Friday, April 27, 2001
The University Daily Kansan
Evangelical groups seek to convert students
Continued from page 1A
January Sauble, Newton junior, sings during a meeting of The Net. The group, part of a nationwide organization called Victory Campus Ministries, gathered Wednesday at Smith Hall to praise God. Photo by Jamie Roper / KANSAN
Evangelism, ethics and conversion
Tim Miller, chairman of the KU religious studies department, said posters without names of sponsors were nothing new. He said it angered him because many students thought his department was putting on the presentations because they were held in Smith.
"In a free society, I think it's perfectly fair to ask people to identify themselves," he said.
As for evangelism, he said it was typically found mostly in conservative Christian religions.
"America has been a distinct home to it—more here than anywhere else," Miller said.
Miller said it was tough to know where to draw the ethical line regarding evangelism. He said the groups had a right to make converts. However, Miller, an ordained Christian minister, questioned radical forms of evangelism.
"I think it works a little but not a lot," he said. "I don't think beating people over the head is the most effective tool."
He said he understood why some students with other religions were turned off by evangelism.
"I do think people get insulted by it, being told that your faith is the work of the devil," he said. "It's absoluting one point of view, and I don't think it very productive for good relations."
"They're in the business of making converts," Miller said. "Those types of groups exist out in the real world, so I don't see why they wouldn't be here too."
Thad Holcombe, campus pastor for Ecumenical Christian Ministries, 1204 Oread, said some Christians often confused evangelism with recruitment. ECM, which Holcombe described as a more liberal campus ministry, does not focus on recruitment.
"We don't apologize for being of a particular faith," he said. "But we don’t say that everyone else has to be of our religion."
Holcombe said active evangelism, such as pastors talking to students outside of Wescoe Hall, didn't work.
College seems a prime time for con
"Those who do it, feel good about themselves," hesaid. "But it continues to be a distortion of what real Christianity is about." Holocomb said. "It doesn't do much but reassure them that their views are right. There's no room for any dialogue. It's an either-or situation."
Just as credit card companies hope to exploit college students who are exercising financial freedom for the first time, evangelical hope to tap into desires for students to
Fish said he prayed on night for help and guidance. The next morning, his phone rang. It was a campus minister from VM invitation him to attend a
"I was drunk four nights a week by the time I was 16," he said. "I was physically so depressed, I couldn't get out of bed some mornings."
"I do think people get insulted by it, being told that your faith is the work of the devil. It's absolutizing one point of view, and I
don't think it's very productive for good relations." Tim Miller chairman of the KU religious studies department
The Net
navetneirown sets of religious beliefs
"Hell is a place I wouldn't want anyone to go." Huriblu said. "The Bible describes it as a place of fire and torment."
Hurlbutt said the church filled that purpose. He said members of the congregation wanted to make sure that the lost found their wav.
have their own sets of religious benefits
"This is the first time in your life when you're thrown into an environment where you're supposed to be open," Miller said. "It can be emotionally confusing. It's a great age of openness, when you're in your teens up through your early 20s."
Sitting in a clean office just adjacent to the main doors of the Christ Community Evangelical Free Church, 1100 Kasold Dr., Bill Hurlbutt said it's important for Christians to reach out to college students. He said the college atmosphere of drinking and premarital sex did not go hand-in-hand with Christian values.
The Net is part of Victory Campus Ministries, a nationwide organization. Members of the group regularly stand in front of Wesco Hall, telling passers-by the good news about their Lord. Fish says talking to others about Jesus is an important part of what the group believed.
"There's a real desensitization there, a lack of moral values," he said. "There are a lot of temptations pulling on students. I think there needs to be something there to really help them along."
when rusn was a student at the University duringthemid-'90s,hesaid he was lost and searching for an answer. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity, but he said he wasn't living his life right.
meeting. Fish dish, and found what he had been searching for.
He said several members of his fraternity later expressed concerns about his conversion.
"I was getting drunk to the point where I was passing out," Fish said. "I was getting high, and they didn't worry about me, but all of a sudden, all of a sudden."
joy because of Jesus, and they were concerned. Something is wrong with that."
