The Final Report is Finally Done

Don't forget—registration for Great Expectations continues until May 15. Please email me (Kelsey) and let me know you're coming! It promises to be an exciting day and an important one: now that NEPCI has completed its work, the ball is really in our court to take the next steps. A good turnout for the event will ensure that the next steps are effective.

Last weekend, I guess you could say that NEPCI formally ended—I presented the final report on our research to our funding body, the New England Presbytery Partnership Group (one of the myriad governance committees in our Presbyterian system). The report turned out to be about 30 pages, single-spaced, written mostly to address campus ministry issues as they related to Presbyterian polity. However, the report features sections about the nature and needs of college students today, and talks a lot about the general campus ministry landscape. When I confirm with the Presbytery Partnership Group that they want the report to be distributed, I will post a link to it on this website. But in any case, the current phase of this work is over.

Just a few reflections on what I’ve learned through the process of studying campus ministry for nearly a year now… one, I think I have added quite a bit of nuance to my understanding of the student relationship to mainline Protestant denominations. When I spoke with campus ministers and chaplains in the fall, I got the impression that denominations were irrelevant to all students. They had moved beyond denomination, were “postdenominational” in every way. But after talking to students in focus groups, I came to the conclusion that describing students as postdenominational was too simplistic. The students I met are what I like to call “denominationally open.” Whether a student came into college with no clue about the denominational thing or actually looking for something in their own tradition, most students care more about the kind of community they find within a particular ministry than with its denominational label. If the ministry welcomes them, helps them identify with a peer group, and makes room for their questions, among other things, students seem willing to participate in the ministry even if they must cross denominational lines to do so. It doesn’t mean the denominational identity has no meaning, but it does mean that community and a sense of belonging mean more. It is less a question whether our ministries are Presbyterian or anything else, and more about what students find there.

I have also learned that although some ministries we support aren’t doing the most flashy, high profile activities on campus, that doesn’t mean that their work is not making a difference. Chaplains and campus ministers serve based on their resources (which aren’t always much anyway), their own spiritual gifts, and the needs of the campus. On some campuses this meant large student groups with retreats, worships, and Bible studies. For others, it meant participating in other, not explicitly religious groups and committees as a pastoral presence and a spiritual resource. Nearly all the campus ministries I encountered were about relationships, and that seems to me the primary task we should consider when we’re evaluating collegiate ministries: is the ministry building transformative relationships, both one-on-one and with other groups on campus? Relationship-building takes on many forms, but all truly life-changing relationships will contribute positively toward a more just and compassionate campus culture.

Finally, this project has taught me more about this church that I love. I have discovered that Presbyterians in New England are not apathetic about young adult involvement, nor do they only wish to see students in the pews so that their churches will survive (although there is a bit of that longing mixed in, too). The Presbyterians I have encountered have children and grandchildren in colleges all over the country, and they care about this work because they realize how much college students need people of faith to be there for them. Campus ministry really is a mission for the church—not a mission based on that notion of the university as a temple to godless secularism, but a mission in that students need us as witnesses to Christ’s peace in times of tragedy, Christ’s unconditional love in times of stress and strain. They need caring companions on the journey, wherever that path might take them. And I think Presbyterians are beginning to awaken to God’s call and respond to that need.

Shout Out from the National Office

Imagine my surprise this afternoon when I discovered that the Office of Youth and Collegiate Ministries in the PC(USA)'s national office had picked up the article about NEPCI in the Synod of the Northeast newsletter... check it out here.

I'm working hard on the final report for the project, with recommendations. The presentation to the New England Presbyterian Partnership Group, our grant funder, is only ten days away!

Good Friday

Plans for Great Expectations continue to hurtle along… the official registration form is now available here, and you can also get a flyer to post at your church or college here. Please advertise this event to anyone in your church or campus ministry who cares about the future of Presbyterian outreach. If you’re a pastor, I honestly don’t expect you and your entire congregation to show up… but I do ask you to send those two or three people in your congregation who really care about ministry to college students, and consider attending yourself. Even if members of your congregation have never participated in an event like this before, we hope that this will be the time and place when they can get involved. Also note that the deadline for registration is May 15. That will allow us to make sure we have enough food for your lunch, and that the food we provide doesn’t make you puff up like a blowfish. So in the interest of your own health and safety, please register by May 15!!

