Christian group launches online platform to help college students keep the faith
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – The Christian nonprofit group Campus Renewal has launched a new online platform to help address the issue that 70% of students leave their faith during their college years, the Christian Post reports. The Every Student Sent (ESS) initiative aims to connect students with other believers on their campus or to help them join churches and Gospel-based communities close to where they are studying.
Speaking to the Christian Post, ESS strategic partnership director John Decker explained that many college students lose their faith because “they are not prepared with the right worldview. They are not prepared for the social pressures that affect a young person.” Accordingly, ESS aims to prepare students through “an extensive learning management system that incorporates missional training for students so they are ready for college,” Decker said.
Explaining how ESS works, Decker said Christian college students are given access to a data base through which find information about “the campus ministries and Christian groups at nearly every school in the country.” College freshmen can then “apply to a college ministry” and “join a social group around that ministry.”
In this way, Decker said: “[The] students actually get to meet with each other and work together before they land on campus and work with a campus staff member. Therefore, whether the college is virtual or physical this year, they can build a community long before they arrive on campus.”
Moreover, at a community level, Every Student Sent is working to “strengthen the influence of the body of Christ on campus” by “bringing students, campus ministries, and local churches together in prayer and evangelism,” Decker said.
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