February 7, 2012 by Andrew Clark 4 comments

Posted in: Church

Special thanks to the Anthem College Group for help with this post!

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  On Saturday, we will be blessed by the presence of over 70 college students at Anthem, a group the Lord has granted us the great opportunity to serve and love as members of our community. Although incredibly exciting, the idea of having this many young adults together in one place may seem daunting to some. As college students ourselves, we are aware that we can be an intimidating bunch, and with this fear and uncertainty in mind, we thought we might offer some words of encouragement as we seek to express Christ’s love through the hospitality of his church.

  In 1 Timothy 5:1-2, the apostle Paul wrote the following to his disciple and spiritual son, Timothy, who was a pastor at the church in Ephesus:

“Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.”

   Paul is emphasizing the fact that young men and women are not children anymore, and in treating them as an equal in age and status, you will encourage them in your presence and conversation. Instead of treating them like sons and daughters, think of them as brothers and sisters; a thirty-year-old married couple would most certainly treat their ten-year-old child much differently than they would treat other thirty-year-old adults.

   To give you an idea of what this might look like practically, here are a few things to think about in conversation that we hope will be helpful.

1. Don’t be afraid of us.

   In truth, we are likely more intimidated by you than you are by us. What are we doing here in a church? Who are these people? Are they judging me? We encourage you to be bold in loving these students. Be proactive. Ask questions. Show you care about us as people, and not as a means to fill some moral obligation to God. Don’t worry about saying something stupid; it is better to be assertive and not know what to say than to not engage us at all. If nothing else, any blunders will show us you are real and genuine and will ease our nerves.

2. Trust the Holy Spirit.

   Pray before coming in the morning that the Holy Spirit would fill you with words of love and grace. Be obedient to the Spirit’s promptings: if a door opens that leads to a conversation about Christ, then please follow as far as it goes, but don’t force the issue. Don’t talk about God just because you think you have to. We will likely be more blessed by your genuine love and interest than your religious talk. Don’t talk to us in a language we don’t understand. Words like justification and atonement may sound big and impressive, but it is likely that we don’t fully understand what they mean in our lives. Explain, explain, explain, but more importantly, love, love, love.

3. Just be who you are.

   You will be of most service to these students and to the Lord by being the person God has created you to be. Don’t put up a front; you were twenty once, so please be reminded that young adults can see right through a façade. Let the conversation flow freely! Get to know us as people, not just as students. Our college experience at Dominican will inevitably be a part of our conversation, but there is much more to us than sports and school. Ask questions that will keep a conversation going.

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   As college students at Anthem, we have been most blessed by all of you through the way you currently love us. Don’t be different to these new students, as they are not much different than us. Showing them that Christians can be normal people would be a great gift to our community.

   We are excited to see what the Lord will do through this incredible opportunity. May he fill you with courage, compassion, and joy in order to demonstrate Christ in your words and deeds, and may they be drawn to the freedom, life, and love that he so graciously offers.

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