Two-thirds of young adults that leave the church do so when they go to college (LifeWay), and the top reason they give for dropping out of church is, “I moved to college…” not religious belief reasons, not relational reasons, but simply because they went away to college (LifeWay).
I have six children ages 21, 19, 12, 11, 9, and 8 along with a daughter-in-law and twin granddaughters! Statistically, only two of our six kids would continue attending church if they went away to college, unless of course they attend a Bible college like New Hope.
When I was attending New Hope, our oldest two kids were just starting school. I remember coming across this comic at that time:
It makes the point that we cannot expect the secular systems to support the spiritual framework we might have built at home. So as a father, I take seriously this admonition to integrate faith-based learning into our every-day lives. “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deut. 6:6-7).
Therefore, I am grateful that our two oldest children made the decision to attend New Hope Christian College. (Full disclosure here, they do not receive any discount or scholarships for being my dependents.)
One of our kids wants to be a librarian; the other wants to work in marketing and digital communications. While NHCC offers a degree in Creative Arts, it certainly does not have a library or information science degree. More importantly, NHCC offers a holistic discipleship program that will equip them to learn, grow, and lead for the rest of their lives. What our kids do is not as important as why or how they do what they do. I have insider knowledge that the education they receive at New Hope will equip them to live exceptionally for Jesus in any field.
Works Cited:
Lietha, Dan. “Week-ening.” Answers in Genesis. March 27, 2008.
LifeWay Research. “Church Dropouts: Reasons Young Adults Stay or Go between Ages 18-22.” http://research.lifeway.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Young-Adult-Church-Dropout-Report-2017.pdf. Accessed 14 June 2022.
Written by Dr. Donald Grafton, Vice President of Academic Affairs
