The Gain of True Belief and True Repentance
University of Minnesota 2021 Campus Update
As has always been the case, college is the time when students are forming convictions that will inform the way they live for the rest of their lives. Because the culture of our time and the affects of the pandemic, convictions are primarily being formed by the question "Does it work?" more than the question "What is true?" As Christians, we have a compelling answer for what works:
For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God. (Psalm 62:5-7)
For students in college, the pandemic has caused a greater sense of anxiety, depression, and loneliness. They are fighting to find something that will give them peace, happiness, and a world that is reconciled. When they hear, for the first time, the hope that God offers us through Christ Jesus, an unusual number of students find it compelling. But the cultural underpinnings of our time are so strong, many students are hesitant to trade the losses they feel in their lives for the loss of personal autonomy and lordship in their lives. So we pray that God will change hearts! And as we pray, we are seeing some students come to faith whose repentance and belief seem so clearly from the Lord. We grieve the loss of many students who reject Christ, but the current times make us rejoice all the more in those who do believe.
Zach Simmons
U of M Campus Director
Student Quote
“Even though I grew up around the Bible, I never really had the desire to read the Bible. Campus Outreach has taught me how to study the Bible and I actually want to read the Bible now.
—Jordan, Sophomore
The University of Minnesota Team: Zach Simmons (Campus Director), Ellyn Lluch, Henrik & Hannah Stevens, Daniel Stein