For many, time spent as students is the best time of their lives. This undoubtedly does not apply to everyone. Performance pressure, student debt, and personal questions can also make it a difficult time. Still, many people look back on their student years as wonderful. The freedom, the world of a professional field that opens to you, but also the student life with its conviviality and conversations that last long into the night, shape you for life.

Does this mean that students need special attention in the church? You do not become a special category if you pursue a higher education. And the questions young people in construction face are certainly no less important or less profound, even though they may be expressed differently.

Yet it is good that there is specific attention for students. The study period usually coincides with the period in which young people become adults and important decisions are made. It is a time when you learn to take responsibility for yourself. Those who leave home must now regulate their own Bible reading and church attendance; this requires personal choices and self-discipline. Moreover, the study period is a time when you start reflecting on things you have learned from your parents this far. These can be about small habits, but also about very deep and existential questions about the truth of the Christian faith, the reliability of the Bible, and the existence of God. This is especially true when the start of your studies coincides with the transition from a Christian secondary school to a predominantly non-Christian environment.

Paying attention to students is also important because they can easily fall between the cracks in church life. Those who live in student housing are no longer involved in their home church during the week. Anyone who commutes between two (or more) homes on weekends will naturally feel less connected to the congregations where they attend. You know the people in your home church, but you might often attend church elsewhere, and perhaps even attend catechism or group get-togethers somewhere else. This is partly a given in this phase of life, but it can also lead to alienation. This requires extra effort from the church and students to stay connected.

Church and Students⤒🔗

Let the church first pay attention to students. Genuine interest in who you are, what you do, and what concerns you is beneficial for everyone. This is even more important when someone ends up living farther from the congregation and simultaneously faces significant questions. A personal conversation or (home) visit with attention to what occupies them is especially important in such cases. Wouldn’t it be worthwhile to visit students in their own rooms? I understand all the objections regarding the extra travel time that entails, but we can at least ask openly where students would like to receive home visits. Perhaps that travel time is well worth it in the openness it generates in return. 

Contact with the congregation from which someone comes is even more important now that studying is less bound to one location than before. It is perfectly possible to pursue a bachelor’s degree in one place, a master’s somewhere else, and then undertake a graduate project abroad. In such a case, it is more difficult to build contacts in repeatedly constantly new congregations, making the existing contact with the home congregation even more important. Fortunately, this is easily possible with modern media. If you can maintain contact with congregation members in the mission field via email, Skype, and WhatsApp, then you can do the same with students. For young people, contact via social media is also more accessible, and it can even be easier to share personal things this way than in a conversation face to face. Contact via social media cannot simply replace a personal conversation, but it can serve as a supplement or a stepping stone. And congregations in student cities especially should make it clear to students that they are warmly welcome.

Then also make room for students to ask their questions. Sometimes these will be sharp and critical questions, about traditions, about Scripture, and about God himself. But let parents and church leaders in particular make it clear to young people that they are allowed to ask these questions. Young people need time to discover for themselves what older generations also needed time to understand. Critical questions are part of the search for what is truly valuable. And we (!) do not have an answer to every question.

Finally, let answers also be given. Thinking and studying will not make you lose your faith. The LORD also asks us to love him with all our mind. Young people can become alienated from faith if they search for answers in the wrong place or if they receive no answers or cheap answers. Sincere involvement, together searching for an answer, and listening together to the Scriptures are essential for a real conversation.

“The crucial thing is whether you can approach someone with your questions,” a student recently expressed in an interview. It is wonderful if churches offer opportunities for meeting with students. Let church councils in university cities truly see it as part of their pastor’s duty to invest in students. Important decisions are made during this time, including on a spiritual level.

Students and the Church←⤒🔗

The other way around, also asks something of the students themselves regarding a good relationship between the church and students. Students are trained to think and act independently, so they should not passively wait for the church to offer them what they need (or think they need). Therefore, here are a few suggestions.

First, ask your questions (and not just on Google). It is not surprising that you will encounter questions during your studies: about the relationship between faith and science, about creation and evolution, about the practicality of life and ethical boundaries, about the reliability of God and the Bible, about church traditions and the certainty of faith. You are certainly not alone in these questions; it can be a relief to discover that.

Look for answers from others who have already considered this, both past and present. Your student years are an excellent time to delve into the richness of the Christian tradition. Perhaps there are answers or reasons you do not yet know. It is a great shame when people discard traditions or even important elements of Christian doctrine without ever considering why we as churches actually profess or practice them.

Secondly, identify with a congregation and seek dialogue there. A Christian student association is particularly valuable and formative for many students! But not everyone in the world is made up of students. Considering a student association a replacement for the church is like trading your family for the staff association at work. That is why it is important to relate to a congregation.

I have fond memories of the (pre-confession) catechism class where students and construction workers sat together. At the end of the season, it turned out they had both learned a lot from each other. How valuable it is that people who later work together in the church have learned to listen to each other’s questions and have been able to be challenged by each other. Another option is to discuss topics relevant to students with them and other church members.

Finally, guard your heart. In most studies, you are preoccupied with your mind, and that is a good thing—but fellowship with God is a matter of your heart. The beginning of all wisdom is the fear of the LORD. Guarding your heart is also a matter of spiritual discipline. In all your reflection on life’s questions, it remains essential to read the Scriptures to your own heart, to pray, to hear the proclamation of the word. If things go wrong there, your mind will not be able to cope with it either. Mind and heart must be united. Then you can grow in knowledge and in grace, deeper into science and deeper into the Scriptures. We desperately need such students!