Scary scholars - frightened freshers! - How to help new students

So the students are returning. It’s late September/early October and they’re taking over the city: the supermarket’s run out of value baked beans and the pubs and clubs are full to bursting.

Some students are at university for the first time, nervously arranged in groups discussing for the 7,000th time what course they’re doing and where they’ve come from. Follow that with a game of who had the most exciting gap year or the best A levels. I have to say, the first day at university almost two years ago was probably the scariest of my life. Yes, for some it’s the most exciting — but for the majority it’s frightening. I felt physically sick for hours on arrival. However, as a Christian, I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was settle in to a good church as soon as possible. I left a loving church I’d attended all my life, came to Sheffield University, and wanted to get stuck in. I arrived in halls on the Saturday and started looking for a church the next day.

Having been a scared but excited fresher looking for a new church family to settle in for the next three years, I think there are many ways churches in university cities can help their students when they arrive come late September.

Teach the Bible faithfully

It can be tempting for churches to attract large crowds of students by dumbing down their Bible teaching to make it more funny, to fit in more time for ‘worship’ or because they think students will be put off by dull sermons. Of course, students as much as the average person will be put off by dull sermons (!), but the first thing a church should focus on is the teaching of the word of God. This is the primary way students will grow as Christians during their time at university, so make sure this is the bulk of meetings, not the singing or the socialising.

Also, uni’s the time when many students will have the freedom to choose whether to go to church or not — it may also be the first time they properly think about what they believe rather than going along with their parents. Therefore, try and give opportunities for them to study the Bible in small groups so they can really grapple with the truth and what they believe.

Be a family

When students arrive at university, despite being 18 or 19 years old, they will all miss their home situation, whatever bravado they put on! Therefore, it is crucial that the church acts as a family to students who attend. Make sure there are systems in place whereby members of the church are ‘responsible’ for small groups of students, so that the individual has someone to turn to when they are in need.

Never underestimate the power of inviting students for lunch: this is vital! Many students will be self-catered and will be only too grateful for a free, and not-potentially poisonous, meal. Others in catered halls will value a meal that hasn’t been left out for hours to congeal. But, more important than the food, opening up your home in this way shows students they are welcome in your life. It shows you care and ultimately shows God’s love when they’re not at home and feeling vulnerable. But beware — sometimes it is easy to have students round for a meal once and then to forget about them. DO NOT DO THIS! Please swap email addresses/mobile phone numbers, arrange another date for a meal and send them an encouraging message every now and again so they know they are not forgotten. Students need ‘parents’ at university, a support network which, if not provided by the church, will often be found elsewhere and can lead to slipping away.

Retain!

This follows on from my previous point about hospitality not being a ‘one-off’ thing. Often students can be enthusiastic to start off with, but get sucked in to uni life, partying, playing hockey or being part of the pirate society and so fall away. The church can avoid this by following students up. As I said, swap email addresses or phone numbers: if they miss church on Sunday, tell them you noticed! But won’t this seem like nagging, I hear you ask. Not if you build a friendship with the student. Show interest in them and make it clear you’re not texting them to be annoying but because you care for them.

It’s important to swap details as soon as possible (without looking like a stalker of course!), as the first few weeks can be the hardest for first years settling in. I found it very reassuring to know I could contact an older Christian in those early days.

Encourage evangelism

I don’t think I realised, until I moved out of halls of residence, what an amazing evangelistic opportunity I had. I was on a corridor of 21 girls, many of whom I would not normally associate with. They were loud, they went clubbing very often and had vastly different interests to me. And yet I was placed in their midst and could be a witness to them.

Therefore, encourage students to share the gospel with their friends / course mates / flat mates as it’s the best opportunity they’ll have to reach out to a wide variety of people. They probably won’t have such close contact with non-Christians once they’ve graduated. The church can do this in a number of ways. Put on evangelistic events so students can invite their friends. Have training seminars on how to share the gospel. Put on subject specific talks, such as how to reach the scientist, or looking at the arts from a Christian perspective. Another way the church can help is by not filling the student’s week with various Bible studies and prayer meetings. I am by no means saying Bible study and prayer are not invaluable, but if a student’s every weekday evening is taken up with Christian activity it leaves precious little time for hanging out with housemates or being part of a society.

Be welcoming!

I have a friend who on her first Sunday at university went to a church with another Christian — they walked in, and the man on the door found out they were students. He promptly pointed them in the direction of all the other students and left them there. Needless to say my friend never returned to that church! While there is much value in Christian students getting to know other Christian students at church, on the first Sunday be welcoming to the new students. Show interest, ask them about their course, sit next to them, invite them to lunch at your house (see the ‘Be a family’ section!). At one church I went to a couple of times, the students were given a small plastic wallet with a little notebook, a pen, a lolly, recipes and contact numbers for the student worker and the minister. This was a great idea — small material things like this made me feel loved and welcomed.

Anticipate…

If you know of students who are coming to your city or know a friend of a friend whose cousin’s babysitter’s next door neighbour will be looking for a church to settle in, pass on your contact details to them before they come and look out for them. It was very reassuring when I arrived at the church I am at now to speak to someone I had already been in email contact with.

At this point, it’s helpful to remember that no church will be perfect and these are certainly not hard and fast rules, more a list of helpful tips.

Not scary

Finally, students aren’t scary. They’re scared themselves and, as a church family in a university city, people can show God’s love to students in a variety of ways. Mirror Jesus’s sacrificial love in your relationship with students so they will grow as Christians and be a blessing to others in the future.

Vic Hawkins,
a third year student and Digeredoo player, Sheffield

Scary scholars - frightened freshers!

How to help new students