Telling Stories and Gospel of Alcott

Telling Sermon and The Gospel of Louis May Alcott sermon posted in the Annex.

July 26th: Telling Stories (Killam Sermon 4)

August 2nd: The Gospel of Louisa May Alcott (Killam Sermon 5)

Well things are winding down for me here in Cleveland. My last service is on Art in Worship this coming Sunday, and I'm more that a little relieved to be reaching the end of my Cleveland Journey. Oh, don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot and enjoyed my time here, but coordinating six Full Services in a completely new place can be more than a little exhausting. Just when I've finally got it all figured out, it's time to move on.

One the optional components of the fellowship was adding in a Service Learning Component. Basically, the ministers write me an evaluation for all the work I did. One of my reviewers faulted my for taking 3 weeks to come up with my service learning objectives. We'll my answer to that was it took me 3 weeks to become familiarized enough with the congregation for me to figure out both what I could teach them and what they could teach me.

It's hard to have goals if you don't know anything about the place you are learning from. Anyway here are the goals I came up with:

Learning Objectives

Robert Killam Fellowship: A paid preaching fellowship from July 1 to August 12, 2009.

Student: Sean S. Honea 2nd Year M. Div Starr King School for the Ministry

Mentors / Advisers:

Rev. George Buchanan, Minister of Religious Education
Rev. Daniel Budd, Lead Minister

Learning Objective One: Become comfortable and familiar with skills needed to conduct a UU Worship Service in a traditional setting:

• Service Task: Plan and Lead six Sunday worship services with accompanying sermons
• Service Task: Prepare Orders of Services and coordinate worship materials and participants (i.e. musicians, readers etc.)
• Service Task: Integrate weekly feedback from support committee and mentors into each succeeding service

Learning Objective Two: Provide an engaging and active worship experience for congregants

• Service Task: Learn the traditions of the congregation in order to build upon them
• Service Task: Invite and encourage the participation of lay worship assistants during the service, who represent different perspectives within the congregation
• Service Task: Conduct an Art and Worship workshop with the goal of encouraging lay congregant participation in co-creating the atmosphere for the worship service
• Experiment with different worship elements i.e: Different Styles of sermon delivery, Greet Your Neighbor exercises, Visitor Welcome Exercises.

Fund Raising! Young Adult and Campus Ministry Sermon!

Latest Killam Sermon post at the Annex. Topic is Young Adult and Campus Ministry. Forgive the typos, no matter how many times I comb through a manuscript, I always seem to have a few left, particularly when I'm not turning it in for a grade, but then even still.

Well it seems I've became a bit amateur fundraiser for the Berkeley Campus Ministry (or UUCM at Cal). Believe me, I never intended for this to happen, but with like most things with me, I try to do one thing, and something else happens instead, so I just end up going with it.

Some people fear the law of unintended consequences, I live my life by it. It all started last winter, when I was fastly approaching burn out from my first semester in seminary, while applying liberal amounts of crazy glue and duct tape on the Berkeley Campus Ministry as their defacto campus minister (long story) as my liver started to succomb to an unholy combination stress and iron toxicity (longer story).

Anyway during Winter break the Campus Ministry's Support Committee met to figure out the next year. I could write a book about the events leading up to the meeting, but suffice to say, I was burning out fast and a replacement needed to found pronto. We had my fellow seminarian co-leader of course, but he was leaving at semester's end, so for sake of continuity, we needed someone to come in to bridge the gap sort of speak.

I believed so strongly in this need, that I donated my stipend for the leadership position to the next Campus Leader. Well months later I got some of that money back ($200.00), since my successor felt it unfair for me to not get any of the stipend, so she mailed me a check before she ran off to Russia for a Siberian Summer Adventure of mindfulness and relaxation (true story).

About the same time, the campus ministry peoples and I discovered that our financial support, such as it was, had dried up from our anchor congregation due to the hardships imposed by the current economic crisis. We did have some warning of this of course, the campus ministry's UUA starter grant was due to expire at the end of Spring Term, and attempts were made to get one or two congregation to reapply for the funds either separately or jointly, but it never happened. I'm told that all funds excess in the account had been zeroed out as well.

This posed a particularly frustrating problem. I thought the problem was simply: "okay, we have no money, let's get's some." However, when I tried to re-donate my $200 stipend back into the Campus Ministry's general fund, the Church said they were not able to accept donations at the time for the campus ministry, and suggested instead I should refer any such future transactions to their sister congregation the Berkeley Fellowship, since I was a member there (at the Fellowship).

