When several hundred students gathered at the University of Toronto in 1946, they weren’t looking for another Christian conference. They were seeking direction. The world had just emerged from a second once-in-a-generation war. These students had one prevailing question: What is God doing in the world right now, and how do we join him?
That gathering eventually moved to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where it took its name. Urbana is now the longest-running student missions conference in North America, having shaped generations of missionaries, pastors, and globally minded disciples. But in the last 80 years, things have changed. Sadly, fewer students are asking questions about global mission. Even as the world has never been more connected, students’ worlds have often shrunk into more anxious and self-focused places.
Thus, pastors and Christian leaders must realize that we’re not just recruiting missionaries. We must help Christians reimagine their vocation, education, and skills as part of a larger purpose for the mission of God.
The Changing World of Student Faith
Students today are growing up in a post-COVID, post-Christian world that David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock (the executive director of Urbana 25) call “digital Babylon.” Many students have been formed by algorithmic echo chambers that can be isolating and self-feeding.
Phoebe Jeske, a Wheaton College student interviewed on the Urbana podcast, described it perfectly: “I came in thinking about my calling on a localized scale. Coming out of COVID, I hadn’t thought much about how my passions could serve the global church.” Urbana, she said, “absolutely blew my mind.”
Her story echoes the stories of many students who are discovering, sometimes for the first time, that missions is not limited to preachers and doctors in remote villages. Software developers, business leaders, healthcare workers, and artists are all invited to live as witnesses wherever God places them.
The Power of Encounter
A gathering like Urbana opens up a unique opportunity for students. Because it’s longer than other conferences, the schedule isn’t rushed. Urbana lasts four days—long enough for the noise of daily life to quiet down. Conversations can go deep, and the presence of God can be palpable. Students get to wrestle with the question that has animated Urbana from the beginning: What is God doing in the world right now, and how do I join him?
That question can lead to saying yes to cross-cultural ministry, or a reordering of priorities within educational and career goals. It can change mindsets from careerism to calling, from comfort to obedience. We need “professional missionaries,” and we also need world Christians who see their lives as part of a larger redemptive story.
A Pastor’s Role in Student Calling
While Urbana is sometimes known as primarily for college students, it is also for pastors and leaders. Students responding to God’s call need a church community, as we all do. We need others to walk through discernment, preparation, and support. Community in the church can sustain a spark of calling into a longstanding missional life-direction.
Our pastors and church leaders track at Urbana 25 wants to equip pastors and church leaders as they in turn equip their students. When a student says, “I want to live into God’s mission in this way,” they need a supporting church behind them.
