I’ll admit that, having attended a small Christian college, I’m no expert on the campus ministries that operate on the campuses of the large universities.? Given that they usually meet at night and that I’ve been married for all the years I’ve been around the University of Georgia (and thus not prone to make such meetings a priority), I’ve never even seen one close up.? That said, I’ve got good friends who are campus ministers, and my own congregation works closely with and supports the Christian Campus Fellowship here at UGA, so when I saw a link to this article, I was interested.? Stackhouse, whose works I’ve not read much (he did have a good blog post on the commitments involved in pursuing a Ph.D), makes a compelling argument that campus ministries are in a wonderful position to engage the particular mission of the university (which began as a Christian institution) and to provide a distinctly intellectual ministry.? Unfortuntately, he notes, many of those campus ministries have become parasites of sorts, intentionally drawing students away from local, intergenerational congregations.
Much campus ministry over the last century has merely been an extension the local church work of basic disciple-making onto a nearby campus. Should it continue? Perhaps it should, especially with international students and others who might need extra time to integrate into local churches. But to offer a ?spiritual kindergarten,? I suggest, is not the central mission of campus ministry. It is the main responsibility of the local church, and campus ministries instead should do what they are peculiarly situated and, I trust, equipped to do.
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Without this clear sense of what they are to do versus what the local church is to do, campus ministries neglect their particular work. Thus they compound the problem by competing with local churches: ?Why even go to a local church? It?s so much less interesting than this student group??which in the nature of the case is tailored to and includes only this nicely homogeneous demographic! Thus campus ministries in effect train students in a ?non-local-church? paradigm, which devastates them upon graduation as they must, in fact, make their way into local churches or flounder alone.
The message here, from someone who has worked with campus ministries for some time, makes a good deal of sense.? As I said, I’ve not had any first-hand contact with campus ministries at all, but my work with various youth ministries has led me to fear the same kind of homogenized vibe that some youth groups promote. Because some people measure the faithfulness (“effectiveness,” in their lingo) by butts-in-the-seats, such groups simply mimic the teen/college-student culture in an attempt to pull people in while they’re in town.? I’ve got nothing against free food, singing together, or establishing friendships in Christ; my question is why some youth ministries I’ve read about and seen (and, according to Stackhouse, some campus ministries as well) don’t put service to the local, intergenerational congregation any higher on the priorities of the mission.
I’m sure that folks who know my writing over at i wonder as i wander recognize this theme, and I grant that my anxieties about the emerging/Emergent movement and those about campus ministries are of the same cast.? I suppose I should ask of my readers whether the campus ministries with whom you’re familiar fall into this sort of trap.? Do they?
People find themselves out of place in the Church after they “grow up.” The trap you mention is a major problem with youth ministry in the Church. Once people reach our age they have a hard time connecting with the local Church. The end goal should be to help people along their faith journey. If that journey ends up just being four or five year, then I think that’s a problem.
enjoy the blog keep it up…
Thanks, Phil. It’s good to hear from you ten years out from Milligan. (That’s right. I’ve been out of there for a decade now.)
My reflections on the Stackhouse piece grow largely out of conversations I’ve had with Brad Warfield about the campus ministry scene, and he said similar things.
I could probably write ten pages on these thoughts, but it’d take some hours to organize them appropriately enough for an English teacher.
My short answer: yes and no / both and neither.
My longer answer: As a 3rd year college student pretty heavily involved in a campus ministry, I find much truth in this Stackhouse fellow’s concerns. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to who, upon graduation, can’t seem to find any church that ‘fits them’ or that facilitates the experience/growth of their campus ministry. This is especially true of the larger, well-funded campus ministries. I think it’s a potentially dangerous trend that so many young Christians are choosing a para-church organization/campus ministry over Sunday morning meetings. Elders are nonexistent (save, perhaps, the director); families are absent (minus siblings or occasional visits from parents); children are nowhere to be found. (Duh, right?) I didn’t notice the problems of such an age (and, invariably, racial/cultural) homogenous congregation until I finally found a church in Athens where the “mission statement” isn’t to draw in the enormous college student population via lights and music, etc. Seeing Christ in the families and watching 1 Cor. 12 play out was so inspirational!