Fish said he wanted to help bring people to Jesus, the same way he was helped. He acknowledged some were wary of evangelical groups because of bad past experiences, but said their mistrust was misplaced.
"I think there are people who have gotten hurt, and they're bitter because of it," he said.
"People think if we talk to them about Jesus, we're pushing our beliefs on them," he said. "We're not pushing our beliefs. We're telling them what we believe is the best news around."
Music emanates from the sixth floor of the Kansas Union, where Morrissey and fellow members of the KU chapter of Navigators, a campus Christian group, have their weekly meeting.
Some students stand with their arms oustretched and palms up. Their eyes are closed and they're singing along to the music.
Navigators
Sam Morrissey, Arvada, Colo., senior, said evangelism was a big part of his devotion to Christ.
"What can wash away my sins," they
simp. "Nothing but the blood of Jesus."
Morrissey said he respected people of other faith, but he still maintained that people could not go to Heaven without accepting Jesus as their savior.
"I wouldn't say those are our views," he said. "Those are God's views."
Another local evangelical group is International Friends. Although the name doesn't say it, International Friends is also a campus evangelical
International Friends
Christian group. The group posts fliers around campus and in McCollum Hall, the residence hall with the highest population of international students.
Boon Chew, Malaysia, senior, said when he first came to the University in the fall of 1988, he would sit alone in his room at night.
"I don't go to bars or parties, and I don't treadly go to movies." Chews said.
So when a friend told Chew, then a Buddhist, about International Friends, he was curious to see what it was about.
Chew said heliked theatmosphere the meetings and he found solace in the Bible. Soon after, Chew converted to Christianity.
Not everyone was so excited about Chew's conversion. His father, a staunch Buddhist, was angered at the decision and initially disowned him. Although his mother didn't react as strongly, Chew said she was still concerned.
"My mother was afraid I had been approached by a cult," Chew said. "She was concerned with the religion I had gotten into."
Two and a half years later, Chew is still involved with the group.
International Friends meets every Friday night in the home of Len Andydshak, campus minister and one of the founders of the group. In a living
However, that was not what Yuka Naito, Tokyo, Japan, graduate student, thought
Andyshak said that everybody knew International Friends was a Christian group.
room with high pink walls,
American students and international students hold hands as the group of about 30 prays.
dent assistant, frequently saw filers for International Friends hanging in the residence hall. He said he was unaware that it was a Christian organization.
Uddin, Overland Park senior, said growing up Muslim in America was hard, and evangelical pressures to be part of the Christian norm were always present.
"The Muslim students I met are strong in their beliefs, and I don't think they can be swayed," he said. "The type of people who would convert might just do it to be part of a group, and that doesn't work anyway."
"They don't understand that I have just as much faith in Islam as they do in Christianity," he said.
Uddin said not all Christians were evangelical zealots, but he didn't like the message that his religion was not the true one.
Uddin, also a Muslim, said the Muslim international students he knew were not easily prone to conversion, though International Friends targeted them.
Naito now wears a tiny cross around her neck. She converted from Buddhism to Christianity several years before she came to the United States. Although Naito didn't know ahead of time that International Friends was a Christian organization, she said she wasn't offended by the group's message.
Saran Shik can empathize with Uddin. Shik, president of the Jewish organization, Hillel, and Overland Park sophomore, said she has dealt with evangelical trying to convert her for most of her life.
when she noticed the group's fliers.
"It's a bad waste of their resources when I get literature from their organ-
"I was getting drunk to the point where I was passing out. I was getting high, and they didn't worry about me, but all of a sudden, I had peace and joy because of Jesus, and they were concerned. Something is wrong with that."
"I got a pamphlet at orientation," she said. "A friend invited me to go, and I did."
Erik Fish Campus minister of The Net
Imad Uddin, former McCollum resi
Battles: onions.
She said some Jews were prone to conversion because as minorities in the United States they received instant acceptance from the groups as long as Jews accepted that brand of Christianity.
