Reflections on Evangelism on Campus

Index of Reflections (by School)
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"I believe the essence of evangelism is, as the word itself suggests, a sharing of something which is ‘good news’. Further, I believe this sharing occurs in three distinctive ways, through proclamation, invitation, and hospitality. I believe the gospel, ‘good news’, is heard most deeply and meaningfully as we seek to be present with people in their life and faith journeys. I believe the essence of Peer Ministry is summed up in Ephesians 4:12 where the importance of the ‘equipping of the saints for ministry’ is highlighted. As such I spend a good deal of time with the peers seeking help them deepen their understanding of Scripture, identify resources for their own devotional life, develop more confidence in their own skills and the importance of their stories of faith and life experience."

Lamont Koerner - University of Minnesota, Twin Cities   (top)

"I would like some time to talk about faith as public, as private and as personal, about the student as consumer, the student as product, about what a community can "suffer" or allow. Maybe we could even discuss the four old structures of society: the church, the parliamentary government, the marketplace and the university, and see how the juices have all swapped around."

Ruth Bosch Becker - University of Pittsburgh   (top)

"We need what Garrison Keillor might call a ‘theology of evangelism for shy people’. Sometime shyness is rooted in fundamental lack of confidence; we aren’t clear about or comfortable with our identity. The implication of this for evangelism is that it needs to begin with Christian formation. We cannot speak with confidence about our faith until it permeates our identity, until it is the heartwood of our being rather than a spiritual veneer slapped on top of our, more deeply held convictions. Thus, evangelism presupposes we are being nurtured by good worship, preaching, study, and devotional practice so that we share who we are rather than only what a disembodied tradition has said.

Related to lack of self-confidence is shyness rooted in ignorance. The Biblical illiteracy of society and campus is often noted and lamented; less often do we ponder its implications for evangelism. Part of preparing to evangelize is making sure folks know the basic stories, the basic teachings of the church, AND the OK-ness of not having all the answers since we are all on an ongoing journey of discernment. The Lutheran emphasis has traditionally assumed that the question to be answered is, ‘How do I deal with the wrath of God?’ I would suggest that the implicit questions being asked on my campus are more often ‘Can a reasonable person believe in God?’ and ‘How can I believe in a God who often seems absent?’ Theology of evangelism is committed to speaking in language that people understand to questions they are asking.

In worship meditations, in goal setting retreats, in late night retreat discussions, in building a calendar of events, in thinking about the content and format of our newsletter we constantly lift up to our students the fact that a big reason for gathering is to be sent with confidence and power to share our faith."

Bill King, - Region 9 LCM Deployed Director   (top)

"At our most recent meeting with resident hall staff and the leadership council, I used this phrase to try and describe the symbiotic relationship between campus ministry and the university. ‘There’s a fine line between stepping on toes; and dancing. We prefer dancing.’ When we feel the rhythm in our ministry, and catch the pulse of the community we live in, I am confident that the Lord of the dance will direct our steps; all we need do is make the invitation and hold out our hands.

Lee Swenson - University of Wisconsin, River Falls   (top)

"I see Campus Ministry as three gifts wrapped up together which the people of the ELCA give to students and others at Moorhead State University. One gift is the LCM House, a place where students are welcome to eat, drink, visit with friends and/or staff, study, pray, meet for planning and for Bible study. The second gift is the presence of a full-time pastor. The third gift could be called programs."

Carol Hertler - Moorhead State University   (top)

"In my short tenure as campus pastor I have discovered that students, faculty, staff and administrators often hunger, thirst, even crave for good news. Their curiosities about the world in which we live often lead to discoveries about the dark side of human existence – systems that entrap good people in bad behaviors, consumer practices that put the natural world in peril, people who treat each other badly. They rarely receive true support from their peers or superiors. Too often their work is driven by a market economy which rewards the best grant proposal (not quality teaching) with financial and status gain. Too often they despair about the possibility of really changing the circumstances that drive the wheel of human excess. The university community, as a microcosm of the larger social structure, awaits good news, hope, meaning, and justice.

Lutheran campus ministry plays a strategic role in hosting divine encounters. Who are the university lepers? Who are the campus adulterers? Who are the tax collectors? Who are those with no status or importance or power of their own? Who are the ashamed, the censured, the people on the fringes, the disenfranchised? Who needs a word of hope? It is these we seek to welcome and know in behalf of God."

James L. Norlie - Oregon State University   (top)

"Bishop H. George Anderson is correct when he says that we live not in the midst of a spiritual desert, but rather in a spiritual jungle. That includes the academic communities in which our Lutheran campus ministries are placed. In the midst of all the competing ideologies and religious notions, we are called to tell the Jesus story. I am frequently asked by pastors, synod council persons, and bishops if our campus ministry staff call on/contact students from our ELCA congregations. I have yet to be asked if our staff call on/contact the "unchurched"."

Tom Loftus - Former Region 5 LCM Deployed Director   (top)

"Evangelism is an outcome not an activity. To evangelize is to welcome and accept into the community because evangelizing is the fellowship of the spiritually contagious. Prayer and receptivity are vital to evangelism. By listening to God motives, mission and movements begin. Even as back then evangelism is the primary responsibility of the Holy Spirit and not ours. It is not what we are doing as what God is doing through us. How freeing when we remember that it is not our program but God’s kingdom. Evangelism is not looking at our inadequacies but at the adequacy of God."

Rodelyn McPherson - Ball State University   (top)

"Often I find that evangelism takes the form of listening as someone tells me the story of their spiritual journey, or struggles with a relationship, or dreams about his or her future. Sometimes evangelism takes place by putting their reflections and struggles into Biblical context, or listening as they attempt to."

Candace Pidcock - University of Washington, Interim   (top)

Evangelism did not and still does not occur in a theological, social, or historical vacuum.

Mission involves everything the church does.

