Setting the Table on Campus

For the last 20 years, August has been a “high holy month” for me. As a campus minister, me and my campus ministry colleagues block off nearly the entire month exclusively to welcome new students and greet returning young adults to campus. It is the most energy and emotionally intense season of the campus ministry year. In many ways, the actions we take during Week of Welcome have the potential to set the tone for the entire academic year of ministry. So we happily burn the candle at both ends - reaching out to students, helping with move in, tabling every day, hanging out every night - doing all we can to set a table for every student the Holy Spirit brings our way. We almost don’t stop to breathe, eat or sleep until Labor Day. As hard as week of welcome is each year, it is always a privilege to step onto a college/university campus and proclaim: “Jesus invites all to His table.” And as United Methodists, we really mean ALL.

I LOVE campus ministry for so many reasons. There’s the opportunity to nurture young followers of Jesus as they begin to own their faith journey. There’s the privilege of helping future lay and clergy leaders discover their call to ministry. There’s the thrill of watching skeptics become faithful believers. But for me, the greatest honor I have had as a campus minister is the chance to set the table and save a seat for a young adult who did not think they were welcome at Jesus’ table. Many of us in collegiate ministry have sat with a young adult who thought their doubts about the Bible were enough to exclude them. Campus ministers regularly have coffee with a college student who feels spiritually homeless because the tradition they were raised in no longer fits. Some of us have greeted students who were in the midst of a faith deconstruction, but still wanted to have a meal with people who loved Jesus without being interrogated. A few of us have even held space for a young person who was struggling with their mental health. To be able to look at a student who is deciding if and when they will publicly “out” themselves and say, “you are always welcome at this table” is the GREAT joy of campus ministry. 

I am reflecting on all of this for many reasons. For one, it’s August y’all - and this is a good time to remind you that the Florida Conference campus ministers are some the best and most faithful in the entire connection. Today is a good day to send my campus ministry colleagues your prayers and to let us know if there are students in your sphere of influence that we could be connecting with (even if they aren’t on a campus we are currently serving). But I am also reflecting on this because I know that campus ministry is made possible through the support of the local congregations of the Florida Conference. It is apportionment dollars that fund our ministry to college-aged young adults on campus. Every meal, coffee meeting, Bible Study, worship gathering and retreat scholarship is made possible through local church apportionment giving. So when I heard that some of our laity were being encouraged to withhold their apportionment giving due to a desire to disaffiliate from the UMC, I honestly had some feelings. Withholding apportionments does many things, but the impact is felt on the ground, including on college/university campuses. The decrease in apportionments leads to the cutting of campus ministry budgets which means a student won’t be given a scholarship for the retreat and a young adult won’t receive that extra hour of mentoring.

My friend and co-Lay Leader reminded me of this today: '“As Christians in the UMC, we have been told what it means to honor God with our gifts, presence and service. And we have been witnesses to how God can and will use those gifts. We are not called to weaponize apportionments.” Clearly the withholding of connectional giving is meant to send a specific message to the institution. But the result of that message is one more young adult who may not find their place in Jesus’ family because United Methodist campus ministry couldn’t extend the table to them. 

So let me be clear, I love campus ministry and believe it is one of the most important ministries we fund with our apportionment giving. I believe that, for the sake of the mission of Jesus, now is a time to over-invest in the next generation. I believe that withholding apportionment giving to make a point ultimately prevents us from nurturing and mobilizing disciples of Jesus Christ on the campuses of Florida. As a campus minister and co-Lay Leader in the Florida Conference, I call on the laity to reject any and all efforts to withhold connectional giving even as congregations are discerning their future. We cannot allow our disagreements in the UMC to be a barrier to the love and grace of Jesus Christ being experienced by ALL college-aged young adults on campus. As we head into a new academic year, let’s continue to support the work of campus ministers who are setting the table and proclaiming to every college-aged young adult: “Jesus invites ALL to His table.”

Derrick Scott III
Co-Lay Leader, Florida Conference

Back to the Laity Space Weekend Update for August 6.