Missionary Collegiate Ministry

I want to branch off the previous post that collegiate ministry must be bi-lingual, and take it further.

For at least the last ten years of my chaplaincy I introduced myself at Presbytery and GA committee meetings as the “Presbytery of Muskingum Valley’s missionary to Muskingum College.” The metaphor of missionary is central for collegiate ministry.

Missionaries (collegiate ministry practioners) are sent to a foreign culture. This culture has its own language, customs, and history. To be effective missionaries they must learn the customs and be able to translate the Good News of the Gospel into the language of the peoples with whom they work. Sometimes, faithful Christians back home become confused / perplexed when they hear -out of context- some of those translations.

Each mission is separate and unique. Even missionaries in the same country or city may have very different ministries and use very different skills as well as vocabularies in their work in the mission field. They are united in their love for Christ and the desire to share Christ’s love, but the visible expressions of their ministries may look radically different. They are also trying to share Christ’s love through a particular authorizing denomination.

The support from the home church is both a joy and a concern. People are proud of their missionaries and speak of them as if what they do is important, but tangible support is spotty and minimal at best. This is also true of the “Home Office.”(The PC(USA) thinks some missionary work important enough that they help some missionaries go into congregations to tell their stories. Collegiate ministries is not currently one of them.)

There is one characteristic of missionary work which does not sit well with faithful but unthoughtful church members in the pews, but which almost every missionary with whom I have spoken understands. Those lay people have a mechanical notion of missionary work.; say the right words and heathens become Presbyterians. Missionaries understand the process to be much more complex. The work of the missionary is to the field, not exclusively to Presbyterians, or even exclusively to Christians. Missionaries trust in God’s grace and the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts and lives of those who encounter the Gospel through the work of the ministry. Those back home trust that the missionary is spreading the Gospel. They do not think deeply enough to realize that some medical missionaries, for instance, restore sight to the blind in the context of the saving love of God revealed through Jesus Christ, but do not preach doctrine.

Morale of missionaries is vitally important to the health of their ministries. Since missionaries are most often acting alone and contact with colleagues in similar ministries is rare, missionaries need support and encouragement from the Home Office. Congregations back home can give some support and encouragement, but this is rare- and since often the congregations don’t really understand the dynamics of missiology- opportunities for mutual support and nurture are lacking. The Home Office must be the enabler of this renewal.