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GA06134
Collegiate ministries find their 'Space' in Birmingham Freedom Ride of 1961 the focus of summit
by Melissa Minnich
BIRMINGHAM, June 21* Ninety staff and students affiliated with collegiate campus ministries around the country came to Birmingham just prior to the 217th General Assembly for "Summit 2: Space for Grace."
Held at South Highland Presbyterian Church, the majority of this year's summit consisted of a wide offering of workshops, small-group time, keynote speakers and free time to explore a city rich in history and culture. Workshops focused on providing both students and staff with ideas for a wide variety of campus ministries, and informal conversation was strongly encouraged throughout the week.
A focus throughout the event was the 1961 Freedom Rides from Washington D.C. to Birmingham and the subsequent bus burning in Anniston that entailed.
Two of the Freedom Riders who made the ride that May in the name of racial integration, Hank Thomas and Benjamin Cox, were present and addressed conference participants in a shared keynote address, and then in a follow-up workshop specifically designed for students.
Thomas and Cox were available for individual discussion for much of the remainder of Summit, with Cox and his wife accompanying conferees to the nearby Civil Rights Institute and historic Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Wednesday afternoon.
The student portion of Summit * including small-group time, some of the workshops and student elections * was planned by the Presbyterian Student Strategy Team (PSST), the national student leadership for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that works within the Presbyterian Collegiate Connection.
Members of PSST, along with a few student conference participants, participated in the commissioning of youth advisory delegates to the 217th General Assembly. Crosses were placed around the delegates' necks, and commissioning words were spoken to each.
This was the second Summit that has been held, the first having occurred directly before the 216th General Assembly (2004) in Richmond, Virginia. At that gathering, the Presbyterian Association for Collegiate and Higher Education Ministries (PACHEM) was created.
The association is made up of students, campus ministers, church-based staff, chaplains, church relations officers, campus-based staff and ecclesiastical partners * all of whom are involved in some way with collegiate ministries.
PACHEM exists "to connect and empower those who support, advocate, and participate in collegiate and higher education ministries."
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