Hmm, we'll I don't exactly have pull at the Fellowship, I've only been a member for a couple of months, but I tried anyway. After consulting with Starr King's Marketing and Recruiter person, I wrote the fellowship a nice letter that basically amounted to saying "please hold this money" for the campus ministry, so I don't have to self fund the CM via my own bank account. I also put in a phone call or two.

Well, some time went by and I went off to General Assembly in Salt Lake to begin my Tri-city summer adventure. At the Starr King table, Rev Earl Koteen (a consultant minister par excellence) stopped me and said that the $200 could be accepted provided that I was interested in working on some sort of grant proposal that would be used to fund young adult ministry in Berkeley to include the campus ministry. Sure, why not I thought. I'd never done anything like that before, although I have sat on a committee that awarded grants (Undergrad Class), but it wouldn't first time, I agree to do something, I probably had no business saying yes too (Army Satellite Communications comes to mind).

I'm a student. A student with intermittent work that lives mostly off of financial aid, so by the time all this got sorted out, I had already spent the $200.00 on Airfare and other basic essentials such as food. Luckily, my second stop was a paid fellowship at the First Unitarian Church of Cleveland. So, I told Earl, um sure, I'm good for the money, I just need a couple weeks.

Anyway, I arrive in Cleveland and find out that as part of my duties I have full disgression on where the weekly Sunday Service Offerings are donated too. So, at the first staff meeting I agreed to donate half the offerings to local causes and the other half to more distant, but realevant causes. The UU Military Guildbook project was top on my list, with the Berkeley Student Ministry a close second.

Last Sunday we raised $205 dollars, and I will be matching that with funds from my Summer Stipend as soon as I am dully compensated for my services here in Cleveland. This gave me the idea of "why stop with Cleveland," so I am now asking congregations that I have had some former association with to join in the fund raising effort.

For those that don't know I am a dual member of Community Church of Chapel Hill, North Carolina and the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalist, as well as an alumnus of Chapel Hill Campus Ministry. As an alumnus and member of Community Church, I have asked that my yearly pledge be directed to the Community Church's Campus Ministry Activity Fund because it is my belief that UU Campus Ministries not only benefit the students involved, but help to foster future leaders for the UU Movement. UU Campus Ministry is what initially inspired me to both
become a Unitarian Universalist and to take up my own call to ministry. Please help me share the opportunities that were afforded to me, and expand the UU movement's reach to even more students in need of ministry.

If it pleases you to do so, and you are ready to open your hearts as well as your wallets, then please send any funds raised to:

Rev Earl Koteen
C/O Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
1606 Bonita Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709-2022

The check can be made out to the Berkeley Fellowship or BFUU with Campus / Young Adult Ministry on the reference line.

thanks,

Sean

lastest sermon posted

Latest Sermon: Witness and Reconciliation posted to the Stone Soup Annex.

Feel free to leave comment here as google pages doesn't have that function yet. This service was a little easier to do, since it was my second one in the Killam Fellowship series, but everything before the sermon felt rushed and a little disengaged for me, even reading Philip Larkin's "Church Going" as the reading felt off. The soloist Elysha Ross with accompanist Laura Silverman did well performing an Italian piece and some Bach. Apparently the church has a long history of supporting classical music. Robert Shaw was their director for a bit in the 1960s.

The sermon came off much better, but it didn't really have an ending (I had to chopped of 15 minutes as it was originally 40 mins long!). The sermon dealt with coming into community, so I just had everyone pause for a few moments after the sermon. Actually the pause was because, I was caught off guard by my own non-ending, I forgot I had cut so much... Anyway, after I composed myself during the moment of reflection, I asked everyone to greet each other and OMG, did that go over well. Seriously, it was like magic: everyone jumped up and a roar of voices filled the sanctuary as people got up to greet each other.

I'll have to remember that one, but it was hard to reign everyone in after that, so we could do the closing hymn. If we didn't have an accompanist, I just would have cut the service and let it end there, but everyone calmed back down...eventually, and we sang, "We Laugh, We Cry" and extinguished the chalice. Someone mentioned that they should sing that hymn more often because it actually moved them to tears. It's my favorite UU hymn so far.

