Young Adult Ministry

At the last meeting of the Quad-Presbytery Consortium (April 16), it was announced that the Nebraska United Ministries in High Education, which funds the ecumenical campus ministries across the state, was getting out of the business of campus ministry. However, many of the agencies that have supported UMHE - including the Synod of Lakes and Prairies - continue a commitment to campus ministry. The announcement was that there might well be a possibility that the Synod would be open to funding congregationally-based campus ministries. Since Central Pres. in Omaha is so close to UNO, that sure seems to me to be something we ought to consider.

I mentioned this to Kris Adler, our DCE, before I left for this mini-sabbatical, and we'll discuss this more thoroughly after we both get back from our respective study leave trips. However, moving her position at Central to part-time in order to expand her ministry to include work with UNO (and possibly UNMC) students, seems to be a logical thing to explore... in terms of her gifts for ministry, in terms of the needs that are there, and in terms of the financial needs at Central.

This is one way in which we ought to explore a new outreach for Young Adult Ministry through our church. Another option came up when I talked with Adrian McMullen at the General Assembly offices this past Tuesday. Adrian is an Associate in the Office of Ministries with Youth at G.A. We had a delightful conversation. One area in which Adrian said is a growing ministry around the country in university settings is housing ministry. That is, congregations provide space for university students to live in an intentional Christian community. This might be particularly important to explore with UNMC students, as Adrian observed that ministry with graduate students is a particularly overlooked area of ministry. Is this something that we could do, perhaps even easily, in our existing space on the 3rd floor of our church building? It's worth considering.