I believe it is because of the absence of mission that evangelism is challenging. Institutional religion has lost sight of its mission, and therefore its integrity. ...Whoever represent the church viewed with skepticism, interrogated, and suspect.

My mission is to impact one person at a time until the individuals see the potential of becoming a group. ...So my mission is always challenged to create new ways to attract a larger audience....So my motto is "As long as I have a space, there is hope".

Carole Burns, Malcolm X College  (top)

"Mission or evangelism is the heart of the apostolic task entrusted to the community of faith. If one accepts this claim then the Lutheran campus community has the opportunity in word and deed to seek the means by which the community’s message is most pregnant with the pronouncement of grace, forgiveness, and healing. All worship, studies, pastoral care, and activities provide an opportunity for this witness.

We believe that university students will respond to the Gospel and the proclamation of God’s unqualified grace in Christ Jesus. We are committed to a ministry of strong confessional character and characterized by impassioned service. We are committed to calling young adults to a life of discipleship."

Fred Fritz - Mankato State University   (top)

"The imperative is to GO, the command is to MAKE DISCIPLES, and the method is to BAPTIZE and to TEACH. The message is clear. It is a balanced message both of mission and formation. Not only are we to proclaim the Word, but we are also to teach it. Not only are we to extend a hand of welcome to the stranger, but nurture and develop members of the (Body of Christ) family of God. Students today are cautious and do not appreciate rhetoric. They seek answers to deeply held and felt questions about life, meaning and their place in this world. They long for clarity with easily discernible distinctions, even though their world is full of varying shades of gray. The fact that students today seem more conservative than their baby boomer parents makes the ministry even more of a challenge.

To reach this generation of students it is important that we become effective story tellers. Therefore it is important for us to use the language, images and music of the times in order to make things much more lively and accessible. Contemporary praise, Christian rap and rock, spirituals, and gospel songs seem to appeal to this generation of students. Our challenge as campus ministers is to make the old, old stories, live and have relevance for today. I believe it is also important to offer hospitality and a sense of welcome to students who, more so than not, feel like strangers. A ministry of hospitality would provide an opportunity as well as an atmosphere for the development of more intimate, personal and caring connections with others. Our evangelism through faith storytelling should practice the concern for human well-being that Jesus demonstrates in feeding the 5,000, providing wine for the wedding at Canaan or sharing meals with believers and non-believers alike. It is important for us, as campus ministers to live with a sense of joy and a passionate witness for integrity. If a strong ministry of presence is a part of the overall ministry, then when crises arise students will see you as accessible and approachable because you have been present in other circumstances in their lives. When we are found at the lecture and basketball games, in the food court and theater, we become more human in their eyes, thus approachable. Especially as we journey with them in the midst of crisis, their prayers and ours become explorations and testaments of faith, the raw materials for future stories."

Gwendolyn S. King - Dartmouth College   (top)

"Right now I view evangelism as sensitive and timely invitation into a place where there is known hospitality and where there is the possibility of finding what one is looking for. It is a dependence on the Holy Spirit to touch the spirits of persons near to us, and on the Holy Spirit's ability to move us to invite them in a welcoming, open, generous and hospitable way."

Carl Sharon - Yale University   (top)

"We Protestants are so diverse and disparate of times. Of course this variety serves as a strength, keeping us open and expansive to God's truth, larger than any one denomination. So where does this lead? I am not sure. We are all pilgrims on this evangelism path but we have a guide leading us, traveling with us. We are not alone."

Paul Walley - SUNY at New Paltz    (top)

"The opportunities for campus ministry evangelism are many. We must explore ways of speaking the gospel which allow our students to tell their personal experience and ideas, not as Lone Rangers but as those connected to a body of believers. We also have the opportunity to learn together that speaking the truth of the gospel involves not just our voices, but our thoughts, prayers, and actions in a faith-filled witness to those around us - an unapologetic, joyful witness made possible by God's Spirit moving within and among us."

Linda Mitchell - University of South Carolina, Columbia   (top)

"My hope is that this community can remain open to a wide variety of students while maintaining a clear Christian identity and nurturing Lutheran students in their particular tradition. I would rather that it not be characterized as liberal or conservative but would remain a place of challenge to students of various ideological biases in response to the call of Jesus Christ."

Kurt Keljo, Capital University   (top)

"Current denominational campus ministries reflect, for the most part, the trends of their respective mainline church bodies; entrenchment, denominationalism, and privatism. Evangelism efforts appear to be floundering between the uneasy polarities of "winning souls" and "social activism."

Jon Magnuson, University of Washington  (top)

"A theology for evangelism at Clemson University must involve the moving from the traditional turf of the church onto the turf of those we seek to serve. The outreach of the church cannot be housed in our 'center' it cannot be located within our offices. Like Jesus, we must move out into the places where life is lived."

Chris Heavner, Clemson University   (top)

"The challenge is to inform the actions and decisions of our lives theologically, to be creative forces for peace and justice in our community. In the process the challenge is to make our Christian community a gathering source for hope and inspiration, and not to turn it into a dead end, self-serving institution. We seek in our university to articulate both in words and in action our life in the triune God."

Ted Fritschel, University of Iowa   (top)

"Becoming acquainted once again with the language of the ancient catechumenate is one way in which Campus Ministry (i.e., the Church) can remember and tell the story which has been entrusted to it by the Apostolic faith. As the community remembers in word and action, encounter with the Risen-Crucified One becomes reality. We become living witnesses. We must find a way to help our churched, de-churched, and non-churched students hear the invitation of baptism that calls them to live their lives in a new way, a way that is countercultural."

Bev Lange, University of Delaware   (top)

"It seems to me that the entire issue relative to evangelism and campus ministry is the desire that our efforts be authentic. There is not a canned format that can be slapped on to Lutheran Campus Ministry and presto, we are effectively doing evangelism."

