"Twentysomethings" and the Episcopal Church

Emily Winsett

April 20, 2004

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the son of God?, reads the electric blue writing on the wall of the youth room in the rectory of St. Michael's Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

For the eight young men and women gathered there on a warm Sunday evening in March, the answer to that question is yes.

Since November, these college students and recent graduates has been spending their Sunday evenings at St. Michael's. They attend the six o'clock services, share a pizza dinner with the congregation and then head to the youth room for a fellowship meeting. On this night, their routine is no different. They plop down on comfy couches and overstuffed chairs as Corey Turner, the group's leader, opens the dialogue by recalling a previous discussion they had about the cross as a symbol. A young woman with chin-length blonde hair offers her thoughts. "It's a reminder," she says. "You see it and it means so much, but you don't think about what it means." This leads to a discussion of Mel Gibson's controversial film, The Passion.

"It was very hard to watch," says one young man with short, dark black hair and a deep voice. The young man sitting next to him adds, "A major motion picture pulled you into the movie like it was real -- this really happened. This is true."

One cheerful young woman, with short hair and bright blue eyes, recounts a debate she had over the film's accuracy with a friend who studies theology. "She was breaking down the history," says the young woman, "and not looking at the faith."

St. Michael's weekly fellowship for young adults, called "Pizza and Pondering," was formed with exactly that purpose in mind -- to give college students and recent grads a chance to contemplate faith. These eight individuals -- some weeks there are more, sometimes less - come to "Pizza and Pondering" to discuss how their faith affects their daily lives -- or, perhaps the opposite, how their daily lives might affect their faith.

College is very often viewed as the defining odyssey of a young person's life. Bags are packed, a journey, often far from home, is made, and for perhaps the first time in their lives no one is telling them what to do. "There's an assumption that people just leave after high school and come back when they have kids," said the Rev. Tom Mathews, of the way the church looks at students. Mathews is a curate at Grace Episcopal Church in Madison, N.J., where he ministers to students at nearby Drew University once a week. "It's a neglect based on ignorance; we assume they're not going to find a church because they're so busy."

Campus ministries are gaining force as one way for the church to reverse that neglect. Individual Episcopal dioceses are giving new support to campus ministries. In the Diocese of New York, for example, Bishop Mark Sisk released a Campus Ministry Vision Statement in which he declared the area to be one of "his principal goals." As such, the diocese is working with city parishes to "revitalize" existing campus ministries and to create new ones. Likewise, individual parishes, such as St. Michael's in S.C., are making an effort to install their own "20/30 groups" to meet the spiritual and social needs of those parishioners who are either in or recently out of college. There is a growing trend within much of the Episcopal Church to focus on that age group it has long ignored.

"There's such a need out there for college students to have something," said Sara Ladermann, a curly-haired, 21-year old senior at the College of Charleston, who regularly attends the "Pizza and Pondering" fellowship. Alderman pointed out that the church provides programs for everyone else in a parish. "You get it through high school and then when you're in your 30s and older," she said. "But when you get to college, when most people need it the most, there's nothing for them."

The fellowship at St. Michael's is the first in the parish specifically designed for college students and recent graduates, or "twentysomethings," as they are often called. Corey Turner, who has volunteered with St. Michael's high school youth program for the past three years, runs it. "It struck me," he said, "that there really wasn't a lot of opportunity for young people who were interested in God or a Christian faith or even just in religious things in general."

"It's a forgotten age group," said the Rev. Peet Dickinson, assistant to the rector at St. Michael's. "We wanted to see more young people, college age and right out of college, having a life with the church and having a life with others in the church as well. We were seeking a way to have that happen."

Prior to the 1960s, campus ministries had an active role on college and university campuses. One of the most successful, long running Episcopal campus ministries is at Auburn University in Alabama. But even its history has had troubled moments. "We've had a campus ministry program since 1919," said the Episcopal chaplain there, the Rev. Wells Warren. "It was one of the first Episcopal Centers in the entire church. It has had its ups and downs, probably the period of the 60s and 70s, during the time of the Vietnam War, was one of the most difficult times for campus ministry everywhere."

The years during the 1960s and 1970s were difficult. In an effort to keep up with society changing around it, the church had to cut back on funding to some of its longer running programs, like campus ministries. Although the program at Auburn survived, the reduction in national funding caused other campus ministries to decline.