"Acceptance is key, especially since these groups have people who seem so friendly, and they all do," Shik said.
Shik said she got so flustered with the girl, she finally caved in and told her she did accept Jesus—just to make the girl leave her alone.
"It's hard growing up Jewish when most of the other students aren't," Shik said. "I think you do feel isolation at times."
while members of other religions often feel evangelical Christians are invading their territory, Jeff Cooper, Las Vegas senior and Mormon, said he was just doing what his religion taught.
At the age of 19, Mormon males are strongly encouraged to do missionary work. It is a central part of the group's beliefs.
"You get dressed up in a shirt and tie every day and go knock on people's doors," Cooper said. "That's hard to do at first. It takes a lot of guts to stand up for what we believe in."
Campus Crusade for Christ
Lindsey Chalfant, an intern for the KU chapter of Campus Crusade for Christ, said she did know what was right: Jesus.
Every fall, the organization conducts surveys outside residence halls. Chaffant said the survey gave the organization information about where students were spiritually, and also allowed them to make contacts in
Students who fill out the survey receive some sort of prize. The year Emily Stintzi, Overland Park sophomore, filled out the survey, the prize was a free drink from Sonic.
the residence halls.
part of her life.
"I believe Jesus Christ is the only way to God.I believe God wants Jesus to be preached everywhere." Clay Wheeler Reeds Spring, Mo., sophomore
Conforming to Christianity
Clay Wheeler, Reeds Spring, Mo. sophomore and member of The Net, said his group looked at conversion as an act of love.
She said the women began asking her questions about her religious beliefs. Then the women asked her if she thought she would go to heaven if she died that night.
"I believe Jesus Christ is the only way to God," Wheeler said. "I believe God wants Jesus to be preached everywhere."
Stintzi said she considered herself a strong Christian, but members of Campus Crusade came on too strong for her liking.
Wheeler said he didn't want to stereotype all Jews, but the ones he knew were not as happy as Christians.
One said the women repeatedly invited her to attend a Campus Crusade meeting, but Stintzi never made it.
them, I was just thinking I wanted the slushy," she said.
The experience didn't deter Stintzi from Christianity. She said she looked at their pressure tactics as an annoyance.
"That's a pretty personal question to be asking someone you've known for only two minutes," she said.
She said she thought something would bemailed to her, but instead one night she gave a call from a student — a member of the group. The woman was downstairs in Stintzi's residence hall, and she wanted Stintzi to come down and talk to her and a friend. Stintzi agreed.
"I've heard tons of testimony," he said. "I want to be open-minded, but I've seen too much not to believe."
Chalfant said some members of her organization came on stronger than others depending on their personalities. However, talking to people about Jesus would always remain a large
stimily, she asked.
However, once Stintzi realized what the survey was about, she said she became interested and checked a box saying that she wanted more information about Campus Crusade.
He added that the was more comforta-
ble being around people who shared
the same outlook on life.
everyone is in agreement."
"When you're in agreement with someone, there's a deeper bond," Wheeler said. "When you believe in your coach and your team and yourun a play, that play runs better when
Insistence on conformity was what Shannon Russell didn't like about campus Christian groups. During her sophomore year, Russell briefly attended meetings of the KU chapters of Chi Alpha and Icthus, both campus Christian groups.
Russell, a Spring 1999 graduate, said the groups were not accepting of other viewpoints.
"They were too judgmental of people," she said. "They always talked about how you should witness to other people."
"They weren't individuals," she said. "They always believed the same thing. If you weren't like them, you were an outcast."
Russell said she initially began attending the meetings because she was searching for spiritual renewal.
"All I realized was why I didn't go to church," she said.
Christianity still plays a large role in Russell's life. She said she attended church periodically, but she was glad she got out of the evangelical groups when she did.
"I think if people are really weak, they can cling to these groups and get brainwashed," Russell said. "I can't say what a good Christian is. I'd say if you know what is right and what is wrong, you're probably better off than half the people in these groups."
— Edited by Courtney Croigmile