Working on a college campus, I see students struggling with life in various ways. I found this article to be eye-opening. Here is one quote:
"The 2009 National Survey of Counseling Directors, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh, found that 94 percent of directors reported an increase in students with severe psychological conditions, including depression, eating disorders, and drug and alcohol addictions. In addition, 91 percent believe a greater number of students are arriving on campus already taking psychiatric medications."
Also, if you want a nice summary of the importance of campus ministry, I found this article to be helpful. Here's the fact that churches need to face today: "In the past, churches would expect that people who dropped out of church during their college-age days would come back once they were married with kids. The problem is they're not coming back."
Perhaps not as unrelated to campus ministry as we might think are articles on the greed of banks (and many college students are still pursuing the American dream of more, more, more) and an article on forced abortions in China (a rare issue that might bring pro-life and pro-choice Americans together as neither life nor choice is getting a hearing here).
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
If the Phillies win today...
If the Phillies win tonight, which is a big if, we will have a game seven tomorrow at 8 PM. This will leave me with a problem. CSF meets on Thursdays at 7:30. People were distracted last Thursday when it was only game 2, no one will be focused when there is a game 7! So should we just cut our losses, cancel CSF, and watch the game?
Some might consider this a sacrilege: canceling a Christian worship time because of a baseball game? Wouldn't have CSF be a test of the students' faith, do they care more for Jesus or the Phillies and Yannkees? That seems like holier-than-thou pontificating to me. The whole point of CSF is to build a community of Christians on campus who can effectively reach out to their peers. Will this community be damaged that much if we set aside our normal routine to join those peers in a rare cultural experience (after all, game sevens are rare)? The right thing to do is probably to cancel CSF and encourage the students to watch the game with their friends. Those who do not like baseball can still get together for fun times.
Of course, if the Yankees end it tonight this whole thing is a moot point. We'll see.
Some might consider this a sacrilege: canceling a Christian worship time because of a baseball game? Wouldn't have CSF be a test of the students' faith, do they care more for Jesus or the Phillies and Yannkees? That seems like holier-than-thou pontificating to me. The whole point of CSF is to build a community of Christians on campus who can effectively reach out to their peers. Will this community be damaged that much if we set aside our normal routine to join those peers in a rare cultural experience (after all, game sevens are rare)? The right thing to do is probably to cancel CSF and encourage the students to watch the game with their friends. Those who do not like baseball can still get together for fun times.
Of course, if the Yankees end it tonight this whole thing is a moot point. We'll see.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Question of the Day
As I mentioned a while back, our theme this semester on Thursdays is to seek answers to tough questions people have about Christianity. Its been fun so far. Tonight one of our students has asked to talk about the persecuted Church in the world. I decided that a good question to go along with that would be: Why don't miracles happen today like they did in Bible times? This question relates to the persecuted church because in many places where the church is persecuted we do hear stories of miracles of healing and such. But often in America, the only miracles we hear about are of people finding close parking spaces at the mall on a rainy day! I don't think that counts.
So I wonder, how would you answer that question were it posed to you?
So I wonder, how would you answer that question were it posed to you?
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Old dying church...new vibrant church
Part of being a campus minister, at least for me, means traveling around and visiting churches to share the vision for ministry on campus. Being a commissioned missionary in the Evangelical Congregational Church, the denomination I grew up in and, obviously, am still a part of (along with the Christian Church/Church of Christ), most of the churches I visit are EC churches. Like any other EC churches, each church is unique and you can never be sure what you'll get.
This morning I was invited to visit, for the third time, First EC Church in Reading. I believe this was one of the first churches I visited back in 2006, then I was invited again in 2008. Each time I have been given an hour in Sunday school to speak on campus ministry. After that I sit in the worship service, worshiping with the community.
First EC Church is certainly a church with a long history that appears to be near the end of its race. While I am not sure of their history exactly, two things give clues. Their huge and beautiful building indicates they once had a larger, vibrant congregation. But their current attendance is around thirty, most of whom are well into retirement and nearing the end of their sojourn here on earth. It would be really tempting, if that was the end of the story, to be a bit sad for this church.