Though the Civil Rights Movement had officially ended, the church continued its efforts in promoting racial equality. "The first big hit that campus ministry in the Episcopal Church took was because of a denominational priority on funding civil rights programs," wrote Dr. Gary Peluso-Verdend, in an e-mail. Peluso-Verdend, an associate professor of practical theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Ill., researched and co-wrote, Inquiring and Discerning Hearts: Vocation and Ministry with Young Adults on Campus, published in 1993. Peluso-Verdend explained that in 1967 Bishop John Hines suggested that the Church re-work its budget to better support civil justice. "The intent," wrote Peluso-Verdend in an e-mail, "was to free up funds for civil rights projects."

Campus ministry was only one of the areas to lose funding. But over the years, as funding continued to decline, many Episcopal dioceses had to close down campus ministries. "The Episcopal Church was not alone in its agonies," said the Rev. Douglas Fenton, staff officer for the Episcopal Church's Young Adult and Higher Education Ministry, which focuses on 18 to 30-year-olds throughout the United States. "The church was trying to figure out the best way to respond. It did what it thought was best."

The lack of campus ministry, some suggest, affected the Episcopal priesthood. With fewer campus ministries in place, fewer young people retained an interest in ministry through their college years. According to the Rev. Winnie Varghese, now in her second year as the Episcopal chaplain at Columbia University's long-standing ministry, "that changed the culture of ordained ministries." Seminary attracted people in their late thirties and early forties who then served only 15 years or so before retirement.

According to the Pastoral Leadership Search Effort, a partnership formed between The Fund for Theological Education, Inc. and four Protestant denominations to encourage the ordination of younger priests, the average age of ordination for an Episcopal priest is 44. In 2000, only 50 Episcopal priests, nationwide, were under the age of 35. That's a drop of 83 percent from 1960 when there were 300 ministers 35 years old or younger serving in the Episcopal Church.

The result, as the Rev. Jonathan Huyck the part-time Episcopal Chaplain at New York University's campus ministry, now in its second year, calls it, is "the graying of the church. The priesthood is getting older. Parishes are getting older. That's not good for the vitality of the church. We need young people." What better place to attract young people than on a college campus?

Taylor Long, a sophomore at New York University and the current president of the Canterbury Club, the Episcopal campus ministry there, explained the anticipations some hold for campus ministries. "They have expectations that we're going to turn out seminarians," he said. "There's the hope that when you have 30 people at a college ministry, one of the 30 is likely going to go to seminary." Perhaps it is in an effort to pursue that goal that the church is trying to replenish the national funding for campus ministries.

During August of 2003, the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church met in Minneapolis, Minn., and identified the need to reach out to youth and young adults as a top priority for the upcoming triennial. Every three years, bishops and deputies, laymen and priests from Episcopal dioceses across the country, come together for the Convention to pass laws, resolutions and define the budget for the Episcopal Church for the following three years. In August, it allocated an additional $1 million dollars to ministries serving the youth population. More specifically, higher education and campus ministries will receive a total of $638,000 over the next three years.

It is yet to be seen what dividends such a renewed interest will yield. "The state of campus ministry is uncertain right now," said the Rev. Warren, explaining that despite the Convention's efforts, campus ministry is a costly endeavor undertaken on a more local level. Generally, either dioceses or local parishes provide the financial support for ministries. Grace Church, for example, funds the Rev. Mathews' ministry at Drew University, while five local parishes work with the Diocese of New York to support the ministry at NYU. "It is expensive to begin," said the Rev. Warren. "It is a significant financial commitment to maintain. There is no immediate return on investment in that the typical student population are not pledging members." Add to these costs the fact that the student population changes every four years while chaplains often work part-time and it is easy to see why campus ministries are difficult to establish and maintain.

Nevertheless, the Rev. Warren believes young people can be attracted to the church by other means. "There's a lot of attention that's been given in the last several years to young people in ordained ministry," he said. "I think that if you have younger ministers, they are going to attract younger members of a congregation."

The available statistics, however, suggest that many young people simply aren't interested in joining a congregation. In the fall of 2003 the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California in Los Angeles released preliminary findings from its Spirituality and Higher Education project. (A more comprehensive study is set for Fall of 2004). The project conducted a survey to measure students' changing interests in religion and spirituality between the beginning of their freshman year and the end of their junior year in college. The study surveyed 3,680 students from 46 colleges and universities and found that 52 percent of students surveyed during the start of their freshman year regularly attended worship services before beginning college; whereas by their junior year only 29 percent indicated that they continued to do so.

"Practicing religion in conventional ways declines during the college years -- this is a fact research has noted for decades," Alyssa Bryant, a research analyst involved in the UCLA study, wrote in an e-mail. Although the survey did not ask for reasons why students stop attending religious services, the study speculates about it. One possible explanation, according to Bryant, might be the time constraints of a college student's schedule.

