While our community here on the plains is undergoing rapid transformation, Auburn University remains the central pillar, shaping the identity of our community. It provides the most jobs, draws the most diversity, and produces the most economic output. More importantly, in our late modern age, the urgency of campus ministry has never been greater. For the Church to be faithful to God’s mission here, we must continue to be deeply involved there. 

AU’s Local Influence

Auburn’s total enrollment for Fall 2023 was 33,015, including undergraduate, graduate, vet, medical, and nursing school students. If we estimate that 80% of these students live within the Auburn city limits, AU students comprise 29% of Auburn’s population. AU has approximately 5,600 full-time employees and 1,300 non-student part-time employees. AU students and employees combined comprise over 40% of Auburn’s residents. 

According to the most recent economic impact study released this year, Auburn University reports having a $6.34 billion impact on the State of Alabama - $2.53 billion direct and indirect economic impact and $3.81 billion in the earning power of its graduates who reside in the state. Additionally, the same study reports that AU is responsible for creating 30,296 jobs in addition to its direct employment. 

AU’s Student Body Makeup

Auburn received a record number of freshmen applications for Fall 2023—nearly 50,000—which led to the largest freshman class ever—over 6,000. The Fall 2023 freshmen class had the highest-ever average ACT scores (over 28) and GPAs. The applicant pool included students from every county in Alabama and every state in the US. So, this class represents the biggest, brightest, and most diverse incoming group in Auburn’s history. According to President Chris Roberts, “The demand for an Auburn degree has never been greater.”

As a land-grant university, AU’s mission is first to serve the residents of Alabama. By policy, 60% of the undergraduate enrollment are Alabamians. The other 40% come from across the country and the world. There are over 2,100 international undergraduate students, nearly double what it was in 2012, representing over 100 different nationalities. 

With regard to diversity, the total percentage of non-white minority students (not including international students) is around 14%. African American students account for about 5% of total enrollment, compared to about 17% of the city of Auburn and 27% of the state of Alabama. As a result, Auburn University started the Presidential Task Force for Opportunity and Equity. The primary goal of this task force is to recruit and retain black students and faculty.

Implications for the Church

These numbers highlight what we all know - Auburn University significantly shapes our community and, therefore, must significantly shape how the Church serves Christ here. Here are four reasons why ministry to AU, especially students, is crucial to missional faithfulness. 

First of all, the college experience continues to create an open space in the lives and minds of students. This is nothing new, but its continued significance is worth highlighting. Being away from parental supervision and the pressure to conform to cultural expectations from peers and institutions back home, college students want to explore other ideas and find their own way in the world. It is the time in which people make some of life’s most trajectory-setting decisions - who will I be (identity), what will I do (career), and with whom (spouse)? As Onward Campus Ministry president Bill Boldt often says, “Who you become in college is who you will likely be the rest of your life.” And for many, the college experience also provokes the deeper question of why. Tim and Michael Keller observe that “there’s no other place in our culture that affords listeners the space and freedom, time and posture, to talk about the meaning of It all.” 

Secondly, while these dynamics have been at play as long as universities have been around, the radical secularism of our late-modern age has so intensified them it puts the radical claims of the gospel in stark relief. All the traditional foundations regarding identity, marriage, meaning, purpose, and truth have been destroyed. The only footing a student can find from which to build a life in this culture is one they create on their own - unless, of course, they encounter Jesus Christ. He alone can and does make sense of it all. Jesus, crucified and risen, must be the chief topic of conversation with students and the chief reference point for all other topics. 

Thirdly, the diversity of Auburn University provides the Church an opportunity to bear witness to the boundary-breaking power of the gospel. Jesus alone can and does reconcile us to God and one another. Living out that reality in the Church and in all our social relationships is a sign and foretaste of the salvation Jesus wrought for us on the cross. 

Fourthly, many of AU’s international students come from places with little to no Christian presence and from areas of the world that are home to the major world religions of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the secular atheism of China and Japan. Now that they are here, they are not far from God because they are not far from you and me. While cross-cultural ministry requires much humility, wisdom, and love, it is an incredible opportunity for us to be involved first-hand in making disciples of all nations. 

Feel free to drop us a comment or question. We’d love to hear your thoughts about our role in God’s mission here as it relates to Auburn University.