Wake up, go to class, work, sleep, wake up, and start it all over again. This is a vicious cycle for college students–a cycle sprinkled with social interactions and the occasional unhealthy meal. One thing this cycle does not always account for is talking about and practicing religion. The American Religious Identification Survey conducted in 2013 by Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar showed that college students are becoming less affiliated with religion. While there is no one cause for this loss of religion, churches on college campuses all over the country are doing their best to rekindle the relationship between churches and Millennials.
Josh Holowell is one person working to rekindle that relationship. Holowell spent the years 2005 to 2009 at Ball State University working with Campus Crusade for Christ, and he currently works to establish new churches at New Life Presbyterian Church.
“Our biggest goal is to reach out to people who aren’t connected to church. We are about people who don’t necessarily know who Jesus is and what he’s done,” Holowell said. He said he believes this is the goal of Christians.
In an effort to spread Jesus’ message, Holowell is trying to start a church in downtown Muncie to reconnect college students to Jesus. To reach out to young people, he said he has found it most effective to build a relationship with them instead of going by a specific strategy. “The less we focus on a strategy and more on Jesus’ message, the better. Its the idea that we aren’t trying to prove his existence. You don’t defend a lion, a lion can defend himself.”
He said this laidback attitude accompanied with showing students what they can gain from practicing faith has proven to be the most effective. Still, efforts to make churches more appealing to young adults may be futile.
Millennials don’t want trendy, they want simple.
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