Annual Report to the Committee on Higher Education and Campus Ministry
May 15, 2003

I. GOALS FOR THE 2002-2003 ACADEMIC YEAR

This was the inaugural year for a full-time United Methodist campus ministry on the American University campus. Our primary goal during this first year was to raise the profile of the United Methodist presence on the campus and to create a dynamic and stable community of faith available to AU students. As described below, I believe that both of these goals have been achieved.

II. WORSHIP

A. Sunday Night Worship

Regular weekly worship services are held in the Kay Spiritual Life Center chapel every Sunday evening during the semester at 7:00 p.m. It is the only regular mainline Protestant worship service offered on campus.

1. The Inherited Situation

A number of changes were made regarding the shape and character of our Sunday evening worship. In years past, the Sunday evening worship time was known as Protestant Worship and the community that met as the Protestant Community. One of the hallmarks of this worship was a rotating preaching schedule among the chaplains. Each service would vary from week to week in terms of the quality and consistency of the preaching. In addition, there was great variation in the relative involvement of the chaplains, for some of whom, their day to preach was their first (and often only) encounter with the congregation. Sense of continuity from week to week was greatly lacking and the community’s stability was often difficult to maintain.

This was often compounded by the fact that there was not a cohesive community identity. The word “Protestant” was insufficient to help form group identity or to market that identity to the rest of the campus community.

2. United Methodist Leadership

The United Methodist Chaplaincy has taken ownership of and responsibility for the protestant Sunday night worship and the preaching schedule is coordinated through our office. The services were re-christened “United Methodist Ecumenical Protestant Worship” and the community as the “United Methodist Ecumenical Protestant Community.” The United Methodist chaplain preaches at least 13 Sundays out of 16 a semester and has restricted the rotation to those chaplains who have an ongoing and consistent relationship with our student congregation. Consistency in preaching has helped to build consistency in community.

3. Increased Attendance and Stability

The net result has been that we have seen a much more stable congregational life. In previous years, attendance would drop off to lower levels by the end of the year. In 2002, the weekly attendance by the end of the spring semester was around 10-12. This year, our final service of the semester saw an attendance of 29, above our average attendance for the year, 26.

In previous years, attendance over the Easter holiday was often low, often as low as 6-10 people, given the number of students who would return home for the holiday. This year saw Easter Sunday attendance at 32, with an additional 13 present at a 6:30 am sunrise service. In addition, we added Holy Thursday and Good Friday services with attendances of 16 and 33 respectively.

4. Community Identity

There is a much more solid community identity, which the United Methodist affiliation has only helped. We have helped to give a visible and consistent identity to the campus ministry, and despite our explicit denominational affiliation, we have not noticed any drop off in non-United Methodist participation. In fact, the newly elected president of the United Methodist Student Association is American Baptist, replacing her UCC predecessor. The newly elected vice-president is Roman Catholic.

Throughout the year, the UM community has managed to increase its visibility and profile on campus and is poised to increase in its ability to minister to the American University campus.

B. Thursday Night Healing Service

Beginning this academic year, we instituted a new, mid-week worship opportunity: a communion, prayer, and healing service held every Thursday night at 10:45 p.m. in the Kay Chapel. Our average weekly attendance for the 2002-2003 academic year is 10 people.
The time of the healing service was scheduled for 10:45 p.m. because that is ten minutes after the last class on Thursdays. We are planning to move the healing service back 15 minutes to 11 p.m. in the fall.

C. Other Services

The UM chaplain participated in a number of special services on campus this year, including September 11th Commemoration services on the main campus and the law school, and a memorial service for Valerie Batrony, a freshman who died over the Christmas break.
Ash Wednesday services are usually coordinated by the Catholic chaplain’s office and consist of a noon and evening mass and ecumenical services at the law school and the Kay Chapel. This year, for the first time in recent memory, we provided a late night (11 pm) Ash Wednesday service for the benefit of United Methodist/Protestant students unable to make the earlier services. Attendance: 27.

We coordinated an Interfaith Prayer service of Prayers for Peace in a Time of War, held at 11:45 p.m. on March 6. The event was scheduled to take place after our regular healing services and to extend into the following day, March 7, the World Day of Prayer.

D. Summer Service

Summer services are not usually offered during the summer months. However, in response to some student interest and the fact that we now have a full-time UM chaplain, we are planning on offering services on a part-time basis in June and full-time in July.

III. EDUCATIONAL & DISCIPLESHIP OPPORTUNITIES

A. Baptism and Christian Initiation

We were happy to welcome Brittany Brandt into Christian baptism and membership in The United Methodist Church. Brittany was baptized in December on the first Sunday in advent.

B. Covenant Discipleship

We had a regular covenant discipleship meeting every week. The CD group was organized by our pastoral intern from Wesley Seminary, Scott Manning.

C. Tuesday Night Bible Studies

Every Tuesday night, students and chaplains meet to discuss the lectionary text for the week in a devotional setting.

D. Friday Interfaith Text Study

Friday afternoons at 3 pm, we have continued our combined Jewish-Christian Bible Study in the campus center tavern. This year we studied Daniel and apocalyptic.

E. Interfaith Dialogue

On October 22, 2002, the United Methodist Chaplain participated in an interfaith question-and-answer session in the Anderson residence hall with the Catholic and Muslim chaplains.
The UMSA and The UM Chaplaincy are founding presences in the Kay Interfaith Council, an interfaith body designed to promote communication and discussion among the various tenants of the Kay Spiritual Life Center.

