College Kids and Church Membership

For many of us students, college is a time of independence. It is our first taste of wholly independent decision making, especially for those of us who move out of family homes and onto college campuses. When we move to college, what we eat, where we sleep, and how we spend our day is completely up to us. At college, there is no one to make decisions for us. No one makes us get up and go to church on Sunday morning. For Christian students at college— whether one came to college a Christian or met Christ at school— we must proactively choose to go to church and to become a part of a church family through membership. 

The primary purpose of church is not to sing songs or listen to a sermon. Most fundamentally, Christians are called to go to church for the time we will spend with other Christians (Romans 12:4-5). It is for this reason that when we students begin to look for a church at college, we should do so with a goal of membership and of minimal church shopping. For, as Screwtape tells Wormwood in The Screwtape Letters, church shopping encourages a person to become “a taster or connoisseur of churches” and “a critic where the Enemy wants him to be a pupil.” We cannot let ourselves get hung up on finding the perfect church with the perfect community, perfect sermons, perfect song choices, etc. These things are impossible for any church this side of paradise. Find a church that is welcoming and preaches the Gospel and stick to that church. Commit to it through membership, for such a commitment will protect you from discontentedly wandering from church to church. For when we cease to allow for discontentment, we “lay [ourselves] open in uncommenting, humble receptivity to any nourishment” God may speak to us from the pulpit (The Screwtape Letters). Do not let a lack of liturgy or a tone deaf worship leader convince you that a healthy, faithful church is not the right fit. We are sinners, not fit for a relationship with God, not the other way around. 

Furthermore, membership helps us invest in our local body of believers. Membership forces us out of anonymity and into relationships with fellow believers, especially if we are prone to slip in and slip out of church every Sunday without speaking to another person. When you commit to a church through membership, that church also commits to you. Elders, pastors, and priests are instructed to care for their flock, and they will look out for you as a part of that flock. Secondly, do not let the fact that you know no one in a church persuade you to settle for a “false, unhelpful” church full of one kind of person (The Screwtape Letters). One of the most important functions of the church is to facilitate older brothers and sisters mentoring to younger believers (Proverbs 27:17, Titus 2:2-8). Go to a church with both those older and younger than you. Mentor to teens in the youth ministry while letting older members mentor you. 

Throughout all the uncertainty and fluctuations of college, let Sunday morning be a constant during this time. Though we are only here for four years, four years is a long time when you are 18 years old. Use these years well and take actions that will build up your faith. Become a member of a God-fearing church.