wfn.org | Commentary: Campus spiritual awakening needs church support

["NewsDesk" <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 5, 2003 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn. 
   10-71BP{121}

NOTE: A head-and-shoulders photo of the Rev. Harold V. Hartley III is
available.

A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Harold V. Hartley III*

A spiritual awakening is occurring on college campuses across the United
States. Without intentional support from the church, however, these flames of
revival may die out. 

Turning away from the bankrupt values of previous generations bent on "me
first" materialism and greed, a new generation of young adults is desperately
searching for greater meaning and purpose in life, a new sense of community,
opportunities to serve those in need and a vital spiritual connection.

United Methodist campus ministers and college chaplains report record numbers
of students attending their weekly worship services, Bible studies and
community service activities. Increasing numbers of students graduating out
of campus ministry programs are seeking one- or two-year service
opportunities and considering ministry within the church, as evidenced by the
steadily declining age of seminary enrollees.

Despite reports that this new generation is not interested in
denominationalism, we find that students are seeking vital connections to a
deeply rooted tradition. They may not be blindly loyal to one institution,
but they are attracted to a Wesleyan faith that combines vital piety and
social holiness, and is intellectually engaging while tolerant of other
views.

This increase in student religious involvement is accompanied by the
development in 1996 of a new United Methodist Student Movement, the first
national network of students within the denomination in nearly 30 years.

Attendance at the annual Student Forum, a national gathering of United
Methodist college students, has doubled in six years, and regional gatherings
at the annual conference and state levels are sprouting up. 

Recent shifts in higher education reveal a new openness to issues of faith
and religious practice. Immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
once-skeptical university administrators turned to campus ministers to bring
messages of comfort and hope to students and faculty.

Furthermore, the renewed interest in things spiritual is coupled with the
largest growth in the college student population in U.S. history, with an
expected enrollment increase of more than 15 percent by 2012.

This spiritual awakening among our young could not come at a more opportune
time in the life of our rapidly aging denomination. According to a recent
study, on any given Sunday, nearly 90 percent of folk sitting in United
Methodist pews are over 30. Other reports note the shortage of ordained
elders to fill local church pulpits.

Paradoxically, this flourish of student interest and religious activity on
campus is coupled with a steep decline in church funding of campus ministry
in particular and church-related higher education in general. Campus clergy
are spending more time raising funds and less time raising disciples. 

The retrenchment of campus-based ministries is evidenced in the rapid
turnover and declining morale of campus ministers and chaplains. Yet we
desperately need passionate, theologically trained campus clergy who can
creatively present the Gospel with integrity to a new generation. 

Annual conferences faced with over-committed budgets are looking to cut
costs, and campus ministry, with its significant personnel and facility
needs, is an inviting target. Frequently, a stopgap approach is to turn
ministry with students over to local congregations. But these efforts all too
often suffer from lack of commitment and expertise. 

Rather than commit to putting the best and the brightest clergy on the front
lines to minister with a burgeoning student population hungering for
spiritual guidance, we are trying to fill empty pulpits. Instead of expanding
programs and adding staff to reach unchurched students, we are slashing
financial support for campus ministries.

No longer can we count on our young to return to United Methodist churches
when they reach their 30s and have young children. They will go where their
presence is intentionally sought and their gifts are warmly welcomed. We
cannot afford to lose this generation of young people to para-church groups
such as Campus Crusade or InterVarsity, which are investing heavily in campus
ministry.

Our denomination is faced with difficult choices. At a time when new
investment in ministries with college students is needed urgently, we are
experiencing funding shortfalls, especially at annual conference levels. Yet,
there are signs of hope and promise. The Texas Annual Conference recently
moved all of its part-time Wesley Foundation directors to full-time status, a
significant financial commitment. The California-Nevada Conference is
establishing new campus ministries. The Tennessee Conference is undertaking
an ambitious $1 million capital campaign for campus ministry facilities. 

Methodism began as a campus renewal movement, led by brothers John and
Charles Wesley at Oxford University. The spiritual reawakening on campuses
today promises to bring much-needed renewal to our church, but we cannot
maintain this spiritual revival without intentional nurture and financial
support from the church. 

Preoccupied with institutional atrophy, theological fracture and efforts to
restructure, we may miss the opportunity that is before us. Without a
decisive commitment to student ministry, the fire of campus spiritual renewal
may burn out for lack of tending.

# # #

*Hartley is director of student ministries in the campus ministry section of
the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry.

Commentaries provided by United Methodist News Service do not necessarily
represent the opinions or policies of UMNS or the United Methodist Church.

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United Methodist News Service
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