Updated 3/23/12

About 5 years ago I started to notice a trend on campus that had me more than a little concerned.

Student involvement in ministry-related activities used to take on the form of a bell curve over the course of their 4 years on campus.

New students would slowly get involved as they integrated into their new community and became aware of new opportunities.  Their involvement would typically peak during their junior year as their influence and level of connectedness were also at their respective peaks.  And then, as their time and attention began to turn to internships and life after graduation, students would become less involved with on-campus ministry opportunities.

More recently, however, I’ve noticed that the once bell curve has become more of a well curve.

The script has been flipped.

Students seem to be coming to campus much more informed about their options for involvement… and, at least initially, seek to take advantage of those opportunities.  But by the time they are getting into their sophomore year most seem to be abandoning their faith as a priority.

It’s not that they’re walking away from their faith altogether [although some statistics would argue that a lot of this is happening during the college years].  In fact, most of our key leaders are sophomores and juniors… but outside of those students, most of the students we see with consistency and regularity are freshmen… or seniors.  Yea, seniors!

It seems that on the campus I currently serve, we seem to be sending a message to many of our students (both implicitly and explicitly) that says:

“If you want to ‘make it,’ — if you want to become ‘the next big thing,’ or you want your ‘big idea’ to see the light of day — then you must be willing to sacrifice everything and put absolutely EVERYTHING you have into this ONE thing… OR you shouldn’t expect for it to happen… and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”

And this seems to be moving the majority of our sophomores and juniors in particular off the radar of a lot of campus activities… and in many ways rendering them spiritually M-I-A.

I understand that the university is about academic rigor, challenging the mind, and ultimately preparing students to go out and make a difference in the world — And I’m all for that… but it seems to me that we need to strike a better balance (especially as a Christian university).

The university experience is already a very self-centered experience…

And when you add to it (on our campus) a performance and entrepreneurship focus… well, that self-centered orientation gets multiplied.

Students in their sophomore and junior years are becoming obsessed with ‘making it’ at all costs… and it’s not until sometime in their senior year that some of them seem to become aware of this obsessed orientation and find themselves wondering… WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

I have had too many conversations with seniors — students that I previously had no connection with at all — that have involved scenarios similar to what I’ve described above.

They feel like they’ve been duped.
They feel like they’ve lost some important years.
They wish they had it to do over…

I’m still trying to discern how God might want to counter this well curve of spiritual activity on our campus… but I know that it has to change!

I’m assuming that I’m not the only one seeing this.  I believe that this likely isn’t a phenomenon unique to the university I work at.

So what does this look like on your campus?

Have you found any meaningful ways to counter this well curve trend?

I can’t wait to hear your stories!