I know, you usually do the "greet your neighbor" stuff at the beginning, but this congregation isn't used to doing that. Hmm, I'm torn on whether or not to add it to the beginning of service after the chalice lighting and such, or leave it after the sermon. Putting it after the sermon seemed to have a cathartic effect. Might be something to that... maybe another ritual could have a similar effect, but still leaves room for the extinguishing of the chalice. It's a unison vocal part here.

I referenced my experience with the Chapel Hill Campus Ministry several times in my sermon, and three or four women in congregation pulled me aside afterward to say that they were interested in starting a campus ministry at the church. They told me there are ten colleges in Cleveland, that we should reach out to them.

Good stuff, but they didn't really know where to begin. I'll be forwarding them some of my contacts shortly. They need someone to work with them to see what will work best for their area. But the spark is there, and that's the most important thing for now. Actually I was thinking of showing them this FAQ page for Rev. Leshay's ministry in Worcester, MA, since they're mentioned that they had 10 colleges in the area with no UU student ministries to speak of. That's similar to what Rev. Leshay was faced with: her organization helped students across several campuses found their respective clubs. She said she started with one student.

Anyway, that's part of the plan. I'll also recommend they contact the Young Adult office, and a couple other of my mentors.

Campus Ministry vs. Academic Chaplaincy

Campus Ministry vs. Academic Chaplaincy.

Same animal by another name, or sibling polar opposites?

When I speak about my call to ministry regarding colleges campuses, I often have to point out the nuance between Academic Chaplaincy and Campus Ministry.

Actually the confusing is probably due to assuming that the terms Campus Ministry and Campus Minister are always pseudonymous with each other. Which is something I that I occasionally fall prey too as well. Campus Ministry or a ministry to a school (not just college) can be broken down into three distinct categories (as taught at the Pacific School of Religion):

Congregational based: Is a mission from one church or a small number of churches that is directly involved in maintaining a presence on a college campus. Much like a Youth Group, but may not meet primarily at the congregation. UC -- Davis, U. Madison, and UNC -- Chapel Hill are all variations on this model: Intern-led, Dedicated Church Staff-led, and Part-time Staff Lead respectively.

Para-church Nonprofit: A non-profit or foundation that is setup to maintain a presence on campus for either a particular denomination or multi-faith coalition. A particular congregation may be the main backer, but the non-profit gets it's funding from multiple donors, and usually operates independently. So if Congregational-based is direct support, Para-church is indirect support. The oldest model for this that I know of that is still in practice is the Intervasity Christian Fellowship. Other examples include: Campus Crusade for Christ, Channing-Murray Foundation, and the Greater Worcester Unitarian Universalist Campus Ministries (GWUUCM)*. Several multi-faith models exist as well.

Academic Chaplaincy: A religious leader is hired by and works directly for school, much like a military or hospital chaplain would. Academic Chaplains as with other professional chaplains are more inclined to serve a multi-faith or non-denominational demographic, and can be called upon to function as an interfaith minister either officially or by default (depends on whether or not the institution can afford to hire more than one chaplain to accommodate different religions and or the particular affiliation and philosophy of the institution e.g. the military intentionally strives to be pluralistic in terms of religion as a matter of policy). Depending on the school, Academic Chaplains can also be considered members of faculty, and thus can serve as full deans, professors, and lecturers. A Ph.d, Th.D or equivalent is typically required, although some schools such as Tuffs have hired Chaplains with only Masters degrees.

*GWUUCM appears to be a bit of a partial hybrid between all three models in practice:
- a para-church organizational structure
- An Ordained Campus Minister is paid by the non-profit
- but is considered a non-paid chaplain by the college consortium
- Campus Minister holds an academic lecturer position at one of the member schools
- Yet is affiliated with one UU Congregation as per UUA community minister affiliation policy.

So, whether someone works directly for a congregation, a nonprofit, or a school their work would still fall under the term campus ministry. Now here's where the confusion begins.

Congregational based and para-church religious leaders are usually called Campus Ministers. The term is used interchangeably with ordained (those with a divinity degree and a religious endorsement) and lay leaders. I've argue against the dual use of the term, since it devalues the ordained clergy person in the eyes of fellow ordained congregational ministers (similar to what ordained community ministers often face). However, this is a concern that exists mostly outside of the UU world. Since so few ordained UU campus ministers exists, there are very few people like me around to argue to point.

