College is often a watershed experience for people, a time when
they leave family, friends and accustomed routines behind. Perhaps
on their own for the first time, these young adults grapple with
new experiences, new ideas, new freedoms.
College is often a watershed experience for people, a time when they leave family, friends and accustomed routines behind. Perhaps on their own for the first time, these young adults grapple with new experiences, new ideas, new freedoms. Although exciting and intellectually stimulating, there can be a downside to this experience: Students can use this freedom to make poor decisions which negatively influence the course of their lives.
Recently Inese Dahl, campus minister at University of California, Santa Cruz, addressed the congregation of Morgan Hill’s Advent Lutheran Church. She discussed pressures facing college students today, how the Lutheran Campus Ministry of Monterey Bay provides support for students and how concerned Christians can aide in this work.
Dahl brings an interesting background to her work. She was born in Latvia, a Baltic nation that forcibly became part of the Soviet Union following World War II. Her society officially rejected Christianity; “Christians were sometimes considered insane and locked up in asylums,” she said. Her grandmother was the only Christian she knew as a child; the first organized prayers she heard were at her grandmother’s funeral.
After her boyfriend in high school died, she spent a year questioning her life. During this time she attended a worship service for the first time, heard a pastor preach from the Bible about topics like sin and hell, decided it all made sense and became a Christian. People were shocked at the change in her because she cheered up and started “smiling all the time.” She found God had given her a purpose for her life.
When she was 23 and studying Christian education in Latvia, Dahl received a scholarship to study at Concordia University in Seward, Neb. After receiving a master’s degree in parish education, she continued on to receive another master’s degree in director of Christian education.
This second degree required her to serve an internship at a church. Dahl was unpleasantly surprised when the position offered her meant leaving familiar Nebraska to travel half-way across the country to Santa Cruz. She began serving both Messiah Lutheran Church in Santa Cruz and the Lutheran Campus Ministry at CSU Monterey Bay. When the internship ended, Dahl accepted a permanent position on the staff at Messiah (director of Christian education with responsibility for families ministry) and with the Lutheran Campus Ministry at UCSC.
Dahl feels college students today are turned off to organized religion but have great interest in “spirituality.” They are service-oriented, looking for opportunities to volunteer and help others. They need to be able to receive intellectually reasonable answers to their questions about faith and God while avoiding repetition of “dogma” (authoritative teaching which can’t be disputed). She cites research showing that if they drift away from Christianity in these formative years, it is unlikely they will return to churches to have their babies baptized, as was the traditional pattern.
At UCSC there is a University Interfaith Council which represents many faith communities on campus. The council is planning a series of forums this fall on The Seven Deadly Sins, attempting to connect this ancient concept with contemporary issues. Provocative topics include these:
– Greed: Consumerism vs. A Moral Economy
– Lust: Sex Trafficking
– Anger: Domestic/Dating Violence
– Gluttony: Drug, Alcohol, and Food Abuse
The Lutheran Campus Ministry offers many activities for students, things like Bible study, worship, movie discussions, fellowship meals, game nights and retreats. Dahl’s goal through this ministry is “to help students figure out how God fits into their world and to touch their lives for Christ during this important time.”
For more information, call (831) 241-3367 or e-mail in***@**************an.us
