"Walking With Jesus on Campus" (Stephen Kellough)

TITLE: Walking with Jesus on Campus: How to Care for Your Soul during College
AUTHOR: Stephen Kellough
PUBLISHER: Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2019, (192 pages).

Institutes of higher learning are places of diversity. Ideas are shared. Perspectives are debated. Knowledge is shared. Friendships are cultivated. Yet, college years are also times in which one could experience stress, loneliness, emotional highs and lows. For believers in Christ, there is an added pressure of keeping the faith in a world of conflicting ideas. As college chaplain, author and pastor Stephen Kellough has seen a lot of things happening on campus. He has walked with different people from all walks of life. He not only understands the challenges of students going through their academic pressures, he knows how it impacts their faith. How do we care for our soul in our college years? It all starts with this one big question: "What is the most significant spiritual challenge on campus these days?" Is it a lack of Bible knowledge? Is it the anti-Christian climate? Is it secularism? Idol worship? The answer might surprise readers. It is something so fundamental and basic. The author finds out that it is essentially "to know that they are loved by God." Taking this as a central focus, author Stephen Kellough, a campus chaplain at Wheaton College for over 25 years shares from both knowledge and experience with students through the years. He looks at love from the viewpoints of the Bible to help us recognize that God embraces us with his love. He also draws from the experience of spiritual writers like James Bryan Smith, AW Tozer, John Stott, and others, to probe and ponder about the movements of love. This most significant challenge is just the first out of ten other challenges that Kellough mentions in this book that is soaked in his experience as a campus chaplain. Other challenges include:

1. Inferiority: Fear of being seen as weak of not getting good grades; Hiding oneself because of the fear of being seen as weak; etc.
2. Perfectionism: distinguishing between excellence and being trapped in the pursuit of perfection; need for contentment;
3. Doubts: How to trust God in the midst of depression and doubt? 
4. Sabbath: In the midst of a busy schedule, how do we take regular time to rest? Learn to set aside time alone with God and to celebrate the gift of Sabbath;
5. Sexuality: Many struggle with the pressure to get hitched and dealing with questions surrounding marriage. Other issues include pre-marital sex, unwanted pregnancies, same-sex attractions, and the need to think rightly about sexuality.
6. Me-ism: Many tend to behave as if the whole world revolves around them and their needs. In order to address this, Kellough recommends servanthood.
7. Community: Build a network of friends who belonged to one another in Jesus; for accountability; and for helping one another grow in faith; never walk alone.
8. Revival: We need a revival for a renewed longing for God; seeking forgiveness and showing forgiveness;
9. Apprenticeship: making disciples as a way of life; 

These ten challenges, other than the biggest challenge of love, are not necessarily arranged in any order. In fact, these nine points that Kellough highlights are not necessarily the only points for the college student. Many are inter-related, such as me-ism and community; perfectionism and sabbath; revival and doubts; sexuality and holy longing for God. Some might appeal more while others may not even figure in the lives of individual readers. That said, what is important for now may take a different priority in future. If we have a spirit of openness to learn, it would be good for us to consider these pointers humbly with an eye for a future application. It should not surprise anyone that these challenges might even remain relevant after graduation.

Kellough is a trusted voice for campus matters. Many things happen over a span of 25 years. That is a range of experiences to be learned for someone who had seen many things happen from 1989 to 2014. What really strikes home for me is the single biggest challenge of love. I like to nuance this matter further. While the author may say that this has to do with students needing to "know" they are loved, what is more relevant is they "feel" they are loved. I say this because of our current culture's emphasis on feelings as the primal instinct for living. In an insightful book about campus environment, "The Coddling of the American Mind," authors Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt highlights a major orientation toward letting feelings rule the day. Thinking such as "if it feels right, it must be right" is something we must be wary of. This might be a small detail, but to say that people needed to "feel" loved (instead of knowing) is closer to the heart of the issue. This could spawn another book of its own.

I appreciate the way Kellough goes through each of the challenges, allocating a chapter each to deal with its description, the struggles, the biblical references, and where appropriate, a way forward.He also brings to life the particular issue by sharing an example of how some respected spiritual leader has done. For instance, on the follies of seeking perfection per se, readers learn about the life of Thomas Kelly, who in spite of his academic brilliance, failed his oral defense, and was not allowed to retake. Out of this failure arose an amazing encounter with God which catapulted his spiritual revival. On sexuality, he shares from Lauren Winner's open and honest book for Christian singles, linking the sacredness of sexuality to be under the protection of marriage. These real stories are compelling and bring the issues to us up close and personal, and relevant.

While different people might resonate with different kinds of issues, it is possible that we might experience any of them at different stages of life, not just during the campus years. This book deals honestly the range of difficult issues and does not pretend to know all the answers. By listing the issues out, I believe it is already a helpful first step for any college student who may be asking similar questions. From my dealings with college students, many do not know what exactly bothers them, until someone brings it up to lead them toward their "AHA" moments. This book does exactly that and more. It connects us back to God and the start thinking of the challenges not simply from how we feel but from the truth of God's Word. While perfection may not be possible in this lifetime, at least, we see the path toward perfection more clearly. I highly recommend this book for anyone in college or who has college people in their community.

Dr Stephen Kellough is an ordained minister with the Presbyterian Church (USA). He has served for 15 years in the parish and 25 years as a campus chaplain with Wheaton College. He retired in 2014.

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade

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This book has been provided courtesy of Moody Publishers and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.