Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Grad student; it doesn’t matter. You are probably away from home, away from your regular sphere of influence, away from your family, away from your church. It isn’t always easy. Your support system is gone. Your accountability is stretched. Your faith in, and relationship with, Jesus is going to be stretched in ways you haven’t imagined.

Visit our blog! dontlosefaith.info is a blog and Q&A website devoted to college students at Pacific University (well, anyone can participate really) that is primarily written by students, to students. You will find articles to challenge your faith, and a sage place to ask questions to reinforce your faith. Be sure to check it out.

Our Vision for Pacific U
Surveys from the Barna group tell us that upwards of 75-80% of young adults who enter college with a Christian background will leave college (even Christian colleges) having abandoned their relationship with God. (There are many reasons for this that are beyond the scope of this writing.) We want to do all we can to prevent that from happening.

One would think that a church in a small-ish college town would have a consistent and growing college ministry. Because most of the students who attend Pacific are from out of this area, that just hasn’t been the case. Why? Because they go home! Who can blame them, right?

Because students come here from all over, it is our desire to be a place where Christians can come, build relationships, have a family away from home, grow in their knowledge of Jesus, be challenged to embrace their walk with Him as their own, and be sent home as missionaries to wherever they end up, be it home or otherwise. In effect, we want to be a missionary training facility. But instead of sending people to the far reaches of the world, we want to send them back home to their own “Jerusalem”, as it were (see Acts 1:8).

Our interest isn’t restricted to believers. We would love to be used to reach out and see people come to know Jesus for the first time. In fact, we welcome people who aren’t into “church” because we aren’t into “church” either. Ask questions. Challenge presuppositions. Test doubts. God Himself said, “Come, let us reason together.” (Isaiah 1:18) Have you been burned by church? So have we. Do you think Christians are stupid? So do we sometimes. Our challenge, indeed God’s challenge to you, is to at least check things out. We aren’t afraid of the tough questions. All we ask is that you not judge us buy your experiences (or lack thereof) with other churches or Christians.

Need a ride?
The location where The Exchange Church meets on Sundays is five to six blocks from the residence halls. While it is walking distance, sometimes the weather makes that short distance harder to do. Church van to the rescue! If you need a ride just give us a call. We’d also be happy to develop a regular pick-up and drop off time and location at Pacific. Just let us know if you’d be interested.