been doing a lot of new thinking about the role of The Source, here at Grace Church. It is my personal opinion that college ministry is one for which God has specifically positioned our church, and it is within the walls of the college ministry that the vision and mission of our church can be immediately applied in all its facets. Furthermore, it is an extension of our biblical role as the body of Christ.

By ministering to college students, we fulfill the church's vision.

Grace Church’s vision is to see lives, families, communities and the world transformed by the Gospel. By ministering to a college student, you can reach all of these demographics at once. We can be a part in changing their lives forever, and then they go home to their families on Holidays and the effect of our ministry can be felt there. After they graduate, these students will live in communities and hopefully begin to live out the life-long principles that they have learned while in our flock. Many students will have international businesses, or more directly, be studying in our midst from over-seas. Each point of contact that these students make as they go out into the world is a direct point of contact to Grace Church.

By ministering to college students, we are fulfilling our biblical obligation as the body of Christ.

The body of Christ exists in such a fashion that makes the life of each individual believer extremely important. Romans 12:4-6 says "For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them..."

It is misguided, at best, for us to think that the college students do not need the support of the body at Grace. And it is, at best, arrogant to think that our church does not need them. I Corinthinas 12:14 - 20 highlights the error of thinking that we can do without another member of our body.

Grace Church in SLO has the unique opportunity (and responsibility) to reach out to these students and provide for them a church family that they can call home. College is an important time for the development and cementing of life-long habits and disciplines, and it is our goal at The Source to fulfill the role of the church in these students’ lives.

So, if you are a college student, and you are reading this, here's my encouragement: join a Growth Group, volunteer for ministry, sign-up for a summer missions trip... get involved! The church needs you!

If you are a regular attendee of Grace Church, here's my encouragement to you: join a Growth Group with college students in it. Take a college student out to lunch (they will never turn down food). Join our ministry team and reach out to students who are looking for people who are living on the other side of the diploma. Discipleship begins with you, but it could end with reaching the world with the Gospel of Christ.