A Bid for Building Campus Ministry

by Beth Walden

When I asked Jim Kalinowski, the president of the UU Church of Greensboro (UUCG), if I could add campus ministry to my professional portfolio, his response was, “That is the kind of outreach we should be doing as a community. We need to build and support life-long faith in the UU tradition.” From that point I began spending anywhere from 2-10 hours a month working with students at Guilford College. It all began with two eager students (Scott and Yahya) who wanted to connect with other students of familiar faith. Over the past two years the program has grown in worship and in fellowship. These are students who are interested in having rich ethical and spiritual discussions, students who yearn for faith based fellowship, and students who want to live their faith through action.

Last year when the UU Church of Greensboro was holding its annual auction, the Guilford College UUs (GCUU) decided to auction off an item. But the question was what to give. After deliberation, they decided to auction off “the college experience.” The top six bidders on the auction item (with a starting bid of $20!) spent a Sunday afternoon on Guilford’s campus with the UU campus ministry group. The UUCG winners’ afternoon with the GCUUs began with worship, discussion, tea, snacks (microwave popcorn and cookies, of course!), and ended with a campus tour.

This was such a great way for the members of UUCG to see the benefits of campus ministry and for the members of GCUU to contribute to their local, sponsoring congregation. The UUCG members in attendance that day still talk about their experience. A great time was had by all! I definitely recommend trying out a similar auction event with your campus ministry/congregation partnership! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  Beth Walden, M.Div.Director of Faith Development
Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro, NC