Oftentimes, I have found that campus ministry is full of gimmicks and feels like a bait-and-switch. Either congregations ignore their campus (campuses are becoming less and less aligned with LCMS teachings) or they sacrifice the Confessions and good practice for the sake of bringing in “the youth.” What good is a campus ministry if it leads to open communion? What benefit is a campus ministry to the students if it is fluffy, full of activity but void of study?
It takes some doing, but campus ministries can be thriving and congregations can be confessional. Perhaps in my case, I serve in an unusual context. At Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, the students are focused and hard-working (or they are fooling me). The students go home most weekends to go work on the farm with dad. The campus serves as an apprenticeship, as on-the-job training, and experience and internships are abundant locally, rather than far off places with no connection to campus.
How then does a congregation do campus ministry if the students are gone on the weekends? It is necessary to host week day events. And that could be part of our success. We are not expecting regular church attendance; we focus on the Word of God and prayer throughout the week. And it is my hope that I can serve as a counselor of sorts for the students rather than the secular counsel they will receive on the campus.
“Every campus ministry is different” and “every congregation is unique.” Boy, how I get tired of that excuse that allows churches to do whatever they want. I don’t have the answers yet, but we need to discuss these matters and I hope this article is a good place to start. If the confessional congregations do not engage their universities, we are missing out on a ripe harvest field. If other congregations become like their universities, then the church becomes the world, and it is not a good witness of our faith.
Can campus ministries be confessional? I hope so, and I think so. Let us strive for that.
The Lord be with you,
Rev. James Peterson
St. John
Curtis, Nebraska
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Have you spoken with Pastor Marcus Zill yet? Also, I don’t know of a more confessional campus ministry congregation than ULC-MN. They survived the MN-S district trying to close them down and came back stronger than ever, even BUILDING a new church in downtown Minneapolis.
Sandra, Thank you for your comment. I met Pastor Zill while I was in college and seminary, but I have not yet reached out to him.
I have heard about ULC-MN; it is quite a story.
“What good is a campus ministry if it leads to open communion?”
I would hope a campus ministry could provide untold amounts of good on many different levels and in unnumbered ways even if the communion policy in that place was looser than ideal. I know the LCMS campus ministry I attended many years ago was a phenomenal blessing to me, sustaining and building my faith through my college years, encouraging me to trust the Holy Scriptures, and preparing me to live faithfully in my vocations despite its less than perfect communion practice.
Thank you for your thoughts. No church is perfect, it is true. I am glad that it sustained you during your college years. The Lord be with you!