When asked to join in this blogging blow-out for campus ministry folks, I knew exactly what one book I wanted to promote. I have the great privilege of selling books at several different campus ministry organizations and have set up large book displays for student gatherings, conferences, retreats, and at Christian colleges. Regardless of the setting, contexts or particular theological tendencies of the group, one thing stands out: students often don’t have a profound or coherent vision as to why God’s cares about their studies; they don’t naturally relate their faith and discipleship to their choice of major or their study habits. It is as if another story has shaped the heart of their reason for being in college. Oh, and another thing too often stands out: college ministry teams don’t often teach them that God’s story can and should inform their academic lives.

Not long ago we were selling books at a workshop for college students about the sciences. One session was for Christians majoring in engineering; the speaker talked with great Biblical wisdom about our culture’s ideologies regarding technology and invited a uniquely and robustly Christian response, out of which might come faithful principles for engineering and design. The excited engineering majors were getting it — you could see it in their eyes and in the heightened urgency in their voices — as they realized Christ’s Kingdom needs them, too. We are all called to holy vocations, blooming where we are planted, called to a career in which we must think Christianly and serve faithfully. They could think about technology “through the eyes of faith” and proudly proclaim that they were serving God in that field. But then they asked, why didn’t anyone ever tell us this before?

That is a good question for campus ministry leaders, isn’t it? Why don’t we help our nursing majors and education majors and engineers and political scientists and artists and business majors to approach their academic work as if Christ was Lord over their departments — since, obviously He surely is! I think there is hardly anything more urgent in the complex modern world than for Christians to learn to live out the implications of their faith in every area of life, including the life of the mind. We must help our students–even in their classrooms and labs and papers and tests — to live out the nonconformity and renewed mind of Romans 12:1-2. What does it look like for a student, as a student, to take up his or her calling to study “as unto the Lord?” How can we as campus ministers disciple students into a sense that their learning matters?

The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness by Donald Opitz and Derek Melleby (Brazos Press) is both fun and funny and is wonderfully written with great practicality; both authors have worked in campus outreach and maintain profession ties to higher education. They know and love students. We couldn’t be more impressed with the serious content and breezy style. It is Biblically-based, charming and challenging. It does this job — explaining the contours and the importance of a Christian vision of life and learning — as well as any book in print. It was written for students (the subtitle is “A Guide for Students”) but I think it is a must-have resource for anyone who mentors collegiates or anyone who works in campus ministry.

I suppose I should confess that the authors are among my best friends and they have been very supportive of our efforts here at our bookstore; they have brought students here and some of the stories in the book were forged as I helped students find Christian resources for writing papers and doing their college work from God’s viewpoint and for His glory. This book deserves to be widely used and will be acclaimed as it will change the lives of those who take it seriously. It could revolutionize the way we do campus evangelism and discipleship. The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness, although a small book, will focus our gaze upon the biggest things of God’s Kingdom, the deepest matters of life, and will clarify just what is expected of mature disciples who find themselves on college campuses.

In this fallen and dangerous world, social innovations and visions of restoration are urgently needed. We need hope. God is raising up a generation of young folks who very much want to relate their faith to every area of life, their personal and public lives, who want to make a difference. (Gabe Lyon documents this well in his important, recent The Next Christians.) Hopeful and helpful cultural reformation will come not only from well-intended prayers or more passionate worship; it will not come from proper doctrine alone or by demanding more passionate commitment. We must learn to see the way Christ “holds together” all things (see Colossians 1) and help young friends realize that only in Him can their majors and other academic pursuits truly find significance. Only as we unlock God’s principles for practices in the various sides of life, our students different majors and future occupations, will be able to make a strategic difference across all zones of society. Campus ministers must learn to call students to take their faith into the classroom, to capture ideas for God’s sake, to this outrageous idea of making a difference in the years of higher education, for the sake of the world. The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness may seem a bit outrageous at first (although, again, it is winsome and fun to read.) This idea is huge and it could rock the world. Think about engineering or literature or public relations from a Christian perspective? View your classroom work as an act of faithful worship? Pray now as the Holy Spirit prepares you for a Kingdom service in your future career? Campus ministers who teach this stuff to their students will be in for lots of great conversations. May no students say to you (as the engineering students I met did) “why didn’t anybody tell me about this before?”

[ BACK-TO-SCHOOL BLOGATHON HOMEPAGE ]

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Byron Borger and his wife have owned Hearts & Minds Books in Dallastown, PA for 30 years where they help people deepen their Christian discipleship, including learning to relate faith to calling, vocation and public life. He blogs regularly about books at www.heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes/He is an associate staff of the CCO and is involved in their annual Jubilee conference.