Students attend a Christian school for several reasons, usually because they want to have like-minded people around them or they simply just want to make their parents happy.
In my perspective, attending a Christian school is a strange concept. You are letting an institution provide you with mostly Christian friends and teachers in an environment that hosts spiritual activities, while simultaneously letting the institution restrict some personal freedoms based on Christian morals.
You could almost say the institution becomes your self-control. You have required worship, required spiritual activities, required curfew set in place to keep you accountable, and the institution provides you with rules to keep you out of the girls and guys dorms and supposedly out of mischief.
The point is – these are all services you received when you signed up for a Christian school. You might not think of it that way, but your parents probably do. While these rules and restrictions are great on some degree, I have to wonder about a Christian who is doing everything just because they are required to.
Although I was raised in a conservative Christian family, coming to Oklahoma Christian University was actually a bit strange for me. I transferred from a small community college in Washington and I was pretty happy there. Sure, there were a lot of people who didn’t believe as I did, but it made it more interesting and I grew so much.
Coming here, I roomed with a really good friend, my friend group was almost entirely Washingtonians I knew before. My brother was already here so I knew people through him and the classes were pretty normal. I was very comfortable.
I think that has changed, though. I branched out and met a lot of interesting people, while still not being pressured into doing things I didn’t want to do. That is the great thing about Oklahoma Christian University – we are incredibly diverse. Although this is primarily a Church of Christ school, I’ve met agnostics, Methodists, Baptists, Muslims, Atheists, etc.
We have a bubble of comfort so to speak, but we’re also bringing in people from so many countries that we get a taste of other cultures and beliefs.
The big thing is Christian stereotypes. Sometimes people assume that since you’re a Christian, you’re OK and you don’t have issues. We kind of have this bad reputation for being superficial – and the worst part is, it is partly true.
The other day I was at church and having a really hard time because a song triggered some memories of my grandfather and me, so I left. There were several people who saw me and my makeup-streaked face, but no one said anything to me when I was standing in the foyer or even afterwards.
The statement “OC is home” is valid, because honestly it does feel like home since I live here more often than not, I have two brothers who go here and I have some wonderful friends. But we assume we can consider each other brothers and sisters in Christ at church and such, but not actually be concerned or committed to each other.
Having said all that, a Christian school really is what you make it. You can remain inside the bubble forever or go and reach out. So I encourage you to take this information – the school is providing you with a service, but that is all it is.
Unless you take initiative in your own faith, you can’t really expect to grow.
Sarah Redding is a senior at Oklahoma Christian University and the copy editor of the Talon.
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