In the time since First EC began the demographics in Reading have changed. Along with more and more Hispanics moving into the area, churches have been planted. One of these churches, affiliated with the EC church, is Vida Nueva (New Life). For the last number of years (I am not sure how long, but at least as far back as 2006 when I first visited), First EC has thrown wide the doors to their facilities, allowing Vida Nueva to worship in this beautiful building. While First EC's thirty or so attendees barely makes a dent in the pews, Vida Nueva packs the place.
So we see while one church is finishing its race it is helping another church to begin its own race. This is beautiful. Even this is not the end.
Today between Sunday school and the worship service one of the ladies told me that another church, Living Word, is meeting in their building on Sunday evenings. This new church has already grown big enough to, like Vida Nueva, to pack the sanctuary. And like Vida Nueva, this church reflects the demographics of the city of Reading.
The Holy Spirit is certainly moving in the world today as churches like Vida Nueva and Living Word are emerging. In the evangelical sub-culture there is a lot of talk about the "emerging" church. This week I have been reading The Next Evangelicalism by Soong-Chan Rah and he has forcefully shown that the real emerging church is the one growing in Latin America, Africa and Asia as well as among such immigrant communities in the USA. If our eyes are not open we might miss this, but this is the true evangelical church emerging in 21st century America.
This morning I was invited to visit, for the third time, First EC Church in Reading. I believe this was one of the first churches I visited back in 2006, then I was invited again in 2008. Each time I have been given an hour in Sunday school to speak on campus ministry. After that I sit in the worship service, worshiping with the community.
First EC Church is certainly a church with a long history that appears to be near the end of its race. While I am not sure of their history exactly, two things give clues. Their huge and beautiful building indicates they once had a larger, vibrant congregation. But their current attendance is around thirty, most of whom are well into retirement and nearing the end of their sojourn here on earth. It would be really tempting, if that was the end of the story, to be a bit sad for this church.
In the time since First EC began the demographics in Reading have changed. Along with more and more Hispanics moving into the area, churches have been planted. One of these churches, affiliated with the EC church, is Vida Nueva (New Life). For the last number of years (I am not sure how long, but at least as far back as 2006 when I first visited), First EC has thrown wide the doors to their facilities, allowing Vida Nueva to worship in this beautiful building. While First EC's thirty or so attendees barely makes a dent in the pews, Vida Nueva packs the place.
So we see while one church is finishing its race it is helping another church to begin its own race. This is beautiful. Even this is not the end.
Today between Sunday school and the worship service one of the ladies told me that another church, Living Word, is meeting in their building on Sunday evenings. This new church has already grown big enough to, like Vida Nueva, to pack the sanctuary. And like Vida Nueva, this church reflects the demographics of the city of Reading.
The Holy Spirit is certainly moving in the world today as churches like Vida Nueva and Living Word are emerging. In the evangelical sub-culture there is a lot of talk about the "emerging" church. This week I have been reading The Next Evangelicalism by Soong-Chan Rah and he has forcefully shown that the real emerging church is the one growing in Latin America, Africa and Asia as well as among such immigrant communities in the USA. If our eyes are not open we might miss this, but this is the true evangelical church emerging in 21st century America.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Human Trafficking
Last evening Karen Warren shared with us her passion for working to end human trafficking in the world. It was quite an amazing evening and all the students who attended were greatly affected. First, throughout the day we had a table in the hallway sharing information about human trafficking with people and inviting them to the evening's main event. This was successful as our usual attendance for Tuesday Bible studies is about 25, last evening we were around 45.
I can't sum up what Karen said here and I won't try. She has done much research on the issue, has spoke about it to many people, and has lived in Cambodia working in prevention and intervention. Her stories from her time in Cambodia were most eye-opening. She has seen young girls up close who have been forced into the sex trade, she has seen white Europeans and Americans walking the streets in the red-light district seeking out child prostitutes. Many times she had to hold back tears as she shared.
Perhaps most challenging was her calling the students to not just care about human trafficking because it is the cool thing for the moment. The temptation will be to move on to environmentalism, then homelessness in the US, then whatever comes next. She told the students not to care about human trafficking just because she does. Rather, she called them to find what issue they are passionate about and learn about it. Her prayer, and I echo it, is that students would look outside themselves, increasing their view of the world, and overcome evil with love.
