Transition in Campus Ministry

By Kayla Parker

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It has been such an honor to work with all of you in my nearly three years serving as Campus Ministry Associate at the Unitarian Universalist Association. I look forward to continuing in this position until my last day on July 12th. I have appreciated getting to know many of you as individuals, and learning what particular gifts you bring to your campus ministry. Some of my favorite memories are helping you plot the most enjoyable and effective ministry through one-on-one phone calls, larger conference calls, and group google hangouts with monocles, pirate hats and tiaras. Having the duty of organizing information in spreadsheets and databases, updating and creating resources, and attempting to wield the UUA website into some semblance of helpful information has honestly been an honor. I have loved serving our campus ministry movement in this organizational way, and am so grateful for all I have learned.

I will continue exploring other forms of community ministry in New Haven, CT where I currently live. I shall also be continuing my studies at Yale Divinity School (YDS), where I am beginning my second year this fall. I look forward to keeping in touch with you all through my continued involvement in Unitarian Universalism, and am truly thrilled for all the possibilities of this program going forward. Over the past three years we have grown the network of those doing campus ministry and our connectivity to one another, and developed resources for those hoping to begin doing this work or expand and deepen their campus ministry. We have marched together at General Assembly, attended training or workshops, logged onto conference calls or webinars, and shared our struggles and our proud accomplishments. I am look forward to all that the future has in hold for our UU Campus Ministry movement, and know that it looks bright. My hope was to leave this program and position stable with potential for the future so that it would attract capable dynamic leaders to continue the work we've begun, and my hope seems realized: Having heard about the great amount of interest we already have for the new part-time Young Adult and Campus Ministry Associate, I am confident that this will happen.

Thank you all for learning and growing as part of our movement with me, – Kayla