Posted on March 15, 2006
Active in the Lutheran church throughout high school, sophomore Alison Glace attended the Lutheran Presbyterian Campus Ministry’s first Wednesday night dinner and worship service of the semester.
Immediately, she felt she belonged.
“All my life I’ve been raised Lutheran, so when I came to school I immediately sought something to fit my religious viewpoints,” she said, and added that it is often difficult to stay involved while attending college.
“It’s a lot harder to talk about faith in college because of the different viewpoints,” she said. “It’s nice to have a place to go where everyone has the same beliefs as you.”
Glace is not the first student on campus to find it hard to participate in between classes, study breaks and exams. Kathleen Haines, campus pastor for the ministry, realizes the struggle many students go through to remain active in the church, and cited LPCM’s role in guiding students through their spiritual journey.
While Haines does not believe that faith can ever be lost, she does recognize that it can change with time.
“College is a time of change and of deciding who you are. Faith will never go away, but it will change,” she said.
After operating separately for approximately 75 years, the Lutheran and Presbyterian campus ministries combined in 2002, after the passage of the Full-Communion Agreement of 1998. Both religious groups came out of the Protestant Reformation and were very similar, lacking enough significant differences to keep the faiths separate.
The agreement also signified a change for the campus ministries, because they combined resources and staff. Haines said with less of a financial burden, both groups were allowed time to increase their influence across campus.
“Both ministries decided they wanted to be more student and campus centered,” she said. “They both realized that they had mutual needs that could be met by the other.”
Their efforts were successful, as Haines said there are currently approximately 350 Presbyterian and 150 Lutheran students on campus, 40 of which are active in the organization. The group also serves the community, as it is connected with eight local churches and was supported by the Lutheran Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg.
Active members in the church or on campus get a lot out of the organization.
“LPCM offers spiritual guidance and nurturing for students their first time away from home,” said junior Kathryn Betz. Having been a member for two years, she said LPCM offers a bridge for those transitioning between childhood and adolescence while providing students with a religious foundation to cultivate on their own.
Haines agreed.
“We don’t help students keep their faith as much as we help them own their faith,” she said.
