Loving Your College Town (by one who doesn't go)

It's nine years since i packed by bags and headed off to the University of Reading for the first time. In those nine years, basically everything about my life has changed, but there has been one constant. I've lived in college towns. Three as a student, two more working with students in Guildford and Reading, and now four in Greenville, home of East Carolina University.

There are disadvantages to living in a college town when you don't go to that college. A large percentage of the population get's younger that you every year. The roads are a nightmare. Some days it feels like there are people everywhere! But the positives far outweigh the negatives. So how can we love our college towns when we don't go to college?

In Greenville at least, maybe a third of the businesses would not be here if it wasn't for ECU. We have a huge bookstore and a number of national chain restaurants that wouldn't be here if thirty thousand students didn't show up every autumn. Now that's not the most important thing, and more independent places to eat might be nice, and yes, downtown's a dump. But those negatives are far outweighed.

Living in a college town presents a unique opportunity for ministry. In the football season 50,000 people (myself included) show up every other week to watch the ECU Pirates play. That's a great chance for churches to meet people and share the Gospel, and many do. College towns have a vitality, an ambiance that others lack. There are simply more young people around, and therefore more young people to reach. Churches in college towns have a unique opportunity and privilege. Tomorrows leaders are on our doorstep, how can we best reach them, and make sure that tomorrow's shapers of culture are shaped by the Gospel? Universities are mission fields and churches need to pray for them as such. Pray for students to be saved and added to the local church, pray for campus ministries to be Gospel centred and well attended, pray that the Gospel is advancing in your local university, just like you would for the rest of your town.

Yes, there are disadvantages to living in a college town when you don't go. But the opportunities far outweigh them. As we pray for our local schools, let's be thankful for these opportunities, and grab them with both hands.