Campus Ministry: An Ark from the Storm of College Life

           Given the recent events in LCMS Campus Ministry, I have been thinking a lot lately about what Campus Ministry meant to me as a college student, and what it means to me today. I have often stressed the importance of Campus Ministry among my friends and family, who tend to agree with me. There were also times when I was frustrated over people's apathy toward Campus Ministry or their unwillingness to help fund it. Sometimes there is a line of thinking that goes a little bit like this: “College is a time for people to do their thing, they're just going to leave the church anyway, so why bother. Maybe they'll come back when they have kids.” This attitude makes silly assumptions and belies the real issue: Some people just don't care about the Spiritual Care of college students, or they have given it up as a lost cause. This breaks my heart because for me, Campus Ministry was so important to my Spiritual well-being, my relationships, and my future.

When I arrived on campus at the University of Iowa in the Fall of 2001, I was a member of the ELCA. My home church was staunchly against the tide of leadership and thought in the ELCA and was fighting it. The pastor there told me to be wary of ELCA Campus Ministries because they tended to be quite liberal and theologically "iffy" (at best), and because they were generally joint ministries with the Episcopal Church. He told me to find a Church that believed the Bible was wholly God's Word, and that did not compromise that truth. "It doesn't have to be ELCA." Prior to this conversation, I had visited campus for freshman orientation and accidentally checked the LCMS box at the campus ministry table. I received mailings from St. Paul's Lutheran Chapel and University Center all summer long. So, when I arrived on Campus in the fall, I went first to the ELCA ministry (where no one was to be found though all the doors were open -- weird), and then straight down the street to the LCMS campus ministry. There I met Pastor Mons, who had just taken the Call and had not even been installed yet (they were waiting for opening weekend of school so students could attend). I stuck out my hand and said, "Hi, I'm Elizabeth Meckler, and I am a member of the ELCA, but I'm not sure I want to attend an ELCA church." I’m sure that probably threw him for a bit of a loop! Pastor was on his way out the door, for a medical appointment, so we made an appointment for the following week and he invited me to his installation.

The first time I met with Pastor Mons, it became clear to him, and really for the first time to me, that my home church was closer in thought to the LCMS than the ELCA on a lot of key points. He said something like, "Well, you're a horse of a different color." We agreed that until he spoke with the District President and my pastor, I would not commune. I attended services at the Chapel and it became my home. Pastor Mons and I met once a week on Fridays in a sort of informal catechetical session where we basically went through the major differences between the church bodies, and wherein I learned I continuously lined up well with LCMS doctrine. I began to commune under Pastoral Care while at school nine months out of the year. I began volunteering at the Chapel, started editing the newsletter, and at some point I became church secretary. The hardest thing for me was closed communion, not because I didn't understand it, but because I knew that once I became LCMS, I would abide by it and would not be able to commune with my family. I went home the summer after my freshman year to talk to my family about leaving the ELCA, and to talk to my pastor. They were all much more supportive than I had expected. When I returned in the fall for my sophomore year, I became a member of St. Paul's, and a member of the LCMS. I also became a Peer Minister.

As students and permanent congregational members, we were fed with God's Word and with His very Body and Blood every week at the 10:30 AM service. Pastor Mons offered Sunday morning Bible study and Wednesday evening devotions. There were activities and servant trips. Through it all, everything we did flowed from the Lord's Eucharistic service to us. It shaped who we were, as it does all Christians, and the Chapel became our "ark", our shelter and home from the storms of campus life, family issues, national tragedies and more. We learned not only God's Word, but also about the Confessions of our faith as we studied both the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord. We were being shaped as Lutherans, as people of God. As Peer Ministers, we engaged in additional study so that we could faithfully lead our fellow students not only in planning activities, but in being a listening ear when needed, a resource, or an encourager. Often, we pointed our fellow students toward speaking with Pastor when it seemed more was needed, but other times we as students all cared for one another in spirit and body. St. Paul's was a place where we learned who we were as Baptized Christians, how to care for others in the body, and where Pastor was intentionally training us as future lay leaders or future church workers.

For me, personally, Pastor and his family became a huge support system away from home. I babysat for their children, and they helped me to overcome fears and anxieties in my life. Pastor's wife, Christine, became a mentor; like an older sister or cousin, she helped me make the transition from girl to woman in so many ways. She treated me as an equal. When my grandmother died my sophomore year of college, I did not go across the hall to my hallmates, I did not go to a friend's house, I went straight to Pastor's office. I called him to ask if he was available, and he said yes. By the time I arrived, he had called Christine and arranged with her that I should come home with him at lunch and spend the day with their family as I dealt with this new reality. When other hardships arose in my family, it was Pastor Mons, Christine, and my Chapel family who supported and encouraged me, who counseled me to remain at school though I wanted to go home (for there was nothing I could do), who prayed for me and my family without judgment. When I had problems with my sinful nature, I went to Pastor for counseling and Private Confession and Absolution.

My fellow students were also incredibly important to me. We supported one another in our academic goals, as well as our spiritual growth and relationships. We attended organized events at church, and we also gathered spontaneously for study groups and random Friday night lounging in the Student Center where someone would invariably grab a guitar while the rest of us grabbed hymnals and we'd sing hymns to the guitar so we could sit around on the sofas. Other times, I would meet up with another friend who played piano and we'd sit in the choir loft together, turning through the hymnal and singing our favorites, introducing each other to new hymns. My friend introduced me to one of her favorites, "Behold a Host Arrayed in White," which I eventually requested at my father's funeral several years later.

The permanent congregation members were also really supportive of Campus Ministry. St. Paul's is a dedicated Campus Ministry with at least 90% student members (both full fledged like I was and associate memberships so that they could retain membership at their home congregation, but vote at St. Paul's, as well). The permanent congregation gave of their time, money, and talents to support both American students and International students. They adopted us on an informal basis with meals, movie nights, advice, laughter, etc. Since I graduated, what happened quite informally has become an intentional ministry of St. Paul's called Home Away from Home, which is a really great part of what they do. For me, several members were important, but one couple in particular took me into their hearts. They had me over for dinner and spectacular brownie sundaes, movie nights, outings, etc. They were my friends, but they were also mentors. When I left for graduate school, they took a screen shot of the Seminary on Google satellite and sent it to me with a note saying, "We're still watching out for you."

That sentiment of watching out for one another, that connection, remains still. It remains because it was not based on personal feelings alone, nor on proximity to one another. It was based on the tie that truly binds: Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Many of my fellow former Chapelites now serve their families, congregations, and communities through their Baptized identities and their understanding of their vocations. These are strengths which were developed and intentionally nurtured at the Chapel. They are strengths which flow, ultimately, from our Lord’s Eucharistic service to us. So we are full circle. The number one focus of the Chapel was Word and Sacrament Ministry, which sent us forth as strong, mature, young adult Lutherans to serve in family, church, and world. It is that same Eucharistic service to which we return each Sunday in our respective congregations far and wide, to be strengthened again for service. Campus Ministry imprinted this on my life in a renewed way, and God in Christ, who was preached to me during those years, is still taking care of me today, still imprinting himself on me. And the Chapel continues to deliver that same imprint to each new group, sending them out as future lay leaders and church workers, but most of all as Baptized children of the Heavenly Father who live and move and breathe in Him.