Joiner, Bomar, and Smith issue a message of encouragement to Christ-followers who want to connect with college-aged young adults. Joiner leads the reThink Group, an organization that equips churches to nurture spiritual growth in younger generations. He has written Think Orange and The Orange Leader Handbook and has co-authored 7 Practices of Effective Ministry and Parenting Beyond Your Capacity. Bomar was a college minister in California and now leads a church in Oregon. He’s the founder of CollegeLeader.org and the author of College Ministry 101 and College Ministry from Scratch. Smith is a writer and spiritual director in Savannah and the author of Can You Keep Your Faith in College?
Their main message is a push for intergenerational relationships in the church. Christians tend to overlook, neglect, or ignore college-aged people who have much to offer. Older church members often do not see the mutual benefit of such relationships and sometimes hesitate because they don’t know how to connect meaningfully with college students and other young adults. The authors encourage more experienced Christians to recognize college-aged people, to find common ground in the bigger story of what God is doing in the world, and to engage in a process of mentoring that focuses on people instead of planned products. To mentor is to journey with another person, sharing joys, sorrows, convictions, and questions. The goal is a process of lifelong maturing, not a destination at which a person is spiritually mature.
The personal stories and practical suggestions in the book provide help and hope for any Christian, regardless of spiritual maturity or ministerial giftedness, and any church, regardless of size or fiscal resources, to engage in intentional relationships with emerging adults. Older Jesus-followers can nurture those relationships by talking with and listening to college-aged people, having coffee or meals with them, opening their homes, joining them in activities they enjoy, and exploring life and faith with them in unplanned, informal ways.
Demographic research forms the foundation for the authors’ message. The first chapter presents evidence for the college age group’s tendency to drop out of church life, and the reasons are many. Some don’t see the church as relevant to their experiences and interests; some have suffered alienation in the church. The authors call the church to live out biblical commands of intergenerational influence. Doing so involves a process that is bigger than programs and that benefits the church and mentors, not just the college-aged mentees.
I’ve seen several books that try to empower students to remain faithful during their college years, and others have taught me theological foundations and practical “nuts and bolts” for leading a campus ministry. This book, however, takes a fresh approach in nudging the wider church to embrace the blessings of intergenerational relationships.
The writers fail in a few places to sufficiently cite their sources, and readers might sometimes not know which author is writing. The positives, however, heavily outweigh the negatives.
I’m glad that God has blessed the church with some full-time campus ministers, but the burden and blessing of establishing and nurturing healthy intergenerational relationships belong to the whole church. College students and other young adults long for “identity, belonging, and worth.” They need to know who they are in God’s eyes, where they belong in God’s community, and how they can serve valuable roles in God’s ministry. The church must listen to those youthful voices, appreciating their insights and offering wisdom.
Steven Gaines ministers with college students on multiple campuses in upstate South Carolina. He’s on staff with Central Church of Christ in Spartanburg and is still learning what it means to be a campus minister.