Best Access for the Gospel

Trying to explore the “best access” of the Gospel to the collegians on secular campuses may seem a rather cryptic pursuit. CHRISTIANITY TODAY’S findings are based on the comments of Christian professors stationed on such campuses from coast to coast.—ED.

Freshmen arrive at the campus with “whatever pattern of religious conviction or code of morals was nurtured in the home church or high school” (Dr. Harold L. Alden, emeritus professor of astronomy, University of Virginia). “Young people mature early these days; I am pretty sure that most of them have already decided whether or not they are interested in any form of religion, and possibly just which form, before they reach college. Hence the importance of high-school programs like Young Life” (Dr. John R. Brobeck, professor and chairman of the department of physiology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania). Most students will profess to be religious on entering, says Dr. Elbert H. Hadley, professor of chemistry at Southern Illinois University, “but the great majority leave their religion at home when they come. By the time they graduate, only a minority attend church.” Professor Hadley thinks the pressures contrary to Christianity are overwhelming: “During 15 years of teaching I haven’t seen a dozen students acknowledge Christ as their Saviour. I feel we must get the students before they come to college.” Granting that more students than we realize begin higher education with an “all settled” frame of mind, notes Dr. Arlan L. Edgar, associate professor of biology at Alma College, Alma, Michigan, nonetheless even an incoming student with a Christian background is “in for a rocky freshman year as far as his faith is concerned.” The early fall of a freshman’s career comes when he is faced with the most serious misgivings about his previous positions; it is then, Professor Edgar thinks, that Christians can help him develop a mature, considered faith. When an upperclassman, an instructor, or someone else with campus status earnestly says he does not believe in God, believing students may become frustrated, while the uncommitted may become assured of their doubts. Reflective students who view college as an adventure of the mind either maintain their reservations or uncover new threads of doubt. To some extent responses are conditioned by promotions, friendship, and prestige. Certain naïve leaders who condemn the Church and slam Billy Graham may at the same time label as biased anyone who speaks of Christ or invites students to attend a crusade. In such an atmosphere there can be no effective authoritarian presentation of religion. Since the anchorless student has rejected the appeal to former voices of authority (Bible or Church), he depends more than his forebears on “lives that seem to speak authoritatively of some unifying belief or ruling passion,” or on evidence of a faith that works.

The average evangelical church, says Professor Youngberg of Oregon State, “is not reaching the university student—they do not understand each other.” He suggests personal contact or informal “bull sessions.” Even here it is important to call conversations to their true center in the redemptive work of Christ, and to avoid special pleading. Professor Davies of Thiel College declares that “on the intellectual level the theory of evolution has constituted a massive assault on the Christian faith, and any bona fide evangelical weakening of some unproved biological assumptions could be a valuable academic contribution to the Gospel.” Some teachers feel that local churches could do more by way of adding student pastors and sponsoring group activities aimed at the welfare of students. A simple, straightforward presentation of the Bible in the churches and in small study groups, says an Indiana professor, is the best approach. “A pseudo-intellectual approach is often more harmful than helpful,” he adds. “Sincerity and personal interest on the part of the Christian are very important. A positive stand and a kind, loving tolerance are both needed, and they are not mutually exclusive.” The influence of an individual who has received some previous notice of professional success or of his Christian life and witness may be specially felt, as in the case of Christian athletes. But, remarks a Pennsylvania professor of humanities, “individuals or organizations representing institutionalized Christianity” (the “professional Christians” whose salary and livelihood come from the organized Church) have no very noticeable impact on the college community in casual contacts because of “the institutional veneer through which they are distortedly seen by the cynical non-Christian.”

The Gospel’s best access to the student is to be found, thinks Rochester Institute of Technology Professor Dane R. Gordon, in his sense of moral concern and in “the obvious fact that he is a young human being.” And he adds, the student’s best access to the Gospel is “through the example set him by Christians whom he meets.” Professor Joseph E. Grimes, whose doctoral field at Cornell University was linguistics, argues for a direct thrust: “Jesus Christ makes it possible for life to make sense and to have a worthwhile goal.”

Professor Hadley of Southern Illinois University thinks evangelical, campus-based religious foundations that contact students in their dormitories might exercise a worthwhile spiritual influence. A West Coast professor notes that “much Christian apologetics and potent philosophical writing is presently available, and these works are of help. But the best access is personal contact as ‘born again’ students tell their colleagues of the reality of Christ in their lives. Student-led dormitory or fraternity Bible study, with the simple presentation of the Gospel, and backed by dedicated prayer and a Christ-centered life, is still God’s most potent arm on the American campus.” But the Christian student must be respected also for his bona fide scholarship and his deep interest in other students as persons. Dr. D. W. Tieszen, dean of instruction at Central Missouri State College, notes that the secular campus offers dedicated Christian students multiple opportunities to nourish their faith; moreover, a decisive role is often played by campus religious groups and by the continued interest (or lack of it) of home churches in following young people in their campus careers.

But the most important relationship of all on the university campus, Dr. Thomas D. Parks points out, remains that “between professor and student.” Dr. Parks, associate director of Proctor and Gamble’s Product Development Division, stresses his point as follows: “Because the professor is at the university to teach and the student is there to learn, the professor exerts a greater than normal influence either for good or for evil.” Dr. Alden of the University of Virginia notes the influence of Christian professors who take an active part in the religious life of the community. “Somehow a medium and a mechanism must be found,” remarks Professor Boutwell of Temple University School of Medicine, “for Christian professors to witness effectively both to their students and to their colleagues, since the witness of convinced and devoted Christian professors offers the most promising possibilities of challenging the secular student to a consideration of Christ.”

Dr. Stanford W. Reid of McGill University, Montreal, considers two things essential for reaching university students on behalf of Christ: “friendship and an intellectually respectable Christianity which faces the problems and deals with them; sentimentalism, legalism, and high pressure provide no avenue.” Professor Cook of Valparaiso University stresses that “the intellectual side” is the “most open point of access. A clear explanation of the Gospel, avoiding side issues, is the best approach to students.” Professor Carnell of the University of Florida thinks the geographical barriers to communication might be overcome by having coffee houses that sponsor free discussion and Christian witness. He thinks that after being strengthened by a two-year collegium-type residence, evangelical students could be thrust wholly into the secular campus environment for an effective witness. He also urges weekly seminars, led by Christian professors, to discuss the relationship of evangelical faith to issues raised in academic work and to explore the hidden secularist assumptions underlying various courses. Another contributor strikes a similar note: the slowly growing number of committed professors who reflect their Christian concern for students both in and outside of the classroom represent the greatest thrust on campus today. Student groups like Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Crusade do their most effective work on campuses where dedicated professors give strong, continuing support.

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