Sunday, May 23, 2010

"For the Good of the World"

In my last 3 years of church service I've been privileged to work as a mission pastor and as a campus minister. I've realized through this service that campus ministry is a key missional outpost that is necessary for the young adult generation and the health, ministry, and conversation of the Church. I love the challenging, dynamic, incredible place of campus ministry and all the relationships that are found at the university. With that in mind what a joy to find Dr. Russ Richey's writing related to campus ministry.

In a recent GBHEM publication Dr. Richey offers a historic overview of Methodist campus ministry from 1820 to the present, and includes some insights worthy of conversation at all levels in the life and ministry of the Church.

Here are two excerpts to whet your appetite and fuel our thinking & conversation:
"Campus ministries have been, and perhaps ideally should be, related (1) to the congregations near the institution and particularly to what has been termed the near-campus church; (2) to the district and the district superintendent
within whose purview the campus and its ministries lie; (3) to the annual conference whose extension ministry structures support and oversee United Methodist religious activities and to whom the ordained campus ministers belong; and (4) to the general agency (now GBHEM) that also provides resources for campus ministry. The
metaphors as proposed suggest a dynamic but unraveling marital saga."

"The vision of the entire connection at every level engaged with higher education and of the ministries on campus forming and equipping new generations of denominational leaders seemingly guided Shockley, Neinast, and Burry in their rebuilding efforts."

See the entire article at “For the Good of the World”:
Methodism’s Ministry to the Campus by Russell E. Richey