I just got back from a Good Friday Seven Last Words service downtown. The Presbyterian churches I know here in Boston don’t have Good Friday services, so I went to a great ecumenical service hosted by a Catholic community, the Paulist Center. One of the reflections we heard reminded us that we are an Easter people living in a Good Friday world. And so we are. We live in a world where people continue to be crucified by the ravages of war, torture, gun violence, and hunger. With Jesus, millions cry out, “I am thirsty,” from lack of access to clean drinking water. This same darkness affects young adults. A February 2 Boston Globe article by Judy Foreman reports that almost half of American 19-to-25 year olds “meet standard criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder,” according to a recently published study. Young adults are often isolated and struggling, without critical relationships and communities to help them through the final maturing process. Like Jesus, they too feel forsaken. The darkness of the crucifixion story resonates with us because it reflects the reality we see every single day—in our families, in our communities, in our world.

For those of us who stand at the foot of the cross as Jesus dies, as our sisters and brothers die around us, what are we called to do? How would Jesus have us quench their thirst, and stop their crucifixions? God calls some of us to do that through collegiate ministry, but not everyone—we each have unique gifts and unique places where we have been called to serve. So on this Good Friday, perhaps we should ask ourselves how we might faithfully follow Jesus to the cross. Who has Jesus given into our care as he hangs from that tree?

May God richly bless you on this Good Friday, and bring you to the joy of Christ’s resurrection on Easter morn.

On Downsizings and Other Difficult Decisions

Things have been extremely busy here at the NEPCI office, deep in the bowels of Clarendon Hill Presbyterian Church. Since my last post, NEPCI has hit the road to visit the Presbytery of Boston’s meeting in Worcester, MA; written a draft of the long-awaited final report; presented said final report to the project Advisory Committee; and held a conference call with the planning team for Great Expectations. You’ll see here that I’ve created a JPG version of the event flyer for your viewing pleasure—if you want something a little easier to read, email me directly and I’ll send you a PDF form.

But rather than go into some of those things today, a couple of developments have taken place in the last few weeks that underline the urgency of our common mission in campus ministry. First, funding developments among our ecumenical partners have pushed the Massachusetts United Ministry in Higher Education organization closer to the edge in terms of sustainability. It is unclear at this point what the impact of these developments will be, but at the very least it will mean fewer hours for ministry with students on campus. Second, in the latest downsizing of our denomination’s national office, the decision was made to consolidate the Office of Youth Ministries and the Office of Collegiate Ministries. As a result, two collegiate ministries staff people who had contributed much to the church’s work with college students lost their jobs. These two were the only dedicated staff people working nationally on Presbyterian collegiate ministries. Please be in prayer with me for Sylvia and Rick, as they discern where God is calling them next, and for those in the consolidated office who must now determine how to serve college students alongside their work with Presbyterian youth.

And be in prayer for the Presbyterian Church (USA). Our national leaders say that young adults in the church are a mission priority. But regardless of the rhetoric, our church’s priorities lie with those things to which ordinary Presbyterians give their time, their money, and their voices. Let me be clear: if we, the rank and file of the church, aren’t willing to put our efforts into making ministry happen on campuses, the time has long passed when we can expect the denomination to do it for us. I worked at the national office for three years, and saw how these things work. There are lots of wonderful, important ministries that people generally think the church ought to do: world missions, immigration, political advocacy, worship resources, environmental justice, peacemaking, campus ministry. When the bills come due, what will they cut? What SHOULD they cut? As one person I interviewed told me, certain ministries that have a bit of glamour about them, ministries that can make a compelling case for why they deserve a slice of that ever-shrinking pie, will continue. And ministries that are doing work we all agree is good, but have just a bit less appeal? Well, something has to give, our leaders will say.

Yet this only means the end of campus ministry if we remain apathetic—“we” meaning you, dear reader, along with me and all the other Presbyterians in our congregations with an inkling of interest in campus ministry. It is time to ask the simple question, “What is my role to play in collegiate ministry?” And you do have a role. God might not be calling you to be a campus minister or chaplain. But maybe you’re a great cook, or a genius with computers, or a Presbyterian polity wonk. People who can offer these services to the college community are necessary, too. Have we forgotten what our brother Paul said to the community at Corinth? “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (1 Cor. 12:4-6, TNIV). Everyone has a place in the work of collegiate ministries. All you need is the heart.

If you really want to show your support for collegiate ministry during this discouraging time, I only ask you to commit to one thing: come join us in Burlington, MA on May 30. Our planning team for Great Expectations met again today, and I am always amazed by the electric energy surrounding our discussions. We will offer afternoon consultation workshops where we wrestle with the issues in campus ministry that YOU care about—congregational outreach, ecumenical partnerships, the cultural relevancy of our ministry to this generation, and as many other topics as we can find rooms to host in the Burlington church. It will be a place for us to start talking about what we can do about campus ministry and come up with some strategies for action. You don’t need any special skills, or special titles, or special reason to come to this event. We just want people who care about college students to join us.

Because when just a few of us get together and make collegiate ministry our priority, our sisters and brothers throughout the church might just sit up and take notice.