by
Vicki Brown
 |
| Students
from the Wesley Foundation at Florida International
University/Miami-Dade College during a retreat at Fort Myers, Fla. The
theme was "Overcome." |
From a
community living with a rule of life at the University of
Alaska-Anchorage to a more traditional Wesley Foundation at the
University of Minnesota, annual conferences are supporting new efforts
to reach college students. And, the Florida Annual Conference has an
ambitious five-year plan to start three new campus ministries in the
next five years.
New campus ministries are also being
started at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh and Belmont
University in Nashville, Tenn. A mission-based campus ministry is
underway at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich.
The Rev. Jenny Smith, who is appointed
half-time to a new campus ministry at the University Alaska-Anchorage,
said she was amazed at how little spiritual presence she found on a
campus of 14,000 students.
"Many students arrive from the lower 48 and
have great difficulty finding other Christians. I know many students
would enjoy an inclusive, mainline ministry option. Our job is to make
sure they know about it on such a big campus. . . . We'll give out free
lunch every first Monday of the month, and churches will take turns
supplying the food. The other strategy is personal invitation. We'll
put up posters in high traffic areas, but we firmly believe personal
invitation is the way," said Smith, who is also a part-time associate
pastor at Anchor Park UMC, one of the churches involved in funding and
starting the ministry on campus.
Many of those involved in new ministries
are clear about the importance of being on campus for The United
Methodist Church. Bishop Sally Dyck, episcopal leader of the Minnesota
Annual Conference, believes campus ministry plays a vital role in
providing an opportunity for worship, study, and outreach that can help
shape the critical decisions made during college years. "We can and
must play a part in helping to shape the questions and the answers to
the big decisions in their lives. There may be many voices helping
young adults think about what their career might be, but who is helping
them respond to the deeper question of what God is calling them to be
and do?" she asked.
The Rev. David Fuquay, director of the
Gator Wesley Foundation at the University of Florida and director of
the Florida Annual Conference Board of Higher Education and Ministry,
agrees. "With fewer and fewer students coming to campus with a religious
background, Wesley Foundations are best stationed as mission
organizations focused on reaching a new, more diverse generation with
whom our local United Methodist congregations are struggling to
connect," Fuquay said.
The Florida International
University/Miami-Dade College Wesley Foundation launched in 2009 as a
sort of pilot project using the model of a new church start is
thriving, he said. Under that model, the campus ministry gets full
funding the first year. At the end of three years, the campus ministry
must apply for funding to the conference just as all Florida campus
ministries do. A campus ministry at Florida Gulf Coast University will
launch in 2012, while Florida Atlantic University, Nova Southeastern
University, and the University of Tampa are being considered for future
starts.
Funding Comes From Many Sources Many of the new campus ministries
have a mix of funding, although most are getting some money from the
annual conference. Several of the Wesley Foundations expect their
Boards of Directors to help with fundraising. Pastors involved in
starting new campus ministries said the members of their churches
understand that while such ministries can benefit the church and the
world, their own churches are not likely to be filled with young adult
college students.
"This is
not some thinly veiled church growth idea," said the Rev. Tom
Gildemeister, chair of the Tennessee Annual Conference Board of Higher
Education and Ministry and one of the pastors involved in starting a
campus ministry at Belmont University in Nashville. Two years ago,
discussions began about starting a campus ministry at Belmont, formerly
affiliated with the Southern Baptist Church, and the largest campus in
Tennessee with no United Methodist ministry.
"People
kept saying it was a good idea, but there wasn't any money," he said.
But there were 250 to 400 self-identified United Methodists on the
campus and West End UMC and Belmont UMC both had significant ministries
with Belmont students already. This year, the Tennessee Conference
approved $30,000 for half-time staff and full-time ministry-a 5 percent
increase in the higher education budget. While full approval from
Belmont's Student Organization Board is pending, the two half-time
campus ministers are already working with students and planning events
for the fall.
Catherine Phelps, a
Belmont senior involved in the new ministry, said she wanted to help
create an organization that provided a distinctly United Methodist
presence for the students who come after her.
