About This Forum From time to time, significant issues are raised dealing with the practices and plans of Hessel Park Church. As these are discussed among the Elders or in Council meetings, we often find we would benefit from the thoughts and ideas of the congregation at large. One way to access those thoughts and ideas is to invite contributions to an ongoing discussion on this site. As topics are introduced, they will be announced in the church Bulletin and via the HPCRC group e-mail list.
The typical procedure will be to introduce the topic with a paragraph or two from Council, individually or collectively, with specific questions following or perhaps an invitation to contribute to a general discussion. You may respond via e-mail, and the webmaster will post your response on the site. This is a moderated discussion site, meaning that not everything that is submitted is guaranteed to be posted. Some comments may be rejected as "off-topic," others may be edited to maintain civility or brevity. No comments will be rejected because they espouse an unpopular point of view!
Remember, submissions should be sent to hpcwebmaster@yahoo.com
Topic: A Vision for Hessel Park Church Campus Ministries
[This topic was discussed at a congregational meeting on July 13, 2008, at which time it was referred back to the Church Council for additional consideration. If you have thoughts and opinions you would like considered, submit them now!]
Denominational loyalty is on the decline. Young adults raised in the Christian faith are not remaining in the church once they leave home. The average age in Christian Reformed Churches is 55. These facts do not bode well for the future of the Christian Reformed Church, or for the Church as a whole.
But Hessel Park Church is situated to play a vital role in addressing this situation. We have a long history of welcoming and including graduate students into the life and ministry of the church. While they are here they become leaders in the church, serve on council, teach Sunday school, and contribute to the ongoing life of the church. When they leave, they are often committed to the Church. And although they often may not end up in Christian Reformed Churches, at least the CRC is high on their list of Churches to look for once they move.
At recent Elders' and Council meetings, Pastor Tim presented a vision for expanding our ministry to undergraduate students at the U of I. At the heart of this vision is to have a church-based ministry that seeks to engage undergraduate students on the campus and encourage and lead them into the life of the church. Ideally this ministry would be led by two ordained ministers of Hessel Park Church, each working part-time on campus and part-time in the church. Over the years HPC has avoided the "town-gown" split of becoming a church that is too focused on the campus that it can't minister to those not associated with the University, or too focused on "the congregation," thus allowing its campus ministry to drift away from the church. To maintain this balance, the ministry and those who lead it must be fully involved in the leadership and ministry of HPC.
The ministry to undergraduate students would include the obvious campus ministry programs: bible studies, book discussions, social events and possibly worship. The goal would be to introduce and/or deepen a Reformed, gospel vision for the student's personal life, for their vocational life and for the world. One of the CRC's campus ministries puts it this way: "Whole Gospel, Whole Campus, Whole Life." As Reformed Christians, part of that goal would include inculcating a commitment to the local church.
Such a ministry would not compete with, but strengthen and be strengthened by our current cooperation with Graduate InterVarsity and the International Friendship Link. More undergraduates at HPC would mean a more welcoming place for the students brought in from IFL. This ministry would also not compete with Undergraduate IV as it offers a clear alternative to their ministry.
Before proceeding any further with this vision, the council desires and needs the input and blessing of the congregation. We will therefore have a congregational meeting on July 13. For those of you who can't attend, we hope to put in place an online forum for further discussion. What would this mean in terms of the life of HPC? It would mean a willingness to allow another pastor to share in the pulpit and leadership of the church with Pastor Tim. It would mean commitment to the ministry on the part of all our members in terms of occasional participation in ministry programs, developing relationships with the students who do come to worship at HPC, and a heavier financial commitment.
Speaking of finances … we recognize that HPC can't support this ministry alone. At this point we see three sources of potential financial support: Classes (mainly our classis, Chicago South, but also the neighboring classes of Illiana and Northern Illinois, and possibly corresponding regional classes of the Reformed Church of America), Christian Reformed Home Missions, and Alumni.
Vision Revisited: January 2009
Following several months of conversations, Pastor Tim has prepared the following reformulation of ministry possibilities. These will be the focus of group discussions at our Feb. 8 congregational meeting, but you are invited to get involved in the discussion by submitting comments now.
Last summer the council came to the congregation with a proposal for an enhanced campus ministry. The conversation we had brought up various concerns about our ministries at HPC and about the proposal itself. The council instructed Pastor Tim to take the fall semester to talk with various people about the proposal and the concerns that were raised. After discussing the results of these conversations, the council would like to continue the conversation on February 8 after a shortened worship service. We will have a potluck lunch in which we will divide up into our Shepherd Elders groups for our initial discussion. After an hour or so, we will reconvene to hear each group's conclusions. The council will then take the results of this conversation and return with a plan as to how to proceed. We expect this conversation to not take more than 2 hours.
Based upon the conversations Pastor Tim had, our discussion will center around three topics: potential outreach to the campus, discipleship / spiritual growth, and hospitality. Although Pastor Tim's original vision was to enhance our ministry to undergraduate students, there are several indications that this may not be the best use of our resources. First, several people indicated that the nature of undergrad ministry would work against a (small) church-based ministry. Undergrads tend to be socially oriented and dorm centered. Finding an entrée would be difficult. Second, we already support Eriko in ministry to undergrad students. Finally, there are already many other ministries to undergrads. It seems a more appropriate use of our resources to focus on another ministry.
