Setting the Table

Nearly 20 million students were enrolled in college at the start of the fall 2024 semester. Recent research suggests that roughly 15% of these students will live on-campus, likely meaning they are away from any home church community (Melanie Handson, “College Enrollment & Student Demographic Statistics”). This doesn’t include the other millions of students who live off-campus, still many miles from home. This may be what you’re experiencing right now—away from the church family that raised you, searching for Christian community. Perhaps you have found such a community as part of a great on-campus Christian fellowship.

On-campus college ministries labor to teach, evangelize, and disciple students, but the local church remains the foundation for spiritual growth. Paul makes this argument in Ephesians 4 when he says we have been given individuals like pastors “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” towards maturity and fullness in Christ (4:12). College ministries function best when serving as an extension of the church’s mission of building up the body. For campus ministers like myself, a major priority is connecting college students with local churches. It would be a mistake if I allowed a student to think a campus ministry could replace the church.

Campus ministry is the snack—think apples and cheese. Healthy, sustaining, but not the full meal. The local church is meant to be the feast. Turning your campus ministry into the feast, while treating church like a movie theater lobby, may introduce a lifetime of unhealthy church habits.

Nutritious Snacks

I explicitly tell our students every year: Your involvement in this campus fellowship is not a replacement for church attendance and service. “The church,” as defined by Mark Dever, “is the body of people called by God’s grace through faith in Christ to glorify him together by serving him in his world” (The Church: The Gospel Made Visible, 3). The church is foundational to every believer’s life, and college students are no different. The basis for this argument is twofold.

First, the Bible speaks of God’s gathered people, be it Israel or church, not a campus ministry. Jesus promises the gates of hell would not prevail against a church (Matt. 16:18). Paul explains that all members have a role within the church (1Cor. 12:12– 27). God’s Old Testament promises see their fulfillment in the church, not a campus ministry. The impact college ministry has on the lives of young adults is real and powerful. As a college student, you are a captive audience trying to make sense of your life and discover purpose beyond yourself. A campus fellowship meets students where they are and points them to Jesus Christ, the one who gives meaning and purpose. Yet at the end of the day, our service is to the greater church, and we need students like you to know the biblical reasons behind that.

The second reason we want students invested in a local Bible-teaching church is that college only lasts a few years. You will most likely only be part of a campus fellowship for four to five years, depending on your studies. For someone entering college at 18, this often appears like a lengthy time. Those of us 30, 40, and beyond know better from experience! In reality, the college years are just a blip in your life. It’s essential to instill the value and necessity of the local church into your life because you will eventually no longer be in college. The college fellowship that created community through teaching and discipleship will very quickly be part of one’s past. How will you continue in discipleship and spiritual maturation without the local church?

A strong campus ministry provides a nutritious day-to-day snack for the student through teaching, singing praise, Bible studies, training, and one-on-one discipleship. If a campus minister like myself is fulfilling his or her missionary role, you’ll receive the boost needed to live out your faith in a potentially challenging and hostile environment. But the campus ministry is an addition to your connection to a local, Bible-teaching church. Again, the campus ministry is the healthy snack. Your church should be the feast.

Trading the Feast for the Snack

It is crucial for a college student to identify, attend, and serve a local, Bible-teaching church because the image of this healthy feast only works if the church itself is healthy. What happens if you are regularly part of an unhealthy and nutrition-depleted church? You will miss out on the feast God has provided for your needs.

For many college students invested in a solid on-campus ministry, they can survive attending what I call a “Cheeto church.” Cheeto churches can be fun and flavorful but fail the nutritional test. They aren’t so bad if consumed in moderation and do not replace the intended meal. If you are regularly eating apples and cheese during the week on campus, a feast on Cheetos may not have an immediate impact on your spiritual wellness. However, as mentioned above, that campus fellowship eventually comes to an end, and healthy snacks are no longer supplied. Then what?

Some churches prioritize entertainment so heavily that students walk away undernourished. These churches aren’t necessarily apostate but don’t fulfill the full purposes of church. Such churches practice what Matthew Everhard calls “worshiptainment.” Everhard explains that, “worshiptainment is the combination of some aspects of worship along with heavy doses of entertainment” (Worshiptainment: The Modern Church’s Golden Calf, 19). Entertainment-driven churches delight the senses but leave the body and soul lethargic.

If you skip the feast provided by a healthy church (whether through non-church attendance, an entertainment-driven church, or even so-called online church) because you’re well fed on campus, you’re training yourself to seek from other sources only what the church is meant to provide. You may not feel it while in college, but after graduation you will start to feel the hunger pangs and realize man is not meant to live by Cheetos alone.

The Recipe and Ingredients

I have heard it said the biggest determining factor of whether a student will attend church regularly over the next four to five years is if the student attends church the first Sunday at college. I have not read research that supports this claim but have witnessed it to be true. Consistently, the students who prioritize church attendance upon their arrival to college continue attending, while the ones who have it as lower priority from the start, keep it a lower priority.

If you are a current or incoming college student (or in close relation to or discipling one), please heed this advice. The first step is to identify a church. Hopefully, the college is in a region where there are multiple solid options. That may allow for various preferences to be considered, but what are the essentials? A church should have a firm grasp of the gospel, expositional teaching of the Bible, paths for discipleship, and more. The Nine Marks of a Healthy Church is an incredible resource to dive into what should be evident in a church’s life. While some of this can be gleaned through visiting the church’s website, not all of it will be observable until actually attending and meeting people. Doing advanced legwork (even prior to arriving on campus) is essential. I recommend searching churches within 15 minutes of the college (go much further and you may be tempted to sleep in or to pass on events during the week). Search a church’s website and you will learn about denominations, confessions and statements of faith, the pastor’s background, and recommended resources. Listening to a sermon or two is also helpful! All of this should give you a good understanding of what a church is about.

Several excellent ministries offer tools for searching for churches nearby. The Gospel Coalition and 9Marks are good places to start. If you are leaving home from a solid and loved denomination, then it is very easy to use that denomination’s website to find local congregations in the new town.

One major hurdle you may face is the fear of going to church alone and not knowing anyone. On our campus ministry’s website, we have a page of local churches our student leaders go to, with their email addresses available. The idea is that if a new student, or simply a student new to church, wants to attend but doesn’t want to be alone, he or she can reach out to this student leader. Reach out to a campus pastor or student leaders from your campus ministry and find out where they go.

College students shouldn’t settle for simply attending church. You need to find opportunities to connect with and serve the community. Fellowship meals and small groups. Volunteering with the youth and attending service days. These seemingly mundane things are part of the complete, balanced meal.