Universities all around the country are gearing up for the 2022-23 academic year. Among the students heading to campus will be the Class of 2026—18-year-olds both excited and terrified of what lies ahead. In many ways that likely describes the feelings of most of their parents!

This is particularly true of Christian parents. What will happen to my child’s faith? Will they make good Christian friends? Or will they be led astray by ungodly peers and atheistic professors?

Through UpStream Ministries I am trying to help parents lay the spiritual groundwork in their children’s lives years in advance to help allay those fears, to help them lay such solid spiritual foundations that those fears are unnecessary. However, the truth is that few parents are doing this, and I often watched them scrambling trying to make sure their kids get involved with a church and/or campus ministry. As I relate in my book, Letters from Downstream, parents often make their most intentional moves at New Student Orientation where many Christian organizations are permitted to have information tables. They go around and gather up as many brochures and info sheets as they can, stuff them in a bag, and hand it to their student on the way home. If you have an incoming freshman at home and you did this, (I hate to be the bearer of bad news.) it likely won’t help.

The common mistake parents make is placing all their time and energy researching schools regarding tuition, majors, housing, and scholarships. Little effort is expended to find out about the spiritual resources on campuses until the summer before the students heads off to their freshman year. There is much that can be done months and years prior to your child going to college, but that is for another blog, or may I suggest (shameful plug!) ordering my book or scheduling an UpStream Ministries seminar for your church or parents’ group.

However, all is not lost. There are still a couple things you can do before your “Dylan” or “Danielle” take their first steps on campus. First, realize your child’s biggest worry is finding friends. They may claim to be a Christian, but they will choose in a heartbeat non-Christians to hang out with, if no Christians are known to them because nothing is worse than having no friends at all. It might be their roommate or neighbor down the hall, but they will seek to find one or more people to hang out with. Or they will remain in their dorm room risking becoming depressed.

To counteract this, ask the youth pastor of your church for campus ministry contacts (or churches with college student ministries) and call them immediately. Or go to the college website and look under “student life” to find a list of student clubs and organizations. Usually, they are grouped according to type, so look for religious organizations. There you should find contact and website info. Most campus pastors I know would love the opportunity to connect your child with not only their ministry, but with specific students. I did this on a regular basis during the time I served as a campus pastor. Thus, your child will already have a connection with Christians before they reach campus. And these ministries have a lot planned for the first two weeks of school, and some even the weekend before classes start. It is fairly easy to get connected if your child is willing to do so. Here’s a pro tip: If you can persuade your son or daughter to do this work, all the better because they will have ownership of the process.

The other thing you need to be doing is lifting your child up in prayer on a daily basis. Those first several weeks can be life-changing—either in a very good way or a very bad way. Over my career, I talked with many adults filled with regret about their choices during their first weeks in college, and many students who became involved much later in my ministry. Prayer can change outcomes that the Enemy desires for your child.

So, if your child is heading off to college in a week or two and is not connected with any spiritual resources, then there is no time to waste. It’s time, parents, to get to work!

© Jim Musser 2022