F. Conference Participants

Two of our students attended Exploration 2002 in Chicago, November 15-17, and three of our students will attended Celebrate 2002 in December. One of our students will be going to Student Forum 2003 in Pennsylvania.

IV. COUNSELING

The United Methodist chaplain has offered counseling services to the university and has counseled a number of students from within and without the community. In contrast with a number of other ministries on campus, the UM community has developed a reputation as an open and affirming community, and that has translated into students coming for counseling who are from outside the community, but who believe they are likely to be better received there than in their own.

V. SOCIAL EVENTS & FELLOWSHIP

A. Pizza Welcome

We began the semester with a pizza party immediately following our first worship service of the semester. In the future, we will be offering such pizza dinners not only to new students, but to all the United Methodist scholarship recipients as a way of reaching out to those who should naturally have connection with our community.

B. Student Night at Camden Yards

On September 20, 2002, we took 20 students to Camden Yards on $5 student night to watch the Red Sox-Orioles game (Red Sox won 3-1).

C. Monthly Methodist Movie Night

The first Tuesday of the month is movie night. The UMSA and the Chaplaincy sponsor a free showing with free pizza and snacks. This year we showed John Q, Keeping the Faith, Shawshank Redemption, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Siege, Michael, and The Matrix. Viewing of the film is always followed by a discussion in which we talk about the theological or philosophical issues addressed by each movie. The movie nights are very popular and we often have attendees who would not otherwise participate in campus ministry related events.

D. Fall and Spring Retreats

Our fall retreat was held on the weekend of September 13-14 at the cabin of University Chaplain Joe Eldridge in the Shenandoah. Our spring retreat was eventually scaled back into an evening outing in downtown Washington, and included dinner, a movie, and snacks and discussion at the chaplain’s apartment.

E. Halloween Murder Mystery

Our annual whodunit party was held November 1, 2002 at Eldbrooke UMC. Like the movie nights, it has the potential of bringing people into the community who might not otherwise come.

F. Pancake Study Break

On the first night of the two-day pre-exam study period for both fall and spring semesters, the United Methodist Community, along with other ministries on campus, participated in a pancake study break coordinated by the University Chaplain. We helped to cook pancakes for nearly 300 hungry students from 11 pm to 2 am.

VI. OUTREACH & MARKETING

A. Website

The Chaplaincy has a website that it maintains at http://www.aumethodists.org. The site contains information about the ministry, upcoming worship times, the weekly lectionary readings, and copies of past sermons. Sermons are posted on our website at http://www.aumethodists.org/sermons.html. Students can also use the website to update their directory information and participate in community polls.

In March we made arrangements through Network for Good to receive online donations, which visitors to our website can make online through the services of that non-profit organization at no cost to us.

B. Feed the Quad

We sponsored two free picnics and cookouts for the AU Campus: one in the fall on September 24, 2002 and the other in the spring on April 15, 2003. Over 350 people were served in the fall, receiving AU UMC cups with worship times and our web address. Over 400 people were served at the spring FTQ, at which information about our Holy Week services was distributed.

C. Orientation

We had a regular presence at summer orientation 2002 and added more than 25 names and e-mail addresses to our mailing list. However, our lack of any funds during the last orientation period (which began before my appointment) impacted our abilities. This summer, we are planning on a very visible presence at orientation with a variety of materials available to students and their parents.

D. Club Fair and Tabling

The United Methodist Student Association had a table at the Campus Club Fair at which we distributed materials about the ministry, along with cross-shaped keychains and ‘Flaming Cupcakes’ (hostess cakes with a candle stuck in them). “Flaming Cupcake” is the nickname of the Kay Spiritual Life Center, a round building with a flame on the roof. The UMSA also tabled in the campus center and offered hot chocolate on the quad during February.

E. Dorm Deacons

A number of students have volunteered to be Dorm Deacons, responsible for distributing flyers and other information in the dorms and for being contact persons for the community.

VII. ECUMENICAL AND INTERFAITH RELATIONS

As part of the United Methodist campus ministry’s stewardship of the main Protestant worship service on campus, we help to promote and facilitate events and programs for the other Protestant ministries on campus. We have helped to promote the Baptist Student Fellowship’s Non-Violence Workshop, Episcopal communion services, and Episcopal discussion on homosexuality and the church, a Baptist presentation of a Non-violence documentary,
The United Methodist Chaplain was also instrumental in drafting a Joint Statement of the Chaplains of the Kay Spiritual Life Center in Response to the War on Iraq, which was released after that war started and published in the University newspaper The Eagle.

VIII. GOALS AND PLANS FOR THE COMING YEAR

A. Provide Social Justice Outlet

The United Methodist community has been successful in providing a community for worship and reflection for the campus. In the coming year, we plan to offer a more regularize social justice and service opportunity for the university community. Specifically, we are planning an alternative spring break trip for next spring. A couple of students have already volunteered to help coordinate the program.

B. Mid-week Service for Faculty and Staff

Our current worship opportunities are designed to accommodate a student’s schedule: Sunday at 7 pm and Thursday at 10:45 pm. This fall, we are planning to offer a Tuesday afternoon service at 12:45 pm for the benefit of those who might not otherwise be able to attend: faculty, staff, and commuter students. It is also hoped that some of our regulars will take the opportunity to come as well.

We hope to follow the strong showing we have made this year and expect to continue to grow our presence, outreach and the number of opportunities available to explore faith on the AU campus.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark A. Schaefer