John Mittermaier, Miami University of Ohio  (top)

"We need to create opportunities to listen to one another as we flush out what we receive in worship according to our own lives. We need to create opportunities where we can talk to one another, and where we can listen to one another, where we can rejoice in all that we have in common, and find the gift in all that is different. we need to talk about how we each experience that journey to God we each take, and we need to talk about what the journey gives to the rest of our lives."

Joanne Richmond, Michigan Technological University  (top)

"Within the academic community we need to recover the lost art of apologetics. Although the primary way to understanding is through faith and trust, nevertheless, the Christian faith is defensible on rational grounds. We must find ways to provide students and faculty with energizing experiences which are at the same time cognitively defensible. However, at all times we must be faithful to the Gospel, even if it means rejection and failure."

Dick Elliot, San Diego State   (top)

"The invitation must be enticing. Too many other options present themselves for us to believe that this way is the obvious one if people can just find it open to them. The invitation must be constant. Not in a sense of nagging or insistence or pleading, but at least constant in its openness and in the awareness of those who have been invited that it stands ready. The invitation must have importance. Why should they come if it doesn't really matter if they do or not? Why should they spend their time in this way if the value cannot be seen or articulated? The invitation must be personal. It is you we want and you will have your own way of experiencing this, we do not ask that you come be like us to be with us. The invitation must be to the grace of God. Through us, and along side us, but not reliant on just us. The grace of God is more than we can show you, but we know the need in us for it and can share that truth with you.

Few who grew up in, or now deal with, the mindset here can initially grasp the concept of grace. We must model and tell the stories of God's grace in our lives for them to even begin to know how to frame their questions. Much of our evangelism comes through acceptance and patiently accompanying those who need to heal from other battles.

The idea of Christian community, which is our presumptive basis in much of what we do and offer, is foreign to a people that have had little stability or continuity or non-competitive accountability in their lives growing up. We face teaching the concept of community, and the value of it, and the need for it to a generation who have little understanding of the language we use to describe it."

Jean McCreery, University of Utah    (top)

Ultimately, I think one of the greatest problems of evangelism either theoretically or practically is that we are not viewing evangelism holistically. We are seeing parts of evangelism (e.g., good news, numbers, outreach, justice, recruitment, church growth, etc.) but are having trouble synthesizing that into a whole. Thinking about evangelism from this holistic, "everything we do" perspective gives me a new perspective from which to view the campus ministry setting of which I am part.

Worship plays a central role in our community, and thus is an integral element of our evangelism. Since this is the primary point of contact for many with our community, it is essential that care be given not only to what we say and do, but how we say and do all of it. From the invitation to, to the participating in, to the sending forth from, it is our intent that the worship experience be a combination of the familiar and the unfamiliar, the comforting and the challenging, with the word and signs of promise always being central to what we do and who we are

The concept of welcoming the stranger takes oil a rather unique meaning within a campus ministry community. Given the transient nature of the community, it strikes me that

While maintaining theologically and liturgically our Lutheran tradition, we need to remind ourselves that there are those not familiar with our worship style.

Sue Rothmeyer, Iowa State University  (top)

Thus, the trust, acceptance, hospitality and affirmation of persons needed for the Lutheran community at Howard to become a forthright community was the best witness to the gospel I perceived I could take on. I set about the task of community building, hoping to make our Lutheran community a haven and model for what relations could ideally become, multinational and multicultural in an African context

As we have explored the issues of worship, faith and life around the Howard University Community, we have come to some common feelings. We believe that worship must invite people into an atmosphere and environment that is not totally alien. We have perceived that the absence in the main line denominations of art, music, history, and folk literature arising out of the African and African American context makes our work even more difficult. We borrow from each other, and the denominations we represent, the best of what we discover is contextually relevant. However, we meet with the difficulty that the popular hype and the highly motivated Islamic factions around us are still promoting the myth that Christianity is the religion of the white Eurocentric world. Our efforts to counter this have not been aided by the fact that much church history in the West has ignored the reality that many of our Biblical ancestors, our mothers and fathers of the faith, our shapers of dogma and doctrine in the ancient church were people of color. Western art, church history, and systematicians of theology for the most part have ignored this.

If we are to have any success with younger generations of black people, this factor can no longer be ignored.

Joseph Donnella, Howard University   (top)

Given such clear Biblical imperatives and such clear Good News ... just to cite a few, very few, scriptural passages, how can we still be so timid and so dull as dishwater in our worship. Aren't we the "sin boldly, but believe in Christ Jesus more boldly still" folks? What happened to us? What didn't happen to us? What needs to happen to us? What must happen to us ... if we are not to fade away, merge into the Protestant woodwork like so many other believers in and followers of Jesus before us. Of what point is our substrata of fine-tuned theology if the connections aren't being made by the baptized?

Holy Trinity's newly designated chapel space was the best thing to happen for our worship. The chapel can seat 30 or so folks. The lights can be dimmed and with candles all around, it's a most calming, restful place to be. Our services are simple. We don't try to cram everything into them but the kitchen sink. They are not liturgical marathons. And when we respond with amens, etc. that don't sound like worthy praises directed to God. We stop. Back up and try again. Students, even Lutheran students, are thereby given permission to break the bonds of dullness.

Evangelism is having God bless us with 2-3 very unusual Lutheran students who are anything but bland, dull or nerdy. We have had such students among us over the past 4 years and the change in our community and in me has been amazing. The joy of these students has been rubbing off on all the others.

Beverly Alexander, North Carolina State University  (top)

Whether we define it as the making of disciples or the proclaiming the Gospel or "one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread," evangelism is a process. We are not the initiators of the process, but participants in it. The Holy Spirit drives evangelism but it works in, around and through us. I am convinced that as faith develops, evangelism happens authentically, however, we toss an enormous amount. of stuff in the Holy Spirit's way.

