Campus Life Reveals a Generation in Crisis
In my day-to-day work as a campus minister and chaplain at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I am consciously aware of the complex challenges that face this generation that’s rapidly maturing into adulthood. College campuses are replete with idols and roadblocks that afflict even the most diligent of Jesus people. While money, sex, and drugs may be the usual suspects, epidemics of loneliness, isolation, and anxiety have proven to be just as insidious.
What does our Christianity have to say to this? Does Jesus himself have anything to offer to those in this young generation experiencing social isolation and loneliness?
Surely, he must.
The Answers Are in Christ
Our starting point needs to be in our Christology. That is, our understanding of who Jesus the Christ is for us, and why this matters amidst our present circumstances. If there’s good news, it’s going to be grounded and rooted in the person of Jesus. Certainly, Jesus must have something to say to this TikTok generation. Since Jesus knows what it’s like to be misunderstood and alone, he serves as a wonderful model for us in our reflection.
Additionally, as more and more young people in the US grow up “unchurched,” a fresh reflection centering on the person of Jesus is an essential starting point for us as we consider this generation whose engagement with him has been infrequent.
You may be wary of innovative thinking about the person of Jesus, but this is nothing new. In fact, every generation of the Church needs to rediscover Jesus in order to stay alive.
Church History Shows Us How to Innovate
From its inception, the Church has used metaphors to try and describe this ultimate reality we have in Christ. In the New Testament, Paul uses analogies of family, adoption, of being “in Christ”, of joining together in a giant banquet, and more. Each of these analogies is meant to give us a wider glimpse into the goodness and vast-ranging scope of salvation. They attempt to show us both why and how the gospel is good news. This ever-present reality we have in Jesus has so many layers to its goodness.
Finding metaphors, and using parts of the New Testament that particularly speak into our cultural moment, is what the Church has done from its inception. Therefore, we can learn from our great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) how to speak of the goodness of Jesus in a way that’s compelling and relevant to this specific generation.
The early church in Rome, being steeped in a more communal setting than we’re used to, spoke of the gospel as a message of adoption. This was not merely a legal category, but a familial one. There was a larger focus on the relational component of salvation; that we are invited into the family of God was central to their view of salvation (See Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis III, ch. 14).
Anselm of Canterbury, in the 11th century, uses the language of the medieval feudal system to describe salvation: “Everyone who sins is under an obligation to repay to God the honour which he has violently taken from him, and this is the satisfaction which every sinner is obliged to give to God” (Cur Deus Homo, bk 1, ch. 11).
Martin Luther, the renowned 16th-century German theologian responsible for sparking the Reformation, wrote in the context of a church that was greatly weakened by theological drift, corruption, and epidemic. He re-described the work of Jesus, referring to himself as “a theologian of the cross” (Heidelberg Disputation, 21). In many ways, the articulation of the Gospel coined during the Reformation is the one that’s still most prominent in American churches: “We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.”
Cyril, Anselm, and Luther each used examples of what they were seeing and reading in Scripture and noted the ways this particularly cut against the prevailing thought of their day. They were trying to make sense of this beautiful mystery we have in Christ, and how it uniquely affects us in the time and space God has placed us in. These are enormously common missionary practices. I believe that there is a need for our contemporary church to do the same as we aim to minister amidst our own challenges today.
Jesus Is the Ultimate Companion
Jesus’ purposeful and radical self-identification with us is good news to Gen Z. As loneliness rates continue to sky-rocket, we can take solace in a God who understands our struggles – one who has a sharedness of experience with us.
In this, Jesus shows us a pathway forward. Our incarnate God actually knows what it’s like to be abandoned and friendless. Jesus is the One “who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). We do not serve a God who is absent from our sufferings.
No! He is with us. Even if our darkest of days. Our God-became-flesh, our Emmanuel, purposely chose to endure the challenges that we face: he was consistently misunderstood especially by those closest to him; he died naked and alone – the pinnacle of isolation; and he knew that he needed to be alone to commune with his Father (Matthew 14:23). Jesus’ solidarity shows us how much he cares about us. It demonstrates his trustworthiness. More than that, it shows that he would do anything to be with us.
Because he became human, because he met us in the midst of our pain, we are not alone. Our God understands us and our struggles; our God promises that we will never actually be alone (Matthew 28:20), despite how often we feel alone.
Feelings of isolation and loneliness are rampant in this generation that’s blossoming into adulthood. It’s time for us to give more theological reflection on how the gospel and the story of Jesus can speak into this epidemic. Our God is with us. He experienced our pains. Our articulation of the gospel should center on this message of radical solidarity. And in this, we follow in the footsteps of the saints throughout history: we reflect on the hope Jesus offers and how he restores and makes us whole.
About the Author:
Anthony Spina Anthony Spina is the InterVarsity Team Leader at MIT and has been working in campus ministry since 2017. He holds an MA in Theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. When not reading theology, Anthony enjoys regular one-on-ones with students and helping create space for people of all backgrounds to experience God in Jesus Christ & to foster community on campus. Connect with him on Instagram: @ASpina_16
Cited:
Anselm of Canterbury. Cur Deus Homo. Davies, Brian and G. R. Evans editors. The Major Works.
Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Cyril of Jerusalem. Catechesis III. Yarnold, Edward SJ editor. The Early Church Fathers. Abingdon,
UK: Routledge, 2000.
Luther, Martin. Heidelberg Disputation. Lull, Timothy F. and William R. Russell editors. Martin
Luther’s Basic Theological Writings. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 2012.