The title Chaplain in campus ministry is usually reserved for an academic chaplain. This probably honors the widely acknowledge difference in roles between a congregational (or parish) minister and a professional chaplain (Note: that I am not extending the distinction to the UU catch-all term for non-parish ministers: community ministers, since their roles highly vary by individual preference and may overlap with both professional chaplain's and congregational minister's role, or may fill unique roles until themselves).

Here's where the disconnect happens. When I share with fellow UUs that I want to go into campus ministry, many assume I mean Academic Chaplaincy, and offer examples such a Rev. Scotty McClennan at Stanford or Greg McGonigle at Oberlin. Academic Chaplains are few in the UU world, yet Ordained Campus Ministers are even fewer, so for a lot of people the other two models don't even register. Interestingly, if you subtract the intern-ministers (still in training) working in campus ministry, I believe we have more UU Military Chaplains currently serving in the Armed forces than campus ministers. We have less than 10 Military Chaplains currently serving, although several are in training. You might break even if you add in Academic Chaplains, but I haven't looked too hard at their numbers.

Anyway, I usually, have to inform my peers that I'm not interested in an academic chaplaincy (one advanced degree is enough), which usually stops the conversation because so few people work in UU centered campus ministries (again: UU academic chaplaincies tend towards being multi-faith) that they can't even conceive of what the work would look like or how I would gain support for it.

Still many UU people do think it's vital work, we just don't feel the institutional need or have the learning models in place for it. The traditional vehicle for mentoring ministers in training is a year long internship in a congregation and 4 quarters (1 year) of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE i.e. a hospital chaplain in training) to be a certified as a chaplain. UU congregation ministers only need 1 quarter.

Those interested in campus ministry find a congregation with a part time intern-led campus ministry. Yet, the full time Ministers charge with mentoring the interns typically serves the congregation not the campus ministry. So, how is the intern expected to effectively lead the campus ministry when no one has taught them anything about campus ministry and they have no examples to draw from. The interns I have spoken too relate that the campus ministry has to be largely rebuilt every year by each succeeding interns, and if the congregation decides not to have an internship the following year, then the campus ministry either folds or is farmed out to another denomination's ministry such as the United Church of Christ. All of which is disastrous for growing a ministry let alone student lay leaders.

Think about what you church would be like if you got a new minister every year, or on some years decided to go without one completely. Each the new minister would bring a new philosophy / climate that would never have to mature, then at the end of a year it would be replaced or forgotten when the new minister came the following year. And since the college population is transient, the lay leadership, the heart of any religious congregation would be stillborn as each year would their main task would consist of trying to build, rebuild and build anew again.

In the Berkeley Campus Ministry's case (the CM that I've been working to reform) it is even worse because local seminarians leading the Campus ministry often trade out every semester (myself included).

But I could go on forever on this, it's partially the focus of the third Killam sermon I'm doing that deals with Young Adult Ministries.

Hello from Cleveland

Cleveland is going well. My preaching fellowship is a good trial by fire experience, yet not an overly stressful one. The ministers pretty much give you complete freedom to do what you want, since the Lead Minister and Minster of Religious Education (MRE) alternate which is on
vacation one month and which is on call the other. My first sermon went well. They will be putting the audio online soon. Until then you can find a transcript of it at the Stone Soup Annex

I spoke on the current UUA Military Handbook Project, for UUs serving in the military. We donated the entire offering to the cause.

In other news, I met an Ordained UU Campus Minister at General Assembly: Rev. Cheryl Leshay. The only paid one in existence as far as I know. She can't exactly live off the earnings solely from the ministry yet, but it's a good start. She runs a non-profit para-church ministry that serves a consortium of 12 colleges and one high school through a loose partnership between the Worcester, MA Congregation(s) and one of the member schools. She says that she's doing the work for about eight years now. She also commented that she gained entrepreneurial skills to create it after years of experience creating Young Adult ministry positions in UU Congregations. She offered me an internship with her in two years, and I might just take her up on it. Truly, I was overjoyed to meet her, and was rather overcome by the experience. She is a beacon for what is possible in the college ministry realm.

Pulled this from the web:

"The name of my community ministry is “Greater Worcester Unitarian Universalist Campus Ministries.” This group, lovingly called GWUUCM, is young itself. As its’ ultimate goal, GWUUCM works to support and sustain student run “UUClubs” on each of the twelve local area campuses. I am both the director and the minister of GWUUCM. I minister to campus based people, (students, faculty, administrators), by serving as their UU chaplain.

