Here we are, the last paper of the year and consequently my last editorial as a UNA student. Honestly, this is one I’ve thought long and hard about.

What I’m about to say may be an odd shift from the tone of the rest of this “unwind” issue, but I’m graduating so I’m getting this off my chest. This editorial is for the campus community, but specifically addresses the campus ministries and churches connected to it, which may be missing the mark on something vital to the faith they proclaim.

Before I make my case, I need to clarify that I am a Christian and I understand the difficulty in wrestling to live “above reproach.”

A common motto in the Christian church is for Christians to be “in the world, but not of the world.” The concept here is simple: Christians are to live in a way that is morally consistent with the teachings of our faith, while living among and showing love to those who do not hold to these values.

In a place like the Bible Belt, Christian morality is in many ways the societal norm — meaning church members can become very comfortable, so much so that they forget their purpose; not to mention the fact that if the church is a social thing, there are probably people involved who don’t actually care.

Whether Christianity’s observers in the Shoals area fall into the camp of  “comfortable believers” or “not believers at all,” I see a trend of going through the motions with no actual concern for the people outside of their clique, no concern about the world that Jesus suffered for. Whereas Jesus was on a rescue mission, many of us treat our faith like we are on a trip through a drive-thru.

We just wrapped up Easter season, a time when most pastors discuss the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension to heaven. I am concerned the Shoals-area Christians have forgotten the last words recorded before Jesus’ ascension: The charge to go and make disciples of all nations.

To make disciples we can’t yell at people on the walking bridge, we can’t just hold meetings or events and expect people to come. We can’t be ministers of the gospel if we don’t go to people and meet them where they’re at.

Instead, Jesus met people where they were: in the world. He asked questions to engage them and see what they were truly living for (often, it was not for something greater than themselves). He offered them a new life that was infinitely better than the one they would be giving up. Then he died for them.

We can’t make the sacrifice he did, but we can engage our friends with the gospel in the way he did (again, in the world). In fact, we have to.

What would our community look like if we followed this example?

Jesus was willing to get dirty, and he went down dirty but fighting, only to come up clean and victorious. Imagine the joy it would bring if we only took time to get out of our comfort zones and love people the way we were commanded.