A Vision for Campus-Based Church Planting in the Christian Reformed Church

Recent articles in the Banner by Rev. Aaron Vriesman and Rev. Eric Dirksen & Rev. Aleah Marsden, as well as Rev. Scott Vander Ploeg's passionate plea for a strategic plan for church planting and renewal and Paul VanderKlay's recently Youtube video, "My Plan to Rebuild the Christian Reformed Church," have prompted me to think more about the future of our denomination; the opportunities before us and the potential for the future of the Christian Reformed Church.

Having served in campus ministry for nine years and now serving an international church in South Africa with an emphasis on ministering to university students and their families, perhaps it is no surprise that when I think about the future, I turn to campus ministry and to what I see as the potential for campus-based church planting.

HISTORY

In the past, the likes of James KA Smith and Peter Schuurman, among others, proposed visions for what campus ministry in the CRCNA could look like going forward into the 21st Century. A variety of options lay before us--a buffet of models and philosophies--but in the end, the refrain that won out was "let all models be." In part a recognition of the contextualized nature of campus ministry and the healthy diversity that flows out from the church-as-organism, this approach was also shaped by (a degree of) anti-institutionalism and negative perceptions of certain parachurch organizations and their methodologies.

There were (and are) incredible benefits to such an approach in that it allows ministries to take various forms on our university campuses--chaplaincy, christian study centers, Bible study fellowships, international outreach groups--that acknowledge and embrace the diverse gifts men and women can bring to campus ministry. It is an approach that allows for creativity and innovation, but one that has limitations when it comes to collaboration, replication, and sustainability. Ministries with divergent visions often struggle to come together in shared efforts; when there is no single model or philosophy, replication (itself a dirty word among some in campus ministry) is obviously impossible; and when ministries take shape around an individual's gifts or passions, it becomes difficult to maintain such a focus, or equip leaders who will be able to carry on that vision, after said leader departs.

OPPORTUNITY

Back in 2019, I sat in a room (representing Iowa State University) with campus ministers from Loyola University and Grand Valley State in the US, and Brock University and Queens University in Canada. Alongside Resonate staff, we dreamed about what "could be" for a philosophically-aligned collection of campus ministries operating out a similar ministry model. We discussed the need for more leaders, more ministries, more funding and more churches. Plans began to take shape around leadership training hubs and pilot projects, and then the pandemic hit. The work moved online, slowed greatly, and in 2021, I accepted a call to Stellenbosch International Fellowship, leaving this group for South Africa.

But I think we were on to something; something reflected in all the people and visions cited above, and something that has potential in the university setting. The CRCNA has the opportunity to plant confessionally-Reformed campus ministries and churches across the US uniquely situated between declining liberal mainline churches, alienating fundamentalist churches, and parachurch ministries on campus that have no theological or ecclesiological roots (the same may also be true in Canada, though I want to respect the fact that there are differences in the ways campus ministries, churches, and chaplains must operate in the Canadian university context).

Communities in which people can have honest conversations and ask tough questions (church adjacent spaces like Estuary), participate in thick community and vibrant liturgical practice, as well as receive biblically robust preaching and teaching informed by the wealth of philosophical and theological minds from our denomination and tradition. Campus ministries and church plants that work in tandem to create intergenerational, international, multicultural communities in Christ, as well as centers for sending out future leaders to the world in every sphere of life.

A network of like-minded campus-based church plants that raise up new leaders, that work in partnership with Resonate and local classes to form regionally-based training centers and leadership cohorts, and that play a vital role in equipping future campus ministers and church planters through residencies and internships.

Amidst the models for campus ministry, the ongoing conversations about church planting and visions for the future of the CRCNA, this approach creates a collaborative, replicable, and sustainable way forward that fits the DNA of our denomination.

Not only this, but the university context is ripe for such efforts, with an increasing number of young people searching for meaning and purpose, longing for belonging, who are spiritually open and willing to explore the Christian faith--particularly those traditions with a rich history of doctrine and liturgy. These communities, big and small, are home to faculty and staff who often struggle to integrate their faith and academic vocations, as well as innumerable internationals, many of whom have never met a Christian, been invited into an American (or Canadian) home, heard the gospel, or (for those who are Christians) been asked to serve or lead in churches.

MY EXPERIENCE

I don't claim to have all the details ironed out or all the answers but I do think my own ministry experience bears out the potential for this vision.

Our ministry at Iowa State University (Areopagus) prided itself on offering a distinctly reformed Christian world and life view to the students and faculty of the university. We provided a new community of faith and formation for both exiles from fundamentalist and parachurch ministries, as well as refugees from the mainline. With evangelical passion, we ministered to the nations through hospitality, assistance, love and listening, developing relationships of trust in which we earned countless opportunities to share the gospel, study the Bible, and invite people into gathered worship. And we formed a leadership program to equip leaders not only for ministering to others in the university context, but for serving their future families, communities, workplaces, and churches.

Now, at Stellenbosch International Fellowship, I minister to an international church community in the midst of Stellenbosch University. Our church is something of an "ecclesiological mosaic" made up of people from more than a dozen nations, a variety of church backgrounds and different theological traditions. Despite this, a common language (English) and a common Lord (Jesus Christ) unite us.

We are a church marked as much by its confessionally reformed theology and as by its practices centered around community, hospitality, and diversity. Our gathered worship bears the marks of a covenantal liturgy, yet is infused with the riches offered by brothers and sisters bringing music, songs, and prayers from their own cultures and church traditions. A church that truly believes she has good news for the world in the person and work of Jesus Christ, seeking to find ways to bring this good news to bear in word and deed in all spheres of life. And we are a church that is committed to equipping people for the work of ministry through partnerships with other organizations and agencies, as well as through our own leadership training program.

CONCLUSION

I still believe the Christian Reformed Church has "buried treasure" (as James KA Smith put it years ago in another Banner article) to offer in its confessional tradition, neocalvinist vision, and network of liturgical and ministry practices. I believe it is a treasure for which many in college and university settings--from large towns, small cities, and metropolitan areas--are searching. One that could be powerfully shared through a campus-based church planting initiative. 

My hope is that this article serves as a starting point for creative and concrete dreaming for leaders, churches, and classes as we consider the future. By all means, "let all models be," but maybe, just maybe, this is one such model that could play a significant role in this new chapter of reformation and renewal in the Christian Reformed Church.