Paige Wassel, Mandi Mooney
Editor-in-Chief, Web
Administrator
According to the results of a recent survey
conducted by The Stampede, a majority of Milligan College students attend church
“frequently.”
Of the 227 students that participated in the survey, 204 students responded that
they did attend church. Of this number, 189 students responded that they
attended church “frequently.”
Campus Minister Nathan Flora said that he found the survey results to be
unsurprising. He said that a similar survey was done in 2001 and showed that
approximately 75 to 80 percent of the student body attended church on a weekly
basis.
Flora said that being a member of a local congregation was something inherent to
the “ethos” of the campus community, and he thought that it would be rare to
find campus employees who did not “regularly and actively” participate in a
church.
“The ways in which the college takes seriously its Christian commitment through
various programs all work to influence the student community and cultivate the
same church-going climate that exists among the employees,” Flora said.
In November, staff members from The Stampede passed out the church survey in
several classes, including two Old Testament Bible classes, three Christ and
Culture sections and at a sophomore humanities lecture. A drop box and survey
forms were also available outside the cafeteria for a week for other students
that wished to participate. Of the 227 students that responded, 148 were female
and 79 were male.
The survey defined “going to church” as “attending either Sunday morning or
Saturday night services at a church.”
In addition to those students that said they attend church frequently, 25
students said they attended church “occasionally” and 11 students said they
attended church “rarely.” Of the 204 students that said they attend church, 146
students said they attend four times per month, 44 students said they attend
three times per month, 13 students said they attend two times per month and one
student said they go once per month.
Of the students that responded that church attendance was important to them,
many students said that they valued this time for Christian fellowship, worship
and spiritual growth. A few students said that Sunday services were not
important to them because they did not like the structure of such services, they
did not feel that they could worship in this setting or they had not found a
local church they could identify with.
Flora said that the college is committed to encouraging students to attend
church but, because a large number of students currently attend, no program has
been put in place to foster church attendance.
“I know that (church attendance) is taken seriously in the hiring process of
employees,” Flora said. “As long as we continue to model this behavior among
employees and take our Christian commitment seriously, I believe that a
reasonable and high number of our students will be attending church services in
local congregations regularly.”
Weekly Church Attendance
Church vs. Non-Church attendance of those surveyed
