Suggestions for Campus Ministry When Space and Rules Get in the Way?

What about a Kiosk type structure with portability? This along with with the church office? Just tossing a few ways off the top my head. Thanks for your service. Ken

Kory,

This is I think a constant dynamic in Campus Ministry. Having physical space does give you a sense of belonging to the community, though ultimately this is really established and kept through relationships rather than occupying a physical space. The plus side of not having a physical space is it does force one out into the campus, to be a sojourner if you will, rather than someone who waits for others to come. That being said, some sort of physical space is needed if one is to gather a community and it does help if you can count on this being the same space each time. In starting out, I'd focus first on building relationships within the admin community (i.e. Student Life as mentioned by Chong), try to secure a community meeting space second and worry about any sort of office space third, if at all. I'd make my "office" in key strategic meeting places on campus that would allow me to regularly interact with students, staff and faculty. Loitering with intent can enable you to build some key strategic relationships with people and establish you as a faithful and visible presence on campus. 

You might also want to chat with Brad Close in Halifax about his experiences there. The multi-faith team there has a house on campus that until recently was shared with other services. The university has begun to see the multi-faith team as strategic in their recruiting and retaining international students and so has begun to make it more of a priority. As a result, the whole house is being renovated to better serve the multi-faith team and their activities. This has come about, however, through Brad's commitment to building relationships within the administrative community over several years. 

Hi Kory,

Student Services and the Student Federation both assign office spaces (for the year) based on a qualitative set of criterias that only they are privy to. We can guess (and when we ask) what some of those criterias are: group membership size, how active the club is over the past year, the lack of violations of rules the club has, and then the really fuzzy parts - the types of events and programs and activities the club held, and how the club is perceived to have contributed to the university community as a whole. Of course, you have to apply for an office space - non-applicants are not considered. They look at the whole set of criterias and decide among the applicants. What criteria might have a bigger value is anyone's guess. It's very subjective, let's say. And not up for debate.

With Grad students, Kory, you might also consider if some of them have homes too that can host a gathering or two. One of my student leaders 3 years ago was a grad student who chose to host a dinner and a movie discussion night. it was way off campus, but it became an outing - a special event - for us. People car pooled, some traveled on bus together, etc.

If you can get people into your home/off campus and that works, I think that's great. Location is only a means to community. If you can build community off campus, that's still great. I want to encourage you in that. It seems very hard for me to get students to off-campus at York. The only times it really worked was when a student, like my grad student did, was hosting and people came because they were her friends and knew her, and we organized transportation. And it was a one-time, or occassional event. Regular weekly off-campus meetings is poorly attended.

I have been tabling this first week back at York. Tabling means I book a table and have a promotional display with literature and brochures to promote myself and the club. There's designated areas where clubs can do this on campus and we can book a table online with Student Services at least 5 business days in advance. It's another way to build your presence.

I want to encourage you about plugging along with student services - also with the Religious Advisor's Association. We just recently, a few months ago, established a Multi-Faith Advisory Council composed mainly of religious staffs/clergy, similar to your RAA at York. Although the mandate might be a bit different than yours but it is the first time in my 10 years now at York that Student Services had asked religious staffs or clergy like myself to be more involved rather than less. There is an Inter-Faith Council that is the collection of all the religious groups on campus which is very bureacratic, etc. When I first came to campus, I got involved in it - every group sends a representative - and the initial attitude/policy was that they would rather deal with students. It was supposed to be a student-run/led council and it was student clubs that student services were interested in, etc. blah, blah. But I hung in there. There already was a Catholic priest on campus and his lay assistants. His assistant was the one who attended the Inter-Faith Council meetings.

But as I said, I hung in there, contributed positively whenever I can/allowed, always be a helpful resource and servant to the group and to student services. Over time, more and more clergy like me or staffs (IVCF and Campus Crusade) started attending these meetings. Also, over time, student services started seeing the value or benefits of clergy like me in helping organizing multi-faith events, etc. I always try to bend over backwards whenever Student Services or any university department asks me for a favor or help. For instance, Virginia Tech Memorial Service - I volunteered to help out. Haiti earthquake Prayer virgil - again I volunteered to organize it. These were calls from Student Services and the student federation, not from religious groups, but calls to religious groups for help. And almost always, it is the clergy, not the students, who answer these calls not because we care more but because we are more available than busy students, and we are also better equipped to do this than untrained students. 

Does your RAA have Student Services representatives on board? Our Inter-Faith Council is supervised by student services, so there's always at least one student service staff there. That's also how I build relationships and connections with them. Once in a while, where appropriate, I even have lunch with them and just chat as friends. 

In fact, tonight, as another example of relationship building - after I sign off here - I will compose a letter of support for a grant application to build/renovate wheelchair access at the religious chapel at York. This morning, the Student Services staff in charge of the Inter-Faith Council and the newly formed Multi-Faith Advisory Council found me at my table and asked a favor - he just found out that the grant application requires letters of support from groups using/connected to the space and they need it by tomorrow! Of course, I said, No problem! He will get the letter of support in his inbox tomorrow morning so that the grant will go through and hopefully, the chapel will have better wheelchair access! But notice that he came to me in person, because he knew I was tabling today and where I was, and he asked me first for a favor with tight deadline. I'm not bragging, but I'm saying, when relationships are built - there's trust and people believe they can count on you and believe me, they will return favors to you as well when you need one from them.

So, this is all a long comment to encourage you Kory. Keep at it! God's kingdom is like a mustard seed. It grows slowly.