Subscribe to the NetworkDealing With Uncertainty/Doubt
Everyone has doubts. We all have areas that we are not 100% certain in. This could be life circumstances and even faith. Regardless of where we are in our faith maturity, we still have areas or questioning. The issue is not whether or not we have doubts and uncertainty, it’s whether or not we allow space to work through them openly and honestly.
College age people are reevaluating what they believe and why. Some of course do this more intensely than others, but all do. This reevaluation naturally brings uncertainty and doubt to the surface. Others might have a mentor that “falls” and all of the sudden things become uncertain. Still others grew up with an idea of who God is and how He works and yet find circumstances not lining quite up to that ideal. When these types of things occur, doubt crashes in.
But do people in your ministry feel freedom to admit these areas and thoughts?
I think this idea of processing questions and doubt is a good and necessary aspect of faith development. True faith must have questions and doubt in it’s past to some degree. And, I’d suggest that consistently working through questions, being a learner, and humbly admitting our questions is critical for continual growth. But setting a culture that allows for these types of things is crucial in college ministry. You see, college age people too often mistake doubt for faith abandonment. They can wrongly assume they are the only ones thinking these things, that others will look down on them if they’re honest about it (which is unfortunately true at times), and confuse having questions about God with questioning God altogether.
This is a much bigger issue than we might realize in college ministry. And how we handle this issue will greatly impact our success in ministry to college age people. Let college age people see your unwavering faith in the midst of areas of uncertainty.
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