By Guest Blogger: Jennifer Williams of ChristianMinistryEDU.org
Being a Christian is more than just reading the Bible; it’s about understanding God’s Word, following His principles, and living the way He has commanded. As a Christian, you seek to learn more about God’s Word every day, discover its true meaning, and apply it to your daily life. You’ve spent enough time in church, prayer, and in fellowship and volunteerism with fellow Christians to know that getting to know God is a journey with many phases and steps – not a single event.
Do you remember when you first started going to church? Probably as a little kid when your parents got you up out of bed early, dressed you in your best clothes, and reminded you to be reverent and on your best Sunday behavior.
That’s the start for many, but what you didn’t know at the time was that you were building a relationship with God one small step at a time. With every sermon, every prayer, every Sunday school class, you were developing Christian principles, values, and ethics that would frame your future. Now that you’re ready to take the next big step in your life and go off to college, why would you do anything different?
College doesn’t have to be the time in your life where you break away from God’s path. In fact, it can be an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with Him even further.
At this crossroads, you’re presented with two choices – you can attend a secular school that will most certainly serve all your academic needs… or you can choose to go to a Christian college that will serve you spiritually as well as academically and help you foster a lifelong relationship with God.
Everything that secular schools remove from the college experience – prayer, Bible study, a Christ-centered perspective of the world – are a core part of the Christian college experience.
If you’re still on the fence, consider these 5 reasons why it’s a good idea to choose a Christian college:
- Christian Colleges Let You Immerse Yourself in a Faith-Based Environment While Preparing for the Next Big Step in Your Life
Christian colleges offer a faith-based environment that helps you grow your faith and commitment to God through a Christ-centered college education. All academic courses are intertwined with Christian principles, values, and doctrine and are taught through the lens of a Christian theological worldview.
This course structure will help you build on your foundational knowledge of scripture, enhance your understanding of God’s plan, and help you see the world as God wants you to see it. By attending a Christian college, you can be assured that your faith is at the center of your education.
- Only at a Christian College Will You Be Able to Network with Fellow Believers and Create Lasting Relationships
Ask anybody who has gone to college and they’ll tell you: the friendships you develop during those years last a lifetime, and can even form the foundation of a community of colleagues and contacts in your professional life.
When you attend a Christian college, this support system can carry you through difficult times, help you grow spiritually, and encourage you to follow God’s Word. There’s no better way to cultivate your faith, live your Christian values, and spread the ministry than to network with fellow believers. Developing relationships with classmates who share your Christian beliefs, and who understand the temptations everyone encounters while away at college, can help keep you centered in your faith during your college years and beyond.
- At a Christian College, Even Courses in Secular Subjects are Intertwined with Christian Values
Why choose between faith-based education and academic education when you can have them both?
Christian colleges and universities don’t follow the secular mold of traditional academic learning. Instead, they integrate God’s teachings into worldly topics like science and history and incorporate the Christian worldview into academic thought. Courses are designed in such a way that traditional academic topics can be explored from the Christian perspective, helping you deepen your faith and strengthen your bond with God.
- Christian Colleges Help You Maintain Personal Religious Commitments Through Church and Bible Study
If you’re like most college students, you probably have a million and one things cutting into your time every day. Commitments to work, school, family, friends, pets, etc. can sometimes cause you to lose focus and distract you from your religious commitments. So, you end up skipping Bible study one week or missing service the next week.
What you’re really missing out on, though, is your relationship with God. One of the best things about Christian colleges is that everything you need to maintain your commitment to God is right there on campus – Bible study, worship groups, church services, and pastoral guidance.
- Attending a Christian College Gives You Endless Opportunities to Get Involved with Mission Work
Think about what God means to you and how His teachings and principles have changed your life. Now, imagine what life would look like without Him. This is the reality for those who haven’t heard the Gospel, and for those who’ve turned away.
Mission work is a great way to answer a calling greater than yourself by sharing the Gospel and spreading God’s Word. And, through this journey, you’ll deepen your relationship with Him. By attending a Christian college, you’ll have no shortage of opportunities to participate in life-affirming and deeply enriching mission work, both here in the United States and abroad.
For more information about Christian college degrees for today’s world,
visit ChristianMinistry EDU.org.
More Christian Links 