The group currently provides support in a variety of ways. We work as allies, providing institutional memory for the transitioning population of academe. We secure administrative and faculty liaisons, leadership resources. We assure a pastoral presence, regular on campus worship and fellowship as well as an e- newsletter connection for all area UU students. To subscribe to the newsletter go to (http://lists.uuyan.org/listinfo/GWUUCM). The more I interact with our UU college students, the more convinced I am of the importance of this ministry for our movement as a whole. I can’t abandon our young adults, and I find that I am not alone in that sentiment. Funding this ministry is its biggest challenge. I am delighted that so many UUs from all over the area have joined in to help. As part of this ministry, I also aim to provide a way for our many small local congregations to participate in this campus ministry mission.

I also met the Channing Murray Foundation director. We've spoken previously on the phone, and it nice to meet another ally in the cause in person. I still like the Channing Murray model, but it took generations to build it, and it exists today, as it has in the past as a singularity in UU history. Yet, to a certain extent so does Rev Leshay's model. Hmm, I wonder if it would be possible to combine the two approaches. I'll think about it.

I also met a Chaplain Candidate for the Army Reserve. The combined experience of meeting him and the Leshay, has my current discernment shaping up to have me considering going into the Navy Reserve (part time) as Chaplain and trying to make a go at full time campus ministry. If campus ministry proves unworkable, then I can always request to go on active duty. That's that the plan for now. I can almost guarantee it will change, it always does. :)

Lot's of things on my radar. The recently ordained Rev Earl Koteen is working with the Berkeley Fellowship to write a grant to support the Berkeley Campus Ministry in light of the Berkeley Church no longer being able to support the ministry financially. Truly the economy has hurt us all. Rev Koteen has asked my help in writing the proposal, and I'm not sure how valuable my input would be, but things seem to be looking up there at least in the long term.

In the short term, First U. of Cleveland has graciously consented to donate one service offering to the Berkeley Campus Ministry. The Berkeley Fellowship will be receiving and managing the funds until a more permanent solution is found. I will ask my home congregation in Chapel Hill to do the same.

Lot's things going on the periphery as well. Some vacation. ;)

Sean

Life Will Go On

Life will go on.

I'm not sure who originated the adage, but the phrase sums up a large part of how I have come to view the world. "Life will go on." It's kind of pessimistic and optimistic at the same time. As audible as a sigh of acceptance or lament. A throw away phrase evoked when you need something just a touch more solemn than "don't sweat the small stuff."

A colleague of mine once remarked that I saw the world this way because I was in a position of privilege (class? social?) that allowed me to believe in a kind of salvation or redemption: death and suffering didn't matter for me, because my culture would go on... or something like that. Hmm. Well, no not really. Quite the opposite. I actually believe that I am so small in the grand scheme of the universe that I view the sum total of my life actions (and by extension humanity's) as inconsequential in the continuous gears of time, and if anything I pieced it together from some of my mother's latent Buddhism (Thai variate) that inadvertently bled through the evanglican upbringing I had.

To sum up, I've come to a point in my life where I realize just how finite my existence is, and it gives me a kind of twisted hope. Every read that Ozymandias poem? No? Well give it a try:

Ozymandias

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

* * *

Mighty King and Kingdom lost to time. Yeah, makes me think that ultimately, we're all just spinning our wheels, running around in circles in our lonely corner of space. Maybe, I'm just in denial, but this actually gives me hope for the future. No matter what I try to do, no matter how many people I inadvertently affect with my actions today, no how many of my cause and effects echo down through ages to come, time will eventually grind all memory of me away until not even a memory of a memory of me of eventually humanity as we conceive of it remains.

Why am I not depressed by this? Well, just because the actions of my life, good or bad, great or small will eventually fade out to nothing (or returned back into the cosmos at the most basic elements), that doesn't mean that I should stop caring about the here and now. If anything that makes what my time more precious. Save the world, end the world: in the end the sun is still going to go Nova (or wasn't just a red giant) some day. So whether I work hard to leave an impact or not in a few billion years it won't matter.

Y'all are probably thinking, well, Sean, that sounds just awful, why should you try to do anything then. Well, sure all of us could just burn out to nothing and probably will. Yet, we might as well work to pass the torch. I won't last, you won't either. But the spirit of our efforts can be passed on, and they may fade too, but you might as pass what you can on. Why not give the next generation a good start on enjoying life before they too slip into the void. So, the chain of cause and effect our actions set in to motion still may be ground away eventually by time and spectacular celestial explosion, but have you got anything better to do? The universe would be pretty boring otherwise.

