The “Spiritual Openness Continuum” on Campus, and What to Do About It

Recently I was talking with Mark, one of the students I disciple, about spiritual openness on campus. As a recent convert–he became a Christian last Spring–Mark is in a unique position to gauge where the student population is at. I asked him how he would divide up the campus population on a continuum, and we sketched out the following 5 point scale:

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+2 Actively looking, open people  (churched, professing Christian, or on the verge).  3% of the student population

+1 Have spiritual questions in the back of their mind; but open-minded, not closed. Willing to give it a shot. Nominal Christians, friendly non-Christians. 10%

0 Apathetic. Couldn’t care less, either way. Find both extremes to be shrill, obnoxious, and irrelevant. If you bring up Jesus, they shrug their shoulders and say “Meh.” 62%

-1 Suspicious, somewhat hostile, but might be willing to give you an audience. 20%

-2 Active, angry, antagonistic. For example, militant atheist.   5%

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I’m not claiming this is scientific, but it’s a pretty fair representation of the state of openness towards Christianity at Penn State. Particularly when I see only about 1000 students out of 44,000 involved in weekly evangelical worship–that’s the bulk of our +2 category. I may be overestimating the number of militant atheists and the like, but will assume that they’re harder to see because they’re so committed to personal autonomy that they have a hard time gathering.

I believe our scale aligns pretty nicely with findings from Pew, Barna, UnChristian by Kinnaman & Lyons, and Lost & Found by Stetzer, if you’re willing to view them all in a broad, impressionist sort of way.  And as I’ve often said, PSU is a good sample (at least as far as 18-23 year olds go), because Pennsylvania is a pretty good microcosm of the country. We have a lot of blue on our “coasts,” with a lot of red in between. So take this as a non-scientific but decent approximation of the way things are.

Let me make some observations on this scale before moving to recommendations:

• While this scale is helpful in trying to understand where people are coming from, I want to caution against wielding it like a hammer and making snap judgments about people. You simply can’t tell what they think at first glance. Just because they’re part of an atheist group doesn’t mean they’re a -2. These are our perceptions, so when applying to individuals, proceed carefully.
• People are always moving. This continuum is pretty fluid. People, especially during the college years, are on rapidly changing trajectories. Mark himself said that for many years he was a -1. A friendship with a Christian student named Phil pushed the needle to +1, which led to an invite to the Bible study where Mark eventually came to faith. We should be careful to not typecast people, and to not assume they’re unmovable.
• Surprisingly, the ease with which we can share our faith does not correlate with perceived openness. -2′s are quite easy to talk to about Jesus. Discussing spiritual things is always right on the surface with them, whereas it’s very difficult to talk with zeroes.

How do we reach out to each of these populations?

+2 Just show up. If you build a fellowship group, these are the people who will come. You might get some of the +1 crowd, but seriously folks, the other 87% are not coming to your Sing ‘n Speak. In fact, they’re staying as far away as possible. Get used to it. Even worse, this “share” of the “market” is rapidly shrinking. It’s a crying shame that well over 90% of campus ministry effort, personnel, and resources is spent here, on this small, small slice of the pie.

+1 This is usually who we’re reaching through “friendship evangelism.” Community is usually the doorway here–provide the community; Engage the questions they have. Verbal witness, in all its forms, becomes more crucial here. Once they’re willing and interested in having the conversation, do you know what to say? This is NOT the time to just rely on your example, as so many are fond of doing (what a cop-out!). At some point you’ve got to verbalize it! Do you have good resources that help you do that, and have you coached people on how to use them?

+1s are the ones who may belong before they believe. They may want to “try it on” first before committing. Do you have a space for them to do that?

0 The hardest group, period. They’re not interested. They don’t want to talk about it; and the fact that you do weirds them out and probably offends them. Our job here is to “push the needle” towards +1.  It seems that hardly ANY of our evangelistic strategies engage this huge, silent majority. Ice cream socials, pizza parties, and root beer keggers may attract your +1s. High profile speakers and rigorous apologetics may engage your -1s and -2s. But what about this middle group?

The great disadvantage with Zeroes is that they’re the only group not interested in talking. We can talk, but they aren’t listening. This is where our nonverbal witness and example becomes paramount. Do things for the good of your school, your community, and world. Look for ways to partner in the things they care about. Win an audience for your message with your actions.

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:12

-1 and -2 These groups can be hard to distinguish in practice. I’ve found that some of the self-described militant atheists on my campus are among the friendliest and most willing to dialogue. Surprising, huh? We need to be the visiting team, and look for constructive ways to dialogue and partner. Bring in speakers together. Build houses together.

But actions & example are far from sufficient with these groups. Do you see how the farther we move towards the ends of the continuum, the MORE crucial verbal witness becomes? It’s like a reverse bell-curve. The more outspoken they are, the more possibility for fruitful conversation. Look for ways to demonstrate that all Christians are not ignorant, offensive jerks. Defuse controversy and arguments. Be a peacemaker. Befriend. I find that these groups are the easiest to talk to. They expect you to proselytize, in fact they don’t respect you if you don’t, so go ahead! Scratch beneath the surface, and you may even find some things you agree on!

Final Thought: If you’re a campus minister, what percentage of your ministry time, energy, and resources is spent on +2s compared to everyone else? What percentage of the content that you deliver to +2s is intended to help them reach out to everyone else?

Is it any wonder that ministries make up a rapidly shrinking, irrelevant minority on our campuses today? What would it look like to overhaul the way we do ministry, so that even the majority of what we did was designed to engage the other 80-90% of the campus who will never darken the doors of our fellowship meetings?

Thoughts, ideas, recommendations?