Defining ourselves as Lutherans, means to know and be able to defend the way we worship, the sacraments, the authority of Scripture, to speak the name of Jesus and to be able to explain what Luther meant when he said, "Sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly."

I don’t believe we have begun to tap the resources available to us in the members of congregations in campus ministry communities. These people provide the vehicle for the Holy Spirit to work through the witness of their lives and vocations, gifts of time, talent, and treasures.

Debra Grant, Texas A&M   (top)

We are engaged in ministry at the university because we take seriously the first article of the creed which emphasizes God's creation of everything, including the mind and knowledge and learning. And God is already present in the academic setting since God's activity in the world touches these places too. Even if we don't name this activity or proclaim it, the reality is still there. God is part of this academic enterprise. So evangelism may be more second article activity. Like all of life, the university has its brokenness and needs redemption, healing and reconciliation. And it is Jesus the Christ and that part of God's story that needs to be told and shared in the world and even in the university. Not to bring in more fish, but to help the student, the professor and the university worker be better at fishing themselves; that is living their vocation more authentically and more fully reflecting God's love and truth. The command was to go and make people into fishers, not catch our limit of fish.

John Kautz, University of Arizona  (top)

I am convinced that Lutheran Campus Ministry at Davis has been strengthened by the decision to Invite Episcopalians to be a partner in our ministry, and that It has been particularly beneficial in our outreach to students. The ecumenical threshold is significantly lover than was our exclusively Lutheran one. This is not because Anglicans are perceived to be warmer and friendlier then Lutherans; in fact, they're expected to be at least as cold and aloof as we are. Rather, it is because the Belfry now communicate a certain "presumption of innocence." One is able to walk through the door and be presumed to be innocent of being a Lutheran or of being particularly Interested in what it means to be Lutheran. It reduces anxiety about performance expectations.

Don Ranstrom, University of California, Davis  (top)

The question before us seems to center around an understanding of what it means to "invite" and "worship" in the midst of our secular culture, particularly as it is known within the peculiar setting of the university, where we are called to become "centers of mission in a culture of strangers."

Part of what characterizes the mission field of campus ministry is a setting where its participants know and affirm little of the church and its mission, who live in a secular-dominated world, where meaning-making is the most significant task they do, but unaccompanied by what we, in the church, would offer as the source and purpose of all meaning -- the active love of God in Jesus Christ.

What it means to be "stranger" in the university culture is multi-dimensional. It may mean simply being new to the environment of campus, to be alone, indecisive about the future, away-from-home. It may mean being a person of color or English- alternate language, although in an academic setting persons from the dominate culture may also feel strange and estranged. It may mean being a person of meager finances surrounded by affluence and consumerism, where attire, mode of transportation and the necessity of a job define the boundaries of inclusion and acceptance. Here in this world of meaning-making, strangers are often those who are confused, unfocused on life-work, unsure of self, and unable to make sense of the way life plays its games. Before the Gospel can be heard in all of its depth and breadth, considerable attention will be given to these strangers in the form of listening, accepting, encouraging, supporting and confirming who they are and what they are doing with their lives in this world. Before the invitation to "come and see" will have any power or appeal, those who are outsiders in the university' culture must be received and welcomed, unjudged and undiminished by their circumstances.

That's both the risk and the joy of serious evangelism -- that the Gospel will change all who seek out its meaning for their lives, both the initiated and the uninitiated.

Worship is the ultimate end of such invitation. This community gathers around the Word proclaimed and the Sacraments celebrated for the life of this community and the life of the world. It is an essential mark of Lutheran ministry on campus to gather such a community of praise, even though in many circumstances it is exceedingly difficult and frustrating. The call to worship is the call to be fully human. We were created to praise our Creator; it is a vocation of praise to which we are called. The invitation to gather around the Book, the Font and the Meal is the most genuine sign of hospitality to the stranger, welcoming them as Jesus did into his presence. To be invited into the circle of worship is more than joining a family or making a commitment to a denomination and its liturgy. It is an invitation to recognize oneself among the people of God -- accepted, restored, affirmed, fully human -- where all guests are received as Christ.

Galen Hora, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities  (top)

The possibilities for evangelism are limited only by our lack of creativity. We need to move from our "safe houses", honor or past "golden days" of Lutheran Campus Ministry and move on to the future. While many ideas and programs from the past are still worth doing, the days of campus ministry being an entertainment center for students is gone.

Our future is bright. That may sound trite, but I believe it to be true! There continues to be an important need for campus ministries on our campuses. Let's be bold and confident enough to ask questions, develop new visions for ministry and act upon that vision.

Paul Petersen, Arizona State University, Tempe  (top)

I would wholeheartedly agree with Buber that God is found in the "space between people." This has been for me the "primary holy space" in my ministry. Thus I have had rather ambivalent feelings about a chapel. Initially I would probably have sided with the Israelites who opposed building the temple because it would lead to a false theology that limits or confines God to a building.

Over nearly two decades of tabernacle ministry, however, I have gained a new appreciation for what it will mean to have a tangible "holy space" on campus. It is very hard for a campus Christian community not to have an identifiable space of it's own.

There are those who think a new building will answer all the religious needs of the campus, that suddenly everyone will worship all the time. I have no such illusion. In fact, some of us are concerned that, as with the building of temple, a new building may make it easier to isolate/separate faith and God from the classrooms and residence halls.

Thus I would hope and pray that the building, rather than "becoming the church", will enable us to better "be the Church" on our campus and in the world. It will be our challenge to make that happen.

In my early days at Wartburg a respected faculty member took time to come by my office to say that he hoped I would "get out of the office", always take time for coffee, and be visible in all dimensions of campus life. He felt strongly that ministry is best "created" rather than waiting in the office for it to come to you. That's not a bad maxim for evangelism in general; in most instances it happens "out there", when we take initiative and interest in people where they are. Happily this has been the most rewarding and most natural dimension of my ministry.

