As we celebrate the wonder of the Word made flesh (John 1:1-14), it is also amazing to see that Story come alive on campus among faculty, staff and students this fall. Each story of connecting with new faculty and staff at open houses, each conversation during Tuesday prayer lunches, each episode of navigating the dynamics of university system–they are part of the larger narrative that transforms lives, renews the campus, and develops world-changers. Consider how you might pray, partner, or participate as you read four stories from this next chapter of ministry:

The fall “Open House” for Faculty & Staff Ministry was a new event, as a result of one faculty’s desire to invite the university community into a group that often was thought a well-kept secret. The email was delivered via the campus-wide distribution system late one evening, and by the next morning, I had heard the buzz through another staff on campus… and the report sounded like the beginning of a mudslide. By later afternoon, I had personally heard from a number of recipients who wanted no further contact, and questioned the legitimacy of Faculty ministry on campus. However, God had greater plans: 49 people clicked through to the invitation, and over the next month or so I met with six faculty & staff that are excited to connect with fellow Christians on campus!

Identifying, encouraging and equipping Christian faculty & staff are the bread and butter of staff work, so connecting with new people is a blessing, and then the question becomes how to engage people with community… which I tend to assume involves physical presence.

O contraire! Three nurses stopped to visit at the Academia + Faith book reception this month and mentioned that they appreciate the  weekly Faculty Ministry email that is sent to about 75 recipients (which never, ever gets a reply). She further noted that she loves the changes this year from a simple invite to the ongoing Tuesday prayer lunch, to an expanded format with the lectionary scripture, articles of interest, and more. I rejoiced that God was knitting together a community through the experience of a simple, faithful communique–and creating pathways for encouraging other shared experiences.

This year we hosted an Academia+Faith book reception before the campus break for Christmas to give people an opportunity to enjoy “other” reading for a couple weeks, and offer a low-barrier event for newcomers or the curious to preview this faculty and staff ministry. The faculty and staff of the Tuesday prayer lunch group personally invited many colleagues! Seventeen visitors came to “browse, borrow or buy” four tables of newly released titles from InterVarsity Press, Zondervan, Baker Books and more. This included three from nursing, three students, and SIX faculty from criminal justice studies. The conversations were rich, and one former department chair really kept me on my toes theologically as he challenged the identity of God and the worth of humankind to such a God. That follow-up visit will be interesting (please pray for clarity and mutuality)…

Finally, it is a great joy to experience God’s faithfulness to build a sustainable ministry one person at a time, one gift at a time. As a “type A” personality, my plans are continually thwarted– but I learn (and re-learn) to rest and trust in God’s provision to provide opportunities to tell the stories and invite others along. Perhaps I will write soon about the wonderful insights God gave me during a three-week study & practicum on the topic of Generosity. In the meantime, I rejoice to count among the growing partners six alumni of this campus, and two faculty/staff! Its time now to plant the winter bulbs and pray for more blooms in the Spring to press further into Faculty-Staff Ministry.

Today is an Open House. All are welcome to come and engage the stories and vision for Faculty Ministry (including many staff), –and perhaps– find a place to encourage one another, pray for the campus and community, and discover more of God’s mission in this diverse world of ours!

Tuesday, September 6 at 12 pm in Atwood’s Granite Room (just steps from Caribou coffee!)

We are called specifically by Name

Choosing a child’s name is an arduous process of research, hope, and expectation: names often convey first impressions, meaning and connotation, reputation, lineage, relationship, and as one faculty reflected, protection in some cultures by not speaking a name for fear the spirits will then find the child.

In the text read during the Faculty Prayer Lunch one week recently, the gathered group found it significant that God, rather than hiding names, calls people specifically by name. God also gave names (i.e. Jacob to Israel, John the Baptist, even Jesus) to reflect their role in the great rescue plan for God’s people and creation. What role are you being called to fulfill in God’s plan?

As the hope of Spring piqued interest last week, the conversation among a handful of faculty and staff is being sown around the topic of identity: how is this group of Christian faculty and staff known on campus? to what might God be calling us by name? how could the name ‘Christian’ be nurtured to connote a community of faithful people who follow God in word and deed, rather than untrue caricatures? where are our professional, family, and faith names in harmony or discord? what name does God have for this budding work among faculty and graduate students here?

More voices are needed as discernment progresses toward the engagement of God’s mission to be Christ to those around us whether in the classroom, in the department meeting room, in the common spaces, or in the community. There is always time for a cup of coffee and good conversation! So please do connect with Kirsten or another faculty or staff member this month.

