Reflections on Campus Ministry

An exploratory committee of my congregation is laying the groundwork for our congregation to engage in campus ministry at Washington University-St. Louis within the next year. One member of that committee and I just returned from a District conference with other campus ministries. It was of great benefit to learn from them.

My own experience with campus ministry took place at my alma mater, Missouri State University (but it will always be SMSU to me). The Lutheran Student Center had the perfect location. Directly across from the main campus, I could stop into the LSC after class, see who was there, chat, and such. The LSC did not have Sunday services which created a challenge for some students who would need to arrange for a ride to one of the local congregations. Invariably, it meant that this very slight inconvenience was the excuse for some to skip the Divine Service, missing out on Christ’s gifts. Yet the LSC had a significant sway in my latter undergraduate years and through the entirety of other students’ entire college years because it was strategically located. Having witnessed this first hand, I was not surprised to see that many other campus ministries in our district also benefit from a strategic location which allows them to naturally connect with the students. So also, my conversations with another Christian ministry at WashU revealed the same. The ministry operates out of the director’s apartment which is immediately off the campus. Gatherings with students happen in his living room regularly, even daily, thus affording him the physical presence adjacent to the campus.

As Village looks toward WashU, we recognize that while we are near the campus (about a 10 minute drive) such a distance is huge in college terms, especially for those who live on campus. Among our action items is determining how we might establish a physical presence adjacent to the campus. Our work over the past six months along with my collegiate experience and what I have observed with other campus ministries leads me to the conclusion that if we are sincere in our desire to care for the students at WashU, we will put a premium upon establishing a physical presence immediately adjacent to the campus. Much could also be said about the theological underpinnings for such a conclusion – creational theology, incarnational theology say a lot about the importance of physical presence.

If we are serious about keeping our Lutheran students connected to the Church and Christ’s gifts given out there, if we desire to bring the Gospel to students who do not know Christ, and if we want collegians to know that they matter to us, we will place ourselves as close to campus as possible. To distance yourself physically from the campus is to distance yourself from the students.

Advertisement