How to stay a Christian in college

I've been thinking. I've recently run across some online and print publications about "How to stay a Christian in college." I think the reason these publications view this as a big issue is because many young, naive Christians go away to public universities which hold "secular" or "liberal" views on religion, science, etc. and are "susceptible" to these new-fangled ideas, and many of these young students have not been given the tools to deal with them. (Did that run-on sentence make any sense?)

I for one almost succumbed to these ideas. But I started out attending a Christian university! What happened to me was the "new-fangled ideas" came at me from external places and I became quite disillusioned with the pat answers given to me at the Christian school, which was, to put it simply, a bubble. It seemed to me that the majority of students there existed for themselves, and the prevailing thought was "as long as you've got your theology straight, you're good with God".

What really bothered me about this school was it's location. Marion, Indiana is a very impoverished city. Ever since the big companies there outsourced and left many, many people jobless, the city has gone downhill. And yet, you may drive through the streets of Marion and come across the university and it's like going into another world: pristine, flawless, blatantly expensive, and suddenly, everyone is white, clean-cut and perfectly dressed. It is true culture shock. Alright, maybe I'm exaggerating, but to any random outsider, there is a very good chance they will get this impression upon arrival.

Okay, it may seem like I've gone off-topic, but never fear, I have not. I only say this to make a point: the reason why so many young Christians stray from or leave the faith in their college years is not because their theology or "world view" isn't screwed on right: it is because they have not been taught how to live like Christ.

My home church tried it's best to prepare us for college. They talked and preached, we met for lunch or coffee with our leaders, went on retreats, the whole shebang. But not once did we participate in any acts of service. Everything was focused on how we thought, how we should view God and sin, and our "feelings." And what happened when I entered college? The same thing. Our units in our dorms had warm and fuzzy meetings to discuss our thoughts and feelings and how God is "captivated by our beauty", we had shopping trips and coffee meetings, but never did we discuss or do anything about "the least of these" - in the world, or even in Marion. My impression of Christianity was reigning in my doubts and gluing my eyes and thoughts in the Bible, but once I walked out of my room, I didn't know how to live. I didn't know how to act, or treat people, except to be nice to them. I didn't even know what social justice meant.

Long story short, I transferred from that school in the middle of my sophomore year for a giant of a public school a couple hours away. And as I left that school, I left the faith. I'll spare you the story of the meantime, but what brought me back to Jesus was not theology or a powerful sermon or a song or a Christian book with a clever title, it was becoming involved with a group of genuine Christians (young and in college) who lived and served and acted as Jesus told us to in the inner-city of Indianapolis. I saw authenticity, I saw Jesus' hands and feet, Jesus' love and compassion in action, and I was drawn to it. And as I learned to BE Jesus, I learned also to think as Jesus - commit to study and understand the Bible, and to live a prayerful life. I think this is what young American Christians are lacking - and the American church in general... we have neglected to teach our young to be Jesus, and to saturate our lives with compassion and action for the least of these, and replaced the life he has called us to live with an obsession of getting our theology straight.