Each December, a fellow alum hosts a much anticipated Christmas cookie exchange for new friends and old, which of course, is immediately preceded by days of cookie-making that culminates in a bounty of goodness ready for the gatherings of friends, colleagues, and family in the weeks ahead.

The cookie exchange becomes part of the season’s culture as much as the commercialized Christmas trappings have become the dominant culture–even among those who profess a culture centered on the Christ child. When the de facto culture is something other than the culture God envisions for the world, how does one create new ‘cultural goods’ to contribute? Andy Crouch, author of Culture-Making, examines worldwide culture as illustrated by Coca-cola, but concludes that “all culture making is local… [it first] begins with a small group of people” and that “Christian culture-making grows through networks, but it is not a matter of networking. It is a matter of community…”

On December 10, the university’s president began to remake the structure of the academic colleges with the presentation of phase one of the reorganization plan. The simple boxes and heirarchies on paper are only the first layer of altering associations, power dynamics, processes, lines of authority, and a whole host of existing cultures within the university ecosystem. And with any change of this magnitude, individuals as well as whole departments are affected.

The question that we have been exploring with several faculty & staff, and even a couple academic administrators, is this: what does a ‘campus renewed’ in the context with such organizational upheaval require of Christians in order to be culture-makers in the university for the sake of the Gospel? It has begun in a small community of Christian faculty, staff and administrators that recognize their unique calling to the academic culture and are intentional about shaping that culture in sometimes very small ways, and others have been given great influence and voice.

Would you commit to pray for the faculty and planter in the New Year? Would you consider a year-end gift toward creating a sustainable ministry to faculty, staff, and administrators? It through a small but growing community of partners that culture will be remade on this campus and, dare we hope, on the campuses of Central Minnesota!

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And… love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37,39

While at training in Mundelein IL this week the topics have leaned into two core values for this work with graduate students and faculty: the integration of faith, discipline and practice; and the engagement of evangelism and service.

What might it be to live an integrated life within the university context?

To be both excellent scholar and authentic Christian, to advance the discipline for the glory of God, to be esteemed as much for competence as character– seems at times to be a challenging task in light of discouraging departments, reorganization of the university’s structures and power, and the competitive pace of academics. What does it mean to be wholly holy?

Together the faculty community that gathers for lunch occasionally ventures into this turbulent water. With prayerful colleagues, stories flow of both God’s blessing on their work and relationships, and God’s seeming absence in strife and long-suffering professional politics.

One professor has taken up the challenge to pray daily for the department and colleagues that often are a source of disharmony and stress. Another professor intentionally peppers his introductory remarks with faith markers that create open doors for students to inquire about his faith and its integration with the content of the course.

The work now is but a seedling as we plant this new ministry to faculty and graduate students, entrusted with ambitious dreams and yet God is already faithfully at work by drawing people into community, beginning to consider God’s sovereignty and love over every department and discipline, and opening to new opportunities to engage colleagues and the university community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Come along as we explore the integrated life on campus: become a prayer partner or make a sustaining gift to advance this exciting work! (Learn more about Partnerships)

Orientation for New Staff: GFM Cluster

Three hundred miles from campus, and ten days together with the largest InterVarsity campus staff class in its more than 60-year history, is quite the start for a new chapter planter. Four new staff for Graduate & Faculty Ministries journeyed through the intensive days that began first with manuscript Bible study and worship, then focused on broad themes and history of this world-changing, life transforming, campus renewing ministry.

InterVarsity’s purpose, vision, and doctrinal basis provided a platform for discussions and practice on topics of funding the ministry, ministry across demographics, sharing the truly Good News of Jesus, and engaging the campus community. The rich times of study in Luke and I Corinthians were particularly insightful for the local context and refreshingly creative in approach. And the daily book provided by InterVarsity Press (IVP) was fuel for the academic and spiritual life! (Did you know Alumni receive a 30% discount??)

Ten days to focus, pray, and work with colleagues while thinking specifically of the potential harvest in St. Cloud, perhaps even Central Minnesota… it was a gift of time and serious inspiration to get this new ministry funded as soon as possible! The faculty prayer group is anticipating a fresh start this fall, two faculty are eager to take another step in engaging colleagues in Christian community, seeds are being sown to open channels of access to hundreds of graduate students, and mentors are being recruited to connect relationally with newcomers… God is working already and people are expectant to have opportunity to focus on a significant unreached segment of the university community. But this work needs to be sustainable financially before plans roll out, before promises are made, before relational collateral is risked.

12oo Faculty and staff, and another 1600 graduate students start a new academic year on August 23.  Partner this summer, either with a special gift or an ongoing commitment, to make a difference for faculty and graduate students, who are and will be shaping the communities, churches, and workplaces for miles to come!