Larry Trachte, Wartburg College   (top)

I am beginning to re-vision my role as being more similar to that of a mission development pastor. Calling on students who are on "the list" and becoming involved in some of the student clubs and organizations have been my best inroads into the university community. To become known and trusted by students and faculty seems to be the most important part of my work at present.

But I wonder if we pastors have used logic and reason in an appeal to the intellect, too extensively in our sermons. As pastors, we are constantly don’t follow the best of logic, even liturgical logic. In fact, they often seem to resent it.

I believe that people make their decisions based on deep symbols, not on great logic.

Taking people’s symbols, which are sometimes so much a part of a person’s understanding of life that they are not even aware that they should question them, bringing those symbols to consciousness, and reinterpreting them for redemptive purposes, is the work of the preacher, the therapist, the artist.

Kathryn Schreitmueller, University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh  (top)

"Jesus said, follow me."

The text from which this comes is about fishing. Can this be a metaphor for evangelism: on the one hand I hope not. Think about this: one who fishes uses trickery in order to nab the fish, used bait to cover up what really lies in wait, a net, a hook. Snared into the kingdom? Sounds a bit much like the radical right to me; bait and switch technique, we got ‘em hook, line and sinker. No, I don’t believe that God wants anyone tricked into the kingdom. The end does not justify the means, even when it has to do with the reign of God.

But if I explore the metaphor in another direction, it may indeed fit my understanding of evangelism. One who fishes can also be characterized as patient, easy going, intent on the task, willing to let time take its course; watchful, and hopeful, full of expectation, and then joyful over whatever the catch: many or few or none at all, but just pleased to be there.

But the words of Jesus still haunt me: Follow me.

I believe that it is here, within the words and their power, that lies at the same time: doubt and direction; frustration and freedom; purpose and hope. Full blown, covering all of life, hope.

Richard Zawistoski, Indiana University  (top)

Evangelism at its most basic is preaching or telling the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But before you can tell the story you need to have people to tell the story to. That's the hard part, finding people who will listen to the story. I also think we are coming to the age where we are losing the story tellers.

First we need to listen to the students’ story. To understand their language. To understand the time that they are living in and what they see as their future. Paul Tillich said 'how can you relate an ancient world of faith to a modem world of disbelief.' Everyone does not know what we mean when we speak of prayer- Everyone does not already believe that he/she is a sinner. We must teach them.

Martin Marty has said, "Invitation is what evangelism is all about! It is one person inviting another to find the Lord." Henri J. Nouwen said "Ministry means the ongoing attempt to put one's own search for God, with all the moments of pain, joy, despair and hope at the of those who want to join this search." If that’s ministry then evangelism is the invitation to the journey. To experience it for themselves.

 Kim Williams, University of Idaho  (top)

For me evangelism begins with a message and the comprehension of the evangelist of that message: the invitation to follow Christ and the way of the cross. And it is a vision of Christ as integral with the triune God: Creator, Word, and Spirit. The evangelist's joy is to link people to a circle of faith which celebrates and labors for the way of the cross of the triune God. The cross is the center and the trinity is the background. The cross is central because the Christian's invitation is to be joined to the death and resurrection of Jesus. And the trinity forms the background because the way of death leads out into a life in God. This is a life through death into God as creator and the invitation to join with God as co-creators. It is a life through death which leads us into a life in God as Word: word of love and justice, of service and grace; a word of radical inclusion and equality. It is a life through death which opens out into the unimaginable wings of the Spirit: a spirit of community, of vocations, and of universal connections; of trust, prayer, church; of hope in the resurrection and of unconditional forgiveness.

The central place where all of this begins and ends is in the liturgy of the church. So to make our historic eucharistic worship a time and place of life, of truth telling, of wonder, of celebration, is absolutely critical as we conceive of our evangelism work.

In the meantime I believe the potential for evangelism is deeply rooted here; prevenient. The cold weather shelter is a sign of the cross on the face of Cambridge to which the evangelist can point not to student volunteers qua volunteers, but to any who come our way seeking the mystery of presence in the suffering of God's children. The opportunity to reflect with student volunteers about racism or classism in our country is bottomless: evangelism is urban analysis. The art gallery open for student and community use and the many choir and orchestral options are transparent to the wonder of creation. The many forms of worship with the strong Sunday tradition of Morning Prayer and Eucharist are rich representations of the song of the Spirit. The diversity of programs (Common Room, Forum, discussion groups, Sunday School, retreats) speak to the life of the mind and to the vocation of scholarship to which the evangelist might point.

And the classic attention paid to students as transients in need of a church home away from home is a sign of Christian community. By phone, mail and program offerings along with a Divinity School field work student we work out our ministry with and for the synod and the ELCA. This is evangelism as a ministry of continuity.

UniLu is not a place which lacks for signs of the presence of the triune God-the creative, the cruciform and the ecstatic-but it is a place which needs to be formed and disciplined into an apostolate, as a community sense of being sent, of as "tour guides" who know when and how to point.

 Thomas Blom Chittick, Harvard University   (top)

While evangelism is defined in many different ways, this is the one that comes to mind: The proclamation of Jesus Christ, by word and deed, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in such ways that a person may be led to believe in Jesus as Savior and Brother, and follow Him as the One who has authority and is worthy of trust.

This definition presupposes that we share the Christian faith in a caring, loving and sensitive way. Students often feel a sense of dislocation, and even though they are surrounded by lots of people, they frequently feel lonely, frustrated and isolated. It is key, therefore, that as messengers of Christ, we first listen to the inquirer’s concerns, problems and critical questions before offering a faith response. Related to this is understanding our basic sinful nature and God's desire to 'save' humans from themselves and each other. Approaching this law-gospel dynamic with others is essential but it must be done in a way that gets to the core of the human dilemma yet applies the love of Christ to the hurts and hassles of everyday life.

