Did someone kindly stop you today on campus to “ask you a question”? This person is most likely with the Campus Ministries of Grace Church. Their purpose, as stated on their website, is “to equip young leaders to develop, maintain, and administrate a financial partnership team that will enable them to serve as campus ministers on the staff of Grace Christian Church.” When describing the purpose of the church, they use the word “evangelize,” which in other words means “convert”. Grace Christian Church has a mission to convert “college students during a very crucial time in their lives with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

Many first-year students at Colorado State University may not know who these people are. A lot of students come from out-of-state or other Colorado areas, and are looking for a place to pray or a place to have Bible study. The people of Grace Christian Church just want to help you, even if their way of helping you may not be the right way. They don’t care if you are Muslim, Jewish, or Atheist, because their mission is to convert you because that is what they think is the right thing to do. The Church’s beliefs come from the way they interpret the Bible.

An anonymous source told me about their experience with Grace Christian Church. The out-of-state student was trying to find a home-away-from-home on campus. When approached by one of Grace Church’s young leaders, the student was eager to learn more. This person attended church and got to know the members, but soon became uncomfortable being a part of the community. They wanted to experience everything offered to students, but Grace Church didn’t approve, and they almost lost the chance of being a part of CSU fraternity and sorority life because they missed half of one of the days of rush. A member of Grace Church had told them that they shouldn’t miss Church, and then they tried to convince the student not to rush at all. Soon it wasn’t just social life the church was controlling, but the student's personal life as well. Church members told the student that they “needed to break up with their long time boyfriend,” and that their “close friends should come from the church.” That was the last straw. The student left the church and found somewhere else more accepting to practice their religion.

It is sad that a community that is supposed to be there to guide and help young students is manipulating them. When reading through their websites, Grace Church does not state any requirements, so a student searching for a community will never know until it is too late and suddenly they have nothing left but the church.

Each year at the beginning of fall semester there is a Beliefs' Fair, where you can meet different religious groups on campus until you find the one for you.