Bryant said that despite the decrease in attendance the survey indicates that students maintain an interest in their religious and spiritual lives. The survey showed that 78 percent of students discuss issues of religion and spirituality with their friends, 77 percent of students pray and 71 percent find some type of support system in religion. In addition, 19 percent of students surveyed said they had participated in some religious student group during their three years on campus.

"For some students, campus-based religious groups may take the place of religious services," Bryant wrote in an e-mail, "because they are so accessible, relevant to college students and typically involve a number of ways to participate. So even though we see that 19-20 percent of students in our study joined a campus-based religious organization, that's still one in five, which is a noteworthy minority."

The fellowship in South Carolina and the campus ministries in New York City, seem to be noticing similar trends, though on a smaller scale. On a good night, "Pizza and Pondering" can number up to 20 participants. Some nights, though, the group is much smaller. Still, those involved in running the fellowship say that it is growing steadily. In New York City, the campus ministry at NYU averages about eight members who regularly attend the Sunday night dinner, discussion and prayer. And though Columbia University is a longer-standing ministry, its numbers are currently about the same.

"I don't think it's a surprise that they're small," said Rhonda Waters, a 26-year-old graduate student of anthropology at Columbia University. Waters attended the campus ministry there last year, though this year her master's work keeps her away from campus. "And I don't think it's a problem if they're small. Rather than growing, it should be about contact," she said. These ministries should focus on maintaining an active presence in the campus culture that represents the church, she said, and that "injects questions of spirituality, ethics and church life into dialogues on campus."

At New York University, the Rev. Huyck agrees with Waters -- to a point. While his small number of regularly attending members pleases him -- he calls his campus ministry "healthy" -- he still spends time trying to expand it. Since its first meeting, he says, the group has doubled in size. Most new members come by word of mouth. While pleased with the group's retention rate, Huyck said he finds "one negative thing is how hard it is to get students to come check us out. I'm surprised by how challenging that is."

Part of the reason, suggests Jeff Sharlet, editor of The Revealer, the daily review of news coverage of religion published by NYU's Center for Religion and Media and the journalism department, might be that the Episcopal Church is not adept at attracting college students. "I think the Episcopal Church is uniquely unsuited to make that appeal in a broad climate," he said. "It's not relevant. College is a media-saturated culture. In that environment, what could be the appeal of the Episcopal Church?"

Down in South Carolina, at St. Michael's Church, Turner, the leader of the "Pizza and Pondering" discussions, was surprised at the turnout the group enjoyed. "I was terrified that no one would come," he said. "And that no one would think it was fun and that no one would think I was cool. I'm not really worried about that anymore."

While "cool" might not be the definitive approbation on campuses anymore, membership numbers show that only a minority is interested in joining these ministries on a regular basis. What draws those who do come, when so many others are apt to stay away? What is it that they are looking for and what do they find?

The answer might be as simple as food. At St. Michael's, pizza always precedes pondering. For the Canterbury Club, Sundays are marked by dinner and then a discussion. And at Drew University, a short Tuesday worship service is followed by a late dinner and conversation.

"A lot of people don't get that," said the Rev. Mathews. "'Why so much budget for pizza and food?' You want to create a nice environment for them." He adds that having food available also makes the students feel as though the ministry is their own.

At New York University, Long hopes the Canterbury Club will be a "group that can sit down and share a meal and have a decent non-judgmental discussion." In many ways, the Club already is just that.

On the Sunday after Easter, a group of about six students come together for Mexican take out. They watch an episode of "The Simpsons" in which Homer wants his neighbor, Ned Flanders, whose character is Christian, to fail in his business venture, a store that sells items for left-handed people. The group uses the show as the basis for discussion. Students talk about the negative stereotypes cast on them because they are Christians.

One young woman, now in graduate school, who attended a Christian school in Singapore and a Christian college in Texas, talks about the struggle to balance religious and secular life when suddenly not everyone around you shares your beliefs. "People make assumptions," she said, "that just aren't true." Another young woman, who hopes to go to seminary, offers an example. Once people know she is a Christian, she said, they will often start a sentence with, "I know this will offend you, but... "before swearing or saying something about abortion.

It may be new and it may still be small, but the campus ministry at NYU, like others newly formed, is a start. It remains to be seen whether or not these ministries will have the desired effect -- whether they will serve the interests of the students while at that same time help the Church to maintain a membership of young, active parishioners.

"My prediction is that it will take us 40 years to return to where we once were," said the Rev. Fenton of the future of campus ministries, explaining that Moses was in the desert for 40 years and Noah weathered the flood for 40 years. "Forty years is a biblical number. It means a long time."

(Updated May 10, 2004)