When Joe Gosa was a freshman at the University of Alabama, he didnât
make much time for the Wesley Foundation. Now, a senior, Gosa is President
of the National United Methodist Student Movement.
Campus religious organization leaders say the trend among university students
seems to be an increased interest and participation in religious groups
as well as more non-traditional religious groups.
ãWhen I first came to the university, I went to Wesley on Thursday
nights and that was it,ä Gosa said. ãAfter I was here for a
year, I learned how to manage my time better and was able to have time
to participate more. I think most students have the same experience and
get involved later on in college,ä he said.
Gosa identifies with the current trend of the increasing number of sophomores
and juniors becoming involved in programs offered by the Wesley Foundation.
He attributes this to students learning how to manage their time better.
He also thinks that students realize that they do need the support and
reassurance that a church gives after they have experienced college life
for a while.
Molly Campbell, pastoral associate of Saint Francis Catholic Student Center,
has seen an increase in the number of freshmen who participate in the programs
they offer. ãUsually people donât come around until their
junior or senior year, and Iâm not really sure why more freshman
are participating,ä Campbell said.
Some feel this increase is due to the wide variety of activities that these
organizations offer. Wesley has teams for virtually all intramural sports
as well as small group bible study and mission trips. ãWe try to
offer programs that will appeal to everyone,ä Gosa said.
Calvary Baptist Church has a full program during the school year as well
as in the summer for college students. Calvary offers small group bible
study where about 100 students participate in each week as well as Sunday
school classes, which addresses topics based on the needs of students,
said Scott Sparks, college minister for Calvary.
There is also a student adoption program in which local families adopt
a student and provide them with a place to feel at home. ãStudents
can wash clothes, have a home cooked meal or get away from their dorm or
roommates,ä Sparks said.
The Hillel Foundation is a religious organization geared toward offering
programs for the Jewish population on campus. They have services on Friday
night as well as programs for the Jewish Fraternity and sorority.
Last year Hillel foundation had a memorial service for the Holocaust. There
was an orchestra as well as speakers from the University faculty. They
also lit candles for the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust.
The Hillel foundation is currently working on a program for the spring
in which they will pay for fifth and sixth grade children to come to the
University. Guy Antebi, director of the Hillel house, said he hopes these
children will be impressed with the campus as well as the programs offered
for Jewish students.
Ronnie Brewer, senior campus minister for Baptist Campus Ministries, also
has seen an increase in participation by freshmen and others this year.
ãIn the past five years there has been a steady increase in spiritual
things,ä Brewer said. The reason for this increase is because college
students are at a crucial age where they are looking for a reason for what
they are doing and are trying to figure out who they are, he said.
Students are searching for values that matter to them. Brewer said that
as a generation, students now have developed quicker and are more advanced
in some areas such as sexual experimentation and alcohol and drug experimentation.
This makes them freer than other generations in the past.
He said because we know so much, we have, ãless desire to experiment
and more of a desire to become stable.ä Religious and spiritual groups
help with that process, he said.
Calvary's Sparks said many college students try to develop their own private
religion by picking and choosing among various religious beliefs. He said
this is due to lack of spiritual direction.
But a lack of direction is not the reason Greg Cardin gives for the increasing
amount of students who become involved in more non-traditional religions.
Cardin, a member of the Pan-Spiritual Association said the reason for the
increase in interest is because many young people who grew up in traditional
religious settings have become disenchanted with them and are looking for
something that speaks to them personally.
The Pan-Spiritual Association is an umbrella name for discussion groups
and organizations geared towards exploring and organizations and studying
non-mainstream spiritual traditions. The PSA includes the Asian Mysticism
Discussion Group, the Wiccan Student Circle and the Unitarian-Universalist
Youth.
Another reason for many young peopleâs involvement in alternative
religions is young people are now more open to new ideas than in years
past, said Chris Brownlie, pastor for the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship
in Tuscaloosa.
ãThere is a longing for a sense of stability and purpose among young
people today which makes them more open and receptive to new and different
beliefs about religion,ä she said. ãYoung people experience
so many different religions which makes them not as willing to say, 'If
you donât believe this you will go to hell.'"
Crossroads, a new church based in Seattle, recognizes the renewed interest
in religion among young people and has formed an organization geared specifically
to minister to Generation Xers, said Chad Canipe, pastor of Crossroads.
Canipe said Crossroads is a non-denominational church that stresses the
teachings of Jesus and the Bible. ãWe are very much like any other
Christian church, but we hope that by instead of withdrawing from the surrounding
culture, we will penetrate it and strive to be a voice speaking out for
Christ in the marketplace of ideas.ä he said.
Crossroads formed because we saw a need for a church that would appeal
to the many young people of Seattle who live without Christ.ä he said.
"We hope to one day spread out across the nation and form churches
like this one all over.ä
Other conservative churches turn off many Generation Xers because they
seem too ãstuffy,ä Canipe said. He wants young people to know
that there is nothing stuffy about Christ.