It’s either or. As a whole, college students are either hostile toward religion or ambivalent/open toward it.
Yes, I know every college student is unique and they range from passionate follower of Christ to atheist. But when you think about doing college ministry, especially evangelism, what college student are you imagining you will encounter? An angry, Christian-hating atheist or an open-to-discussion student.
Obviously, your approach to evangelism (as a ministry and as an individual) will be vastly different depending on your answer to that question.
Two landmark books have been published in the last few years on spirituality among the college-aged:
unChristian & Souls in Transition
I highly recommend both of them. Incredibly eye opening.
I just read Souls in Transition this summer and will unpack its content over the next few weeks on this blog.
But, although they have some similarities in their findings (and both are rather dry books written by researchers – Souls is far tougher to wade through of the two), I think they paint a very different picture of Young Adults (as they call those of college age).
This is a gross generalization but here’s what they conclude about Young Adults:
- unChristian - There is a growing tide of hostility and resentment toward Christianity
- Souls in Transition – Most “are OK with talking about religion as a topic, although they are largely indifferent to it”
Working with college students in the Deep South I find the results from “Souls” to be much truer to my experience. But we live in the Bible belt and I know our students aren’t typical of the average American college student. College ministers at Cal Berkeley or NYU obviously will encounter a different audience.
What has been your experience in working with “outsider” college students (as unChristian calls non-Christians)?
