Faculty Ministry

Faculty: The Key to Revival on Campus?

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Wed, 18 Dec 2019 18:20:32 +0000

Nathan Peterson

Faculty: The Key to Revival on Campus?

“God has assembled quite a few Christians here. I don’t know what he wants to do, but I would love to discover it with you.”

George Stulac found himself saying that a lot after joining ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries (GFM) as a Campus Staff Minister. It felt like each new Christian faculty he met in the St. Louis area would recommend another faculty contact he hadn’t known about before. Since starting back in 2015—after investing 38 years as a pastor—George has been able to connect with over 50 Christian faculty at his alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis.

The odd thing was that many of them didn’t seem to know each other.

George came to recognize this phenomenon as the silo effect. Simply put, many professors find it difficult to build relationships with other faculty outside of their department.

Dr. Jill Pasteris, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, speculated about the reason for this, saying, “We just get too focused and don’t reach out enough to other faculty, in part, because we are not sure of what common interests might bring us together.”

Several professors shared with George some of the challenges that come along with the silo effect, with the first, most obvious one being isolation. It’s also easy to compartmentalize, to see faith and academics as separate. Even when professors seek to integrate their Christian faith into their work, navigating university structures can be quite demanding. Others admitted to George that the influence and authority they held on campus set them up for temptations they were sometimes not prepared for.

Discovering Community

In all this, George recognized an opportunity to serve and help. “When I began to introduce [faculty] to each other, they began to meet together and build relationships,” he said. “I saw opportunities for collaboration and mutual help to blossom naturally among some faculty whose paths otherwise wouldn’t cross.”

George invited a group of faculty to Urbana 15, where they met together to hear from Bobby Gross, the Vice President of GFM, and Dr. John Inazu, a Washington University professor and ��ñ�� Board Member. “When they attended Urbana sessions, they heard about being missional people,” George said. “That seemed to stir a desire to do that together on campus and not be content with the silo-ing and isolation. [They believed] that there was more that could be done to have a redeeming influence on the university.”

Some faculty at Washington University in St. Louis returned from Urbana inspired to form an ��ñ�� Faculty Fellowship and begin meeting twice a month. “I enjoyed watching these faculty form friendships and initiate cooperative ventures together for a Christian presence and witness on campus,” George said.

After that initial fellowship was planted, he has continued connecting faculty and has helped to establish three more fellowships in the St. Louis area. George now meets with a number of professors individually for spiritual formation and also leads faculty Bible studies. “I learned so much,” one professor described their time spent in the Word. “I felt better equipped to understand the passages and got insights on how to approach Scripture.”

“George has supported my desire to be an example and share Christ in my academic work life,” said another.

Discovering Opportunities

More and more faculty have sensed the call to be more active in their faith. “Because they’re in positions of influence, [their openness about their faith] affects the thinking, the ideas of the university,” George said. “The gospel becomes more a part of the campus-wide discussion of what is true and real and good.”

At Lindenwood University, several professors have designated their offices as prayer stations, public places where anyone can come to pray or receive prayer. And when one philosophy professor finished his PhD, the fellowship decided to throw a party, inviting all faculty, both Christian and non-Christian. Around 30 professors gathered to hear about and discuss his dissertation on the existence of God. “They had a great time,” George said. “They loved engaging with each other.”

In many ways, the ministry taking place within these four ��ñ�� Faculty Fellowships parallels the greater work God is doing among St. Louis faculty.

“There are a lot of Christian faculty members who want to engage more deeply with ministry,” said Washington School of Medicine’s Dr. S. Joshua Swamidass. “When we [as faculty] can actually integrate what we’re thinking and doing, we can actually change how a whole field thinks about things.”

For much of his childhood, Dr. Swamidass admits he focused on “building [his] faith on the sinking ground of scientific arguments,” as he writes in his article “Finding Confident Faith in Science.” But over time, he began to realize there was someone bigger than science: Jesus, whose presence and power was greater than what he found in science.

Alongside his scientific work, Dr. Swamidass launched Peaceful Science to find common ground around questions of origin and science. He has spoken at many venues, like Urbana 18 and Veritas Forums, founded the nonprofit, and wrote the ��ñ�� Press title The Genealogical Adam and Eve.

Dr. Swamidass also is one of the faculty fellows at another nonprofit, The Carver Project (TCP), founded by faculty to “empower Christian faculty and students to serve and connect university, church, and society.”

TCP continues to gain momentum with faculty dinners and discussions across departments, professors coteaching and developing new classes together, and reading groups being hosted for students as well as mentoring opportunities being offered. The past two years, they have hosted Carver Conversations for the larger community, inviting guests like Tim Keller, Lecrae, Sara Groves, and Makoto Fujimura to discuss topics like “Christian Witness in an Age of Fracture” and “Baptizing Our Imaginations: Art and the Divided Church.” The next Carver Conversation is scheduled for April 3, 2020.