She also warned us to be on the lookout for slavery in our own communities. This may seem shocking to many of us, but the fact is that thousands are trafficked through the US each year and that many are held in slavery here right now. Just this past weekend the local newspaper ran an article about massage parlors in the Berks area that serve as fronts for prostitution. That is just scary. But it should cause all of us to be aware.
During the question and answer time I could tell the students were somewhat shocked. My prayer is that the shock won't wear off today or anytime soon, but rather that the students in CSF would work with their peers on campus to actively join the movement to end slavery in our lifetime.
Below are a few websites of organizations dedicated to working to end slavery:
Love 146
International Justice Mission
Free the Slaves
Not for Sale
American Anti-Slavery Group
I can't sum up what Karen said here and I won't try. She has done much research on the issue, has spoke about it to many people, and has lived in Cambodia working in prevention and intervention. Her stories from her time in Cambodia were most eye-opening. She has seen young girls up close who have been forced into the sex trade, she has seen white Europeans and Americans walking the streets in the red-light district seeking out child prostitutes. Many times she had to hold back tears as she shared.
Perhaps most challenging was her calling the students to not just care about human trafficking because it is the cool thing for the moment. The temptation will be to move on to environmentalism, then homelessness in the US, then whatever comes next. She told the students not to care about human trafficking just because she does. Rather, she called them to find what issue they are passionate about and learn about it. Her prayer, and I echo it, is that students would look outside themselves, increasing their view of the world, and overcome evil with love.
She also warned us to be on the lookout for slavery in our own communities. This may seem shocking to many of us, but the fact is that thousands are trafficked through the US each year and that many are held in slavery here right now. Just this past weekend the local newspaper ran an article about massage parlors in the Berks area that serve as fronts for prostitution. That is just scary. But it should cause all of us to be aware.
During the question and answer time I could tell the students were somewhat shocked. My prayer is that the shock won't wear off today or anytime soon, but rather that the students in CSF would work with their peers on campus to actively join the movement to end slavery in our lifetime.
Below are a few websites of organizations dedicated to working to end slavery:
Love 146
International Justice Mission
Free the Slaves
Not for Sale
American Anti-Slavery Group
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Concession stand - why I hate nachos with cheese
CSF at University Park runs a concession stand in Beaver Stadium for each Penn State home game. The money they make off this helps fund many ministry activities. One or two times each year, CSF Berks travels to the game and works the stand with UP. We then get a portion of the profit also. Money aside, it is a fun trip!
This past weekend we worked the game against Temple. It was the first time I worked the stand in two years, since I couldn't make it last year, but little has changed. I volunteered to be a cashier, with Emily as my "runner". Basically, I took the orders and the money while Emily retrieved the food. Having both worked the stand as students, we are veterans and make a pretty good team.
Unfortunately, I got stuck right in the middle of the stand. There are six lines, each with a cashier. Being on the end is just better, but I did not claim a spot soon enough so I was in the middle. This meant that Emily had to go to one corner of the stand or the other for soda orders, we had no soda nearby. But soda was not the problem. Nachos with cheese was.
There are two machines that dispense nacho cheese. I imagine someone designed these machines in the 1800s, shortly after the invention of nachos with cheese, and the design has not been improved upon. When the machine runs out of cheese you need to remove the bag (pouch?) that is now empty and replace it with a full one. The process for this refil is difficult and only one or two people in the stand, out of about forty, seemed to know how to do it. On Saturday one of the machines was broken, so the only one working was practically right behind my cashier station. Thus, most of the day I had a line of people behind me waiting for cheese or trying to fill up cheese.
Furthermore, people running around in tight spaces with cups full of liquid cheese is a recipe for disaster. Early in the game a worker carrying nacho cheese ran into Emily, spilling nacho cheese on Emily's white PSU sweatshirt. Later in the game she got more spilled on her. Needless to say, that sweatshirt has probably been worn for the last time!
So if any engineers are reading this I have a challenge: design a better nacho cheese dispenser for Beaver Stadium!
Overall it was a good trip, despite my animosity towards nacho cheese. We had a good group of students go up from Berks and I enjoyed seeing many old Berks students who now to to UP. I am grateful that we can partner with CSF UP in this stand once a semester. We might try to plan another trip up for they can certainly use the help. But if I go I think I will volunteer for pretzel maker or soda filler...whatever keeps me away from nachos with cheese!!!
