Dear Sisters and Brothers,
On behalf of our synod’s five Campus Ministries I invite all congregations across the Upstate New York Synod to join in the first ever synod-wide Campus Ministry Sunday on October 1, 2017. As chaplains from these ministries met over the past year some of the questions we pondered were:
- How can Campus Ministries connect with youth in congregations as they plan for college?
- How do congregations stay connected with their students that head off to college?
- Campus Ministries experience the generations and encounter the ways that young adults experience faith and are impacting the world. How can this experience be shared with the larger church especially our congregations?
- What are the best ways to reach out to the young adults on our campuses who do not know Jesus Christ and his church?
- How can we effectively help students bring God into the decisions they are making?
- How can congregations more readily engage with Campus Ministry?
Campus Ministry Sunday is an opportunity for your congregation to learn more and consider ways you can address the questions above. Resources are available to help congregations learn about Campus Ministry and promote and engage in activities for October. Resources posted on the synod website include prayers, bulletin inserts from each of our five (5) campus ministries, and a sample newsletter article that you can personalize for your celebration. Our campus ministry pastors stand ready to talk with you and to help you schedule a student or other representative to come to your congregation’s event. Their contact information is listed below. If you can’t do October 7th, pick any Sunday in October – the goal is a sharing of this amazing ministry in our midst.
The mission of campus ministry in the ELCA is to invite people in academic settings to engage more deeply with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the community that bears his name, so that they can discover and fulfill their vocation as disciples. It is not just a ministry for Lutherans. Our Campus Ministries are supported in part by your congregation’s mission support to the synod, by ELCA dollars and through their own fundraising. Start planning now for a special time to explore how your congregation can interact with your nearest campus ministry.
In Christ,
John S. Macholz, Bishop
Available Resources:
CAMPUS MINISTRY CONTACT INFORMATION:
Albany Cornerstone Campus Ministry, http://www.ualbanycornerstone.org/, Rev. Sandy Damhof, sdamhof@albany.edu.
LuMin of WNY, Buffalo, www.lcm-buffalo.org, LuMin of WNY on Facebook, Rev. Steve Biegner, stevebiegner@gmail.com.
St. Luke Lutheran Church Campus Ministry, Ithaca, http://www.stlukeithaca.org/campus-ministry, Rev. Rick Bair, rlb8@cornell.edu.
RIT Lutheran Episcopal Campus Ministry, https://www.rit.edu/studentaffairs/religion/lutherancampusministry.php, Rev. Craig Swanson, pastorcraigs@aol.com.
Lutheran Campus Ministries (LCM) at Syracuse University and SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry, http://lcmsyracuse.org/, Rev. Gail Riina, griina@syr.edu.