"Called to Common Mission" is more than "possible"--it's the reality of the work being done on college campuses across the nation by Lutheran and Episcopal campus ministries. That was the conclusion of the second joint chaplains' gathering between the ELCA and ECUSA, held June 23-26 and sponsored by the Division for Higher Education and Schools at the ELCA offices in Chicago and the Office for Young Adult & Higher Education at the Episcopal Church Center.
The first such gathering was held in 1987.
At the Lutheran School of Theology (LSTC), Brent House (Episcopal Campus Ministry), and the University of Chicago, 156 participants prayed, sang, danced, dialogued and feasted. Author, lecturer, and postulant Lauren Winner provided three provocative addresses centered on the words 'called', 'common' and 'mission.' Engaging chaplains to consider their call, to wonder about what was both uncommon and held in common in their common ministry, and to formulate an articulate statement regarding the mission of the church on campus, Winner spoke passionately about the work of the church in the academic realm as a "dynamic and never passive relationship" with those on the journey.
In a panel discussion, University of Chicago Divinity School professor emeritus Martin E. Marty, the Rev. Ellen Wondra, Seabury- Western Seminary's professor of theology and ethics, and the Rev James Echols, president of LSTC, responded to questions on religion versus spirituality, the current political climate, the war in Iraq and their effect on young people's commitment to academic pursuits and goals.
At the closing banquet, ELCA chaplains recognized peers who have contributed to campus ministry throughout the past year. The Episcopal Provincial Coordinators for Ministry in Higher Education plans to institute two such awards for subsequent years. The first will be called the Distinguished Leadership Award, given to a chaplain who has excelled in providing a model for campus ministry. The second honors the Rev. Sam Portaro, a career chaplain recently retired from Brent House at the University of Chicago. It will be called the Sam Portaro Award for Creativity and Intellectual Enquiry. The awards may be given annually at the chaplains' conference.
The two churches' national offices for campus ministries have agreed to hold another joint conference in June 2006.
