Well, as a lot of you know I spend most of my fall on a college campus interviewing staff to work at kamp. I am always impressed by the people who I interview how they stand strong in their walk with the Lord. I actually went to a large university, was a member of a big sorority, and strived to stand strong for Christ. I failed and succeeded many different times but looking back I can see how much I grew. So, from my personal experience, from working alongside of thousands of college staff for many summers, and from my encounters with hundreds of interviews of college students, here are 5 important things I believe you must do to be able to stand strong for Christ in college.
5 Things to Help You Stand Strong in College
#1. Decide who you want to be in college, before college starts
- Really spend some time praying and deciding what type of legacy you want to leave when you graduate. If you have a clear goals and a desired impact you will measure all your decisions according to these.
- Choose a legacy that is founded on scripture not on opinion or emotion. Opinions and emotions change, but because the Word of God does not change biblical convictions don't.
- If you did not do this before college then take some time to do this during college. It is never too late!
#2. Have a plan in spending time in the word
- Find a study that will challenge you and keep you desiring to get time in the word. You will be the most inconsistent in your quiet time when you are opening the bible up and randomly picking verses to read every day.
- Pick a time and commit to it. You will always find a reason not to do your quiet time when you say "I will do it when I have time today." It's easy to forget that you are in a battle with the enemy. He wants nothing more for you to be inconsistent and the temptation will be strong to let being busy get in the way.
- Set disciplines for yourself. I was a runner in college and I made sure that I ran every day in college. I wasn't that disciplined in reading my bible. One day I decided that I couldn't "run until I read". I wanted to run so I made time to read. It really taught me how to discipline myself.
#3. Find Friends Like You
- When college kids tell me that they have a hard time finding believers I always challenge them to look harder. Many times that is an excuse to not have to walk away from friends that pull you down.
- There are many college ministries out there especially on big campuses! Try them out and find one that fits and I know that you will find fellowship. God wants you to have godly fellowship so if you can't find it, pray for it. I am 100% sure, as you are relying on the Lord, He will allow you to find people like you.
- Your friends are the #1 influence of what defines the path people take in college. Temptation is huge and you will need accountability. If accountability is absent then you are more likely to fall for anything. It takes prayer, accountability, encouragement, and fellowship of believers to stand strong for Christ in college. Find those friends.
- Note: I am not saying "shun" non-believers or not be their friends. What I am saying is be careful not to allow your influences be non-believers. Jesus did eat with sinners but those sinners came to dine in His arena with His disciples. You didn't see Jesus go in their arena.
#4 - Ask an older person of your same gender to disciple you.
- Look for someone a little older who you respect in their walk with the Lord and ask them to meet with you. It's even better if they are not in your main peer group but some one who sees you consistently. Someone like this will have walked through where you are walking, can challenge you, can keep you accountable, and can teach you the word. Pick someone who won't enable your sin, but will be bold to help guide you in the way the Lord wants you to go.
- Make this person an authority in your life. Dont see him or her as just an advisor, but instead an authority. You need to make your own decisions but this person should be one that, if they speak into your life, you listen and really consider what they say. This is why it is important that this person have a strong walk with the Lord...a walk you will want to emmulate.
#5 - Don't be involved with every campus organization on your campus.
- At first you will want to try out a bunch of ministries to figure out where you fit, but you eventually need to pick one or two that you really can be committed to. You have a lot of responsibilities in college such as studying, sorority, fraternity, sports, campus groups, jobs ect... The moment you over-commit yourself, the first thing that will go out the door are your christian organizations. Why? Because there is not money committed there. It shouldn't be that way, but it is reality. You have money committed into college, fraternities, soritiies, and housing. You might even have time committed to things like scholarships or jobs that pay for college. You also need to be a good steward of your college education and overcommitment yourself can hinder that as well!
- You run this risk of being burned out. You also run the risk of never going deep and processing all that you are learning.
- What does healthy involvement look like? I am a big fan of the method Jesus lays out in Matthew 14 of feeding the 5,000. The disciples went to Jesus to get the food and then poured it out to the people. You should have something that pours into you spiritually and then something that allows you to pour out to others. (note: you might be at a point in your faith that you need to just be poured into for a while. Paul had to spend sometime with the disciples after his conversion. You should always be growing your faith to get to a point to share your faith with others.) I grew the most when I was fully committed to a biblestudy lead by an older gal weekly. I met with her one-on-one at least 3 times a month and then I lead a highschool small group weekly.
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