Why Every US Region Needs Campus Ministry

Wyietah By, a campus minister in Washington, was once told by a church member that students in Seattle really need Jesus.   

Everyone needs Jesus, he thought.   

According to a 2024 study, about 64% of Seattle adults never attend church or attend less than once a year — the highest of all U.S. big cities. San Francisco comes in second and Boston in third, with almost 56% of adults claiming little to no church attendance. Meanwhile, Atlanta, Dallas, and Houston rank among the most religious metro areas. 

For many Americans, the California Bay or the Pacific Northwest recall images of laid-back people, alternative lifestyles, and progressivism. The South and the Bible belt remind us of packed Sunday morning mega-churches, “southern hospitality,” and conservatism. Places like Utah are synonymous with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and New England with academic types on historic Ivy League campuses. 

While stereotypes tend to have a kernel of truth to them, the full truth is always a lot more complex. Stereotypes around religion are no exception. 

After speaking with eight InterVarsity campus ministers representing seven U.S. states, I found that no region in the U.S. has a "greater" or "lesser" need for witnessing communities. The same goes for the college campuses in these regions. Although regional contexts do pose unique challenges to campus ministry, students throughout the country deal with many of the same spiritual longings and barriers.  

Barrier 1: Church Hurt 

While only parts of Texas are considered the Bible Belt, Andrew Blodgett, a campus minister in Denton, Texas, said that Christianity is indeed still the cultural norm where he lives. 

“Whether or not they have a personal relationship with Jesus, they kind of want to keep doing the Christian 'thing,'”   Andrew said about his fellow Texans. 

This sort of “built-in Christianity” is less of an asset than someone would think. Authentic faith is harder to find and, on top of that, Andrew often comes across students dealing with “church hurt.” 

Church hurt includes a wide range of unpleasant experiences in the context of a church: religious trauma, spiritual abuse or manipulation, hypocrisy, exploitation, etc. In one article from Christianity Today, writer Michelle Von Loon says, “Today’s pews are full of people who bear scars — or still-oozing wounds — from church hurt.”

It's not uncommon for Andrew to hear stories from students about their painful religious upbringings.  

“Everybody knows about Christianity,” Andrew said. "But some people are predisposed to avoid Christians because of experiences they’ve had, sometimes for very valid reasons.” 

Andrew and Wyietah are aware of these reasons when street preachers visit their campuses. From Texas to Washington (and everywhere in between), street preachers stand in high-traffic areas of college campuses and perform fire-and-brimstone-style sermons for understandably unreceptive students. Because most U.S. campuses are free speech zones, InterVarsity campus ministers across the country have to navigate the damage these kinds of preachers do to the image of Christians on campus. 

“How can we be a community that’s different?” Andrew asks himself. “How can we show people that a Christian community can actually be about loving and supporting people? Even when we do Proxes, that’s a very different way to do evangelism. We’re not just yelling at people. We’re actually listening to their stories and having a conversation with them. I always see it as an opportunity to give people a different perspective of who Jesus is and what community can be, but sometimes it feels like an uphill battle.”  

In Utah, campus ministers Bryce and Caroline Fecarotta also know this uphill battle. 42% of Utahns belong to the LDS church, a number that has been decreasing in recent years. Still, many members who leave the church find it very difficult to differentiate their experiences from other faith practices. 

“They feel very hurt, betrayed, and upset by being deceived by the doctrines and teachings of the [LDS] church,” Bryce said. “Some still yearn for spirituality and community and are willing to at least see what Christianity is about but have a hard time finding the trust to dive in fully, at least for a while.” 

Barrier 2: Tribalism  

From Atlanta to Seattle, students who grew up in church feel pressure to remain loyal to the denomination they grew up in and, viewing InterVarsity as outside of those denominations, are more resistant to joining. 

Benji Shaw, a campus minister in Georgia, and Wyietah pointed out this issue of tribalism on their campuses. Both of them have encountered students who don’t view campus or parachurch ministries as formational spaces where real spiritual growth can happen the way it can in a church. 

“Christians express support and are willing to pray,” Benji Shaw said. “But motivating them to take the next step towards being personally involved is difficult.” 

Wyietah experiences this challenge at Seattle Pacific University, a Christian campus that he also staffs. There, in an overtly religious environment, students don’t often see the value of additional Christian community found in campus ministries. 

Similarly, in Florida, campus minister Kara Carpenter noted the conflict between Catholic and Protestant students on her campus. Many Catholic students can be resistant to joining InterVarsity, Kara said, usually because they think “Christian” only includes Protestants. 

In Utah, Bryce and Caroline are noticing a trend where younger Latter-day Saints are leaning into the “similarities” between Christians and themselves. In this instance, the tribalism issue seems to be reversed as more LDS members want to belong to the same tribe as Christians. As a result, spiritual conversations that feel like they’re going somewhere can end with LDS students saying something like “I’m so glad we have such similar beliefs." This can leave Christian students feeling discouraged and misinterpreted.

