Catch Up: Emerging Adulthood

So. Apparently I don’t really pay attention in class. My collegiate ministry blog/journal assignment is more in depth than I thought. Looks like I am supposed to write a blog entry every time we have a class meeting. That is once a week since August 23. That is 12 weeks ago. That means that I am supposed to have at least 12 entries that pertain to each day of class. So, now I am going to have to catch up considering I did not really know that it was suppose to be that much. Luckily I have a week to write all of these. Which means almost two blogs a day. Which is good for me, because I can now review all that we have talked about throughout the year and see how much I have learned. I hate that I waited so long because it adds to my stress which is not good at all, but I think it is going to end up being a good thing! So that is my introductory paragraph. Now I am going to begin the onslaught of blog entries that hopefully you will read all of instead of stopping now.
This first blog is just going to be about my first day of class. The class is called Guiding Collegians in their Faith Pilgrimage. Obviously it is a class geared towards teaching us how to teach and disciple college students. The first day of class we defined most collegiate students into the emerging adult category. We first looked at the definitions of adulthood as defined by sociologists and then as defined by college students. Sociologist use actual events as meaning a person has entered into adulthood. These events are finishing education, entering full time work, getting married and becoming parents. College students define adulthood quite differently. According to students they are adults when they begin taking responsibility for one’s actions, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent. Well for me, I am not an adult based on either one of these definitions. I am single, still in school, working full time and nowhere near having children. I am happy to admit my mistakes, I make all my own decisions, but I still rely heavily on my parents when it comes to money. But I am a seminary student, so that is okay, right? Speaking of which, rent is due in a couple days….. Anyways, according to Reifman, Arnett, and Colwell, there are five stages of emerging adulthood. It is the age of identity exploration, the age of instability, the age where a person is most self focused, the age where one is not really an adolescent but not an adult, and the age of possibilities where a person’s life can be completely up to them. Along with these five stages are four sub cultures of college students. There are college students who want fellowship and partying, vocational students who are seeking success, academic students who genuinely want to gain knowledge, and the rebel students who are completely against conformity.
An important aspect to remember when ministering to college students is the idea of personal growth. There are many aspects that students want to grow in when they come to college. When I started college I wanted to make friends, wanted to get my life started, wanted to find a girlfriend and get married, and do something to be recognized by people. Well I ended up making friends. That is about all of the goals I met while in college. It is very important as a minister to keep these needs in mind, no matter how selfish they are. Every student has desires and these cannot be ignored. Whether a student wants to be successful, wants to party, wants to gain knowledge, or just wants to live life, all these wants are very important. How can college ministers cater to these needs? That is a very complicated question. Each person is different. That is why one of the most important things as ministers is to know your students. It is important to have events that everyone can relate to. One thing that we have had pounded in our head all semester is that the context of where a ministry is has a huge impact on what how a minister should arrange the ministry itself. The first step that is necessary is gaining students’ trust. In order to do this we must know them and know how they think. Important aspects in a student’s faith pilgrimage are worship services, bible reading, friends, and prayer. There are many more, these are just a few. As a college minister, I am going to be responsible to hold students accountable and lead them to higher standards in their faith journey. The thresholds mentioned above become very important when thinking of practical aspects of ministry. These stages must be considered when planning events and thinking of how to arrange a ministry to minister to many people of many different backgrounds. Emerging adulthood is a very complicated stage of life that we all have to go through at some point. College ministers have been where college students are now. Having been there, the most important in a minister’s guidance can be the experiences that they have that are similar to those in college now. If a college student knows that a minister has gone through the same things that they are going through now, the student is more likely to relate and trust the minister. Without this initial trust, there can be no discipleship.