Earth's Edge Perspective
Missional Ministry Methods within the University Campus Context
Part monk, part explorer. I'm the President and Director of Ministry Development for a small, yet fantastic non-profit organization called Impact Campus Ministries. I have a dream to see the eyes of university students in America opened to the realities of poverty in the world, moved to make an impact for the Kingdom of God.
The true way to spiritual growth is to deny the world the right to control us by its praise, to deny the world the right to hinder us by its cursing. All that matters is the devotion of the heart to God.
(St. Macarius the Great)
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Archive
Crowded Solitude in Pittsburgh (#dmingml #campusministry #j2011)
I'm in downtown Pittsburgh today, waiting for a conference to begin...a gathering of hundreds of young people who are looking to make positive changes in their world. As I wait (in a coffeeshop), I can't help but notice that while I have been around people today, a LOT of people, I have had no meaningful conversations. I reflect back... I spoke superficially with the young lady who just poured coffee for me. The bus driver and I conversed briefly (he was surprised I got off the bus five blocks before my destination so I could walk a little). "I guess it is a nice day," he said. The lady at my hotel was quite curt with me when I asked for directions to the bus stop. I think I was interrupting her work. There are conversations all around me, but I realize I'm in complete "solitude" as I look at others. It would be easy to live my life completely disconnected from others, even though I live in the midst of many. Crowded solitude. I'm carrying with me today a book (a cultural artifact which says to the others around me, "I'm not really alone")...Karl Polanyi's "The Great Transformation: the Political and Economic Origins of Our Time." I have just started reading Polanyi, but am already seeing that his 1944 publication still has tremendous relevance for us today. Polanyi actually argues for a regulated market, believing that a purely unregulated (free) market would be severely detrimental to society. The underlying reason this is so? People tend to look out for themselves, and for their own good, not looking to the needs of others. When this is true of those in power in our society, the people will suffer. This reality, that we tend to look only to our own needs, is weighing heavy on me today as I walk the streets of Pittsburgh. I, too, fight to stay inside my bubble as I at the same time struggle to escape it's confines. Crowded, yet in solitude. Can we break free? Can we guide this generation of young people to not simply obey the system, but to teach the system a new/different way forward...a way which has us connecting deeply with the crowd? The prospect of being together this evening with others at this conference who want to make positive changes in the world is exciting. We are not confined to a life which simply silently exists within a system. Rather, we are called to teach and inform the system...to make it a place where these others are blessed by our presence. Campus ministers...keep reminding your students of this fact...they can make a difference.
