1. Because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)
We live in a beautiful but broken world full of beautiful but broken people. Only Jesus can rescue us from hell, reconcile us to God, and give us peace, power, and purpose. Education is important, but it can’t save your soul, heal your wounds, or comfort your heart. Only Jesus can, and students need to know Him. If you’re reading this page right now and you’ve never given your life to Jesus, please contact us to talk about how that can happen today!
2. Because we are salt and light. (Matthew 5:13-16)
Jesus came not only to redeem individuals, but to redeem the whole world. He says that His followers are salt and light. Salt and light change their surroundings. Our campuses ought to be more pleasing to God because we are here than they would be if we weren’t. However bad you think state university campuses in this country are, they’re probably worse. We prayerwalk. Whenever there is a vacancy in the administration we pray for God to bring a believer to that position. We speak truth to power.
It’s a little embarrassing, actually, that during this spring semester three of ISU’s campus ministries were defunded by their denominations. (We Southern Baptists like to think of ourselves as special, but in this instance we’re just following the crowd.) We’ve spent all these years making the case to the university that what we do is important and that we deserve a place within the university; to abandon the campus now is absolutely unthinkable.
3. Because the young need wisdom. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
We all need wisdom. But students really need wisdom at this critical time in their lives. This is when many major life decisions are made. Will I reject the faith of my childhood or make it my own? Whom will I marry? What will by my life’s work? Students desperately need a safe community of faith in which to grapple with these questions which will affect the rest of their lives.
4. Because Jesus said to make disciples. (Matthew 28:18-20)
To make disciples like Jesus did means more than teaching someone a notebook full of information that they teach to someone else. Teaching is certainly important, but Jesus didn’t come and sit in a classroom five days a week. The disciples learned from Jesus as they went with Him and joined in what He was doing.
The beauty of having a student-led organization is that students learn by doing. They learn how to listen to God and make decisions as the body of Christ (not like the PTA.) They learn how to plan and carry out outreach events by doing it. They learn to constantly evaluate and improve by doing it. They learn how to share their faith by doing it. They learn how to visit in the dorms by doing it. They learn to intercede for work of the Kingdom by doing it.
We tell students, “This is not youth group – part 2.” This is not about leaders planning events and college students showing up for them. This is about college students being the leaders. This is the way that we make disciples and grow leaders for the church.
5. Because no one of us alone is the body of Christ. (Romans 12:4-5)
How we struggle against the heresy of independence that afflicts the American church! We were never intended to live the Christian life alone. If Christian students are to thrive they must have Christian friends to pray with and play with and be accountable to. And they must have the church.
Unlike some parachurch groups, we do not see ourselves as a substitute for church. Nor will we ever be a student-only church on campus. It is our role to connect students with the local church and to help churches be effective in connecting with students. Students need to be around little children and old people. They need to transition easily into another church when they move away, which is difficult if you’ve spent four years worshipping only with people like you, singing only the songs you like, and never working in the nursery! To segregate students from the church robs them of the wisdom of their elders and robs the church of their energy and creativity.
Furthermore, no one congregation alone is the complete body of Christ. There is a disturbing trend among Southern Baptists to act like independent Baptists. “Let a church do it,” is replacing “Let’s do this together.” Students need to see cooperative ministry in action. And there needs to be a BCM on campus. Student organizations have access to the campus in ways that churches do not. Individual churches my rise and fall in their passion and resources for collegiate ministry, but a group of churches working together will assure a more stable and long-term ministry.
6. Because all nations should praise the Lord! (Revelation 7:8-10)
The great Commission is not optional or peripheral in BCM. Missions is built into the DNA of who we are. We mobilize students for short-term mission trips, for summer missions, and for a lifetime of missions. We have seen many of our summer missionaries go on to serve as journeymen and career missionaries.
We also reach the nations whom God brings to our campuses. To serve as international missionaries we would have to learn a new language, learn a new culture, spend tons of money on travel and preparation, get shots, be away from family and friends, eat strange food, and, in many places, risk imprisonment and persecution. Yet God brings people from these nations to our campuses where we have none of those obstacles. Many are from countries that are closed to the gospel. Most will be leaders in the countries to which they return. To fail to share the love of Christ with them while they are here is simply inexcusable.
7. Because Jesus was serious about that sheep and goat thing. (Matthew 25:31-46)
It was not until I was in the BSU in college that I began to understand God’s heart for the poor and downtrodden that beats through all of Scripture. We want our students to understand that obedience to Matthew 25 is a moral issue, not an optional “social issue,” that we can obey or ignore as we please. We talk about how our lifestyle choices affect the poor. We give for hunger relief. We will have failed if we graduate a generation of well-educated and theologically trained goats.
