College Union

1. Recommendations for the Connection

• Identify and nurture a network of campus ministry friendly bishops.
• Encourage experienced and a more diverse group of campus ministers to be a part of editing/revising/re-creating “the documents” from GBHEM.
• Campus Ministry is an extension ministry and cannot be appointed like a local church. Create consultative strategy and process to help bishops appoint campus ministers, in communication and consult with local boards.
• Initiate a consistent, persistent, unified pursuit for support from the Council of Bishops and the General Boards and Agencies.
• Encourage greater visibility of campus ministry at connectional settings.
• Develop more internship programs that are funded and provide training.
• Clearly identify what’s available now from the Boards and Agencies for college pastors/campus ministers. No one seems to know what they are doing.
• Have a quadrennial emphasis for the national church about college ministry. This would provide each conference with an intentional, long-term opportunity to tell the story of college ministry.
• Make sure that the things that come out of this conference are related to the larger church and request a response so that the dialogue is not one-sided. The GBHEM and GBOD need to spread the word and circulate information coming out of the Summit.

2. Recommendations for Campus Ministry Network

• Encourage the use of the Web: Use of technology for connecting campus ministers (virtual table, blogs) help connect people and share resources.
• Create/seek funding for internship program and internship candidate pool.
• Create a prayer movement, beginning with a few, and over time, embraced by the whole.
• Obtain profiles of each WF and their contexts and group them according to their similarities. This would give a short list of campus ministers with similar contexts to exchange ideas and have ongoing conversations.

3. Recommendations for Campus Ministry Support/Encouragement

• Offer the Summit again and often perhaps focusing in on specific issues facing the campus and students.
• Continue to develop “Nurture and Revival” opportunities for campus ministers to get their batteries charged and to hear the gospel themselves.
• Formalize a way to successfully mentor and train younger campus ministers.

4. Recommendations for Campus Ministry Training

• Encourage GBOD’s Youth and Young Adults Ministry to be paying a role in CM training.
• Train and credential lay campus ministers along the lines of certified lay speakers or local pastors.
• As General Boards to partner and organize regional/national events for students that are worship and teaching oriented, leadership equipping, vision training to be catalysts on their campuses. The UM student gathering has become heavily politicized.
• Provide topic specific training events on fundraising, board development and intern programs.
• Draw the best and brightest from our campus ministries, and have them speak to us about what they are doing and what they hope to see done.
• Sharpen Wesleyan practices like field preaching, lay leadership and small groups.
• Develop a Campus Minister’s Institute (for empowerment, training, resourcing of campus ministers on all experience levels and in different contexts: church based, WF and college chaplains).
• Develop and resource fundraising training for campus ministry in different contexts. Have someone who could stay connected to campuses over a period of time — sort of like a VP of Development for serving several campuses at once.

5. Recommendations for Campus Ministry Resources/Materials and Other

• Ask Steve Moore and others to compile a reading list for campus ministers, addressing leadership, spiritual formation, discipleship, visioning, fundraising, among other things.
• Provide Board development training experiences and resources.
• Create new models for funding and help the church recapture the vision for what campus ministry could mean for the church.
• Create relevant training materials that are Wesleyan in tradition.
• Form a listening team representative of bishops, boards/agencies, campus ministers to be in conversation with parachurch organizations to listen and learn from their best practices (IV, Navs, Crusade, etc.)

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