I wondered if this makes me a nihilist. Yet, I do believe life has value. I do believe in love. I do believe in humanity. Maybe it just mean's that I'm no longer afraid of my own death and leaving things undone.

How to Build a Sustainable Campus Ministry (Congregational Edition)

How to Build a Sustainable Campus Ministry (Congregational Edition)

Remember the scene in Mr. Hollen’s Opus about the music teacher that thought he wasted his life teaching high school band class, but at the end an auditorium full of his surviving students came back to pay tribute to his impact on their collective lives. Campus ministry is like that.



Step 1. View your Association (denomination) as larger movement.

A sentiment I often hear expressed by congregants is that a congregation does not benefit from supporting College Campus Ministry (CM) because CM only serves the students. The chief evidence given is that students do not attend Sunday Service.

Instead of thinking of the college students as potential members, consider them as potential ambassadors for your particular portion of the UU Movement. Youth Religious Education programs are a long-term investment in the future of the UU Movement; campus ministry can be as well.

Young Adults are very mobile: A campus ministry can inspire UUs that will graduate and move away from College. If their experience was positive they may decide to join a UU congregation in their new area. These Campus Ministry Alumni will eventually spread the word of their positive experiences with your congregation when they recount tales of their time in Campus Ministry. This will “up” your reputation among your fellow congregations as a positive environment that cares about young adults. When and if people moving from these distant congregations move to your area, they will be more likely now to choose your congregation as their new UU Home.

Additionally, CM may inspire future UU leaders (such as Liberal Religious Youth did for Rev Bill Sinkford) and individuals that may fill supporting roles in the UUA and congregations at large. Your congregation can be the one that “turned them on” to their potential in the UU movement.

Students do attend Sunday services, but in limited numbers; given the choice, most CM students choose to worship on campus. Unless your congregation is within a 5 to 10 minute walk from a central point on campus, don’t worry too much about a significant amount of your CM students attending your Sunday Morning services. Instead help provide them an opportunity to worship on campus that meets the needs of their schedule. Then provide opportunities for congregants and students to work together such as:

Volunteering / Activism Events: have Congregants sponsors such events, so students and members can co-mingle. Congregational Career Fair: Introduce students majoring in a particular interest with a congregant that is working in the field.

Providing Child Care (pay them), Religious Education Helpers / Leaders, Youth Lock-In Facilitators (always pay them, students are broke).

If your congregation hopes to grows in terms of Family members with Children; then services will need to accommodate these families with Religious Education, and Child Care; Enterprising College Students can help meet this need.


Step 2.

Comment to investing long term into Campus Ministry by providing them a paid lay leader or campus minister. The Campus Leader is the midwife and mentor for the student leadership, acts as the advocate for the students to the congregation, and as the liaison from the congregation to the students.

If your congregation wants to effectively impact the lives of college students, then you will need to provide them a readily visible symbol of this support. The Campus Leader embodies this symbol of the congregation’s support. The Campus Leader need not be particularly charismatic, authoritative, or relatively young. Beyond all else, the campus leader needs to provide continuity to the group. College students rotate in and out every year, so the Campus Leader must be present to retain and help transition the institutional knowledge to each succeeding class of student leaders. The Campus Leader must show up to every meeting or send someone in their place to act as the Congregational symbol of support.

A long-term campus leader ideally is a position that is held for at least 3 years. The longer the campus leader can stay in the position, the more mature and sophisticated the student leadership will become.

Step 3.

Create a donor fund for the Campus Ministry Leader position and budget. The UUA recommends a line item in your budget for campus ministry, but I don’t think that is enough. Without a long-term leader to continually mentor and mid-wife the student leader skills, you can throw all the money in the world at the campus ministry, but it will not grow.

By creating a donor fund (and advertising it) for campus ministry, you can continue to fund the basic budget for your campus ministry, and overtime you can build up an endowment for your campus ministry. Be prepared for it to take years or decades to do this, but get into the habit of investing in the campus ministry, and it will eventually pay you back in the your congregation’s overall impact on the greater UU movement and by extension the world that these UU student ambassadors will come to inhabit.

So your congregation may not ever receive the visual validation that Mr. Hollen, when all his alumni gather around him, but know that the your impact is just as powerful on student’s lives. You just won’t see it until someone organizes a campus ministry reunion or makes a movie about it.