In my first year of college, I became discouraged in my faith. My commitment to Christ waned because my commitment to his Church was weak and inconsistent. This all changed when I started to take my faith seriously. I committed to a local church. I sought to honor God in all things, prioritizing his ways over my own.
As a pastor now equipping students in the faith, I offer the following encouragements to share with your students as they head off to start the most transformative years of their life.
Encourage students to embrace their identity in Jesus Christ.
Heading off to college has its challenges. One of the temptations Christian students entering college face is figuring out who they are. This transition is a key opportunity to remind them that if they are in Christ, their identity is secure in him. Students can easily give in to the temptation of letting their grades have their hearts, their extracurricular activities on campus define who they are, or constantly fretting about life after college.
Therefore, youth ministers would be wise to help ground college-bound students in who they are in Christ. Remind them that, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). Their identity is not in how they see themselves or how others see them. It is based in the unchanging favor God has for them through the work of Jesus. College-bound students can rest in the truth that Christ laid his life down for them and has given them a new identity. And now nothing can separate them from his love.
Encourage students to unite themselves with a church as soon as possible.
As youth pastors, it’s vital that we prepare our students to find a church home when they are no longer under the wing of our ministries. In our student ministry, we help our students not only value Jesus Christ, but we aim to help them value the local church, too. In the local church, what 1 Timothy 3:15 calls, “a pillar and buttress of the truth,” students can carry out the commands of the Scriptures and grow in their knowledge and love of Christ.
Encourage students entering college not to settle for on-campus Bible studies or online church, and not to use chapel time as a substitute for the embodied, local church. Pray for the friendships the Lord would lead them to in their local church. Pray that he would be preparing other followers of Christ to come alongside your students to spur them on in the faith.
Remind students that while it will be easier to befriend others their age, they should also seek after someone in their church who is older and wiser. Proverbs 13:20 states, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” God gave us the gift of the church for our good and his glory, so help students see the importance of committing to one quickly.
Encourage students to continue to honor their mother and father.
Ephesians 6:1 states, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” This is the one command from which we as adults (and our college-aged students) often imagine we are exempt. When we gain independence from our parents, we tend to think these commands do not pertain to us anymore.
However, the commands of Scripture remain good for us to follow even in our college years and beyond. Paul tells us that obedience is how we honor our parents and then confirms that God deems obedience as right. Though obedience looks differently once students move out of the house, honoring their parents should still be the same.
Here are a few tips for students as to how they can continue to honor their parents in the college years:
Urge students to call their parents regularly.
Remind them that their parents would enjoy a weekly call. When they have a question, encourage them to not go to Google or Youtube. Instead, Facetime their parents. Maybe their parents will call three times a day. Maybe they will send flowers, care packages, and embarrassingly large stuffed animals during a student’s first month of school. Encourage students to resist the urge to be embarrassed. Remind students to embrace their parents’ love and remember their care.
Remind students to look to their parents for counsel.
Remind them that their parents want to be an encouragement to them. Netflix, TikTok, and their PS5 should not take priority over a simple video call to mom or dad. Help them see that honoring their mother and father prepares students to honor their parents when they most need it. Obedience also honors God who tells us, “listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old” (Prov. 23:22). There is a promise God gives to those who honor their parents, “that it may go well with you.” Help them to see the goodness of God’s promises in honoring their parents.
Encourage students that Christ’s grace is sufficient in their weakness.
Paul writes to the Corinthian church, reminding them that God says to them, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12: 8-10). Paul himself continues, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Many of our students think the college years are about being independent, resolving to be everything they can be. They are told college is about being smarter, and stronger, and securing a place for themselves in the real world.
As youth pastors, we know the cultural narrative our students live under: strength is the American’s security, whether it is in finances, intellect, social status, social connections, or physical strength. J.I Packer in his book Weakness is the Way comments, “Men and women of the world draw on their talents and ingenuity to map out for themselves paths of strength and success in worldly terms. Christians plan on a path of faithfulness to Christ knowing that these involve both apparent and real weaknesses.”
Remind students that college may be a time where they will feel their weaknesses the most. Remind them to accept their weakness in college, just as the Apostle Paul did. He boasted about his weakness and was glad. Why? Because Christ gave Paul something better: himself.
Encourage your students to see their weaknesses as God’s gift to them. They will be tempted to look to their performance in the classroom or their social life to build strength for themselves. Rather, encourage them to seek dependence on Christ in their weaknesses. Their weaknesses are given to them as a gift from God so that they would not look to themselves, but to the grace he has given them in Christ.
Take Christ at his word.
Youth ministers, though we cannot force these students to download the right spiritual apps, subscribe to sound theological podcasts, or set a gazillion timers on their phone to remind them to read their Bible, we can rest assured that Christ will keep them. It is our job to take God at his word when he said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you…let your hearts not be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:17). Continue to encourage students with these words, praying that they impact your heart as well.
For more gospel-centered Youth Ministry resources, check out our youth ministry training courses.
