Why an emphasis on University outreach?

[Dale Yuzuki]

This is something I've been thinking about for a while - why as a UCLA freshman in early 1982 did I ever get involved with Bill Bradbury and a fringe Bible Study on campus with an innocuous name like "Bible Studies in the New and Old Testaments"?

While in this group for 15 years (until 1997 when I began to see what it was all about when in Beijing China with Ing and Karen), 'Campus Outreach' was seen as a 'fruitful field' and the main method by which 'the assembly' grew and multiplied in other places. (BTW it was me going to graduate school at SFSU in 1988 that precipitated a summer team being sent there, and Danny and Kimber Edwards moving there with me.) Throughout almost all of my 15 years of involvement I was speaking at campus Bible studies, and throughout those years I was convinced that the university campus was 'the place to be' when it concerned individuals getting saved and 'coming into fellowship'.

Here are a few reasons why I think that universities were a main outreach for the Geftakys assemblies:

- a steady stream of idealistic young people
- freedom to organize ad-hoc groups
- the need for acceptance made peer pressure especially effective

There are several others but I'd like to hear what others may have to say about this. I do remember 'job fellowships' and 'job outreaches' how relatively few people would come out as a result, as in the workplace there are just the opposite forces at play there -

- a static group of cynical people of several ages
- limited freedom to organize anything (except perhaps a union)
- not a lot of need for acceptance except for being accepted by the boss...

And then there are of course prisons. How I remember well those 'Christmas Projects' in the Orange County Jail every year!

- a relatively static group of juvenile criminals
- freedom? in jail?
- acceptance? who cares?

I'd like to hear what others here think about 'why was the university a  main method of assembly growth'.

Dale (ex-missionary to China)

[soul dreamer]

Most people come to the Lord or renew important commitments to the Lord between the ages of 13 to 19.  As teenagers are planning their lives, perhaps for the first time in their lives they ask themselves the deeper questions such as, "What is the meaning of life?," "Is there a God?" "Can He (she?) be known?"  Other groups such as Campus Crusade for Christ realize this and therefore focus on reaching students.  As much is possible, I believe ALL churches should reach out to youth on college campuses for the Lord Jesus Christ.  Focusing on this age group does not necessarily reflect cultic or sectarian desires.

 

[Randal]

Hi Dale,

The teenage years is not only a time of searching for answers, but also searching for an identity.  If someone begins to respond, it is often times very effective to give them responsibility and make them feel needed.

Randal

[outdeep]

I think you are all correct.   When I was 18 years old in 1977-8 at Orange Coast College, I had been a Christian since Junior High.  As I had no church background, I was looking for a church.  The prospect of being with some young, energtic, serious Christians was very attractive (it still is).  It was, in many ways, a dream come true.

I think the problem you may be getting at, Dale, is the fact that probably about 98% of the people who came into fellowship were in this age range.  It implies that the Assembly tended to attract primarily the energetic and idealistic.

This does ring true as established families in their 40s didn't tend to be drawn to churches where they must sit all day on Sunday with their grade school kids on metal folding chairs and attend several meetings during the week.  We did so because we didn't have the pressures of family and we believed that we were truly a part of something greater than ourselves.

Rick is right.  The energy and idealsim of youth isn't a bad thing.  God can use this to bring them to Christ.  However, a good church also effectively reaches out to people in all walks of life.

-Dave

[Peacefulg]

Hey all, to add to this real quick.  In college for most it is their first taste of "freedom" and where you can become a party animal, etc., so it is a good thing we reach out to them.

G

[Dale Yuzuki]

Hey everybody, I agree that sure it's an age-thing, but what I'm thinking about is a 'college demographic', and a bit more than only the energetic/idealistic dimension.

Namely, people who could relate on the intellectual/theological side of things, as being a 'nice match' for what GG had to offer.

I remember being amazed coming to a Bible Study and thinking 'wow, how did they get so much out of the Bible?' It didn't hurt that there were very clean-cut people, people that I personally wanted to have as friends, and had other things to 'offer' in addition to a lot of Bible knowledge.  

And of course they were to be admired for having it 'all together' - boldness in outreach, monthly ANOP, quarterly seminars, 'Brother's Houses', etc. etc.

But back to the intellectual thing - aren't there a lot of young people at bars and dance halls? The beach outreaches we had in Santa Monica were known for not being very effective at all, and there were tons of young people there.

Comments?

[outdeep]

This might be true for some, Dale.  I had heard that often guys in George's house that had an intellectual bent had a good relationship with Betty as she tended to foster that.

However, it wasn't true for me.  Some of the more anti-intellectual statements tended to float my boat:
God wants reality, not religion.
Enter into God's best.
Better to burn out than rust out.
Don't settle for a same, tame Christianity.
God only uses a broken vessel.
God wants your heart, not your head.
These things are hidden from the wise, but revealed unto babes.

The Assembly did inspire my intellect for to a certain extent in that it encouraged me to read.

But, for the most part, in my younger days, the Assembly provided for me a ready-made world view and answer to life's tough questions that I didn't have to work very hard to figure out on my own.

Again, I am just relating my experience at the college age.  I know for a fact people in the Assembly read good books and had good heads on their sholders.  For me, however, my college draw was not intellectual as that part of me really wasn't developed yet.

[MichelleDJ]

Outsider's POV:  It would appear to me that college-aged folks are experiencing freedom for the first time, and for many, this is not such a good thing.  For those who are co-dependent or have a history of familial dysfunction, being outside of the usual, comfortable patterns may end up leaving them a little lost.  Finding a group where they can "fit in" and "conform" to such an extreme may actually be a comfort to them.

Co-dependents look for people who will tell them where to go, what to do, what to wear, where to be...  And even those not-so-codep may still appreciate the "parental" feeling received from The Assembly.

And no, I don't mean in a healthy way.

College students tend to be the most vulnerable as well.  Confused worldview, sensory overload, etc.  I don't perceive college as a straight path to hell for anyone - I was not a "partier" in the least.  But I have noticed that many "organizations" will use this particular time in one's life to "recruit" new members.

And I don't mean that in a healthy way, either.

I'm not saying that what's been said here by everyone else isn't relevant - it is!  I just want to shine a tad bit of light in the Ugly Direction as well.

[Sebastian Andrew]

Greetings Dale:
I am from the Midwest and know Ing
ling Chin. Do you know where he is presently and is he still in the assembly (and where)? Sorry for bothering you out of the blue like this.
Sebastian Andrew