By Marisa Young | Staff Writer
Hundreds of students gathered on Fountain Mall Saturday morning at Baylor’s annual church fair in hopes of finding their new spiritual home.
The event, organized by Baylor Student Life, invites local churches to meet with incoming freshmen at the beginning of the fall semester and showcase their ministries. Students have the opportunity to speak with members, pastors and leaders from different churches and find a faith community they can call home.
Dr. Malcolm Foley, special adviser to the president for equity and campus engagement and pastor of Mosaic Church Waco, defined a church home as “a space where people are loved and cared for materially, spiritually and emotionally.”
“Home is fundamentally where you are loved and supported,” Foley said. “It’s also intentional about pushing folks toward Christ.”
Orange County, Calif., freshman Taylor Moore said her ideal church home has elements of tight-knit community and accountability.
“Home is a place where you can gather. It’s a bunch of people from different communities and different backgrounds that come together and focus on fellowship together,” Moore said. “You can connect through [a] love for Jesus and get to grow together and keep each other accountable, like family members would.”
Though Baylor is a Baptist school, the church fair showcased many different denominations and religious traditions that students can join. While some students attended knowing exactly what they were looking for, others came to explore what Waco’s religious scene has to offer.
Houston freshman Eden Droog said she appreciates the university’s inclusion of different faith traditions and feels that it is important for students from any denomination or background to feel welcome.
“It’s been really cool to visit the tables and compare [churches with] my home church back in Houston,” Droog said. “I like to see which ones align with what I’ve grown up with, but also what’s new out there and what I can explore.”
Fort Worth freshman Eve Mead said that rather than finding a specific denomination, she looks primarily for a community she resonates with.
“To me, I think a church home is just somewhere I can be authentic and vulnerable,” Mead said. “[It’s] somewhere I can grow and develop my faith.”
Pastor Austin Nickel led a booth for Saint Matthews Lutheran Church, one of the non-Baptist congregations that attended the church fair. He described a church home as a place expanding beyond the borders of denomination or building.
“It is a place of belonging; a place where you can go be yourself, be comfortable and just love the world and everyone in it,” Nickel said.
