Council on Campus Ministry looks at Campus Ministry in 2019 and Beyond

By: Annalee Allen

On Thursday, January 17 the WNC Council on Campus Ministry hosted “Listening and Learning: Campus Ministry 2019 and Beyond”. This gathering was designed as a time for members of the Council on Campus Ministry, Campus Ministers, and College Chaplains to learn from one another and to discern the best direction for Campus Ministry in the Western North Carolina Conference.
 
“Each of our campus ministries serves a unique ministry context. And as a Council we want to celebrate and embrace that uniqueness and diversity of ministry.” John Howard, Chair
 
The gathering was facilitated by Claire Bowen, a consultant from the North Georgia Conference,  who has led on-boarding seminars in corporate settings and in the UMC. She has led seminars in our  conference for new senior pastors and staff members at large churches as well as newly assigned bishops of the Southeastern Jurisdiction.
 
During the gathering, participants discussed ways the council and campus ministries could do more to partner together and support one another in their work. “Campus Ministry in WNCC is only possible through the work of a huge number of volunteers, staff, students, chaplains, pastors, and so many others.  Opportunities to come together to celebrate and to prayerfully reflect on how we can continue to share Christ’s love on our college campuses are rare, and are an incredible blessing,” said Andrew Mails, Director of the Wesley Luther Campus Ministry at UNCG.
 
“I am continually impressed by the Council’s willingness to strengthen campus ministry in Western North Carolina. Collegiate ministry nationwide faces a deluge of challenges that will require the best-equipped leaders. The strategic session with Claire is just one example of how the council itself strives to learn and improve to face the days ahead and help prepare a diversity of campus ministry leaders in Western North Carolina.” Rev. Steve Cheyney, Campus Minister of Niner United at UNCC
 
“I felt like the meeting today enabled us (CCM and the campus ministers) to take a big step toward a fuller understanding of our commonality as we work to serve college students and the staff of their institutions. To see, hear, and witness ‘it is not we versus them, but us together,’ was very affirming.” Larry Jones, Campus Minister of the Wake Forest Wesley Foundation.
 
The purpose of the WNC Council on Campus Ministry is to empower those responsible for ministry on campus so that students will become “disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. The council hopes to have more gatherings like this in the future.