What College Students Look For in a Church...

This week I got “No!” for an answer as I stood at the Student Life desk at Fanshawe College inquiring about posting an advertisement for the “Out of Thin Air” program. Speaking with the chaplain I was told that if a presence is established on campus – a student’s club that is affiliated with the church – then we would be able to post invitations and do spiritual work. Currently 5 of our own London youth are students at Fanshawe, and a dozen of Adventist youth from other churches attend there. The UWO has an official club ( http://www.usc.uwo.ca/clubs/adventist )

And they are quite active in programming and ministry, there is much more work to be done for students in London. While we would like students to do the mission, do we do our mission as a church to help these students keep their faith?

We’ve been talking about Evangelism. Here’s an opportunity to reach out to a very receptive audience. A 1997 survey of church members² found that 67 percent of Adventist college students attended a university or college not affiliated with the Adventist Church.³ Approximately 20,000 students attend 14 Adventist schools across North America each year. That means that somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 North American Adventist students attend one of approximately 6,400⁴ non-Adventist colleges and universities. These Adventist college students live in an environment where being a rebel means not engaging in casual sex or routinely going on drunken binges. The pressures these students face on today’s typical American college campuses are greater than most of us can fathom.

Are we as a church, as individuals, giving these students the personal attention and support they need to deepen their faith and be a beacon of light in difficult, faith-challenging places? Ron Pickell, the coordinator of ACF - (Adventist Christian Fellowship) ( www.acflink.org ) suggests that students away from home on secular campuses who make the effort to keep a spiritual connection, are looking for help in a local church. They want the church to:

1. Provide a Christian community that reminds them of the kind of warmth and support they aren’t getting because they’re away from home. They are looking for people who will offer friendship and welcome them into a warm Christian atmosphere by extending personal invitations and encouraging words.

2. Give them a chance to get involved with the church mission and program. They don’t have a lot of extra time, but statistics from surveys of today’s Millennial generation show that students are looking for ways to serve and opportunities to give of themselves. Serving in the local church is one way to help students extend themselves from a campus environment where their focus is often on themselves.

3. Offer them spiritual friendships with fellow young adults who will provide deeper relationships than they are often able to develop in their dorms, in class, and on campus. The local church is often the place where students can make contact with other Adventist students. Many of the larger public campuses have populations of 50,000 to 60,000 students. If fellow Adventist students are enrolled at such a university, it’s possible to attend the same college for four or five years and never meet. Church may be the best place to meet fellow Adventist students who share a similar Christian lifestyle and are struggling with the adjustment to university life.

4. Become spiritual mentors. Students need this in fellow church members, and they need a pastor who will journey along with them in their secular college experience by providing answers for how to negotiate the spiritual and emotional challenges they are facing in the paradigm shift of college life. They’ll be looking for people of grace, life wisdom, spiritual depth, intellectual rigor, and practical experience to help them on their journey.

5. Finally, give students a place where it is safe to be a college student—a place where they can make mistakes and still be understood, accepted, and welcomed by their church family the next Sabbath without ridicule or shame. College is a time for students to try out their faith and make it their own. To do so they’re going to make some decisions that will sometimes be contrary to how they have been raised and taught. But even when they engage in behavior that we might not approve of, they must know that they still belong and that this is their church home. A church of such understanding is not only one they will come back to—it’s also a place where they will feel safe to bring their friends.

FREE TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER THROUGH LOVE

At a recent board meeting church leaders focused on Evangelism Cycle. The six stages of Empowered Church harvest work:

1. Preparing the ground – revival of godliness, living as God-seekers.
2. Sowing seeds – events where contact is made with community.
3. Cultivating growth – need-oriented efforts for those attracted.
4. Reaping – program making an appeal for joining the fellowship.
5. Preserving the harvest – nurturing new believers in accountability.
6. Repeating the cycle exponentially.

While all these stages are about service to others. The first one is not to be missed – the Revival. This stage is crucial in determining the result. Seeds sown on unprepared ground will not produce. Community services. Vacation Bible Schools, Park clean up, and all other “seed planting” events will yield nothing unless the community and the church experiences the Revival.

