| "We’re
reaching between eight and nine thousand students every
week on 48 campuses," says Rod Mays, coor-dinator
of MNA’s Reformed University Ministries, "and we’re
going to new campuses every year."
Last year, Reformed
University Fellowship (RUF), as the ministry is known on
campus, achieved record growth by establishing its
presence in seven additional locations. "This
year," Rod points out, "we expect to start RUF
on at least that many, including the Universities of
Virginia, Maryland, Nebraska, Arizona, Emory University
in Atlanta, North Carolina State, and possibly several
others.
"This expansion
is good news for the church because every RUF stresses
the church’s importance," Rod explains.
"These students step out of their caps and gowns
and step right into the local church – many of them to
fill leadership roles."
Pastor of three PCA
churches over 25 years prior to accepting his MNA
position last year, Rod found it tough to leave the
pastorate. "But I have a deep concern for the
condition of our society and I think that campus
ministry is a key to transforming the culture."
While one of the
primary reasons for founding Reformed University
Ministries was to serve and nurture PCA covenant
children, students from many other denominations, as
well as the unchurched, also become involved.
Approximately a third of RUF participants are from PCA
households.
RUF differs from
most other campus ministries in its emphasis on
Scriptural teaching and also in its leadership. All are
led by seminary-trained, ordained ministers who are well
equipped to teach the biblical world-and-life view that
is at the heart of every RUF.
Hundreds of young
men and women have met the Lord through these campus
ministries, or else developed a deeper understanding of
how to live the Christian life. Ask students what RUF
has meant to them and they frequently say it has
provided their first understanding of grace. Take Casey
Coleman, for instance, currently an RUF intern at the
University of Memphis, who spent her undergraduate days
at Mississippi State and was led to receive Christ in
1995 by RUF campus minister Brian Habig. "I grew up
in the church, but never had an understanding of God’s
grace until I joined RUF."
Memphis is a
commuter school where students are more concerned with
their jobs than campus activities, so it’s not easy to
make contact with them in the usual way or round them up
for RUF meetings. "A lot of my time," says
Casey, "is spent stopping by to see students on the
job, just to visit for a few minutes." Casey’s
responsibilities include working with the women in RUF
– leading Bible studies and counseling.
The current campus
minister at Memphis is Harris Green, who is filling in
until May and will then return to his seminary studies.
The RUF was started five years ago by Les Newsom who
became campus minister at Ole Miss (U of MS) in 1999.
While RUF is
represented in 18 states, it is particularly strong in
areas where the PCA has a solid foothold, such as
throughout the Bible belt. On these campuses, attendance
at weekly large-group meetings typically numbers in the
hundreds. One example is the University of Tennessee at
Knoxville.
Planted nine years
ago, the Knoxville RUF has about 220 students at
large-group meetings. Like every other RUF, its primary
goal is to reach students with the Gospel and equip them
to reach out to fellow classmates.
Another typical
Bible belt RUF is Vanderbilt in Nashville where Stuart
Latimer is campus minister. Working with him on staff is
Paige Benton who oversees the women’s ministry. Weekly
large-group meetings have attracted as many as 400
students.
But for all the
strength of RUF in the South, several ministries have
made rewarding progress in locations where the PCA is
not strong, such as at Harvard, the University of
Washington, and New York University.
The largest private
university in the nation, NYU is scattered across
Manhattan, though a number of buildings are concentrated
in Greenwich Village.
This RUF has close
ties with The Village Church (PCA) in Greenwich Village
and students participate in its ministry to men, women,
and children suffering with AIDS. They show mercy in
several ways, which includes preparing and delivering
meals.
On the West Coast,
RUF at the University of Washington in Seattle began in
1998 and is led by Ed Dunnington. "We’re
encouraged by the turn-out," Ed points out,
"we see new faces every week, and the students from
last year are still here." None of them have PCA
backgrounds and Ed believes that several have received
Christ since joining RUF.
Whatever the
location, along with in-depth Bible teaching, music
plays a vital part in group meetings. For the most part,
students sing the old hymns, but often compose new
scores with syncopated rhythm. Kevin Twit, campus
minister at Belmont University in Nashville, graduated
from the Berklee School of Music in Boston before going
on to seminary. When you consider his musical
background, the strong emphasis on music at Belmont
(about half the people in RUF are music majors), as well
as the rich musical resources in Nashville, you can
imagine the quality of the musical performances at RUF-Belmont.
"These students
love tradition and when they understand the Gospel, they
find that the hymns of the past best express God’s
Truth," says Kevin.
Auburn RUF campus
minister Steve Malone also has a strong commitment to
music and finds that "hymns that have been sung for
centuries are still stirring the hearts of students
because of their poetry and depth in communicating the
life of faith."
Tom and his students
produced a CD of their music this year, and so has RUF
at Belmont and NYU. The CDs may be ordered on the Web at
the following sites:
http://www.Auburn.edu/ruf.htm
http://ruf.homepage.com/
Weigel@hotmail.com |
Last
October, about 250 RUF students from campuses throughout
Tennessee attended the annual retreat at Fall Creek
Falls, near Nashville, for fellowship and inspiration.
