So I go to a tech-school, not a traditional college - at least not until I have my associates and transfer back up North. But anyhow, I wanted to know, from those of you who deal with a similar environment that will be explained in a moment, how you deal with it?
Here's the situation.
The school I go to is relatively small, as far as schools go. I can't give a real estimate as to how many people attend, we have weird schedules that fluctuate on given days, but there are roughly 800 people there a night on the nights that I have class. I also work part time as a work-study for the registrar and the library, so I'm there almost all the time anymore. The environment seems to be horribly anti-Christian, there are a lot of expressed atheists and the general "rebellious populace" of post-high school teenagers, and many of the teachers there encourage this at any given turn, and worse still because of the nature of the school. We don't have any Christian ministry within the school, and I have yet to even meet a fellow Christian - I'm very open about my religion, which is both a blessing and a curse. I've established some close friendships with some of the more avowed atheists in my classes, as strange as that seems, and they actually have a lot of respect for my beliefs and don't single me out because I refuse to take part in some of the stuff they do. That alone was amazing to me, and I try to use it as a form of personal outreach whenever possible. But the problem I have is that I've recently begun to notice how difficult it is for me to grow spiritually when I'm surrounded by so many people who I can't talk to (without it turning into a debate, or worse). I have my Church, but they don't have much of a youth ministry, and I'd feel weird about going to a different Church than the rest of my family here. If I was totally independant right now, I'd be perfectly content to find a different Church.
So the question is, how to deal with this? I have a year or so more to go before I graudate, and I'm not yet sure how long until I can transfer back home. Once I do that, though, this won't be such a problem because my Church at home is ideal for college aged people. Big Church, lots of members, and a huge youth outreach ministry. Not to mention, I already have a lot of friends there who are probably much more mature in their spirituality than I am. But for now, it seems that I'm stuck and looking for options. Any advice?
Here's the situation.
The school I go to is relatively small, as far as schools go. I can't give a real estimate as to how many people attend, we have weird schedules that fluctuate on given days, but there are roughly 800 people there a night on the nights that I have class. I also work part time as a work-study for the registrar and the library, so I'm there almost all the time anymore. The environment seems to be horribly anti-Christian, there are a lot of expressed atheists and the general "rebellious populace" of post-high school teenagers, and many of the teachers there encourage this at any given turn, and worse still because of the nature of the school. We don't have any Christian ministry within the school, and I have yet to even meet a fellow Christian - I'm very open about my religion, which is both a blessing and a curse. I've established some close friendships with some of the more avowed atheists in my classes, as strange as that seems, and they actually have a lot of respect for my beliefs and don't single me out because I refuse to take part in some of the stuff they do. That alone was amazing to me, and I try to use it as a form of personal outreach whenever possible. But the problem I have is that I've recently begun to notice how difficult it is for me to grow spiritually when I'm surrounded by so many people who I can't talk to (without it turning into a debate, or worse). I have my Church, but they don't have much of a youth ministry, and I'd feel weird about going to a different Church than the rest of my family here. If I was totally independant right now, I'd be perfectly content to find a different Church.
So the question is, how to deal with this? I have a year or so more to go before I graudate, and I'm not yet sure how long until I can transfer back home. Once I do that, though, this won't be such a problem because my Church at home is ideal for college aged people. Big Church, lots of members, and a huge youth outreach ministry. Not to mention, I already have a lot of friends there who are probably much more mature in their spirituality than I am. But for now, it seems that I'm stuck and looking for options. Any advice?
. Hope that helps. I'll be praying for you!
And I definitely agree with the whole "spread the gospel at all times, if necessary use words" quote. I've been trying to keep that in heart and mind at school every day. 
