April 27, 2020 by

I really do miss my church. And I am talking about my local church at Cedarville. I have found church involvement to be an extremely important aspect of my growth and spiritual walk as a Cedarville University student.

Dr. White will tell you that Cedarville University is not a church. We are called to invest our talents in a local church and be surrounded by a body of believers. I decided to commit to a church and get involved my freshman year. This decision has been transformational in my life. I will never be the same because of my church.

My freshman year I had the desire to serve in middle school ministry, but I didn’t have a car. Because of this I decided to go to Grace Baptist Church, which is within walking distance from our campus. I quickly committed myself and started to get to know students and parents. It took a little bit of time but I eventually made strong relationships.

I had middle school students that I was mentoring while I also had older women in the church reaching out to me. I had a family adopt me and bring me into their home as part of their family. You can see my adopted siblings in the picture below. I ate meals with different families throughout the week that invited me into their homes. I also helped develop an after-school program for the community with my church. I started to volunteer to help with communication strategies and invested in an adult Bible fellowship where I met more members of the body that loved me and brought me in. I have grown in my faith more than I could have ever imagined, yes, from Cedarville University, but also from the encouragement from my church body.

I am very passionate about connecting freshmen students with a church. There are so many churches around Cedarville. During the first week as a student, there will be an involvement fair that will be filled with booths of different churches that you can talk to. Many churches are in need of specific talented students. Many churches also provide transportation for students that do not have a car as well as connect you with a student that regularly attends their church already.

Commit to a local church! It will be transformational in your personal walk with the Lord. Give it time and invest in ministries. I truly can’t express enough how important this is. 

Being away from Cedarville right now, I am still connected with my church. I am able to participate in my Sunday school class every Sunday morning. One of my Sunday school teachers is Dr. Jeremy Kimble, who is a Bible professor at Cedarville University. I know that there are people in that class that are praying for me. I also watch the livestream of the main service, which allows me to feel connected to my church while being away.

But my favorite part is participating in youth group with my middle school students. We have found ways to stay connected over the internet that allow me to continue to mentor and love them. These interactions are the highlight of my week and have been a large motivating factor of my daily surrender to the Lord.

The local church is special. I am so thankful that Cedarville encouraged me to be involved and that I followed through. I am excited for you to get to choose a church and invest! You will meet people that will change your life in an amazing way!

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