In the course of these conversations, Pastor Tim was presented with two other options for outreach ministry. The first is to focus on post-grads. Post-grads are at a point in life some have called "Adultolescence," in which they are beginning to take on some of the traditional roles of adulthood (a "real job") but not others (marriage, buying a house, etc.). This results in a longer period of limbo between adolescence and adulthood. While there are many ministries to students, there are few or no ministries addressed to this group. Such a ministry would seek to provide guidance and mentoring in terms of vocation, marriage, finances, worldview, leadership roles in the church and the community, etc. One entrée for this ministry could be a partnership with InterVarsity in which Pastor Tim would lead small groups of upperclass students on issues of vocation, planning for the future, world view, and the like.
The second option is a ministry to faculty. Again there are few if any churches and ministries that focus on faculty aside from David Suryk's relationship with the Illini Christian Faculty (ICF) and individual faculty members. Pastor Tim would seek to partner with ICF and offer to provide administrative, networking and pastoral support to them. From there Pastor Tim would seek to reach out to faculty who are not a part of ICF.
If we decide to reach out to those on campus or the community, be they students, faculty or post-graduates, we should do our best to be prepared to welcome people into the church and provide them with an environment in which they can learn and grow spiritually. This leads to the other two topics. First, some in the church have identified a need for a stronger emphasis on spiritual growth and discipleship, i.e., how we as Christians need to be constantly feeding and shaping our affections through the traditional Christian disciplines of prayer, bible study, etc., and discerning how they guide us in faithful service in the world. Second, while many have found Hessel Park to be hospitable, others have identified a need for us to be more so, particularly with regard to undergraduate students, international students and those who don't fit the HPC mold. Hospitality will be key to any outreach ministry.
In preparation for this conversation, please be prepared to share your experiences with the ministries of discipleship and hospitality here at HPC, and your reactions to the issues raised concerning them. Second, be prepared to share your thoughts on expanding our ministry to either post-graduates or faculty (and perhaps the decision not to begin a ministry to undergrads). You might also begin to think of ways you and or the church as a whole could contribute to such a ministry beyond allowing Pastor Tim to spend more of his time doing so.
Discussion points:
- Some in the church have identified a need for a stronger emphasis on spiritual growth and discipleship. As a body of Christ we are called to support and encourage one another to grow in the faith, to deepen our trust in God so that we can be led to discern our gifts and how to use them in effective ministry in the world. Discuss your experience of spiritual nurture and growth at HPC and whether you believe this is an area in which we should do more. If so, what would you like to see that would be helpful for your spiritual growth?
- Others have identified a need for us to be more hospitable, particularly with regard to undergraduate students, international students and those who don't fit the HPC mold. Discuss your experiences of hospitality, both giving and receiving, and if you believe this is also an area for growth at HPC. If so, what ideas do you have?
- Pastor Tim has presented two options for campus ministry and outreach, one to post-graduates and another to faculty. Discuss your reactions to these options, or the option to do neither. In what ways might you and the church as a whole contribute to such a ministry?
COMMENTS:In the proposed ministry to post-grads, would it be targeted to students who plan to start a career after graduation? Most undergrads will leave Champaign/Urbana when they graduate. How will that help us form a ministry to post-graduates in town? (Or maybe that's not the purpose?)
The point of working with InterVarsity is first to begin thinking about and doing the kinds of ministry post-grads need, and second to just get the word out that HPC is a place where those needs are addressed. It might even result in finding a few of those Christian students who do end up sticking around in C/U, but I think the most important point is simply getting the word out into the Christian student community that we have this type of ministry. — Pastor Tim
February 8 Congregational Conversation Notes:
- From Dave McWilliams' elder group
- From Mike Murphy's elder group
- From Ned O'Gorman's elder group
- From Jim Wardrop's elder group
Additional comments:From Kevin Hamilton:
Please thank the council for organizing a good discussion yesterday. I just thought I'd put into a few words here more about what I thought - feel free to pass along.
A theme seemed to be that we ought to focus more on current needs than on new ministries. I'd like to suggest a way to think about this.
First, on the "internal" needs -
I think it's possible to envision a plan that strengthens people's current ministries, but that also challenges our church to grow and stretch. With God's help, such a plan will also lead to our being able to serve more people better as a church. We should do this. I suggest that we look to ways of making the stories of our growth in Christ, the stories of our families and church members, our ministries and sufferings, more a part of our collective life. The "space" Ned described our church as affording people, the room to establish one's own relation to the church without the aid of niched programming, is important to HPCRC's gifts and character. But I believe we should challenge ourselves to greater vulnerability and interdependence, through creating more opportunities for awareness, prayer, and sharing about our lives with Christ. This will have to be a tiered process, and one entered in prayerfully of course, where we seek ways to make these stories visible in collective worship, if also more revealed in small groups or post-worship Sabbath activities. I don't think just one or the other will be enough.Second, on the missions front -
I also think, however, that there exist needs in C/U which might be uniquely envisioned from the perspective of HPCRC - I'm thinking here of some of the campus ministries that have come up through our discussions. Such needs might be humbly pursued with the support and initiative of members of our church, in cooperation with other churches and ministries, and not at the expense of HPCRC embarking on a renewed focus towards its current internal needs. Perhaps we might think of these things - faculty ministry, grad ministry - as something which we have unique perspectives on from HPCRC, if not the resources to engage it fully at the moment. Some time to look to the church universal here, in some new ways perhaps?