What Jan doesn’t mention in her post is that she will be a workshop leader at the Calling Congregations Conference, offering a practice module called “Campus Ministries as Congregations for College Students.” This practice module will speak to the ways in which campus ministries act as congregations that nurture and develop a student’s sense of vocation.  As campus ministers, we know this is what we do in practice, but how many of us can clearly articulate the processes by which we achieve vocational reflection with students? 

The VocationCARE (VoCARE) program arising out of the Calling Congregations Initiative, seeks to articulate the process by which congregations successfully raise up young leaders.  FTE has identified four sequential practices that contribute to leadership development: Create space to explore Christian vocation together; Ask self-awakening questions together; Reflect theologically on self and community; and Establish ministry opportunities.  These practices are the building blocks of vocational discernment and reflect a commitment to notice, name, and nurture the gifts and souls of young people for leadership in the church.

Intrigued by the workshop I experienced at the NCMA annual conference, I attended an all day event in Atlanta to deepen my understanding of this model.  I entered anticipating a free lunch and some interesting conversation.  I left with the beginnings of my Fall Residents Retreat. 

Wesley Foundation UTK residents engage in an application and interview process to become residents in the building.  These eight students form the core of our spiritual leadership at Wesley and are the locus of our initial vocational discernment efforts.  Identifying six scriptural call stories (three OT and three NT), we examined them for modes of notice, name, and nurture.  We then participated in the story-telling and Holy Listening practices recommended by the VoCARE curriculum in order to draw connections to times in our own lives when we have been noticed, named and nurtured.  We concluded by brainstorming how we might notice, name, and nurture other students for ministry at Wesley. (You can find the outline for the retreat in the Member Resource section of this website.)

By using this method, students were able to articulate when someone took them seriously, why they cared about or loved what they loved, and when that passion required a risky choice.  Exploring these questions through story-telling created an atmosphere of intimacy and safety, an atmosphere that opened us up to identifying our gifts and practicing ministry.

Take a look at the resources available and see if they might be helpful in your ministry as well.

CALLING CONGREGATIONS CONFERENCE

October 7-9, 2010, Atlanta, GA

If you are committed to equipping the next generation for leadership in the church, if you  are interested in conversing with others who share that commitment, if you want to engage in powerful worship with inspiring words to energize your own ministry to students exploring vocation, this event is for you.  Join others who are creating space for young people to hear their call to ministry.  Join in conversation and worship, hear Barbara Brown Taylor and Gregory Ellison, and be fed so that you can feed others.  At the Calling Congregation Conference you will gain practical skills and build essential support networks for the important work of ministering to young people who are called to ministry. This is a conference that will give you focus, energy and food for the journey that is ministry with young adults. 

Calling Congregations is a program of the Fund for Theological Education (FTE), an Atlanta-based organization whose vision is to Call Young Leaders, Renew the Church and Change the World.   The program, funded by a grant from the Lilly Foundation, provides grants, conferences, workshops, support structures and resources for churches, ministries and ministers to identify and nurture young people into ministry in mainline Christian churches.

 By Jan Rivero

The resource shelf at our Washington DC conference last month held a couple copies of a volume entitled Encouraging Authenticity and Spirituality in Higher Education.  A collection of essays drawn from a number of student affairs specialists, it explores the history and practice of education institutions integrating moral and spiritual concerns into the university culture.  One writer, Jon C. Dalton, presents ten principles that he sees as key to fostering spiritual and moral growth in students in his article “Principles and Practices for Strengthening Moral and Spiritual Growth in College.” 

• Principle One: The institution makes a deliberate and comprehensive effort to communicate its core values, purposes, and moral commitments to students, faculty, staff, and other key constituents.
• Principle Two: The institution models its mission and core values through its leadership and administrative operations.
• Principle Three: The institution’s mission and core values are integrated with academic programs.
• Principle Four: The institution translates its vision and values into guidelines regarding conduct and the responsibilities of citizenship.
• Principle Five: The institution promotes public dialogue and debate about its mission and core values.
• Principle Six: The institution takes deliberate steps to help students critically examine and act on its mission and core values.
• Principle Seven: The institution promotes a purposeful, caring, and inclusive campus community.
• Principle Eight: The institution is committed to the holistic learning and development of students.
• Principle Nine: The institution assesses its efforts to strengthen authenticity, spiritual growth, meaning, and purpose.
• Principle Ten: The institution honors achievements of authenticity, spirituality, meaning and moral purpose.

As campus ministers, we know that our jobs have always been about helping students to discern and construct ways of being filled with meaning and purpose.  However, we do so in conjunction with the university whether we realize that or not.  The university culture in which we find ourselves influences our students in multiple ways and they are not always in alignment with our own.  It is then our job to identify those narratives and help students look at them critically through a faith perspective.  We do not want to degrade the university or preach against academic success, but we do need to be mindful of the stories that institutions tell. 

So a survey for the comment section: Does your university enact any of the above principles? If so which ones? Are they congruent with university practice? How do the core values and mission of your ministry context influence your ministry?  How might you work in tandem with that mission and those values?