The irony is we are a culture that longs for connection and intimacy, but we hide behind our devices because they give us the illusion of control. We are afraid of being known.
So as the social media revolution continues, we need to (more…)
All around the country high school students are getting ready to graduate.
Unprecedented freedom is just around the corner…they can almost taste it! Soon they will packing up and heading off to college–away from mom, dad, their youth pastor, church, and many of their friends. Are they ready?
Most likely they are not ready for the intellectual, spiritual, and moral challenges that are waiting on them. Around 50% will disengage from their Christian faith during the college years. But they can be prepared–or at least have a fighting chance!
Let me be honest with you. A small, graduation gift book with short pithy inspirational quotes is not going to cut it. That will evaporate in about 10 seconds. I know this from experience. I know what is waiting for students on campus. I work with this generation. We live in a post-Christian culture. That is why I wrote Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower’s Guide For the Journey.
Even if they just use it as a door stop until the day they need it, that’s OK. When they get challenged in class or when they are dealing with doubts or are tempted to compromise their moral standards it will be waiting on them in their dorm room when you aren’t there with them and they may not have the courage to ask for help.
I am gratified to have heard stories of Welcome to College helping students around the country stand strong in their faith and make wise choices. It excites me when I see youth pastors buy copies and give them away to all their seniors. Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not a magic bullet. But it covers pretty much any challenge a student will face in the college years.
I am passionate about seeing this generation own their faith. That’s why I wrote this book. That’s why I do what I do. This graduation please consider giving your son or daughter a copy of Welcome to College. Or have one mailed to a friend’s son or daughter. Whatever you do, please don’t let your student head off to college with just another Christian pep talk on graduation Sunday. Good intentions, emotions, and will power will only go so far. Training is needed. Check out this summer worldview and apologetics training opportunity that I am a part of. We’d love to see your high schooler!
If your son and daughter is not graduating yet, why not pick up a copy and work through it together? The chapters are very readable, only 3-5 pages each and cover 41 different topics. In the back of the book there are discussion questions to help with dinner conversations. Students need a real world faith. My prayer is that this book would help them along that path! (cf. Rom. 12:2).
“Wow! What a book! Quite frankly, this is the book I’ve been waiting for the last forty years to give to college students. It is the single best volume I have ever read for preparing students for how to follow Jesus and flourish as his disciple in college.” –J.P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
Recently, I wrote about how and why we are failing our students. But, what does it mean to teach from a christian worldview? The foundation of the Christian worldview is the conviction that in Christ are “hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3). In other words, Jesus has the best information about everything. To live out a Christian worldview is to “think Christianly” about all of life. Here’s how I have tried to flesh out this conviction: Christianity actually rises to the level of being true or false (and there are good reasons to believe it’s actually true). And if Christianity is true, then it speaks to all of life; it makes a comprehensive claim on reality.
“If Christianity should happen to be true – that is to say, if its God is the real God of the universe,” said G.K. Chesterton, “then defending it may mean talking about anything and everything. Things can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is false, but nothing can be irrelevant to the proposition that Christianity is true.”
In light of that, I teach with the following core commitments. First, Christianity is a knowledge tradition, which means that truths about God, history, the spiritual life, and morality can actually be known, not merely believed (cf. Col. 1:9-10 and Luke 1:1-4).
Second, I assume (and argue for) the existence of objective truth. That is, truth is discovered; not created by an individual or culture. These two commitments will give students the confidence to cut through the mindless sound bites and slogans so common in our culture today.
Teaching from a Christian worldview requires that we ask and answer four vital questions:
1.) What do Christians believe about this? (Understanding / Content)
2.) Why do Christians believe this? (Reasons / Evidence)
3.) Why does this matter to my life? (Integration / Ownership)
4.) As an everyday ambassador, how can I help others connect with this important truth? (Embodiment / Connection)
This isn’t everything that could be said. But I think it’s an important starting point. Our beliefs and our thought lives provide the live possibilities for us to choose from in the day in and day out of life. If our thoughts are mostly away from God, then our choices most likely will be as well. Renewing our mind is fundamental to being an apprentice of Jesus and worldview formation (Col. 3:1-3; Rom. 12:1-2).
See more of my biblical worldview, apologetics, and culture teaching videos on my YouTube Channel.
