"I'm going to Gordon because I want to be surrounded by all Christians"

You are expressing a concern and comment that most students entering Gordon College agree upon: the appeal of being surrounded by a community of Christians is almost too good to be true. I felt this way when I came to Gordon, and I still believe it to be true. Gordon College offers one of the greatest appeals a college can offer to Christians because you have to be a Christian to attend...or do you?

It comes as no surprise that there are people who slip through the cracks, whether they lie on their admissions essay or they have someone else write it for them. This doesn't happen often, and most of these students came to Gordon with an alterior motive, be it a boy/girlfriend, or an athletic team, or what have you. The real concern is for the people at Gordon who are Christians, who come, and then find themselves backsliding in their faith. It is not uncommon for people to come into Gordon college pumped about the opportunity they have for spiritual advancement and then find themselves a couple of years later in the same spot they were in during High School, if not farther behind in their faith.

It is important to remember that Gordon College does not offer solutions, it offers possibilities. Probably everyone you talk to at Gordon College would say that they are a Christian. This fact offers the possibility of growth for everyone, but it does not guarantee it. Often times, when lots of Christians get together, bad habits feed off of bad habits. Why do people drink at Gordon College? Because other people drink. It's not a peer-pressure thing, it's a communal thing. People admit that they struggle with it, others agree, and eventually everyone is doing it because they all know that they are all Christians anyway.

When coming to Gordon College, view the fact that there is a community around you of all Christians as an extreme privilage, and take advantage of it for all it is worth. But don't forget that you will only get out of this community what you choose to get out of it: if you choose to relax and let down your guard because you are with "all Christians", you might find yourself backsliding, in a worse place than you were when you first arrived. If you choose to find people who will hold you accountable, the possibilities for spiritual advancement are endless.