How important are College Ministries?
College Ministry - It’s crucial!
College is a very vulnerable time for every student going in. They have just been told that their high school friends will be their friends for life, but during that first semester of college those friends completely change into people that do whatever it takes to serve themselves. The sweet Christian high schoolers either become confused as to why everyone has suddenly changed so much, or become so infatuated with the newfound freedom of college that they waste it on all the wrong things. Unless there are people trained to spot these type of situations and know how to help, they can become de-sensitized to sin or worse, begin to ignore the idea of faith as a whole.
To put this in context of my personal life, I had been in a relationship during high school that I foolishly thought would continue into college and when it didn’t, I was crushed. I was angry at him, at the whole situation, at my friends who deserted me, and I was looking for someone else to fill his shoes. Over the entire course of my freshman year, God was slowly working on me, getting rid of the anger and replacing it with the desire to fill the void with worshipping Him instead. That was what led me to the BCM. I loved being able to play piano in church but I wasn’t able to do that my freshman year and I was too consumed with anger during that year to really care. So after I finally surrendered the anger, I realized I missed being able to serve on a worship team, which was when someone at my church mentioned getting involved at the BCM.
Yes, I said every excuse in the book of why I shouldn’t go. “I don’t have time.” “It won’t be that beneficial.” “I don’t even know where it is” “I know no one there” “They won’t let me on their worship team so why even try”
Excuse after excuse after excuse.
Finally I took a leap of faith and scheduled a meeting with the BCM Minister, Lee Woodmansee. We talked for about an hour about core Biblical beliefs, serving in church, and serving at the BCM. The basis of that conversation went, “I know you’re already serving at your church, I know you have solid beliefs, and as long as you are going to come consistently, you can play piano on our worship team.”
If it weren’t for someone encouraging me to go to a BCM, I wouldn’t have hardly any Christian friends, I wouldn’t have had a support system, I wouldn’t have had someone I could ask my spiritual questions to, and I wouldn’t have someone intentionally minister to me.
BCM’s are a place of impact and life-changing experiences. They are places to dig deep into the Bible and be intentional with like-minded people. Everyone in college should go and everyone in churches should support them and be involved in them too.
I’m so thankful for all the ways God uses people and places for His Glory and purposes. I’ll serve Him as long as I live.
Crystal Rose