[UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 254-Commentary: Campus ministry passionately claims God's call

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Commentary: Campus ministry passionately claims God's call 

Jun. 18, 2008    

NOTE: A photograph is available at http://umns.umc.org. 

A UMNS Commentary 
By Jen Heald* 

Good campus ministers ask the best questions of anyone I know. And I
know a lot of people-just count my friends on Facebook. 

The campus ministers I encountered during my undergraduate years have
discovered some of the secrets of communicating effectively with college
students: we want to discover, we want to encounter, we want to be taken
out of our boxes and told to stretch. 

The act of asking empowers us to seek with the expectation that there is
something to be found, to engage the questions because then the answers
are more a part of us. Lately, I've felt the act of seeking might
sometimes be the answer itself, but that's another story. 

It would be easy to make up a statistic right now about the number of
senses the "average church member" uses to experience God. I will,
however, take a page out of the Wise Campus Minister book and substitute
some questions instead. 

Do you hear passion in your worship services? When was the last time you
used finger paint to create something blobby and beautifully imperfect
that reminds you of your favorite psalm? Have you recently danced with
the uninhibited joy warranted by the realization that Christ claims us?
Have you sat in Elijah's silence and felt the still small voice
somewhere in the expanse of soul inside you? Does the smell of a potluck
meal mean warm and inviting community to you? 

Perhaps these things give you an inkling of what it might be like to be
a student in a Wesley Foundation. If they don't, just think about what
it means to experience good church and you'll get there. There are
Wesley Foundations and United Methodist student groups across the United
States that do creative and Spirit-led ministry every day-hardworking
missionaries and travelers on the front lines of a culture and
population that so badly need to see Jesus' relevance to the world
today. 

I've only personally experienced the joy of the campus ministry at the
University of Maryland, but through my work with the National United
Methodist Student Movement, I've heard the inspiring stories of young
adults leading their communities to be the dynamic, energetic, front
line of hope that the church is called to be.

Over Memorial Day weekend, almost 400 members of the movement met at
American University in Washington for Student Forum 2008. Our theme, "Be
the Change," resonated through the event in joyful worship services,
thoughtful Bible studies and 11 topical social justice immersion trips
assisted by the United Methodist Board of Church and Society. As a
member of the national steering committee, I had been part of planning
this event since last September. It was so affirming and exciting to see
students' commitment to authentic ministry and honest dialogue as they
participated in the events. 

Perhaps it would not surprise you to hear that we asked some challenging
questions derived from our mission and identity as a student movement:
What does it mean to be transformative? To drive change? To inspire
hope? To embody shalom? In short, to be a movement? 

The conversation cultivated from these questions will define the
direction of the student movement in years to come. Resourcing a
movement that stubbornly refuses to be anything less than transformative
is quite a task, but it's one that we welcome. Rest assured that these
are the things on the hearts and minds of college students in The United
Methodist Church today. 

It seems to me that God has given us some fairly loaded questions in
Scripture. "Whom shall I send?" comes to mind. When honestly answered by
those who have encountered Jesus, that's one of the most transformative
questions. It must be answered in a way worthy of the empowerment
embodied in the question, with the humble, faithful and oh-so-vulnerable
response, "Here I am. Send me." 

In campus ministries, people are claiming the call that God places in
each heart, and I have come to understand that as the essence of
ministry.

Brothers and sisters, the church is perpetually at the intersection of
the past and the future. The grace of the present prepares the way for
the reconciliation, relationships, movements and ministry that will
define what the church becomes. It is this grace that is recognized,
celebrated and realized on the nation's campuses. Ask us about it. We
welcome your questions. 

*Heald is chairperson of the United Methodist Student Movement Steering
Committee. 

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk at umcom.org.

******************** 

United Methodist News Service 
Photos and stories also available at: 
http://umns.umc.org 




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