'Evangelism is important to our church because it is closely related to the process of revitalization. Evangelism or the renewal of individuals is also vital to the revitalization of organizations. If our campus ministry setting, for example, is going to be effective in the task of evangelism, it will require a core of people who are willing to share their life and faith journeys with each other and with those who are not familiar with or committed to the Gospel. This core will include individuals who are open and eager to learn and grow as baptized persons. In addition, a revitalized ministry will allow this committed core to help create a climate and organization that supports and emphasizes renewal and spiritual growth.

 Evangelism is a communal act of the Church. If we are going to encourage people to share their faith journeys with others then we are going to have to dispel the idea that it takes a "Super" Christian to do evangelism. The church needs to provide a supportive environment or community where people can gather and grow in discipleship. Small groups, for example, can be utilized as a way to train and support Christian people for spiritual growth and mission. Groups that work at developing trust can also be places where people can not only share probing thoughts and ideas, but they can be safe places where people can share feelings. Small groups that are nurturing and offer personal support are also a good way for the unchurched to consider moving into -the life of a congregation, where greater opportunities for worship, service, fellowship, and education can be found.

 Robert McNamara, Ohio State University   (top)

Evangeline is the name of my first campus ministry mentor. She embodied the gospel and proclaimed it through her heart and soul, mind and strength. She wasn't called Evangeline, she was called Doddy. She is very real.

Evangelism is being Real. We're real because God made us in God's image. In order to really live in the wholeness of that Imago Dei, God gave us the body of Reality -- Christ. In Christ we gather together as the church to live and proclaim God's reality.

The heart of our ministry is worship on site and at the student union, Advent and Lent noon devotions, bible and book studies, volunteer projects. At the Center there is the vital core group of leaders who give their hearts in making the campus center a living reality to others.

Laurie FoxPetrov, University of Wisconsin, Madison  (top)

Speaking this Word which sets us free, a Word which is the Word of God and of women and men lies at the heart of my understanding of evangelism. We are called to be speakers of this Word, and we in campus ministry are called to the special task of speaking this freeing Word to students, faculty and staff on university campuses.

Implications of this for campus ministry:
We need to offer a place where students may freely ask questions about their faith.

We need to have new and creative ideas on how to teach the basics of the faith.

We need to be bold in speaking about vocation and spiritual gifts.

We need to do a better job of preparing high school students (and younger) Biblically We need to be vocal in our own search for understanding. As we explore the implications of the gospel in a pluralistic world, for example.

We need balance as we lead students: We are not called to let them flounder alone, but nor are we called to simply reinforce the faith of their fathers (and mothers).

We need to be willing to give up our denominational labels for the sake of the gospel.

And finally, we are called to remind students, who are living in a world of good works and the law, that nothing they can do can cause God to love them any more than God already does.

Shawn Norris, University of Kansas (top)

Both evangelism and mission are as important to campus ministry as they are to Christian global missions. Like global missionaries, campus ministers and campus ministry communities are resident aliens (Stanley Haurwas and William H. Willimon) in culture often antagonistic to the Christian message and to Gospel values. North American universities are pluralistic in the sense that their students, faculty, and staff come from diverse religious and ideological backgrounds. However, what unites people on most campuses is not, as some with claimed, a common search for a parking place, but rather a common materialistic outlook. Professor Alexander Astin of the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA has "tracked the attitudes of American college freshmen each year since 1966. When asked what the Astin survey shows about college freshmen today, the recently retired director of planning and statistics at UNM, Dr. Richard H. Cady replied that, in a word, these students are materialistic, because they get their values from their parents and from their society.

In our small but interesting communities we invite all who will come to meet Christ, the risen Son of God and Savior of the world. And we reach out to others on the campus, as creatively and faithfully as we can.

Howard Corry, University of New Mexico  (top)

In the 1990's we are "RESIDENT ALIENS" sharing the reconciling love of Christ with an unchurched society.(Willimon and Hauerwas) In the 1990's we are the "COMPANY OF STRANGERS" trading off the roles of host and guest with the other strangers with whom we choose to interact in the street and within our Christian gatherings.(Keifert) In the 1990's we must become a lean and vibrant movement going out frequently into the midst of the pain of other aliens and strangers. In particular, on campus we must shed the burdensome stereotypes and stigmas of institutionalization in order to penetrate the many places where students are. There we should coach, value, involve and mentor them in ways that enable them to find order and meaning within a chaotic, complex and relativized world.

Perhaps, it is time to make a significant change in the nature of the ministry from one of a gathered community participating in ongoing programs accompanied by outreach to one of constant one-on-one outreach accompanied by programs attended by an ever changing community.

Time will tell which course we settle on. The challenge is the anticipation of the future and the work of the present. For the campus pastor/minister this means enabling a lean core group to go into the midst of fellow students and their needs MORE DEEPLY THAN EVER BEFORE. This is an exciting challenge for human spiritual intimacy in a world so frustrated in its brokenness. I trust in Jesus Christ and his presence to lead us in.

 Tom Lang, Indiana University of Pennsylvania  (top)

Evangelism is communicating, through both word and deed, the Good News about Jesus Christ. While I strongly support this definition, I am quickly confronted with my first challenge. That being, communicating the Good News through words. I have come to recognize that my

strength, okay my comfort zone resides in communicating the Good News by my actions alone. Through my studies I've come to learn that the Good News about Jesus Christ, must be balanced between action and word. We can't limit our evangelism efforts to just action. I am becoming aware of the need to balance my actions with words in order to tell and show the love of God.

