Additional posts on PC(USA) Campus Ministry can be found here on the Presbyterian Bloggers United page.
My connection with Presbyterian Campus Ministries came during my second year of seminary at Princeton. I did my Field Education with Princeton Presbyterians, the Presbyterian campus ministry at Princeton University. The year I spent working with that ministry was a great experience learning about college ministry, what that looks like in a large university setting and and experienced some of the joys and struggles of Presbyterian campus ministry.
Like many Presbyterian campus ministries, Princeton Presbyterians was not a huge group. The Campus Crusade groups and other evangelical campus ministries would get 80 kids to worship on a Friday night, and our numbers never usually surpassed 20 students.
It was a really unique and diverse group. We had some students in the group who were just cradle Presbyterians and so “of course” when they went off to college they were going to find the closest Presbyterian group they could join up with. So we had students who had been to Trienneium and had served as youth elders in their home churches. But then, we also seemed to attract the students who didn’t feel like they fit in any of the other campus ministry groups. And that is where I think Presbyterian campus ministries can really strive.
Certainly it’s important to work with other ministries on campus (although, it was my experience that the larger “evangelical” groups really didn’t want anything to do with the Presbyterians), but I think Presbyterian campus ministries really have a unique role within the campus. We were known as the group that would accept anyone. Many students came to us after getting burned by the evangelical ministries on campus. We were the place where students knew they could come with their questions, doubts and imperfections and be accepted for who they were. Sure there was more to our group than just questions and doubts, but it didn’t seem that many groups on campus were comfortable with that.
It’s my hope that Presbyterian campus ministries can continue to be places that students view as safe havens, places where their faith can be nurtured and challenged and places where they can experience loving and accepting Christian community.
Related posts:
- Broad Street Ministry Seminarian Immersion Program
- A Theology of Play in Youth Ministry: What About Youth Group Games?
- Getting Back into Youth Ministry
- Is Theology on Tap Supporting or Limiting Ministry
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I’ve found this is often the case with Episcopal groups as well. But having been in one, and having worked at a United Ministry Center that was largely backed by Presbyterians… and being in Oklahoma where we are overrun with conservative-evangelical groups with these other groups just barely surviving… These other institutions do become safe havens for people who want a faith community but don’t want to have to drink the kool-aid and be judged for not doing so. So basically, you’re spot on… but I’ve seen the same thing with Episcopal and Lutheran groups as well.
Not only are we the safe haven for the least, the lonely, and the lost… which PCM clearly seems to be across the US, but we have an incredible opportunity to rise up, and reclaim our role in engaging in the works of Christ – especially in issues of Social Justice. It’s what our church is known for, it’s what college students are passionate about, it’s what PCM should be doing better…