To Christian College or Not, Have your Mission in Mind

“Being a Christian at college, how hard could it be?”

I’m sure many of us have thought about this phrase, or at least lived in it without knowing. As Christians, or just general college students, we underestimate how hard life can be in college. It is an exciting time where we make new friends, find out what we want to do for the rest of our lives, hurt, heal, and so much more.

From the Christian perspective, all of these things form us into who God calls us to be, and help us find the path that He has laid out for us. This is hard to grasp a lot of the time, with our schedules being packed to the brim and having so many responsibilities that we just want to quit. Unenroll. Find a different college. The list goes on. There are so many defining moments that each and every person will have in college, and it is (for most people) the most important time in their lives. College is where the most growth happens, where people start to feel circumstances in a real light, question themselves, and seek out their own choices, with consequences that can be both good and bad.

“How do I prepare myself so I’m not surprised or caught off guard by anything?

Unfortunately, there is always going to be something that comes out of the blue, that we won’t be ready for. These things come at different times for everyone, so comparing yourself to others’ experiences is an unwise thing to do. God puts events in our lives when we least expect them, and he knows when we are at our limits. Throughout everything, though, He is there for us.

“I’m scared I won’t be able to find my crowd or fit in”

Fear and anxiety are natural responses to the unknown, and that is exactly what adjusting to a new college/year of school is. If there’s one thing I would recommend to ease the worry, it would be to never lose your foundation.

As a Christian, we are called to live a life of serving and putting others first, because that’s what Christ did for us. We treat others as Christ would, even though most of the time it is hard and we don’t feel like it. Knowing your mission is a characteristic that sets Christians apart from the world. If you keep this in mind, despite the hardships, you will be able to find your crowd.

“Fitting in” is an interesting phrase. Everyone has their own definition of it, and most of them revolve around “being liked by everyone and I feel like I am welcome everywhere I go without people making fun of me”. If this is your definition, then you will never “fit in”.

From the Christian perspective, we are called to stand out from the rest of the world, because of how our mission and values differ. Standing out like Jesus did. The world will not understand most of the time, we will get made fun of, outcast, excluded from things. Above all challenges we may face, we can not forget our purpose. Our mission. All of this applies to every Christian college student, regardless of if you attend a Christian institution or not.

Our mission:

Live like Christ, and pursue others the way He did; with love, compassion, grace, and patience.

It will be hard, no one said this life was easy. Our hope for others is the strongest motivator for our purpose in life. Jesus constantly put others before himself, throughout everything they did to him. His love never wavered.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them". Ephesians 2:10