This fall, more than 21 million young people are expected to arrive on America’s college campuses. During their college experience, these students will learn many things. They will be challenged in every way. They will grow as individuals and move into adulthood.
What a critical time for the Church to reach out in love to these young people! What an amazing opportunity to support our own Lutheran youth, while also sharing the Gospel with others — possibly for the first time!
That’s why the LCMS is focusing on the Concordia University System (CUS) and LCMS Campus Ministry and LCMS U during the month of September.
At the institutions of the CUS, students learn and grow in an environment that upholds our Lutheran teaching that every person has inherent worth by virtue of his or her Creator. CUS students learn to find genuine value in caring for their neighbors in Witness, Mercy, Life Together.
“Whether it’s history, philosophy, chemistry or anatomy, all knowledge is ordered around God’s mercy and grace in Christ, who has given us His wonderful salvation by grace alone, faith alone and according to Scripture alone,” says the Rev. Dr. Dean Wenthe, president of the CUS.
However, many of our LCMS youth do not attend a CUS institution. For these students, LCMS Campus Ministry — through its new LCMS U initiative — is there, providing an oasis where the Word and Sacrament can be delivered and fellowship can be offered.
“We have a phenomenal opportunity through our campus ministries to bear witness to the truth of God’s Word in the collegiate public square,” says the Rev. Marcus Zill, director of LCMS Campus Ministry and LCMS U. “With the ever-growing influx of international and unchurched students on college campuses, the Church needs to be there for the sake of all.”
Join us this September in celebrating and supporting the work done among young people, both at our LCMS colleges and universities and at secular schools around the country.