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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
July 2002 |
Gobin-DePauw model a living church-campus partnership
By Rick Miller
Special to the Hoosier UM News
In 1997 when I arrived to serve as pastor of Gobin Church, there was one student active in the life and ministry of that congregation. Where were the others? The answer was evident. No one seemed to care if they were there or not.
The situation has changed. Today Gobin takes seriously that part of its mission that calls us to reach out to students at UM-related DePauw University and give them an opportunity to be involved in the life and ministry of the congregation. During fall semester of 2001, we had 147 students active in some form of ministry associated with the local congregation, including our Summer Enrichment and After School Enrichment programs for at-risk children in the community.
We have two DePauw students teaching Sunday School and one supervising our nursery. DePauw students are currently serving as leaders of our Senior High Youth Ministry, and 14 serve on church committees.
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"All the local church had to do was give some attention to making students aware that their presence … and the unique contributions that they bring with them are welcome." --Rick Miller |
Various campus groups volunteer to serve as ushers, greeters, lectors and liturgists during our worship services one Sunday each month. Vocal and instrumental soloists from the DePauw School of Music regularly enrich our worship services. Nearly 400 DePauw students have requested a daily e-mail devotion sent out from the Church each morning. Over 300 students have requested our monthly GobinGang campus newsletter that keeps students informed about student breakfasts served by the congregation, student Bible studies and student fellowship activities.
All the local church had to do was give some attention to making students aware that their presence in the life and ministry of the congregation and the unique contributions that they bring with them are welcome.
Diversity
Diversity at DePauw reflects increasingly the diversity of our American culture. I rejoice when I see Christian and Jewish students together in a Gobin Church-sponsored study. In our worship services, we have students from Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christian backgrounds.
We have one Hindu student that has not missed a worship service since arriving on campus. The services attended by non-Christian students are not interfaith worship services (though we have such services occasionally); rather worship at Gobin Church is Christian with openness to all people of faith.
Mentoring future clergy
DePauw University is educating some of the finest leaders of the church for the future. As a member of the Terre Haute District Committee on Ordained Ministry, I know how delighted we are when a young college student responds to God's call to enter ordained ministry. During my five years at Gobin Church, I have had the privilege of serving as "mentor" to seven candidates for ordination in the United Methodist Church. At present, I am working with a group of four DePauw students as they work their way through the candidacy process. Given the high academic standards, focus on community and world service and emphasis on social justice that is so much a part of the DePauw education experience, coupled with the opportunity for students to go through the United Methodist Candidacy program and be actively involved in a local United Methodist church during their college years, I have great hope that what happens in Greencastle, will provide some of the most outstanding clergy leadership for the Church in years to come.
Clarinda's part
Much credit for the success of Gobin Church's Campus Ministry in recent years belongs to associate pastor Clarinda Crawford. A 1999 DePauw graduate, she is now a student at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. She was hired by the local church in 2000 to give leadership to the congregation in reaching out to the campus. She has led the congregation to a new day of campus ministry.
Editor's note: Last month, the Rev. Rick Miller who had served as senior pastor at Gobin Memorial from 1997 to 2002, was appointed to Lawrence UMC in Indianapolis. Gobin's new senior pastor is the Rev. Larry Burton.
New book explores religious practices on campus |
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Conrad Cherry, Amanda Porterfield and Betty DeBerg, co-authored the book, "Religion on Campus" (University of North Carolina Press, 2001) in which they present their research findings about religious practices of today's college student. In that book, Cherry explains, "Students today tend to be questors. They haven't decided definitively what they believe yet. This questing means they don't mind borrowing from other religions to form their own religious worldview." According to Porterfield, the Catholic college chaplains surveyed for their book expect students to be lukewarm about institutional religion and more open to spirituality. As a result, "they were not at all leery about student interest in things such as Buddhism and Judaism. They felt that spiritual seeking would ultimately make students better, stronger Catholics." I can affirm this reality as a pastor serving a United Methodist church on a college campus. We United Methodists, in my opinion, have nothing to fear about diversity. We should, however, be concerned about offering a "Wesleyan presence" on our church-related campuses. That presence is the responsibility of our United Methodist chaplains; but it one that should be supported by active interest, involvement and encouragement from our churches. Rick Miller |