In one of my posts from last week I asked if we (as ministers and as ministries) have Room for Doubt(ers)… the question arose from some reflections on a conversation from two weeks ago with Brian McLaren on The Stages of Faith Development.  Doubt was one of the indicators of someone in Stage 3 of their faith development, according to the stages that McLaren laid out — I highly recommend you check out the post and McLaren’s slides if you have a moment.

Well, today I find myself thinking about our students who find themselves at Stage 1 — the stage of simplicity — where things are black or white — right or wrong.

McLaren suggested that many of our students were coming to campus with this kind of faith (be it Christian, non, or no faith at all). The homes and/or churches that our students come from have provided a Stage 1 kind of environment for them to grow up, and develop a faith, within… and when they arrive on our campus they typically find an environment that is very different.

In my years on campus, students who come to school with a Stage 1 kind of faith typically respond to the non-Stage 1 environment of the university campus in one of two ways:

1. They fear this new environment they’ve entered and cling all the tighter to their current set of beliefs, or
2. They struggle to see how their current faith system “allows space” for what they’re experiencing in their new environment — so they go looking for answers — or simply decide to let it go.

I believe our ministries are poised to offer assistance — of some sort — to students at Stage 1, but do we know what that is?

Are we able to assist students from a fist-clenched-tight set of beliefs, as we are to assist one from a position of questioning? It would seem that these are two very different paths… and unless we’re very aware of this fact, our ministries might be designed — even if by accident — with a certain kind of student in mind — a certain kind of path already outlined.  This may leave other students feeling like there’s no room in our ministry for them.  And I’m sure that is not a message we want to communicate to them.

As I think about a way forward — beyond a one-size-fits-all kind of approach — I find myself wondering:

• Are we simply feeding students?  or
• Are we teaching them how to fish for themselves?
• Are we teaching them how to discern “edible fish” from that which is not?
• How do we best approach ministry with college students such that we both feed, while also teaching them how to feed themselves, such that they become self-sustaining young believers?

Our students that come to campus with a Stage 1 kind of faith will need some time and space to come to terms with the sea that is the university campus.  As they do, I hope we’ll be positioned well to assist them with their needs… and their journey faith!