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Note #8296 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Taking higher education higher
GA04006
June 26, 2004

Taking higher education higher

'Summit' topic is future of church's college and campus ministries

by Gary Luhr

Richmond, June 26 - More than 130 people gathered last week for a "summit" on
the future of the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s mission in higher education.

The gathering at Virginia Commonwealth University was planned in response to
reports approved by PC(USA) General Assemblies in 2001 and 2003 calling for
stronger relationships between the church and related schools, colleges and
universities, and for a new mission strategy for campus ministry.

The reports' titles - "Renewing the Commitment" and "Reclaiming the Vision" -
reflect the concerns of participants expressed for the oldest form of
Presbyterian mission beyond the local congregation. The church's educational
ministries date to 1746, when the Rev. William Tennant started the Log
College, which became Princeton University.

The PC(USA)'s National Ministries Division is scheduled to make a progress
report to the 2006 Assembly.

In welcoming the group, the Rev. Robert Turner, the denomination's associate
for higher education ministries, said: "The church is captured by
distractions that have led it into many valleys. It is important to go to a
summit, to catch a vision from beyond where we now are."

The conference involved students, college chaplains, campus ministers, people
engaged in congregational ministries with college students and PC(USA)
partner churches. Many spoke about their own experiences with church-related
student ministries.

"The transformation of campus ministry, for me, was discovering new ways of
opening my eyes to the Gospel," said Buz Wilcoxon, a student at Presbyterian
College in Clinton, South Carolina.

Jeannie Hunter, a graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, FL, who now
attends a seminary at Emory University in Atlanta, said, "I was allowed to
ask questions and found resources and fellowship to struggle through
(difficulties)."

Participants said campus ministers face frustrations and tensions, including
a sense of isolation in their work, disagreements about what it means to be a
church-related college, and uncertainty about how to provide ministry that is
distinctly Presbyterian while meeting the spiritual needs of students from a
variety of religious backgrounds.

The Rev. Jerry Cannon, the conference worship leader, said the PC(USA) has
many, many people who love campus ministry - "but they love it as it was 50
years ago."

Cannon said he looks forward to one day attending a General Assembly "made up
of Montreat graduates" - a reference to people who have participated in the
denomination's high-energy summer youth conferences at the Montreat
Conference Center in North Carolina.

Reminding his listeners that Jesus did "twice as much teaching as preaching,"
Cannon said, "We've got to get away from the fear that we can't do it, and
believe the Bible when it tells us, 'With God, all things are possible.'"

As a follow-up to the summit, a task force will suggest ways of incorporating
the participants' ideas in the church's higher-education ministries.

This story and many others may have photos, media, video clips that can be
found at http://www.pcusa.org/ga216.htm.

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