George has been thrilled to witness TCP’s development and serve them through leading Bible studies, providing pastoral care, and helping plan their annual faculty retreat. “George has been an indispensable partner to The Carver Project: his words and actions demonstrate again and again that he knows faculty, he knows Washington University, and he knows Jesus,” said Dr. Inazu, who is also one of TCP’s founders.

Reflecting on the future of his own ministry and God’s greater work in St. Louis, George has begun to gain a clearer sense of what the Lord may be doing by gathering so many faculty together.

“I’ve come to believe that faculty are perhaps the key to all the things ��ñ�� does on campus,” he said. “With their longevity on campus, compared to students who graduate, and by their positions of influence and respect on the campus, faculty have the potential to be the greatest influence for revival on our campuses.”

News Keywords

Faculty Ministry

Graduate and Faculty Ministries

St. Louis

Washington University

The Carver Project

Believers Who Share Our Love for Campus

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 16:21:27 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Believers Who Share Our Love for Campus

At the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, when California State University ��ñ�� chapters were derecognized, students on the Sacramento State campus needed a new meeting place since they no longer had the status needed to formally reserve a room for their large group meetings. An out-of-the-way alcove on the second floor of the University Union was discovered, where they could meet informally.

Audrey Chan, ��ñ��’s Team Leader at Sacramento State, said that arrangement worked well for a couple of weeks. Then the director of the union contacted the chapter leaders and invited them to his office. Concerned about the future of their chapter’s activities, the chapter leaders called for prayer and fasting.

Once in the meeting, the chapter leaders discovered that the director was a believer. He told them that he had talked with people at his church, located nearby, and they wanted to offer the chapter a place to meet in their building. The students, in response, shared why they thought it was important to continue meeting on campus.

Finally, the director told them that rules for meeting in the union were vague, so if they didn't put up any signs, they would be allowed to continue to use the second floor alcove. “My students came out of the meeting in tears, amazed at how God answered their prayers,” Audrey said.

Meeting informally in that public space was slightly awkward. But Audrey reflected that maybe that was what campus ministry was supposed to be like. “Student life was going on around us and we were right there, an intersection of faith in the space of student life,” she said.

One of the other outcomes is that the director of the union is now part of the faculty and staff fellowship that has begun at the college.

When Audrey arrived at Sacramento State in 2012, starting a faculty and staff fellowship was not one of her goals. She was focused on student ministry. But people kept telling her about professors they knew who were Christians, so she started putting names in a spreadsheet. While playing ultimate frisbee one day, she met another professor who had attended a Christian college, so she added him to the list.

“I would meet with them, hear their story, share ��ñ��’s vision, and try to connect the dots for them about campus ministry,” Audrey said. She was surprised to discover that five of the professors were already meeting to pray together. Finally, she planned a faculty luncheon and invited everyone on her list. Nine people came and they prayed together and shared stories about praying over their class rosters. “That was incredible,” Audrey said. “It helped me see that they’re not there for tenure; they’re there to see God’s kingdom advance.”

Through that experience, Audrey discovered an enhancement to her own campus ministry. As a self-described high achiever in college and someone who thinks deeply about education, her developing friendships with faculty have felt like an unexpected gift. She enjoys her conversations with faculty in a different way than she enjoys her conversations with students.

Her relationships with faculty have also directly benefited her undergraduate student ministry, as interaction between the two groups began. Some students had never considered the possibility that their professors might be Christian believers. The faculty/staff fellowship sometimes met with the undergraduate fellowship to pray together, and students began to consider whether to invite other professors. An athlete in the chapter discovered that her trainer was a believer and their professional relationship turned to fellowship.

In early March, Christian faculty from Sacramento State and the University of California, Davis, planned and led the first NorCal Faculty and Staff Gathering, with about 30 faculty, staff, and graduate students attending. “I heard at least one other faculty share about wanting to start a prayer group on her campus,” Audrey said.

Audrey encourages fellow ��ñ�� staff to invest in searching out and contacting Christian faculty and staff on their campuses, noting that they are potential allies in ministry who care deeply about the campus and its students. “Partnering with them has changed my ministry with undergraduate students, both in giving my students a larger vision of reaching the campus, and also in the unique partnership that students and faculty and staff can have together,” she declared.

Professors and staff have been on campus, in most cases, a lot longer than the students and the ��ñ�� staff. “They understand the college world,” she said. “They are praying for the same environment that we are.”

