Campus ministry on the
rebound: Churches rediscover
a neglected mission field
From the May 2001 Edition of Presbyterians Today
By Jerry L. Van Marter

In 1726, William Tennent Sr., a Presbyterian minister in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, gathered students from the area in a log house for prayer meetings and a course preparing them for the Presbyterian ministry. For 275 uninterrupted years since that time the Presbyterian Church has fostered ministry to higher education in this country and around the world.

Today, however, that historic mission is endangered. Turmoil on college campuses in the 1960s alienated generations of college-age young people from the church and drove thick wedges between many congregations and nearby campuses. Funding cutbacks in the late 1980s and early 1990s further eroded already tenuous church-campus relationships. The number of Presbyterian campus ministers dwindled, and PCUSA-related ministries disappeared from many campuses.

Today's students are far more interested in "spirituality" than in "religion"
But the determination and creativity of campus ministers and the students they serve, as well as a growing recognition by the church that much of the denomination's future depends on effective outreach to the current generation of college students, is producing some bright light at the end of a very long tunnel of not-so-benign neglect.

Two things are clear about the fledgling resurgence of campus ministry in the PCUSA: Today's students are far more interested in "spirituality" than in "religion," particularly of the institutional variety; and there is certainly no one "right" way to do campus ministry.

Bob Bondurant, for the past 19 years the Presbyterian campus minister at Marshall University in West Virginia, says one "fundamental" has not changed: "Students are lonely and hungry for meaning and community, and they want to talk about the issues that are closest to their lives."

Students feel isolated from their churches, from their families, and often from their peers, Bondurant says. "They tell me, 'I need a place where I can find direction,' and those conversations are repeated in my office thousands of times over."

The campus ministry model at Marshall is fairly traditional. It is a campus-based program closely tied to neighboring congregations, with a strong service component that draws students. More than 300 Marshall students participate each year in Bondurant's PROWL ("People Reaching Out With Love") program, which involves students in children's ministries, Habitat for Humanity building projects, tutoring programs in local churches and schools, volunteer work in downtown missions, worship leadership in small churches, and summer recreation programs. (See "Success Story on Campus," May 1998 issue.)

At Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, campus ministers Bob and Susan Ryder are also co-pastors of the New Covenant Community, a congregation that grew out of the college program. "We did it a little backwards," Bob Ryder says. "When First Presbyterian Church moved several miles away, our folk felt the need for a worshiping congregation."

Congregational life at New Covenant is eclectic. "A majority of our students are not Presbyterian," Susan Ryder explains. "Our initial recruiting is done with mailing lists from denominations, but those who are involved are a result of contact, exposure to us, and chemistry."

Susan says there was a time when "you just threw open the doors to your campus-ministry location, and people just poured in. Those days are gone forever." She says campus ministry today is a ministry of presence. "Bob and I are involved in a lot of campus activities," she says. "Students see us and the witness we make on issues of campus life, and when they have spiritual needs they remember that we are accessible because they've seen us around."

At California State University-Long Beach a bowl of candy is the entry point for students, Adele Langworthy says with a gleeful smile. Her campus office is near the front door of the Student Union building, and she keeps the bowl just outside her door. "The first time by, they might just take a piece of candy," Langworthy says. "The second time they might say 'Hi,' and the third time we begin to talk."

Langworthy says the students at her university have little interest in community: "We have 30,000 students and dorm rooms for only 1,800, so we have no resident population around which to build community or programs."

With one notable exception: a Bible study conducted over the Internet. "Most students have family and friends and some even churches," Langworthy says. "They're not on campus except for classes, but they spend a lot of time at their computers; so that's where we have Bible study, and it's very popular!"

Several hundred miles north, at the University of California-Berkeley, the desire for community--fueled by a severe shortage of student housing--has led the Presbyterian campus minister, Randy Bare, to organize an $8 million campaign to renovate the venerable Westminster House into a residential Christian community. When it is finished, the renovated facility will be home to an intentional community of 100 Christian students. Bare is consulting with campus ministry officials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at Florida State University, where similar models are being explored.

"There's a hunger here for community that's palpable," he says. "What makes it work is pastoral care, and committed Christian students who model the gospel for their peers."

Bare also has drawn the Westminster House ministry much closer to nearby Presbyterian churches. He serves as a parish associate at conservative First Presbyterian Church and liberal St. Johns Presbyterian. "There's not much going on between the two churches," he says, "but they're both committed to Westminster House." Langworthy is a parish associate at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, where her husband, Rob, is pastor.

In some areas synods are still playing an active role in campus ministry, as they have for decades. In recent years the Synod of Living Waters has adopted a goal of developing an active Presbyterian presence on every campus within its boundaries. That area takes in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi.