The
Rev. Jon Disburg, senior pastor at Anchor Park UMC in Anchorage,
Alaska, said he realized The United Methodist Church had no presence on
the University of Alaska-Anchorage campus and that Smith was
passionate about working with young adults. "We thought this was the
time, and we had the right person with the right gifts," he said. The
church agreed to contribute $40,000 toward the new campus ministry.
"I
think it was a great benefit to our church to put ourselves out there
to do mission with young adults at a time when we were struggling
economically. We see this as a ministry that provides a nurturing
presence at an important time in the lives of young adults," he said.
Disburg added that community model grew out of the fact that many
students come to the campus from villages and towns which are isolated
and "off the grid." The student leaders have agreed to live by a rule
of life based on the five United Methodist membership vows. The rule
will be optional for others.
The
conference is giving $3,000 toward the ministry and seven other
churches are involved and considering what they can contribute in
funding.
The Rev. J. Cody Nielsen, the
campus minister for the brand-new Wesley Foundation at the University
of Minnesota, believes campus ministry is in a new age. "While I
personally believe we need to be supporting our campus ministries with
apportionment dollars, I also believe we are in an age of professional
fundraising. This campus ministry is provided by a variety of sources,
including local giving, individuals making financial commitments,
grants, apportionment dollars, and other opportunities as they become
available," he said. Donna M. Dempewolf, a member of the new Wesley
Foundation's Board of Directors, said the Minnesota Annual Conference
appropriated more than $90,000 for the new ministry, money that came
from the long-ago sale of Wesley Foundation buildings when the campus
ministry was shut down.
The
Rev. Bridgette Young, the General Board of Higher Education and
Ministry's assistant general secretary for Campus Ministry and College
Chaplaincy, said she thinks it is encouraging to have new campus
ministry starts. "District superintendents, annual conferences, local
churches are seeing themselves as instrumental in the start-ups. It's
encouraging that these churches and conferences are finding new and
different ways of doing ministry with students and are seeing those
ministries as part of the work of the church of making disciples for
Jesus Christ."
"It's about having the church connected to ministry with and for young adults, particularly college students," Young said.
Churches,
Conferences Experiment With New Models The approach at the University
of Wisconsin in Oshkosh is to have student peer ministers who work
under the supervision of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American
campus minister, said the Rev. John Hobbins, pastor of Oshkosh First
United Methodist Church. "The ministry has seven or eight peer
ministers, and four of them are United Methodist," he said. Other
churches involved are Wesley UMC, Algoma Boulevard UMC, and Waukau UMC.
Rachel
Basel, a junior who is one of the peer ministers, said she was involved
with Campus Crusade for Christ her freshman year, but found that
ministry was not the right fit for her. But the joint UMC/ECLA ministry
has been great for her. "We are a very involved group that is doing
things on campus," Basel said, adding that she feels the work is making
the group really visible to students. "We are targeting students at a
time when they wander away from church."
The
Rev. Carl Gladstone, director of the Young Leaders Initiative in
Detroit, said Catalyst, a ministry at Wayne State University, is a
pilot program working with a small group of students. The students spend
some time learning about the strengths and weaknesses of Detroit and
volunteering at nonprofit or church programs.
Then,
each student gets $100 to start a new project or work with an existing
one. "It's completely student led. Some will show real leadership;
others just want to be connected," Gladstone said. Funds were left over
from a now-defunct Wesley Foundation. The group, which consists of a
core group of 12 to 15 and up to 50 students who have been involved in
projects, meets at coffeehouses. Lydia Lanni, a senior who helps
organize speakers, projects, and meetings, said the group is looking at
incorporating worship and Bible study into their meetings. But she said
Catalyst is really about "Christians doing good things for the city."
*Brown is associate editor and writer, Office of Interpretation, General Board of Higher Education and Ministry.
© 2011 General Board of Higher Education & Ministry
http://www.gbhem.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lsKSL3POLvF&b=6471015&ct=11207085
