Natalie Elskamp
Reporter
If you’re a regular in the Anderson University Center dining hall, you may have noticed that the Sunday evening University Congregation (UCong) crowd largely went missing this semester. One week they’ll be dining just as usual—only to completely disappear the next. What’s going on?
In late January, University Pastor Jen Rude announced the beginning of a new season of experimentation for Campus Ministry, including a shift away from weekly University Congregation in light of ongoing deliberation concerning management and student needs.
“We don’t quite have the resources to have a full congregation on campus,” she said. “Currently, we don’t have a musician, there used to be two to three pastors — now there’s just one — we have Chapel three times a week, and a lot of students who come on Sunday are going to other churches in the morning.”
It is for these reasons, among others, that Sunday gatherings are now taking place only once a month, still at 5 p.m. in the Ness Family Chapel. But more important are the many new opportunities this opens up going forward. With more time to focus on Chapel (not to be confused with UCong), small group series, partnerships, and outreach, Rude hopes that Campus Ministry will be able to connect with the community in new and meaningful ways.
“It’s a college campus and students turn over a lot,” she said. “So it’s a matter of ‘what are people interested in right now?’ And that changes.”
An example of this and meaningful outreach is Chapel Break, which was reintroduced to campus at the beginning of the current semester. This is a time from 10:30–11:00 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays when there are no classes, giving students and faculty an opportunity to take a breather and recenter in the midst of their day. They may also choose to attend Chapel itself, which is located inside and outside of the KHP, during this period.
A cornerstone of the PLU community since the college’s beginnings, Chapel Break was relegated to a passing period at the start of the 2020-21 academic year. Now that it’s back formally, Campus Ministry has been working especially hard to implement new kinds of community experiences. These efforts are reflected in Chapel’s latest themes:
Mondays: Spiritual Practices in Community in partnership with Wild Hope Center for Vocation; Wednesdays: University Chapel rooted in Lutheran traditions; Fridays: Prayers for the World in partnership with Trinity Lutheran.
Grace Space, which is a time to simply chill and be present with others in the Campus Ministry office, is also receiving more attention. This formerly was offered only once a week, but now it takes place on both Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2–4 p.m.
In addition are Campus Ministry’s deep dives and series. Most recently offered was a three-week miniseries titled “Decolonizing Scripture” based upon the multi-authored book Unsettling the Word: Biblical Experiments in Decolonization. The miniseries gave students a chance to explore the Bible through the lens of Indigenous and settler peoples via collective readings and reflections. Students seem to have had an especially positive response to this method of ministry, according to Kerry Dolan, a senior and regular attendee of Campus Ministry events.
“We’re even doing another three weeks because [the series] was such a hit this time,” she said. “It’s such a fascinating way to examine the Bible… looking at it from the lens of Indigeneity.” The continuation of this series and related opportunities are to come.
Campus Ministry is frequently active off campus as well. As Holy Week approaches, Trinity Lutheran Church on Park Avenue will continue to host Lenten Holden Evening Prayer services (vespers) on Wednesdays from 7–7:30 p.m. This year, they are collaborating with students of PLU to make it happen, pulling together representatives of either community to lead in song and in short messages.
Kiah Miller, University Congregation and Campus Ministry Program Coordinator and a fourth-year student, is especially pleased with these sorts of partnerships.
“I feel like at times PLU can be kind of like a bubble in a way, and it’s really nice to get connected with more people who are often older than us and have more life experience, or just different life experience,” she said. “For me, part of being a religious person is interacting with all different kinds of people, and being in partnership with Trinity has allowed that connection to flourish.”
So far, it seems, this new outreach holds promise.
“We’re all experiencing a lot of loss and I think we need to name that and be attentive to that,” said Rude. Even so, she adds, “there are new things blossoming.”
Congregants may continue eating together again after services, following a brief hiatus in the midst of the Omicron variant’s surge. More information regarding Campus Ministry services, partnerships, and updates can be found on the PLU Campus Ministry website.