Without elders, where is the wisdom and discretion that grow from nothing but years and experience? Without married couples and families, to whom shall young dating couples, specifically engaged couples and newly married young couples, look for marriage counseling, advice, support, and encouragement? I think anyone/everyone can and should serve the Body within the Church and I think the Church needs all to function as it was originally designed. Campus ministries don’t offer “all”.
However, they do offer some… in the context of campus ministries, I’ve also seen radical growth in some of my fellow college classmates. I’ve seen guys and girls begin to seek out this Jesus character; dedicate and/or rededicate their lives to Him; be ‘wrecked’ by mission trips; change their major once they’ve realized God’s calling them to something else, etc. etc. etc., all within the context of services on campus. I’ve heard people say they’d come to a campus ministry event / meeting / service before they would attend a church service (which raises the question, is it better to be at BCM on Tues or Wesley on Wed and nowhere on Sun than nowhere any of the days?). I’ve seen people come back to the Church after having been so disillusioned by it at some point in their childhood, thanks largely to the feeling that at least some of these Jesus-loving folks are *relevant*.
I have mixed feelings. So I am involved with both a campus ministry and a local church, and can appreciate each considerably but for different reasons. My involvement in the campus ministry, however, is geared towards two things: (1) one-on-one discipleship; (2) leading/serving others via a specific outreach ministry I’m involved with within the larger campus ministry. At this point in my Christian faith journey, I value the weekday service much less than the discipleship and leadership / service opportunities.
I, too, have anxieties about this Emergent Church theme permeating the hearts and souls of otherwise very-well-intentioned young Christians. A name that comes to mind is Shane Claiborne. I loved Irresistible Revolution and I respect his concerns with the Church in America. But we cannot desert the modern Church as some new-age/alternative/emergent Christians might suggest. Of course you know the reasons for this. This post is already long and it’s already late and I still have more Chaucer to read. More next time
You said a mouthful there.
I’ll concede that the most compelling argument I’ve heard for various Emerging churches is precisely what you point to, that those sorts of gatherings are likely the last ditch effort to bring folks disillusioned with traditional congregations into any kind of corporate worship. I’ll admit that the argument is compelling, but I suspect (not know) that such cases are rare relative to the people in high school and college groups who stay away from intergenerational congregations simply for distaste. Perhaps I should put away such suspicions and assume the best, but I won’t pretend that I don’t think that.
My main concern (and this comes mainly from my experiences as a high school and junior high helper–I’ll repeat that I don’t have any direct experience with university campus ministries) is that Christ’s Gospel, which is certainly more but nothing less than a narrative that joins together the groups of people that the world’s ideologies would separate, might fall captive to the age-demographic segregation that characterizes so much of late capitalist consumerism. I’d say that at least part of our witness to the nations in 2009 ought to be that true redeemed humanity, as you noted, involves living together with children and old people and junior high folks and 21-year-olds, and my fear is that high school youth groups and other such age-oriented groups are shooting that witness.
I recently had this same kinda discussion with the youth minister at my Church(before reading any of this.) Now granted our Church is a little different, labeled liberal by outsiders, but she said that our goal of youth ministry was to not have a segregated youth group, separated from the Church. The different age groups have their fellowship times and classes, but we specifically try to make them a part of the larger worship community.
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I come from a poorly funded independent college ministry that serves a two year college. It is the most challenging and rewarding work I have ever done. The most challenging job I have is maintaining good community relationships w/ local Churches and fellowships. What I’m talking about is the territoriality of Youth Ministers and Pastors and their assumptions that I may be stealing their sheep. Contrary to their beliefs, many of the Christian kids I work with would not darken the doors at their home churches because of the challenges they were ill equipped to deal with when they entered college. To many churches teach their kids to avoid the world instead of engaging it and when they get into school, they become overwhelmed by the freedom and partying they are introduced to. In my own unique history of ministry, I work mostly with non Christian students that I refer into the community in well established mature churches. I love what I do, but I would not recommend it to the faint of heart.
~Jeremy (old oozer)