The goal of revival is to produce the fruit of the Spirit – love. For many this term “love” is so vague that it causes only misunderstanding. Just like term “faith”. Apostle James writes whole letter to challenge believers to have real faith, the one that produces works. At the end of his letter he defines the most evident work of faith – patience. (James 5:7-11) Without faith one cannot be patient and wait.

When it comes to love – the most common direction that comes is service. “Serve one another through love.” (Galatians 5:13) Love is displayed in service we give to one another. Revival of church will show itself in people going out of their way to serve one another.

We do it symbolically, during the Lord’s Supper. To some it remains just a ritual – service with the towel. Yet, the towel was a symbol of service. Are you ready for Revival? Are you ready to become a Servant?

Today I will share some examples of service we can offer one another:

1. Guarding the reputation of others.

2. Service of being served.

3. Service of common courtesy.

4. Service of hospitality.

5. Service of listening

6. Service of bearing burdens for each other….

7. Service of sharing the Word of Life with others.

Service is very multifaceted, yet it has one thing in common: it makes us humble. In doing so it enables us to receive the Grace of God. Apostle James advised the church “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble…Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4: 6,10)

We need the Revival of Grace. We need to be lifted up, so we may serve in the Name of our Lord, who gave us example of loving service.

REVIVAL MISSED…UNTIL NEXT CHANCE

The Revival week was planned, support promised, and some hoped for a “window” of Revival. The appointed time came and went by without serious commitment from the church members, in spite of the obvious need for conversions in our families, from teenagers, spouses, and extended members.

This week was to inaugurate a whole series of efforts to reach out to those who have not committed their lives to Christ. In a short two weeks we plan to present another opportunity for outreach with “Out of Thin Air” program, exposing Evolutionary theory and presenting the Purpose for our lives as intended by the Creator God.

So what is needed for us to avoid missing the Hour of Visitation next time? I suggest a few simple Biblical disciplines:

1) agonized, pleading prayers, corporate and private for revival;

2) bold communication, prophetic voice from pulpit and in homes, speaking an uncompromising word to awaken the church;

3) repentance among all believers and church family of half-hearted and half-stepping way of life; repentance in our homes from compromising the Truth we know in Jesus;

4) restoration of a simple, down-to-earth New Testament Christianity, where Acts speak louder than words, where fellowship is intolerant of sin, and loving for sinners.

Regular attendance at the mid-week Prayer Meetings is one of sure indicators of church readiness for Evangelism. We shall never see much change for the better in our churches until the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians. How can we expect a blessing if we are too idle to ask for it? How can we look for a Pentecost if we never meet with one another, in one place, to wait upon the Lord? We should not degenerate into formality, or we shall be dead while we think we live. We should not waiver through unbelief, or we shall pray in vain.

All elders, and those in leadership positions, should seek to hear from God so they may speak loud and clear the Word of God. The Scriptures must be made the infallible foundation of all teaching. Not human opinions but “Thus Says the Lord!” must be heard in all our conversations. The ruin, redemption and regeneration of mankind must be set forth in unmistakable terms. Only such conversations would lead to the real repentance which is more than a change of mind. The Holy Ghost never preaches repentance as a trifle. There must be sorrow for sin and hatred of it in true repentance. The best definition is in a children's hymn:

"Repentance is to leave The sins we loved before,
And show that we in earnest grieve, By doing so no more."

An illumination of the Holy Spirit includes a discovery of iniquity and a hatred of it, without which there can hardly be a genuine repentance. We must not undervalue repentance.

We have defined what we believe. This year we are talking about how we must live, laboring so that the Kingdom of God would be real in our Church. Next year we will move into becoming more intentional about doing our work, accomplishing our purpose and attracting people to God’s Kingdom.

Church! please do not miss your next hour of visitation!

Was it really missed though? For those few who attended it was a blessing, it was a spark. Flames begin with just enough sparks, when conditions are right.