Susan Ryder serves as part-time staff for the campus ministry programs in the Synod of Lincoln Trails. Support is shaky, she says, which disappoints her. But she feels "there's no more exciting place for the church to be, because this is such a rich mission field. Spiritual meaning in life is most apt to be lost or found here, and the searching and questioning that students do is so remarkable."

Bob Turner, the PCUSA's associate for higher education ministries, agrees that the campus is best seen as a mission field. "Campus ministry is no different from any mission field," he says, "with its rich mix of physical and spiritual needs. The campus is its own particular context, with its own traditions, power structures and mores. And students--whether they're disaffected, burned-out, angry at the church, or new seekers--are all seeking a relevant stance on the social issues they face and development of their own core values."

It is clear that effective campus ministry is essential to the future of the church. "We have to reach out, not just to young people in general, but to the brightest and most motivated of our Presbyterian young people, and convince them to consider ministry as a call," Bare says. "These students are natural leaders, and they'll be leaders somewhere. The church needs them. Why not the church?"

Most campus ministers agree that parachurch organizations--InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade for Christ and others--are not the answer. "Parachurch groups do pretty good evangelism among those who are already churched," Bondurant says. "But they don't really appeal to the seekers and the disenchanted."

At Berkeley, which used to be a stronghold for such groups, Bare says their influence is waning. "With the huge influx of racial ethnic populations on our campus," he explains, "those students are creating their own, smaller organizations that focus on their unique identity rather than joining some big umbrella group like Campus Crusade."

Langworthy says the same is true at Cal State-Long Beach. "When our students are on campus, they're looking out for their own individual needs, which are met far better by personal contact or smaller groups. They're just not interested in joining a 'club.' Parachurch groups are much less visible now than they used to be."

Barry Cavaghan, a 40-year veteran of campus ministry in northern California, says he has witnessed the rise, fall and resurgence of campus ministry in his area. When he arrived at Sacramento State University in 1961, there were 20 full-time campus ministers serving in his part of the state under Cooperative Ministries in Higher Education (CMHE), an ecumenical consortium. By 1988 there were only eight. CMHE folded in 1992.

Yet Cavaghan is optimistic. "For every model that breaks down," he says, "new models seem to emerge out of the creativity of these campus communities. We must continue to light candles instead of cursing the darkness."

Although it is evident that many colleges and universities need traditional full-time campus ministers, other models are being tested. Most of them are lower cost or more entrepreneurial.

Bare makes no secret of the fact that the residential model at Berkeley will generate income for the ministry. Bondurant has helped revitalize the Westminster Foundation in West Virginia, where a $3 million goal to provide stable funding for ministry on six campuses in the state has nearly been reached.

And though synods (and presbyteries) are still primary funders in many places--Long Beach and Illinois State, for instance-- congregations and individuals are picking up an increasingly large share of the support for campus ministry.

Declining denominational support has forced some campus ministries closer to local churches and has also helped campus ministry professionals look at the whole philosophy of campus ministry. At Sacramento State, where the campus ministry operates on a shoestring, Cavaghan says, "We're having success with a 'live wire' approach, where we try to connect the energy that's present on campus and in the churches to a low-cost model that doesn't require full-time staff."

"The key," Cavaghan says, is "to see that the church is already on every campus--in students, faculty, administrators. The question we must ask ourselves is, 'How do we equip these saints for ministry?' This is really all about revitalizing churches."

Jerry L. Van Marter is coordinator of the Presbyterian News Service in Louisville, Ky.

Goals FOR CAMPUS MINISTRY:

• Enhancing the spiritual well-being of the student and the church
• Retaining student involvement from confirmation through college and into the life of the congregations
• Reaching students who have no church home or religious background
• Improving the financial, programmatic and staff resources that support all facets of a ministry to, with, by and for students
• Ministering more effectively to historically and predominantly black institutions as part of our mandate to serve the entire family of God
• Expanding the leadership and partnership base of collegiate ministry with the inclusion of all racial/ethnic constituencies of the church
• Identifying the context and gifts of the local college ministries, seeking to increase cooperation and build partnerships with local constituencies and colleges
• Joining with ecumenical partners, other denominations and individual congregations to advance the gospel among students
• Campus ministry by the numbers

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) supports nearly 600 campus ministries serving more than 1,300 colleges and universities across the country. About two-thirds of these are ecumenical ministries. Among those involved in these ministries are:

• 262 Presbyterian campus ministers and lay staff persons
• More than 1,000 Presbyterian congregations
• Approximately 100 college chaplains, many of whom serve the 69 colleges and universities related to the PCUSA