Your Home (Church) Away from Home

Can you remember your first sleepover at a friend's house? I still remember mine. Tim invited me over to have dinner at his home after school one Friday night and stay the night. I never had been to Tim's house before. I arrived, met his family, ate dinner, hung out with Tim; and then it happened. Something inside of me had that uneasy, unsafe, "lost that lovin'" feeling. I wanted to go home. I wanted my mommy. I was homesick.

It is quite possible you have felt these feelings recently after landing on a college campus. Depending on your relationship with your parents and family, you might have different degrees of homesickness. When you are far away from home, that feeling of safety and love is a deep-seated human need. It is natural to feel this way.

I have found part of the solution to college students feeling displaced in their new worlds. I think the local church was intended to be that real home. The local church brings safety and belonging. Many college students do not consider landing in a local church for their four or so years of college because they do not think that is a very long time, not long enough to invest time in a new church family. They land in Christian collage clubs, but not the local church. There certainly is nothing wrong with Christian groups on campus. I was connected deeply to one during my undergraduate years; I would encourage and challenge you to take seriously being fully engaged in a local body of believers. It is an intergenerational group of people serving, loving and discipling. Beyond a campus ministry that only gives you exposure to other collegians who are approximately your age, the local church is the full breath of God in action.

The Book of Acts gives us a brief outline of what the organism called the church was to be about. Members "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer" (Acts 2:42). As church history progressed, members celebrated the Lord's Table and Baptism in an intergenerational context. These are important.

As you focus on your academic excellence, consider investing in a local church near your campus that needs you to bring your gifts and abilities to the table. Your "flavor" of local church will be unique, but pray for God to lead you to a biblically faithful location. I believe with all my heart that God wants to use you to impact a local congregation for two, three or more years. Who knows—you might stay in your college town longer.

As Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz said so well, "There's no place like home"; but there is a local church full of believers who would love for you to get connected and breathe new life into the body. The statistics vary but are clear that high school graduates are leaving the church in droves. Do not let that happen to you. Stay engaged. Get invested. Make an impact. This body of believers can be a wonderful home away from home.