Campus Ministry from North to South

Many seminary students would feel lucky to land their dream job right after graduation. MDiv student Carly Redding is thrilled to have been offered hers before her third year of seminary, and grateful for the contextual education placement that prepared her to take it.

Carly arrived at Garrett after working with the campus ministry during her time at Southwestern College in Winfield, KS, and was interested to learn more. As part of the field placement process, Carly met with Dr. Lisl Paul, director of contextual education, who recommended University Christian Ministry (UCM), a Methodist and PC USA ministry at Northwestern. The next step was aninterview with Executive Director Rev. Julie Windsor Mitchell. Both immediately felt it was a good fit, and Carly committed to the internship nearly a year in advance.

“I spent a lot of the first couple of weeks just observing the general vibe of the group, getting to know the students, and seeing what Julie did,” she said. “Then toward the end of October I started to get more involved in worship and preaching. They did worship on Sunday evenings and it was fairly informal. We’re all sitting on couches in a circle, but Julie or I would give a reflection on the scripture and students would pick songs. Over time I really grew into that role well and got to connect with the students in a lot of different ways.”

Carly’s time with the UCM also included a variety of experiences that she hadn’t expected. Some, like having to remove a dead animal from the ministry house’s yard or mopping the living room floor in preparation for yoga, were fairly mundane. Others — like baking cookies with students in the aftermath of the presidential election, working with students involved with the dining hall workers union strike, or helping out with the urban garden — were particularly meaningful. Many moments were a bit of both.

“Oftentimes we would hand out things in front of the house,” she said. “On the first day of school we did ice cream. On Halloween we did candy. Moments like that, truly like street evangelism, just being present and saying, ‘Hey do you want a piece of candy?’ or ‘Happy Halloween,’ standing there in your costume, were like rejection therapy.”

But moments like that were just the training she needed. Before her internship was over, Carly applied to be the full-time campus minister at her alma mater, Southwestern College, was hired and scheduled to begin that summer. She would be the only campus minister at a school far smaller than Northwestern, and her new skills would be needed. Upon arriving, she quickly began “Caf Convos with Pastor Carly,” making herself available to connect with students over lunch in the cafeteria. When students didn’t come to her, she went to them and simply asked if it would be okay to sit with them that day.

“Eventually I had a group of freshman girls from the volleyball team that would frequently sit with me,” she said. “I got to go to their games and oftentimes a lot of them were playing. It was really cool because I was able to cheer them on and then also talk about how well they’d played. Even though it might not have been the outcome they wanted, I was able to encourage them in different ways. A lot of that I gained from just those moments of handing out ice cream and handing out candy.”

Other lessons from her time with UCM have stuck with Carly, too. She has learned to involve students in decision making processes, guiding them as they think through ethical issues and make their own judgments. She has also learned to stay flexible enough to be prepared for anything and responsive to whatever happens, which is particularly helpful when — for example — the speaker for chapel cancels suddenly. Most of all, she is convinced of the significance of a ministry of presence, something that was exemplified by her supervisor at UCM, now a colleague who continues to offer her support.

“I’m really glad I was there because now I have a forever colleague and mentor in Julie,” Carly said. “She’s someone who I really admire and know that when I’m having a hard week or have a problem that I don’t know where to go with, I can call her and ask her professional opinion. I’m glad to have that relationship with Julie, because sometimes it’s nice to have somebody who knows nothing about the institution to give you some advice.”

For those considering doing contextual education in campus ministry, Carly would absolutely encourage them to do so. “Whether you want to work in the church or not, I would totally recommend doing campus ministry if you get the opportunity,” she said. “You see everything: birth, death, vocation, pastoral care, picket lines, food insecurity, and leadership management. You get the full breadth of church ministry. If you get an opportunity to do campus ministry, take it.”