As a student, Audrey attended the University of the Pacific, a private school that prided itself on small class sizes and strong faculty/student relationships. She was invited to ��ñ�� Bible studies as a freshman and found that they brought a lot of clarity to her Christian faith. She became a Bible study leader as a junior and enjoyed watching how God used the conversations in the study to change the lives of fellow students.

“Students make significant life decisions in college and they end up in amazing places,” she observed. In 2010, as her days as a student ended, Audrey went to Kolkata, India, as part of ��ñ��’s Global Urban Trek. Her summer in the midst of stark urban poverty helped clarify her desire to see more lives changed by the power of God’s Spirit and Scripture, and confirmed her decision to join ��ñ�� staff.

Audrey spent her first year on staff as an intern at the University of the Pacific, and then moved to Sacramento State, where she has been for the past five years. Every year at Sacramento has been different, with a lot of leadership turnover that reflects the large commuter population of that campus. At the end of this school year Audrey and her husband will be moving to the South Bay Area of San Francisco and Audrey will join ��ñ��’s ministry on community college campuses there. Working with faculty will continue to be a key part of her ministry.

News Keywords

California State University-Sacramento

Faculty Ministry

Sacramento State

University of the Pacific

Not Ready to Retire, and Back on Staff

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 16:21:16 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Not Ready to Retire, and Back on Staff

George Stulac’s career plan was to get a PhD in history and become a professor. Instead God called him into student ministry with ��ñ�� and then pastoral ministry. He pastored Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis for 33 years. Now, after stepping down from the pulpit and still eager to be involved in the work of the gospel, God has called George to a new ministry in which he’ll be working closely with history professors and other faculty.

Last summer, as George reached retirement age and ended his time at Memorial Church, he gave prayerful consideration of what he wanted to do next. He was not ready to retire from ministry.

“I wanted these last years to count for the most fruitful ministry that I could do,” he said. “So I spent that time asking questions about what my gifts are, what I do best in ministry, what motivates me, what satisfies me, what would I be most fruitful in doing?”

His ��ñ�� experience as a student and then a staff member gave him a great love for studying and teaching the Bible. He also wanted to be able to provide pastoral care. And he especially wanted to get involved in something that was effectively reaching non-Christians with the gospel message.

He checked with a variety of ministries and finally talked with the director of ��ñ��’s Central Region, Jon Hietbrink. Jon proposed a job description that would allow George to be a pastor to ��ñ��’s Central region staff, working with them in spiritual formation and teaching the Bible at staff gatherings.

“What really motivated me was that I was being told that ��ñ�� was seeing more students become Christians than ever before in its history,” George said. “That just captured me, that I could have a ministry to staff, so that they could have a deeper ministry to these students.”

But that wasn’t all. Jon also invited George to get involved with faculty ministry. That was equally attractive to George.

“When I became pastor at Memorial Church 33 years ago, I began praying that God would bring more Christians into faculty positions at Washington University, because I could see that Christian faculty can have a big influence in the life of students,” he said.

Finally, in the last few years of his ministry at Memorial, George had started to see more faculty members getting involved at his church, and colleagues were telling him the same thing was happening at other St. Louis churches. Don Paul Gross, ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries (GFM) Regional Director for the South Central Region, told him that GFM staff were noticing a wave of Christians moving into faculty positions across the country.

“It appeals to me to have a ministry that’s part of what God is doing to answer what I’ve been praying about for 30 years,” George said. “If more students are becoming Christians than ever before, and if more Christians are becoming faculty than ever before, between those two things it appears to me that God is changing the university in a remarkable way, and that’s what I want to be part of.”

Hearing George talk about his years of pastoral ministry and his ambitious plans for his “retirement years,” it’s hard to imagine him as the shy, withdrawn, lonely introvert who first met ��ñ�� as a student at Washington University a half-century ago. A catchy program title piqued his curiosity and drew him to an ��ñ�� discussion where he met another student, Ron Hendrix, who befriended him and unsuccessfully invited him to more ��ñ�� meetings for the next three months.

Ron never gave up and eventually George relented. “Ron was so faithful, and I finally went with him just because he had won my trust,” George recalled. George was clueless about Christianity but became curious. Ron and other chapter members encouraged him to become an honest seeker of the truth, and two years later he became a follower of Christ. As a senior he became chapter president.

He then enrolled at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, not with the intent of becoming a pastor but rather because he wanted to learn more about God. “I went to seminary just for the fun of learning more about the Bible and theology,” he said. But then God called him to ministry.

But even with decades of ministry experience behind him, George is looking ahead to what God has next. “This may be the most fruitful ministry of my life,” he said. “Not because of what I’m doing but because of what God is doing.”

News Keywords

Washington University