Dare to be Lutheran at College

By Rev. Marcus T. Zill

An 18-year-old college freshman walks through the student union. All she sees are rows of tables, and special interest groups, clubs and organizations vying for her attention. Ski Club. Campus Democrats. Amnesty International. Inter-Varsity. The Women Studies Coalition. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Association. Free brochures. Free cookies. Free condoms. As she leaves, she wonders, “Who am I and what have I gotten myself into. I wish I could go home.”

Up to this point, perhaps you have been shielded by the institutions that have surrounded you – home, family, and church. College is a different story! For the first time in your life, you will feel alone, lost in the shuffle of many, and expected to make decisions for yourself.

Before you even have your clothes put away in your dorm room or have your first class, you will be confronted with many decisions: “Who will be my new friends?” “Do I go to a party with someone I have just met?” “Do I drink? If so, how much?” “What do I say when a guy I have only known for two hours asks me back to his place?” Add these decisions to “What do I want to do with my life?” and “Who will my future spouse be?”, etc., and you have quite a maze of decisions vying for your attention.

Then there is the issue of religion. College campuses are permeated with religion. You name it, it exists on campus, and if you can’t name it or find it, you have the opportunity to create it yourself, and many do. There are religious cults, such as the Mormons, as well as New Age “spirituality” groups. There are denominational, para-church and ecumenically-based campus ministries, usually organized around a “peace and justice” agenda or seeking “decisions for Christ” at the altar of entertainment and free pizza.

Whether you are heading to college this year or still have a few years left in high school, your college years will be filled with excitement, reward, trial, and temptation. The question is, “Will you be like the rest or be the person God desires? In short, will you dare to be Lutheran? Clearly confessing the truth of Jesus Christ on a university campus is nothing new for Lutherans. After all, the Lutheran church was born on the academic turf of a German university at Wittenberg when a young man named Martin Luther challenged the religious and campus community with his 95 Thesis.

Your college years will be some of the most formative and crucial times of your life. You will acquire useful skills necessary for life. Yet your faith, like Luther’s, will be challenged in many ways.

You will be tempted to think that your spiritual needs are best served with something new and different. Yet, it will be the holy things of Christ—His Word and the Sacraments— that will sustain you. What is most profitable for you before and after college, is exactly what you need during college!

Now this seems pretty obvious, but trust me, it is easily forgotten. Such was the case in Wittenberg. The Church in Wittenberg had forgotten who and what it was, why it was there, and what Christ had given it. Before long, the church became something other than what it was meant to be. And with such a shift came a movement away from that which was originally being taught and believed.

Simply put, you cannot afford to take anything for granted while in college. By faithfully attending the Divine Service and being involved with an LCMS campus ministry, you will be connected to Christ. There, in the midst of cultural wants, you will get what you desperately need. Lutheran campus ministries do not exist to be Campus Crusade chapters with a Lutheran twist or another organization to provide you with free pizza. Pizza is great, but it isn’t the Gospel! At a Lutheran campus ministry or local LC-MS church, you will have the chance to find a home away from home because your identity is found in Christ.

You will be confronted with many things during college. We, at Higher Things, hope you will dare to be Lutheran.

The Rev. Marcus T. Zill is Pastor at St. Andrew Lutheran Church and Campus Center, Laramie, Wyoming. He also serves as Youth Chair of the Wyoming District of the LC-MS and as Public Relations Director for Higher Things, Inc.