Introduction: This guest blog is by Shaio Chong, a colleague of mine from my days as a campus minister. He was campus minister at York University for many years and then has just finished a season as the editor of the denominational magazine called The Banner. He recently put this blog up on his website and when I saw it I immediately asked to guest blog it here. What is campus ministry to look like when it is led by a theologically trained (lay) clergy-person? I was part of the CRCMA dialogue he writes of below, and I wrote about campus ministry as a social movement that acted as an ambassador for Christ to the public university and at the same time as a missional laboratory for the church. As you will see, other notions came forward from others, and Chong tried to bring it all together into a generous orthodoxy from a Reformed theological perspective. While Global Scholars Canada is an interdenominational endeavour (and not specifically “Reformed”), we would certainly echo his cry to “let all models be.”
Back in 2002 to 2003, when I was a Christian Reformed campus minister serving at York University in Toronto, there was a robust discussion among us campus ministers about what campus ministry should be or do in the context of our North American post-modern campuses. This was mostly an internal discussion among members of the Christian Reformed Campus Ministers’ Association (CRCMA), which included some non-ministers but who are invested in campus ministry. John Valk (campus minister), James K.A. Smith (philosopher) and Nicholas Wolterstorff (philosopher) each wrote articles in the in-house CRCMA newsletter, Anastasis, on the subject, responding to each other’s articles.
Valk championed a faith and learning integration model, while Smith argued for campus ministry as a worshipping community situated between church and university, and Wolterstorff suggested that campus ministers should guide scholars toward fidelity in their scholarship. All three approaches suggested a one-campus ministry model shoe that fits all (or most) secular universities, with the implication that other models are somehow deficient.
Well, I ended up writing a rejoinder to all of them as well, which was published in Anastasis in 2004. I cannot find it anywhere online, and I was recently encouraged to republish it on my blog.
My main thesis in that article: campus ministry is Christ and the church with the university – it is “God with us” in a specific vein. With this, I am drawing inspiration from Christ’s incarnation to be “God with us”.
Campus ministry is “God with us” in a specific vein.
Shiao Chong
Why can’t we acknowledge that different university campuses, each with their different ethos, different challenges and opportunities, invite and require different models of campus ministry that faithfully embodies or incarnates Christ’s ministry to that campus? Isn’t there more than one way to engage the post-modern world? Why do we need one model as a standard for all?
Underlying our debates was the additional question of what is a Reformed campus ministry as opposed to other Christian (e.g. Lutheran, Catholic, etc.) ministries?
Following is an excerpted version because at least half of the original article was responding to specific points made in the earlier articles by Valk, Smith and Wolterstorff. You would need context and to have read those articles to appreciate them. Leaving those out, I am sharing here what I think still has value apart from that discussion thread.
What is (Reformed) Campus Ministry?
What then is campus ministry? By now, you probably detected some hints on where I stand. Taking a cue from Bill Lewis, campus minister emeritus from Columbus, Ohio, metaphor and narrative, rather than definition, are characteristic of the biblical story, and therefore more appropriate for articulating understandings of what campus ministry is. I am, thus, less inclined to define campus ministry by models or propositions. I suggest, instead, the metaphor of incarnation. Christ’s incarnation, or “in-fleshing”, was a concrete actualization of “God with us”.
I suggest that campus ministry incarnates the triune God’s ways within the specific context of higher education. Another way to put it: campus ministry is not the church for the university, but rather, campus ministry is Christ and the church with the university – it is “God with us” in a specific vein.“With” rather than “for” suggests give and take, dialogue rather than monologue, alongside-ness rather than over and above. It also suggests vulnerability and risk, just as Christ made himself vulnerable, even to the point of death. I think any ministry is always risky business, to varying degrees. To be Christ and the church with the university involves allowing oneself to be vulnerable to change and transformation that is mutual, not just one-sided. And this kind of transformation may be good for us, the church, and the university, and also the Spirit’s way with us and with the world. But it’s not something one can specifically plan for.
To suggest that campus ministry incarnates God’s ways with the university is also to allow multiple forms or models of how that incarnation can take shape. I believe every campus has its own challenges, needs, ethos, structures, and opportunities that call forth for different forms of incarnation. Furthermore, the ethos and practices of the campus minister and of her tradition, of her institutional church or organization (I am including parachurch groups here) also give shape to that incarnation. It may well be that for one campus ministry, worship is essential, while for another, carving out space in the classroom is a faithful incarnation of God’s way with that university, given that campus minister’s gifts and tradition.
To suggest that campus ministry incarnates God’s ways with the university is also to allow multiple forms or models of how that incarnation can take shape.
Shiao Chong
This “definition” is, of course, relatively fluid and porous. Welcome to the post-modern world! But I think it is in line with the biblical text. The history of Christian theology shows that we are hard pressed to find definitive definitions in Scripture on many of our doctrines.
Does this, however, mean that there are no differences between Evangelical, Liberal and Reformed incarnations on campus? As I suggested, the shape, form or model that incarnation takes is affected by not only the university’s unique circumstances, but also by the campus minister’s gifts and his institutional church and tradition’s ethos, practices and beliefs.
Again, I rely on metaphor rather than definition by propositions. The dominant motif or metaphor for the Reformed tradition, in my judgement, is a vision of God on the throne. I believe this vision of God on the throne (Isaiah 6 for instance) informs and shapes all of Reformed theology and practice. It can be expressed (though not exhausted) by the concept of God’s sovereignty. But a vision of God on the throne is more than just assent to God’s control. It is more than that. This metaphor of God moves Calvinists to emphasize grace in their theology. This vision motivates them to logically deduce (rightly or wrongly) predestination from Scripture. This Reformed vision is the reason why Reformed Christians typically emphasize Christ as Lord rather than Christ as Saviour. Because of this vision of God, Calvinists define the Christian life as primarily gratitude to God. This Reformed motif places the preaching of God’s Word as central to Reformed worship, in contrast to sacrament-centred worship. Inspired by this vision, Reformed Christians seek to realize Christ’s Lordship over all areas of life. I can go on and on.
Reformed campus ministry, I offer, is an incarnation of God’s way with the university that is deeply informed/shaped by this vision of God on the throne. This does not, in my opinion, lead to any specific model of campus ministry. One can be worship centred in a Reformed way, or be pursuing integration in a way that is infused by this Reformed vision. One can be any shape or model but still Reformed by primarily drawing inspiration from this metaphor of God enthroned over all creation. This also means that Reformed ministry is not always different from other traditions’ ministries, despite different dominant metaphors.
Therefore, let all the various models be: be it centred on worship, lectures, small groups, mentoring, counselling, so on and so forth. Whatever model it is, let it be a faithful incarnation, a faithful rendering of “God with us”, for that particular university, during a particular time, led by a particular campus minister, sent by and accountable to a particular church tradition and institution. And Reformed campus ministry is such incarnations deeply inspired by the Reformed vision of God on the throne.
Sensus Divinitatis 