John Stone,
campus minister at UT-Knoxville, describes RUF students
as particularly interested in showing God’s mercy in
the inner city. "Once a week, we help out in a
downtown soup kitchen which serves the poor and
homeless. Every other year, during spring break, I take
a group to work with inner-city missions in a major
city."
The retreat
attracted a large number of students from RUF at
UT-Knoxville (pictured here), which is one of the most
active in the nation.
Weekly large-group Bible studies are conducted on all
campuses and so are small-group studies for the purpose
of teaching a biblical world-and-life view.
Paige Benton
oversees women’s ministry for RUF at Vanderbilt and
has seen dramatic spiritual growth among the students.
"It’s wonderful to see them change and
mature," she says. "At the start of the 1999
school year, we decided to expand our core leadership
group because we found that so many participating in RUF
have leadership potential."
Leading the
singing at an NYU large-group meeting are Beaux
Edmondson (left) and Emily Crow, two of several PCA
students involved with NYU-RUF. Meetings are held at an
Anglican church at 10th and Broadway.
The
scattered urban campus at NYU and the students it
attracts create a unique challenge for campus minister
Tom Cannon and intern, John Sweet. Nevertheless, Tom
says, "God is doing a great work in New York
City."
NYU enrolls
45,000 students who, according to Tom Cannon (right),
"tend to be high achievers who live a frenetic
lifestyle." Into his third year at RUF as a campus
minister, he’s pleased with the progress. "We’ve
had conversions and also seen tremendous spiritual
growth among students who were already believers. Many
are seriously studying the Bible for the first
time."
|
|
|
THE
VITAL CHURCH |
| The
second annual PCA Convocation on Revival and
Reformation, held last fall, met again at Trinity
Presbyterian in Jackson, MS, organized by Mike Ross,
Trinity’s pastor. The theme, "Reforming the Local
Church," brought pastors from across the nation to
study about reforming all aspects of church life and the
inner life. "The pastors especially appreciate
getting away to share and pray with fellow clergy, and
asked that we devote more time to prayer next
year," Mike explained.
Speakers included these
pastors: Ligon Duncan, First Presbyterian, Jackson, MS;
Derek Thomas, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson;
Carl Kalberkamp, Pear Orchard Presbyterian, Ridgeland,
MS; and Mark Dever, Capitol Hill Baptist, Washington,
DC; as well as Mike Ross and Archie Parrish, MNA church
vitality coordinator.
|
The
theme for the 2000 convocation, set for Oct. 31 - Nov.
2, is "The Five Solas of the Reformation."
James Boyce of Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia will
be keynote speaker. Contact Trinity Presbyterian or
Archie Parrish at MNA for a brochure. aparrish@pcanet.org |
|
SHOWING
GOD'S MERCY |
|
 Pictured
are seven of the eleven Women in the Church (WIC)
leaders who received MNA Urban & Mercy Awards last
fall. The awards were allocated by MNA from the 1998 WIC
Love Gift. Clockwise from lower left are: Paige Overton
Pitts, Yvonne Dodd Sawyer, Jennifer Mahaffey, Joyce
Horton, Pat Wheeler, Barbara Cole, Penny Freeman. Award
recipients not pictured are Mariam Bell, Barbara Horn,
Amy Sherman, Susan Tibbels.
Each received a $1000 grant
to give to a mercy ministry of her choosing. For
example, Joyce Horton donated her award to Beginning
Again in Christ, a ministry headed by a former inmate
which helps prisoners find jobs, housing, etc., upon
their release. The organization is associated with
Central Prison Ministries, Jackson, MS, which Joyce
serves as a volunteer.
 At
last fall’s Christian Community Development
Association (CCDA) Conference, with around 150
attending, the PCA had the largest denominational
representation, according to Yvonne Dodd Sawyer, a CCDA
board member. "That’s because we make a concerted
effort to promote PCA attendance, and we’re proud that
the number grows every year." A total of 4,000
participated in the five-day 1999 meeting which
consisted of workshops and speakers designed to help
urban ministry workers become more effective. This fall’s
CCDA Conference will be held in New York, NY. For a
brochure, contact CCDA at 773-762-0994 or http://www.CCDA.org
|
|
|
The
Seeds of a Church Planting Movement |
| How
is planting a church like a campus ministry? According
to Jeffrey Lancaster, both require a constant
"beating of the bushes, reaching out to people,
drawing them in." Jeffrey should know. He led
Reformed University Fellowship for seven years at Ole
Miss, one of the most successful in the US, and he’s
now in New Orleans laying the foundation for a new PCA
church in the center city area.
Jeffrey and his
family moved to this Louisiana city of 1.5 million last
June and began making contacts. "My heart was drawn
to church planting, especially urban church
planting," he explains.
He hopes to reach
urban professionals, as well as people from the art
community and the universities. New Orleans has several,
including Loyola, Xavier, Tulane, and the University of
New Orleans, among others. The movement he envisions
includes RUF.
