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According to Campus Renewal, roughly 70 percent of Christian teenagers walk away from their faith during their college years. Due to this fact, college ministry has a greater undertaking now than ever before. Alex Krumm, Director of Student Ministries at Grand View (GV), said he is aware of this statistic, and it was a significant driving factor in his decision to work in college ministry.

“I first-hand experienced knowing kids who seemed engaged in faith in high school, but as soon as they got out of high school, away from their faith community, they walked away from the church. Or, more commonly, became apathetic about matters of faith,” Krumm said.

A piece of Grand View’s history and an attribute of current campus culture is the presence of many ministry options on campus, mainly serving to foster the exploration of student faith. There are several faith enrichment activities and events students can get plugged into at Grand View, such as Grand View Bible Study, Campus Fellowship, The Salt Company and Viking Catholics. Krumm said the purpose of Grand View Student Ministries is to provide the means needed to stimulate students’ minds to faith.

“We try to create spaces and give students tools to have dialogue and think deeply about what they believe,” he said.

One student ministry option is the Grand View Bible study held on campus regularly. This student led Bible study happens on campus three weeks of each month. The remaining week is devoted to a student community meal event called Dinner, Fellowship, Worship (DFW). DFW is a unique chance to occasionally mix it up and engage in faith conversation, a meal and informal worship. Brittany Carlson, Bible study leader, said GV Bible study is a great opportunity for students to get together, discuss their faith and dive into scripture.

“I feel like I am constantly learning others’ points of views and ideas, so I continue to grow as a person,” Carlson said. “That’s why I love Bible study, alongside the friends and connections that come of it.”

Campus Fellowship is another club that serves to support the Christian ministry of students on campus. Jenn Davis, club president, described the organization as “a community of people whose purpose is to love God and love others.” The group holds events such as weekly Bible study, pancake socials, outdoor worship nights, Friday night hangouts and collaboration events with Drake University’s Campus Fellowship. Participants also attend Walnut Creek Church in downtown Des Moines on Saturday evenings.

Davis said when she first got connected with Campus Fellowship, she saw that it was a place on campus where students can find accountability, support and genuine help.

“These people cared about me in a different way than I had seen before,” Davis said. “It was really helpful to see people who believed and lived it out.”

Another ministry option that has become increasingly present in the lives of Grand View students in recent years is The Salt Company.

According to The Salt Des Moines website, The Salt Company, “Salt” for short, is “a college-based ministry that is focused on furthering the Good News and equipping the next generation to be Salt & Light in the context of their local church and neighborhood communities.” Salt serves students from schools across Des Moines such as Grand View University, Drake University and DMACC.

With a 2016 kickoff, The Des Moines Salt Company is a newer college ministry in the area. The involvement of Grand View students has been a gradual process. Becca Sotos has witnessed the growth.

“I remember the first Salt last year. There was all Drake and DMACC students but hardly any Grand View students there,” Sotos said. “This year, the opening night, I saw a ton of GV students at Salt. It’s been really nice to see the program grow more on our campus as we invite other people, who invite more people.”

In addition, Viking Catholics is another religious body students can get connected with on campus. Stacie Venner said that the Viking Catholics is a branch of Student Ministries, acting upon the cohesive vision of spreading the love of Jesus on campus with a more centralized focus on Catholicism.

“Anybody can come to our group, but we specifically cover a little bit more of the Catholic things, such as rosary and Mass,” Venner said.

The group holds events such as Catholic Mass on campus, Viking Catholics community group and collaboration events with the Drake University Catholic body, such as candlelight Mass and student suppers.

Grand View is home to a plethora of faith engagement options tailored to appeal to a wide variety of student religions. Students are encouraged to explore all possibilities.

Krumm said that his hope for all ministry activities is to “help students to engage faith, assumptions, beliefs, doubts, questions and upbringing in a way that helps them grow in what they believe and their faith rather than ignoring it for four years and ignoring it for the rest of their life.”