For many students, Sunday is a day of doing homework and getting rest, not going to church.
Sunday is seen as a day for church. The first official day of the week has long been held as a day of rest, fit for gatherings in local religious assemblies. However, for students at Morgan State University and other colleges across the nation, church is no longer seen as a necessity. Instead, it is an option, and one often not chosen.
John Mcqueen, a junior electrical engineering major, says Sunday is a day to get rest that you cannot get at other times.
“I catch up on sleep that I do not get throughout the week,” said Mcqueen.
With students having grueling schedules, often consisting of class, work, and countless extracurricular activities, taking a full day to sleep is not surprising.
Sleep, however, is not the only thing that students use Sundays for. Frequently, students put off work assigned throughout the weekend, and save it all for Sunday. This is not particularly surprising, as 80 to 95 percent of students procrastinate, according to the American Psychological Association.
Other students, such as Tyree Miles, simply choose not to go to church, and instead do other activities with their families.
“I spend Sundays with my family, because my grandmother usually cooks every Sunday,” said Miles, junior engineering major, who lives near Morgan.
According to data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program freshman survey, the number of college students who claim no religious association rose from 10 percent in 1986 to 31 percent in 2016.
Minister Darnell Jeffers, who preaches at various churches in the Baltimore area, says that college students allow church to become an appointment.
“Once they start going to school, they allow church to become a part of their schedule,” said Jeffers.
According to Jeffers, students see it as just another thing on their agenda that they do not have to do, seeing as they are faced with new life obstacles in college, such as finances and work.
According to Campus Renewal, an organization that brings students and local churches together, roughly 70 percent of Christian college students walk away from their faith during their first year of college.
How can the church get these young people interested in coming? Jeffers said that the church needs to be more relevant and transparent.
“Why should I go to church, and sit under a preacher, who can never tell me about his mistakes?” Jeffers asked. “Young people don’t want to be around people who act like they’re better than them. They’re going through enough their own selves.”