This past weekend we worked the game against Temple. It was the first time I worked the stand in two years, since I couldn't make it last year, but little has changed. I volunteered to be a cashier, with Emily as my "runner". Basically, I took the orders and the money while Emily retrieved the food. Having both worked the stand as students, we are veterans and make a pretty good team.
Unfortunately, I got stuck right in the middle of the stand. There are six lines, each with a cashier. Being on the end is just better, but I did not claim a spot soon enough so I was in the middle. This meant that Emily had to go to one corner of the stand or the other for soda orders, we had no soda nearby. But soda was not the problem. Nachos with cheese was.
There are two machines that dispense nacho cheese. I imagine someone designed these machines in the 1800s, shortly after the invention of nachos with cheese, and the design has not been improved upon. When the machine runs out of cheese you need to remove the bag (pouch?) that is now empty and replace it with a full one. The process for this refil is difficult and only one or two people in the stand, out of about forty, seemed to know how to do it. On Saturday one of the machines was broken, so the only one working was practically right behind my cashier station. Thus, most of the day I had a line of people behind me waiting for cheese or trying to fill up cheese.
Furthermore, people running around in tight spaces with cups full of liquid cheese is a recipe for disaster. Early in the game a worker carrying nacho cheese ran into Emily, spilling nacho cheese on Emily's white PSU sweatshirt. Later in the game she got more spilled on her. Needless to say, that sweatshirt has probably been worn for the last time!
So if any engineers are reading this I have a challenge: design a better nacho cheese dispenser for Beaver Stadium!
Overall it was a good trip, despite my animosity towards nacho cheese. We had a good group of students go up from Berks and I enjoyed seeing many old Berks students who now to to UP. I am grateful that we can partner with CSF UP in this stand once a semester. We might try to plan another trip up for they can certainly use the help. But if I go I think I will volunteer for pretzel maker or soda filler...whatever keeps me away from nachos with cheese!!!
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Seeking Answers to Tough Questions
This semester our theme for our Thursday night gatherings is "Seeking Answers to Tough Questions". Each week we look at a different question, or set of questions, that people have about the Christian faith. The first week we discussed questions relating to God, seeking to understand how Christians can believe in one God who exists as three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). We saw that rather then being an academic doctrine only for theologians, this is a very practical truth as it shows us that God has always existed at base in loving relationship and we are invited into this relationship.
Last week we talked about where the Bible, specifically the New Testament, came from. We looked at things like the process in which the New Testament was put together and why certain books, such as the Gospel of Thomas, were never included. Tonight we are going to discuss the transmission of the Bible, asking whether we can trust that copies of copies of copies have preserved accurately what the original writers intended. In both of these the goal is not just an intellectual understanding but also to see how these questions, and our answers to them, play out in real life on a practical level.
Planning ahead, I am wondering what some good questions would be. I have a few that I have asked myself, and been asked by others, over the years and that I would love to talk about. But I want to make sure I am talking about questions people are asking. So I am open for suggestions.
Here are some I am thinking of:
*Relationship of Jesus to other religions?
*How can a good God send people to hell?
*How can the wrathful God of the Old Testament be the loving God of Jesus?
*How do you explain Christianity's support of slavery and oppression of women through the centuries?
*Why is there so much evil and suffering in the world?
Any other ideas?
Last week we talked about where the Bible, specifically the New Testament, came from. We looked at things like the process in which the New Testament was put together and why certain books, such as the Gospel of Thomas, were never included. Tonight we are going to discuss the transmission of the Bible, asking whether we can trust that copies of copies of copies have preserved accurately what the original writers intended. In both of these the goal is not just an intellectual understanding but also to see how these questions, and our answers to them, play out in real life on a practical level.
Planning ahead, I am wondering what some good questions would be. I have a few that I have asked myself, and been asked by others, over the years and that I would love to talk about. But I want to make sure I am talking about questions people are asking. So I am open for suggestions.
Here are some I am thinking of:
*Relationship of Jesus to other religions?
*How can a good God send people to hell?
*How can the wrathful God of the Old Testament be the loving God of Jesus?
*How do you explain Christianity's support of slavery and oppression of women through the centuries?
*Why is there so much evil and suffering in the world?
Any other ideas?
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