Why is campus ministry important, especially campus ministry done from a mainline, protestant context? I’ll tell you my story. I had been with UPCaM for one month when I and the other Inter Religious Councils members were invited by Student Affairs/Residence Life to speak to Resident Assistants during their pre-fall training. We all met in the Hillel Center and talked about our campus ministries. At that time, I wasn’t sure what ministry at UPCaM would look like, but I had done campus ministry before and had just come out of 7 years as a parish pastor. I know ministry and college students are people.
So…I winged it, they laughed a little and then a young woman came up to me. She asked if I was a Minister, a real pastor. I said I was. She explained to me that she was the student program coordinator for InterVarsity and that because she was a woman, no one would listen to her. She asked if I could come to one of their meetings and talk about what the Bible says about women in ministry since her fellow students believed the Bible told women to be silent and that men are the head and women should be in submission and not be in authority over men. You know….the conservative party line. I told her I would love to come. I’ve never seen that student again or heard from her. I wonder….. But that is not my first experience with non-denominational groups on campus that are led, often, by folks who have no theological training. When I served at a campus in South Dakota, we had that same conversation about women and ministry over and over. The conversation was with students as much as those out in the church. Why do we need mainline ministry on campus? This young woman is my reason.
Rev. Donna Hughes-Hargraves
United Protestant Campus Ministries
Case-Western Reserve University
Cleveland, OH
