Christian Student Fellowship offers community for students
by Kelly Wiley
Christian Student Fellowship has free food, some times, a Wii with a beautiful plasma screen TV to accompany it, a jar full of flavorful gum free for the taking, but more importantly, they have a community of college students who all have a common faith.
“Christian Student Fellowship is a place where anyone can come in and feel welcome and fit into the community,” said Matt Dampier, director of freshman ministries as CSF. “I want them to be challenged but feel welcomed.”
CSF has become a well-known place to college students because of the various programs they offer to college students at various levels of education and faith.
“We want CSF to live in and out of the deepest awareness that life is about a relationship with God and with others,” said Brian Marshall, campus minister at CSF.
At the end of the night I hope the students can sense that they are loved deeper than they ever knew was possible, Marshall said. That is the goal of CSF, but more importantly, Marshall said that his goal is to spread the word of God to the many UK students that fill the room.
Dampier spoke of the struggles that face many college students. He understands that throughout your college experience your religion my falter, especially when you transition from high school to college. Dampier said once you hit college you get that feeling of “individualism” and sometimes that sense of freedom can overtake any religious convictions students may have.
“It’s not easy, but it is important to maintain your religion,” Dampier said.
Dampier said some college students might have identified with a certain religion while they were in high school, but by their mid-20s they do not call themselves Christian anymore.
“Being a Christian isn’t about running from reality, it’s about interacting with reality, sometimes ugly realities in a fallen world,” Marshall said.
One of the key periods of your life when you mature the most is in college, Marshall said. College, in reality, sets the course for the next 40 or 50 years of your life. However, Marshall believes that even after college, people can change their lives if they want to.
“I’m not a fatalist and I certainly think people can always change as long as they have breath in their lungs. But the momentum generated by life choices during college seems to powerfully propel people into their future,” Marshall said.
Marshall said that he did not know if religion was of “key importance” to the average college student. Anymore, religion is just something students check on their Facebook profile.
College students, in a sense, are living in a materialistic way and making religious commitments along the way. Students come to college to get a job that will provide them with enough money to buy possessions they want. However, students need to ask themselves “Will these possessions lead to ultimate fulfillment,” and that is one of the many reasons why CSF is important. Marshall said he and his staff try to raise these questions to students.
Students also have the opportunity the raise questions to the staff at CSF, especially freshman. We have a program called Shift, Marshall said, where students can discuss issues they are faced with. Here they are taught how God’s word can guide them through these situations.
“Leaving home and coming to college can be tough. Leaving behind friends and family can make for lots of lonely nights,” Marshall said. “Some people find community within a group of people who place a high priority on expressly living out their religious commitments. Some people come to college to use this as a time to stray from the religious path their parents set out for them.”
Dampier said that it all has to do with that sense of “individualism” that he spoke of earlier and the need to get away from your parents. Students strive to find something that works for them and they go with that because they are only living in the “right now.”
Ultimately, Marshall said his goal is to educate and share the word of God with others. His passion is to help the numerous students at UK shape the rest of their lives.
“I think many people view the Christian life as being boring. No doubt some Christians are boring but so are some businessmen. This doesn’t mean that Christianity is necessarily boring,” Marshall said. “Jesus said that he came in order that people could live life to the fullest because he understood more deeply than us and knew how to get at the core of life better than we do.”