Sparked: In conversations with a faculty member

two weeks ago, a spark flashed from a previous dialogue exploring the question, “What do you dream for God to do on campus?” This faculty remembered the impact a Christian community made on his life and family during graduate school and longed to create a network of Christians here that care and support one another in love. The next time the faculty-staff prayer group met, he stepped up and offered his home for a spring gathering of Christian faculty and staff–to begin relationships among the (unconnected) Christians already present. Prayerfully, graciously, hopefully, invitations will be made this month.

What will this faithful spark set ablaze this fall, even yet this spring?

Continue to share in voicing these Forty Dreams, so that it might begin new sparks that God will breathe Spirit into and transform this community in Christ Jesus…

• Be a community of peacemakers, that Christians would model peace amidst the changes, challenges, and conversations
• That the saints would be called out to live as believers, wholly committed, and discipling others
• Christian faculty and staff are able to articulate their faith journey within the context of their vocation
• Christian faculty are active in healthy spiritual practices
• Plant or sponsor ministries on all St Cloud higher education institutions for faculty and graduate students
• Host forums to explore faith & academia or vocation within the major disciplines of the campus
• The SCSU Directory becomes the Prayer Book of this ministry
• Christian ministries, leaders, and students are sought out by the University to respond to crisis or community needs

Keep dreaming, keep talking about the dreams, and then… SPARK!

The challenge? Forty dreams for campus…

Forty dreams for what this new work at St Cloud State University might be. At a recent gathering of faculty and staff, who meet each week for a brown bag prayer lunch, this topic generated the first fruits of the challenge:

• Reach every (unconnected) Christian already present at the university
• Reputation as Christian faculty and staff who practice authentic care for our non-Christian colleagues
• Advocate for an admissions process that works to connect incoming students to campus religious groups
• Start simple social revolutions at Christmas and Easter by verbally professing Christ in our greetings, Merry Christmas and Happy Easter
• Call out a living tithe from among the campus… 10% committed to following Jesus personally and professionally
• Proclaim opportunities to infuse teaching (or studies) with relevant faith
• Create communities of believers that lovingly support one another both prayerfully and practically

What do you dream for God to do on campus? Do we dream big enough, wide enough, and audaciously enough to be amazed when God moves among the people, processes and plans of these institutions? Share your dream so that it might prayerfully begin to take shape as this new ministry works to lay a firm foundation for years to come!

“Letter: You are Invited”  I Thessalonians 4:9-12

The subject line of the email read, “You are Invited.” Email from friends always receives top-billing in my inbox so I eagerly open the message to find an announcement or a college classmate’s annual Christmas cookie exchange! My sweet tooth is aching in delight already.

In the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to his Thessalonian friends, he invites them to come along a little further. His affirmation of their love for one another, and, in fact, that they “love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia” (v. 10 TNIV), makes his subsequent invitation quite natural. Paul invites the believers to go beyond their love for other believers, to a greater ambition of witness that wins even the respect of outsiders.

Every day opens another invitation: in the long line at the grocery, during the harried commute to work, in conversation with a crabby neighbor: Lead a quiet life, mind your business, work hard (v. 11). It’s not cookies, but the rewards are better than a sugar rush. The invitation to a witness worthy of respect is before us, Lord; let us be eager to open it today. Amen.

“Letter: Thinking of You”  I Thessalonians 3:9-13

Mail call was a favorite event at Camp Bluewater, and I continue to cherish–dare I say, love–discovering handwritten mail in the box. While birthday mail is usually a handful of joy, it is the random card from a friend or loved one to say, “thinking of you” that brightens my day unexpectedly.

From far away, the Thessalonians received a rare letter of encouragement. Scrawled on the page: “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have… because of you?” (v. 9 TNIV). Timothy had just come with news about their love and faith, so Paul sends a note knowing it may be some time before any other missionaries visit them.

Letters are such a tangible treasure of thoughts, reminders, memories, and expectation, it is no wonder that shoeboxes overflow with these handwritten notes. “May the Lord make you love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you” (v. 12). Thank you, Lord, for your letters to us and help us be an encouragement of faith to others. Amen

A small group of colleagues have been faithfully meeting each Tuesday for lunch and prayer this semester, and it has been a joy to watch not only their hearts overflow with God’s mission for the campus and broader community, but also their mutual encouragement of each other through surgery, work issues, and small celebrations with their students. They demonstrate their love and faith, and long to share this community with “everyone else” (as Paul notes about the Thessalonians potential to expand their community of faith). Won’t you pray for this kind of group’s love and faith to be shared not only on this campus, but also in the marketplace, and in the church?