Barrier 3: Intellect, Ambition, and the Need for God 

One 2023 poll found that young adults and college students (regardless of region) experience the highest levels of unhealthy stress of any demographic. This could be for a variety of reasons: life transitions, academic pressures, higher rates of anxiety and depression, etc.  

This issue is heightened for students in Seattle’s booming tech industry and the resulting culture revolving around work, innovation, and achievement. Wyeitah’s students struggle to prioritize rest, with most having one or two jobs on top of academics and other commitments. 

Even when they have time to rest, they don’t know where to start and can misunderstand it as “the opposite of doing things.” Wyietah asks them questions to reframe their thinking. “What are the activities that bring you joy?” he might say. Or “How do you delight in God?”  

While it’s important for students to take their academics seriously, some might see faith as yet another thing to accomplish. 

On the opposite side of the country, Benji Suprice, a campus minister in Connecticut, recognizes this issue too and tries to lead his students toward deep learning and discipleship. “More than just doing things for God, what does it mean to be formed by God?” he said. “That’s the challenge, I think, of any campus ministry.” 

Benji also finds himself wondering how he can help his students cultivate greater dependence on God. New England’s four Ivy League schools have generated a culture of intellectualism and academia that isn’t only present on campus but is also prevalent in the area as a whole. “We New Englanders love our intellectualism,” he said. 

This is not a bad thing, he admitted. He appreciates the role intellectualism plays in expanding someone’s theological knowledge, for example, but an over-reliance on intellect sometimes makes it difficult for him to address spiritual needs with students. 

“As humans, we’re creatures, and creaturely life mandates that we’re dependent on our Creator,” Benji said. “But when we’re surrounded by places of deep thinking and intellect and the beauty of what humans can do and create, we can pridefully remove ourselves from the need for God.” 

Decreasing Faith Everywhere 

Leslie Kearsley, an InterVarsity Area Director in Southern California, had this to say: 

            “From my time being on staff at UCLA for 12 years, I noticed students were generally open to spirituality.                            But as my years on staff increased, less and less students had truly known what the gospel was. I think                                there’s an openness to there being higher purpose or ‘good vibes’ or having faith in the universe, but less                          students were churched than when I had first started on staff.”  

Kara said that Christianity feels ubiquitous in Florida, with most people viewing it favorably. Yet even students with a Christian background aren’t very serious about their faith. 

Similarly, Benji Shaw’s students in Georgia tend to have some church background, yet over the years, more have no spiritual background at all. 

This tracks with trends we were seeing nationally. For years, the number of Americans who identified as “nones” (those who chose no religious affiliation) was steadily increasing. However, a recent study found that the Christian population in the U.S. has become stable. 

While these findings are encouraging, InterVarsity staff have also been encouraged by their own experiences on campus. 

“You don’t get ‘extra credit’ for being Christian [in New England],” Benji Suprice said. Because Christianity isn’t the cultural norm in Connecticut, Benji’s students seem to truly be grappling with what it means to follow Jesus. So even if Christianity trends downward, we can look at how it survives (and even thrives) in cultures that don't necessarily encourage it and take heart.   

Even in complicated religious regional contexts like Utah, there’s plenty of reason to celebrate. Bryce said that the amount of spiritual openness in the state is high and just last year, eight ex-Mormon students started following Jesus through InterVarsity’s ministry! 

“We were told it would be a very dark place with dry ground,” Bryce said. “But we have seen so much fruit, growth, responsiveness, and joy come from reaching and discipling Latter-day Saints.” 

Another important finding — staff across the country mentioned “belonging” as the top spiritual need on their campus. They all said relationship-building was by far the most common and most effective outreach tool for today’s students. These two things aren't surprising. With individualism on the rise and the loneliness epidemic becoming a serious public health concern, relationships are more important than ever. 

Students are desperate for a place of belonging on campus. It makes sense, then, that they are far more likely to attend an InterVarsity event if they’re invited by friends or classmates, if a sense of trust is established with an InterVarsity student, or if they feel genuinely cared for and welcomed by those already in the community. 

The Harvest is Plentiful

Despite challenges and differences all over the U.S., one thing is certain: “The harvest is plentiful” (Matt. 9:37) on college campuses across the country. Conservative or progressive, culturally Christian or secular, students everywhere are hungry for community, belonging, and a gentle reminder that life with Jesus is the most fulfilling pursuit of all. This is why InterVarsity hopes to catalyze Christian communities on every campus, not just ones that some might think need Jesus more than others. 

Will you pray for those already reaching those places? Will you ask God to send even more workers ready and willing to meet students on campuses without ministry?