In my new book, College Ministry 101, I discuss what it looks like for a church to truly embrace college-age people. I talk about what they need from leaders and give a bunch of practical advice and principles on how to implement these things in our churches. But, in order to really grasp these things we need to understand why. So, here are 3 quick reasons I would say it is vital for every church in every context to minister to college-age people:

High school graduates don’t feel a part of the larger church. There might be some exceptions to this, but it’s very few. Ask anyone that just graduated if they feel like an adult. Shoot, ask just about any 24 year old if they do – at best you’ll get a, “not really.” They need to be walked toward that by mature people.

The college-age stage of life is a transition stage. This is clearly the stage of life where people are transitioning (or trying – some harder than others) from student life to adult life. Some take longer than others to make the full transition, but everyone eventually does. If the church doesn’t intentionally walk with them through this stage, who does? We have to be there to guide their thought processes toward biblically mature conclusions.

Higher education has changed thought processes. 35 years ago when people graduated high school they were quickly moving toward adult-like living – and thus thinking. Many would graduate and go immediately into a full-time job and supporting themselves. Today, however, this has changed dramatically. Graduating high school is now just the next stage of education – thus an extension of adolescent thinking. As juniors and seniors in college they are thinking about adult life much like the juniors and seniors of high school were 35 years ago. Maturity is different in ways, of course, but their thought processes regarding life direction is the very similar…just with unique freedoms.