Bears’ Beat Report: Religion on Campus

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A soft problem college students may face is maintaining faith on campus and getting involved religiously. AGAPE is one campus ministry aiming to fill that gap. I spoke with the Vice President of the organization, Jordynn Edwards, a 20-year-old junior education major.

Becoming involved with AGAPE is definitely a move because you would meet people who share the same interests as you, whether that’s on an academic basis or a religious basis, and at the same time, you also strengthen your faith. If you do become involved, there’s different things you can do. We have five different ministries. We have Charisma for spoken word, the step team, Anointed Praise Dance, which is a dance team, Divine Praise, which is like our chorus, and then Messianic Movement, which is miming.

Edwards said being involved with AGAPE has helped her strengthen her personal faith.

I get to help plan different things, set up different events and stuff like that. I’m also on the step team, so through that I’ve met a lot of people, and I’ve gained some of my closest friends through that ministry. And then the Monday night services we have, it’s very fast: short, sweet and to the point. So in doing that, I’m able to get what I need to grow and develop my relationship with Christ while still being able to have time to focus on my studies and the other stuff…

She has a few recommendations on other ways students can become religiously involved.

Another group, organization is Delight Ministries, and it’s specifically geared towards women. However, men are welcome. I really like what they’re doing. It’s very nice, and it’s an open forum for everyone to share. I think that’s definitely beneficial… BCM is really good, too. They’re very cohesive in what they do. They’re very team-based. They really stick together as a team. As far as church, my personal favorite church is Beulahland Baptist here in Macon. It’s really nice. Every time I go, the congregation is always really nice. The sermons don’t take too long, and they have different sermons on Sunday to where if you can’t make one, you can definitely attend another one. As a college student with a busy schedule, it definitely works for me.

College gives us the independence to discover faith on our own. Macon, of course, has a lot of avenues for Christian worship, but there are also mosques, synagogues and other houses of worship. If you are religious, make sure you seek out some of those avenues to stay involved.