The new church is
patterned after other PCA urban church plants, such as
Redeemer in New York City. Describing his philosophy of
what a church should be, Jeffrey quotes Dick Kaufmann
who served as associate pastor of Redeemer in NYC until
last year when he moved to San Diego to launch an urban
church there. Kaufmann said, "Don’t ask what kind
of church we should plant; ask what kind of city Christ
wants this to be."
A number of RUF
campus ministers have gone on to plant churches since
campus ministry provides excellent experience for
starting a church – not only because it teaches you
how to "beat the bushes" for contacts, but
also because campus ministers must know how to apply the
Scriptures in day-to-day living and bring the Gospel to
those without church backgrounds.
Says Jeffrey,
"My goal is to reach unchurched, unsaved people
with the Gospel and see startling conversions. New
Orleans has a strong religious heritage, but it is
vastly untouched in terms of evangelical
Christianity." |
Jeffrey
rents office space on Magazine Street amid six miles of
coffee shops, restaurants, and antique dealerships. He
hopes to start a movement that will spawn other churches
as well as ministries concerned with mercy and social
justice. "We need a strong, well established church
to generate a city-wide movement."
Jeffrey
(left) with good friend Mo Leverett, pastor of Desire
Street Fellowship Mission in New Orleans.
|
|
|
|
Report:
MNA Evangelism Convocation |
| Last
October, MNA called together an Evangelism Convocation
at Briarwood Presbyterian in Birmingham, AL, and
received an excellent response. Alan Wallace, ruling
elder at Young Meadows Presbyterian in Montgomery, AL,
said, "The convocation gave me a fresh
understanding of Jesus’ command to make disciples and
impressed me of my responsibility to help carry out the
Great Commission."
 Another
ruling elder, James Osborn, who came from Christ
Presbyterian in Tulsa, OK, said, "I attended with
other lay leaders from our church as well as our pastor
and associate pastor. We came away with a new passion
for evangelism and really excited about some different
ways to do ministry."
The three-day convocation
consisted of stimulating workshops and inspiring
messages brought by well-known Christian leaders: Bryan
Chapell, Ligon Duncan, D. James Kennedy, Tim Keller, and
Paul Kooistra. Jim Bland, MNA coordinator, planned the
meeting and said, "It was a tremendous
encouragement to lay leaders, pastors, and every other
Christian who took part…we were challenged to renew
our commitment to keep the Gospel of our Lord central,
not only to our mission, but also to our lives."
Tapes of the convocation are available. Request an order
form from Briarwood Presbyterian: 205-978-2200 or mna@pcanet.org
|
|
Gospel
in Uniform |
 |
| Chaplain
Philio offered the benediction at a
French/American Veteran’s Day ceremony, an
annual event which honors US airmen who died in
France during World War II. "French people
love Americans, despite reports to the
contrary," Shannon explains. "French
veterans often tell stories of American
heroics." |
Serving in France: During
the final four months of 1999, USAF Chaplain Shannon
Philio served at Istres Air Base on the southern coast
of France, the location of Operation Joint Forge which
provides aerial reconnaissance and air fueling support
for NATO in the Balkans and Bosnia. On one occasion,
Shannon preached in a church in Aix en Provence which
had once received a letter from John Calvin encouraging
the brethren to remain faithful. Day-to-day, however,
his duties ranged from preaching on base, leading Bible
studies, and counseling, to organizing USO shows,
raising money for local charities, and building a
chaplain’s Web page.
Shannon’s deployment ran
through Thanksgiving and Christmas, an especially
difficult time for airmen to be away from home and
family. "Words of encouragement from a chaplain and
a listening ear help them get through," Shannon
says and cites Proverbs 15:30: ‘A cheerful look brings
joy to the heart and good news gives health to the
bones.’
"The chaplaincy
provides a golden opportunity to shine the ‘Light of
the World’ in some of the world’s darkest areas and
to reach men and women who may never have heard the
Gospel or even entered a church."
|
Deduct
Now...Distribute Later
 Are
you in the position to make a charitable contribution now –
but want to decide later which Christian ministries you wish to
benefit? Through a Mission to North America Advise and Consult
Fund agreement, you can make your gift of cash, stocks, or other
property when you want or need to – possibly eliminating
capital gains tax or reducing income tax – then advise at a
later date those Christian ministries that you would like to see
benefit from your gift. It all adds up to sound stewardship of
God’s property.
MNA ADVISE AND CONSULT FUND
c/o Presbyterian Church in America Foundation, Inc.
404-320-3303 • 888-256-5571
Email: PCAF@pcanet.org
The
MNA Advise and Consult Fund is a component fund of the PCA
Foundation.
Multiply is published by
Mission to North America
1852 Century Place, Suite 205
Atlanta, GA 30345
Phone: 404-320-3330
Fax: 404-982-9108
E-mail: mna@pcanet.org
Address comments to Fred Marsh,
Managing Editor / Photographer. Assistant Editor:
Ashley Brown. Design: Studio Supplee. Copy
Editor/Writer: Joan Quillen. Material in Multiply may be
reproduced with permission.
|