FAMILY REVIVAL …

Last Wednesday night a group of youth attended the Ignition, a youth revival spearheaded by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada. As I sat in a group of 8 Adventist kids, amidst the thundering ear-wax blowing sounds of rock, I did some math: about 3,000 Christians partially filled the John Labatt Arena, which setup for the end stage concert is capable of fitting 9,000 people. That‘s about 3% of Christians attending churches any given weekend, about 0.5% of people living in the area from where this even drew attendance. It did not even make the front page of the London Free Press – in our beloved city which is considered the “Evangelical Mecca” of Canada. How can we impact the community for Christ? Is the public Evangelism dead? Is there any other way?

Reflecting on the whole process of preparing for this event, I remember discussions among pastors about lack of spirituality, lack of conversion among “churched” youth. Sending people out who are not transformed themselves is more than faking it, it is hurtful to all. Religious people call it hypocrisy, pretending.

What is needed is an urgent revival of personal godliness. Charles Spurgeon said on this matter “This is the secret of church prosperity. When individuals fall from their steadfastness, the church is tossed to and fro; when personal faith is steadfast, the church abides true to her Lord.”

In his famous Revival Sermon he listed another factor of revival - a revival of domestic religion. Writing more than a hundred years ago he penned: The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children? Preach by your hands if you cannot preach by your tongues. When our church members show the fruits of true godliness, we shall soon have inquiries for the tree which bears such a crop….May every gathering of faithful men might be a lure to attract others to Jesus! May many souls fly to Him because they see others speeding in that direction.

We have begun our Revival Week. With words we say that we want to see our church grow, and then look at the pastor to do something supernatural. As your pastor I share this simple faith and hope that I would be able to say “as for me and my family – we will serve the Lord.” As your pastor all I can do is pray "Lord, turn us all from these foolish procrastinators to Thyself. Lord, turn them and they shall be turned! By their conversion, pray that a true revival has commenced tonight! Let it spread through all our households, and then run from church to church till the whole of christendom shall be ablaze with a heaven-descended fire!"

Revival Week has begun! Every night church family is coming together to pray, to hear the Word of God, to seek God and His purpose for our lives. Do not miss this opportunity to revive your family, to lead your young to the Lord, to pull backsliders into the fellowship of Grace. Let there be no excuses, but renewed commitment.

Our pioneers lived by this motto: A revival of true godliness among us is the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work. (Review and Herald, March 22, 1887).

REVIVAL BEGINS WITH ME…

For a few weeks instead of pastoral letter you had a chart, a timeline of evangelistic opportunities coming to our church this fall. By now you are well aware that we begin the whole process of escalating the outreach with a Revival Week. Every subsequent event will grow on the previous attendance and interest.

We all need a revival of our minds, our hearts, our thoughts, our commitment. Every time anyone attends the Christian wedding ceremony one can testify to the moving experience of hearing people say their vows, offer their promises. It reminds those who are married of their own, it refreshes and inspires couples in their relationships. And for those who have not entered into such relationships, these vows are instructive. To us, Christian believers, baptism is such an occasion too. So is the Revival, or Evangelistic meeting.

As you reflect on your experience, most likely you were baptised after an inspiring Evangelistic campaign, or after a Revival week, or after a Spiritual emphasis week in school, or college. Coming to a Revival week will refresh your heart, soul and mind. Do not miss this opportunity.

There are many young people in our churches who were not prompted yet to make their decision to follow Jesus, who for some reason were not given an opportunity to experience the Spiritual atmosphere of the Revival. Bring them in, give them a chance to learn. Homeworks, schoolload, hobbies, extracurricular activities will always be there. You have to chose your priorities.

We talk about growing. We look with expectancy to see pastor bring some new people. And he does. Yet, we have our extended family, some of whom are not interested in walking with the Lord. Who will help them? We have children who are not sure what they believe, or why they should believe? Who will guide them to faith? We have friends, coworkers who may wonder why we are so different. Have you had a chance to share your faith?

Revival is not just an event. It’s not an effort by pastor and church leadership. It is something that begins within a person, within a few persons, sets the church on fire and spills out into community.

If we would to do Evangelism, we need to spend time with Jesus, we need a revival in our hearts, we need to plead with God to “revive ME!” Do not miss this opportunity – lead to Jesus.

Revival Week – from Friday Sept. 7 to Sabbath Sept. 15