Much is made about the prevalence of young adults leaving the church after they finish high school. We have a right to be concerned, but more than concerned, we have a responsibility to fight the trend. Certainly much of the fight needs to take place long before graduation. Some research over the years has suggested that parental involvement and the development of significant relationships within the church play a large role in a young adult’s decision to stay with the church or to leave. A recent article I read suggested that one of the reasons so many young adults leave may be simply that they were never converted.
Regardless of all of the reasons, we know that they leave. Sadly, students do not have to go off to college to leave the church, young adults are difficult to keep in the church even when they do not leave and go off to college. Of course, there are occasions when parents are difficult to keep in the church when their students graduate from high school and the youth group, but that is for a different day. For today, however, I’d like to suggest a few steps that you can take to help your students who are going off to college to stay rooted in their faith and connected to a local church.
- Communicate. Make sure that your students know that there are challenges ahead of them and that you have concerns and hopes for their future. Share with them the importance of involvement in a local church and collegiate ministries. Emphasize that college ministries do not take the place of a local church.
- Provide Accountability. Set up intentional accountability relationships with each of your graduating seniors. With whom are they going to be able to safely share their struggles? Who from their home church is going to hold them accountable for getting involved in a church when they go off to school. This vital link also reminds students that though they are away, they have not been forgotten.
- Make Some Calls. I like to call the local BCM or other ministry and let them know that our students are coming so that they will be looking for them. I also work to identify healthy local churches where our students can get involved. Finding a new church is not easy, we need to do all we can to make it easier.
- Send Them Off. Are your students leaving or are they getting sent off. There is a difference. Send them off to this stage of life with pomp and celebration. You’ve worked to prepare them for this day, send them off with trust in what God can do.
- Pray and Trust. Sometimes it is difficult to send our students away. We know that life is different when they leave the comfortable confines of home and their home church. We also know, however, that God is able. Do not worry, that was a command of Jesus, not a suggestion. We must not worry about our students, instead, we must be regularly on our knees praying for God to form them more and more into his image as they go away and serve him in a different capacity in college.
We are not doing all of these things perfectly, but we are striving. We do not have to throw up our hands and live resolved to the belief that when our students leave our churches they are leaving their faith. Let’s fight for them, let’s care for them, and let’s pray and trust God to do what only he can do in their lives.
photo credit: tanakawho via photopin cc
