| Panel strives to breathe new life into flagging campus ministries |
| Written by Leslie Scanlon, Outlook national reporter |
| Tuesday, 15 November 2011 20:04 |
|
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has struggled in recent years to figure out how to support collegiate ministries. First it eliminated its national office for that ministry in 2009 in a budget-cutting move, then it restored that office when directed to do so by the General Assembly in 2010. Now a Collegiate Ministries Task Force is drafting for the 2012 General Assembly a strategy for reaching young adults on college campuses — recognizing that such work is both difficult and vital for a denomination that can’t assume young people will return to the church once they marry and have children. Presbyterian collegiate ministries have "languished on the vine due to staffing changes, organizational issues, financial issues,” said Adrian McMullen, the PC(USA)’s associate for collegiate ministries. “For a lot of reasons, we’re behind the game.” That also comes at a time when many young adults have loosened their ties to organized religion. The category of “no religious affiliation” is growing: More than a quarter of the millennial generation — those born after 1981 — say they have no religious ties, according to a report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life called “Religion Among the Millennials.” Those working in college ministry also see other trends. Among them: - A decline in the ecumenical college ministries into which some Presbyterians had poured their energy — a trend that on some campuses leaves no backup in the form of a distinctly Presbyterian ministry. - Difficulty in finding funds for collegiate ministry from the mid-councils, many of which are short of money and are pulling back from programmatic work. - The success on many campuses of evangelical parachurch ministry groups such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship or Campus Crusade for Christ (which will be known as Cru starting in 2012). Jerry Beavers, a college chaplain for 22 years at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio, and now a collegiate ministries consultant, spoke at last summer’s Big Tent event in Indianapolis about ministry for “emerging adults.” The term refers to those from their late teens into their 20s, whose lives often are a swirl of school and changes in jobs, relationships and geography, rather than a process of settling down with one partner and one job in one place. The overture that the General Assembly approved in 2010 to re-establish an office of Collegiate Ministries came from the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. It was initiated by a group of college chaplains “who were feeling like the denomination didn’t value or support them,” said Beavers, who is active in the Presbyterian Association for Collegiate and Higher Education Ministry. “They were feeling isolated.” While some give college ministries little thought, others contend it can be an important aspect of evangelism. Beavers wrote in a blog post for the association in April 2011 that the PC(USA) has “high regard in the abstract and low regard in the tangible for collegiate ministry.” He also wrote: “When will we take seriously the notion that ministry on campus to college students is a missionary endeavor? When will we start treating campus ministers and chaplains as missionaries and colleges as a mission field? Campus Ministry is not just an older youth group, able to provide nursery workers, Sunday school teachers, and perhaps a choir member. Campus Ministry is a missionary outreach to a different culture.” Beavers contends that too often people think of collegiate ministries as “youth group goes to college.” Instead, he said in an interview, it’s a chance to help young adults find their way through important life transitions. “This generation doesn’t expect the company is going to take care of them,” Beavers said. “The average change in jobs is seven times between 20 and 29. They’re going to move every year and a half or two.” |
