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The Spiritual Life of College Students
A national study of student values and beliefs
Messiah College student responses

From 1991-2001, about 50 CCCU schools collaborated on a study that assessed levels of spirituality among college students. This study joined the research of Florida State University’s Institute for the Study of College Student Values. Beginning around 2000, a two-page survey was developed and improved so that, by the fall of 2004, it was distributed to more than 100,000 students entering some 236 different colleges. The survey will go out to the same students in 2007, their junior year. Messiah’s contribution amounted to more than 600 students.

The data collected show that college students, in general, have a strong commitment to spirituality and religion, and Messiah students possess an even stronger commitment. In other words, students are open to spiritual/religious language and practices. Messiah students, in particular, are akin to Weber’s “religious virtuosi”—people who have a stronger faith commitment than the average person. At the same time, two-thirds of Messiah students labeled themselves as “secure” in their beliefs, which would make the “faith crisis” often necessary for transformation very difficult.

Students at Messiah already engage in spiritual disciplines and have a stronger sense of defining their faith on the principles of knowing God and knowing God’s “plan” for their lives. Prayer, worship, and Scripture reading rank very high among Messiah students, with more than 80% of respondents listing each one as an activity they perform at least once a week. Moreover, Messiah students identify more with religion than “spirituality,” which is often seen as “New Age.” All of this suggests that Messiah students would welcome the spiritual disciplines that many scholars have aligned so intimately with transformation.

Summary of Ron Burwell, February 2006

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