KNOX NEXUS The University Ministry of Knox Presbyterian Church

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
II Cor. 10:3-5

For our students and faculty, the campus is a place of spiritual warfare. But as Paul reminds us, though we live in the world we don't wage war as the world does. Power, control, violence, manipulation or coercion are worldly weapons useless in seeing the kingdom of God move forward on campus. Minds on fire with truth wedded to hearts ravished by the love of Christ are among the chief armaments of those whom Jesus has called as "sent ones" to the university. This kind of life lived in the power of the Spirit is the foundation for ministry on campus where students and faculty are called to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God," taking "captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

However, too often our response to the modern university is either ignoring it or feeling alienated from it. But what if we began to think of these great centers of learning in missional terms, not simply in educational terms? They are places through which people pass-through which, quite literally, the world passes. The best and the brightest young men and women from across the globe are recruited by our universities. Their faculties shape the minds of students, who graduate hoping to make the world a different place. It is difficult to estimate the powerful role the modern university has in forming culture through intellectual activity. Much of the form and direction of American life comes from the influence of our university communities.

So, what kind of missional response is required of the Church? How do we reach the modern college campus? Who are among the most strategic ambassadors of the kingdom of God to the many academic communities spread across the American cultural landscape? One answer is obvious: students.

So, how do we best serve students as a local church? In several ways.

• Integrating them into the life of the church. The best thing we have to offer students isn't programs but the rich, intergenerational life of a discipling community of 800 persons.
• Connecting students with vital campus ministry. Our ministry to students is defined and shaped by what God is doing on campus through our campus ministers.
• Helping students cultivate the life of the mind in an increasingly mindless culture so that they can bring Truth to the campus. And not Truth in some narrow sense but in the broadest, Biblical sense of a Christian way of viewing the world and everything in it.
• Caring for the special needs of students: transportation to Sunday worship, host families for the homesick, exam week care packages, monthly suppers, and food after Sunday worship (at our Under the Stairs gathering place for students) are among the many ways we seek to show students our support for their special calling as "sent ones" to campus.

Watch this space for more information as the fall semester draws near.

For more information, please contact Pastor Bob Lynn, our pastor for University Ministry, Adult Education and Missions or call 734-761-5669