Before I close I would like to share a situation that has opened my eyes to the role campus ministers play on college campuses across the nation. I went to a funeral this past Wednesday and I heard this most interesting message about this man's death, the Minister said, "Jim had completed his course in faith". My thought was if life is a part of faith, then how much more ' important is evangelism. What better course to be offering students than one on being an effective evangelist. They are on campus to learn and take classes, so maybe I need to be more deliberate about teaching evangelism. Have you ever viewed it as a course? Think about it.

Glenn Carson, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (top)

That university sees faith as ancillary, as subsidiary, as an incidental band-aid to the life of the student of faith; ...a pocket God

Hunsberger says, "Evangelism, then, is not 'to' or 'at' people, it is 'with' and 'alongside' them. ...Evangelism consists rather in offering the gift of God and making welcome those whom God welcomes."'

(George Hunsberger, "Is there Biblical Warrant for Evangelism," Interpretation (April 94, xlvii:2), pp. 13 1 ff.)

Joe Boomhower, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (top)

As I understand it, evangelism is the whole process of sharing the good news of God's gracious work of redemption through Jesus Christ. Evangelism is not one among several functions or purposes of the church, but is the central and, in one sense, the only purpose of the church. All that the church does should serve the purpose of sharing the gospel. All structures and actions of the church should be judged and disciplined on the basis of how they contribute to evangelism.

How can this be? It is so because it is by the hearing of the gospel that the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies and keeps people in the faith of the church.

Is the sharing of the gospel simply a matter of telling one's own faith story? No. While this may serve the gospel well at times we are also called to proclaim and share the larger Christian story and norm our own story versions by it. Scripture and tradition are indispensable because they spawn and shape our faith stories and keep them from dissolving into subjectivity and individualism. Evangelism invites people into a specific story and into a specific people.

I understand the Christian gospel and story through the lenses of Luther's theological crisis and his law/gospel dialectic-the central doctrine of justification by faith. When tell my own faith story or invite others to interpret their lives in the light of -the Christian story these lenses unavoidably shape what I mean and how I tell and invite. For example, the law-gospel dialectic means that we must take the critique of the sinful self and the sinful world seriously and not throw out the word of God's grace carelessly without observing whether people perceive their true state of need and helping them perceive it if they do not. This calls us to have a real vigilance for where people are experiencing the cross, the injustice, the oppression, the pain, the absurdity, the defeat, the darkness, the confusion, of the human condition (and of being under God's wrath). Once this is perceived we should prepare for the sharing of the gospel by helping persons deepen their interpretation of the causes, meanings, and underpinnings of their pain or questions so that the sharing of the gospel can be correlated with the ways in which the demands and burdens of life (the law) have prepared their hearts.

Does this approach mean a narrow confessional Lutheranism is appropriate? I do not believe it does. Rather, it means that we can take the deeper insights of our Lutheran story, identify how other traditions may use different language for similar insights and enter spirited dialogue with their denominational stories. Through such dialogue and other efforts to cooperate, our own identity as Lutheran Christians can be strengthened even while we learn from and celebrate the perspectives of other Christian groups. Thus we can share the gospel with each other from different perspectives but in a mutually upbuilding way. This in turn strengthens the credibility of our witness and outreach evangelism to unbelievers.

Ken Halstead, Bemidji State University  (top)

There is need on campus for evangelism that is not "in your face" or thinly disguised "programing" that would, at the same time, meet the needs of students who are searching for meaning and truth in their lives. There is need for evangelism from a "beggar" who would show another "beggar" how to find the bread of life

George Koch, Syracuse University (top)

We have no business thinking that we can convert others! ...Scripture tells us that the Spirit takes over once the seed is planted. The mistake the fundamentalists make is to think that it is their responsibility to "win souls for Jesus".

About 5 years ago, we took a serious look at what would be most effective in getting people to "come and see" whether they wanted to be involved in our word and sacrament ministry. It was decided that the best method would be through "face to face" encounters. The campus pastor would probably be the least effective person to do it, if one is to believe the writings of Lyle Shaller. It had to be students calling on students.

What's the training process? Simply convincing the students that they can invite people to church events just as easily as they invite them to campus activities. When they invite them to church, they don't have to know the Bible inside and out, they don't have to be experts in Lutheran Doctrine, and they don't have to be super Christians. They simply have to be able to say "Come & See" and let the rest up to God.

Larry L. Meyer, University of Nebraska, Lincoln  (top)

To this we are free to be bold. We are free to live an exceptional life because we know living an ordinary life for God we will be characterized in the secular world as extraordinary.

Danette M. Halvorson, Willmar Community and Technical Colleges (top)

I believe that evangelism, simply put, is the people of God speaking the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed....It is telling the story of God's saving grace. It is communicating God's liberating love and mercy to a world oppressed by sin and evil. We, who have come to know and understand the power of this message for our lives, are called through the Holy Spirit to declare this good news to the world.

...Our goal is not to force the Gospel on people (as so many in the history of the church have done). We are not called to judge others or condemn them for their belief or non-belief No. Instead, our goal is to speak and act in such a way that it invites others into an encounter with the living God, and into the fellowship of the body of Christ. We are simply called to proclaim and invite. As we tell our story, we must trust that God, through the Spirit, will do the rest.

...The following ideas have surfaced:

1. We need to make the building more inviting.

2. We want to make the worship services engaging, interesting and meaningful.

3. ...we need to become more effective in telling our story.

So how do we go about keeping the main thing the main thing?

First, Campus Ministry needs to be a place where students and others in the campus community can explore spiritual issues.

Second, Campus Ministry needs to be a place of service and compassion.

Third, Campus Ministry needs to communicate clearly what we believe and teach about God and about God's self-revelation in Jesus Christ.

Evangelism, in the end, is both an activity and an attitude. As an activity it shapes what we do and what we say as a Church. As an attitude it shapes who we are and how we understand our role in the world. Evangelism is not selling the church, or peddling Christ to the unbelieving masses. It is the Church carrying out its primary task of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in word, deed and in conversation with the world God loves.

