Public Campus Ministry: An Urgent Plea
In the late 19th century, as states were taking advantage of federal land grants to establish major universities, Christians in many denominations caught a vision of these new schools as a ripe mission field. In some places, pastors of nearby churches began to reach out to students, while in other places, students of similar faith gathered together to support and encourage one another. Independent organizations such as the YMCA established student chapters.
This was the context in which Ellen White lifted up a similar vision before Adventists. And though this was a time when Adventists were struggling to get the first denominational colleges established, she said some should go elsewhere for their education:
There are those who, after becoming established, rooted, and grounded in the truth, should enter these institutions of learning as students. They can keep the living principles of the truth, and observe the Sabbath, and yet they will have opportunity to work for the Master by dropping seeds of truth in minds and hearts. ...
But I scarcely dare present this method of labor; for there is danger that those who have no decided connection with God will place themselves in these schools, and instead of correcting error and diffusing light, will themselves be led astray. But this work must be done; and it will be done by those who are led and taught of God. (3SM 233-4)
Few responded.
Today, over a century after her call, Adventists have a spotty record when it comes to ministry on public and private college and university campuses. We have developed programs at a few places like Berkeley and Knoxville, a couple of conference programs (Michigan and Georgia-Cumberland), and active student organizations on a few dozen campuses. We have some training resources, like The Word on Campus (available from Advent Source) and a Campus Spiritual Life Certificate Program at the seminary (but it is under-advertised and few have taken advantage of it). We have a North American Division coordinator for Adventist Christian Fellowship, Ron Pickell, who is a full-time pastor with a meager stipend for a division-wide ministry. Adventist Chaplaincy Ministries endorses chaplains for this ministry ... but few have gone through the process.
These were among the topics discussed at the recent 180˚ Symposium at Andrews University, sponsored by the Center for Youth Evangelism. We considered some staggering statistics: there are 19,000,000 students at these colleges and universities in North America–the combined population of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Phoenix. Seventy percent of Adventist college students attend non-Adventist colleges.
Adventism in North America is "graying"–the median age of our membership is high, and not just because Adventists are living longer than the general population, but because we are rapidly losing young adults in their 20s, and have a dearth of members in the 20-45 age bracket.
How much wisdom and experience and giftedness have we lost through this attrition? How much tithe money has the church lost because today's young doctors, lawyers, business entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, and video game programmers did not find the church there for them during college and grad school?
The harvest is ripe. Where are the workers? Where is the passion? Where are the resources?
Why do we have so few full-time chaplains? Why are there so few churches near college campuses that make the campus a focus for their evangelistic efforts?
We talked about the problem of funding. Vast sums are spent on mass-mailings for evangelistic campaigns that result in a handful of baptisms–why don't conferences spend some of those evangelism dollars on college campuses? What might happen if they devoted a mere 10% of evangelism funds for campus evangelism?
Not only are there few full-time ministers, but there is little stability in this ministry. As a result, we have little of the collective wisdom that is gained from years of experience. The few of us who do have the experience encourage one another and seek to fan into flame the sparks we see here and there, but it is hard work, and each time we meet we seem to cover the same ground and can cite few examples of forward momentum.
Let me say a word about my own experience in this ministry. I left the Adventist church as a college student, only returning two years ago. At the time I returned, I was in my ninth year as Director of Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. I supervised a dozen ministers on multiple campuses with a budget of $750,000. Prior to this, I had been a campus minister at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
In light of that experience, let me share some of my recommendations for the development of Adventist campus ministry:
We need to capture a vision of the university campus as a mission field.
We need to prepare men and women for this ministry who will immerse themselves in the culture of academia, who value higher education and its search for truth, goodness, and beauty.
We need men and women who are willing to enter into campus life as fellow participants in its great conversation; who are, as Ellen White urged, willing to follow the example of Paul and Daniel and the Waldenses and witness not primarily through proclamation and argument but through the quiet witness of their life and their questions.
We need to listen to students and faculty and staff and learn from their own lips of their hopes and questions and gifts and fears, and not merely assume that our prepared answers have anything to do with the questions they ask.
We need to give to this ministry the urgency and the funding and the manpower that we give to youth ministry and to public evangelism.
We need to identify those churches near college campuses, and give them pastors who share this vision. We need to give them training. We need to keep them in place so that they can learn that school and its culture and become part of its life.
There is much work to be done–but we don't need to reinvent the wheel. We can learn from the experience of InterVarsity and Campus Crusade and Newman Centers and Hillel.
Now is the time. Help us cast the vision. Help us fan the flame.