Michael K Girlinghouse University of South Dakota, Vermillion (top)

Our assumption is that students at the University need a Word and Sacrament ministry more than anything else.

"Growth for growth's sake is the philosophy of a cancer cell." (Schumacher)

"If anyone would find Christ, he [sic] must find the church.' (Luther)

Networking - Jesus said that we should be 'fishers of people'. When I was a kid, the evangelism symbol was a fishhook. That always seemed pretty violent to me and exploitative. Catch 'em and count 'em and add them to the rolls. In Jesus' time nets were used and drew the diverse together. I am much more comfortable with this fishing image especially in the light of John 21:11 in which the 153 fish = all the ethnos of the known world.

"The good news is often delivered in churches with the joy and enthusiasm of a mortgage foreclosure." (I can't remember who said this - probably Bueuchner)

"God's promises always arrive with surprises in them." (Mead)

Dennis Meyer SUNY - Albany (top)

God can never be limited to a place, but God can be invited into a particular place.

My struggle with evangelism is that it has been presented to me in ways that haven't allowed for the bigness nor the freedom of God. The evangelizer has usually been seen as the one who somehow must bring God into the encounter.

My experience of campus ministry has given me a vision and reality of evangelism as not only transformed place, but every place; not only evangelizer, but evangelized. Evangelism is about not only transformed space, but existing space; not only speaking but also listening. What this means ultimately for me is mystery - the mystery of God. When we lose the mystery, evangelism cannot happen. When we walk in this mystery of God and place and other, evangelism is always possible- God does not always work in the context we expect God to work. What we evangelize to and 'in is Gods freedom.

Douglas Paulson, University of Minnesota, Duluth (top)

In what I would characterize as an Age Of Loneliness, the greatest gift that the church has to offer is community.' A passage from Robert Frost's "Death Of The Hired Man" gets at this well with an overtone of grace that enters in and fills the empty, lonely spaces of our lives: "Home is the place where, when you go there, they always take you in ... "

But how do you say this to students (or anyone for that matter) in ways that are engaging, that are meaningful, that truly come home to the heart and mind? My mentor, Paul Tillich (Sorry, Stanley and William!), offers a rather sobering indictment to the Christian Community: "Many of those who reject the Word of God reject it because the way we say it is utterly meaningless to them" (The New Being, p. 12 1). Boom! Are we just to throw boulders at people and hope that they can catch them? (Tillich; ST I:7)

If we, as campus pastors, and the student congregations we serve as "The Priesthood Of All Believers, " are willing to risk - more boldly - entering into the dark spaces of doubt and despair, in our own lives and then of others, holding hands like Dante's Virgil, listening ... carefully ... then the Spirit of God will use us as instruments of peace - even when we feel like our strings are frayed and valves rusted.

- be available for the serendipity of the Spirit to strike -

Do worship in the very, very best ways possible - with one ear to the key signature of our Biblical and Lutheran Confessions tradition, and yet also, one to the Spirit's tempo of the times. Let it be your "homing ground" out of which your mission, your programming grows. In a time of gospels which measure good news in terms of numerical success, harken rather to that "still small voice" of the Mission Master who calls for faithfulness and promises to be present even when only "two or three are gathered." Enjoy the moment. Be astutely creative ...And be of good humor.

John Christopherson, Montana State University (top)

I have associated evangelism with the traditional understanding that it involves leading people on the path from being non-Christian to Christian, the task of making new Christians. ...I realize that I was mostly involved in the nurture of the faithful -- or at least the nurture of the somewhat interested -- those who took the initiative to show up.

Be a missionary on campus? Maybe it's about breaking the silences that both tyrannize and deafen. Be a missionary on campus, but on the way to understanding what this might mean in this new context, I fear Hauerwas and Williamson are right -- that in leaning over to speak to the modern world, I may be falling in -- that I may become my public prayers, an advocate for a Tillichian ultimate concern, and not one who lives as a resident alien, remembering and sustained by the adventure of being the church.

Carol Tomer, Muhlenberg College (top)

Maybe one of the main problem with human beings in general which affects our formulation of ways we share our deepest truths is that we live primarily in the mental and emotional realms rather than the spiritual and physical ones; we tend to baptize our thoughts and our feelings as more real than whatever is beyond us or below us in some sense. We have a harder time with actually doing things and listening for directives about reality from beyond ourselves.

...Wrapped up in ourselves, we become very small packages.

"Witness" is a hell of a lot bigger in real life than it is in the vocabulary of the Church.

Reed Schroer, Michigan State (top)

Thus, to believe is more properly understood as "to belove." ...we are called to be the bearers of the blessing of God's grace-filled compassion for the whole created order. Conversion is God's agenda, not ours.

Could it be that much of the church has peddled and continues to peddle religion as a system and an institution at the expense of its only reason for being, namely, to act out God's compassion in the world for the sake of others? Could it be that the church, succumbing to the temptation to confuse orthodoxy and institutional success with faithfulness, has lost its ability to live in the Spirit and to be the representatives of a suffering God in a suffering world?

We need to help students recognize and own their own experience of God's compassion in their lives...

Often they lack the basic biblical knowledge and understanding that is necessary to help them recognize and name their "God experience."

This leads me to say that to be an evangelist in a radically secular environment can be a lonely experience and therefore, I think, necessitates being in community.

Gordon W. Ward, University of Colorado, Boulder (top)

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching - in their special report, "Campus Life, In Search of Community" names of six principles that provide an effective formula for day-to-day decision making on the college campus.

A Purposeful Community -

An Open Community -

A Just Community -

A Disciplined Community -

A Caring Community -

A Celebrative Community -

Mark Olson said, "...Evangelism is not something the church does to others. Evangelism is simply something the church does."

Signe Gray, St. Cloud State University (top)