November Special Offering: HELM

Greetings to the Saints of Washington Avenue Christian Church, 

Thank you for participating in the Thanksgiving special offering that benefits the Higher Education and Leadership Ministries of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). I am honored to receive an invitation to contribute to your newsletter and share a glimpse of the role of college chaplaincy at Hiram College. This invitation was such a gift to me as it allowed me to pause, remember, and be ever so grateful for the blessings that service to this campus community has given me (thank you, Chad and Nathan!). So, what is college chaplaincy like? 

College chaplaincy is meeting with a student over Zoom during a pandemic to talk about how to create healthy boundaries at home when expectations of parents and professors are set to collide. It is working with a Jewish student who is interested in rebuilding a Hillel group on campus and then attending seders as a humble guest (yet so proud of the students for what they have created). It is offering pastoral care for students who—for the first time—are wondering and wandering. It is hosting an ecumenical service to name grief participants have been carrying and which has been pursuing them and seeking to be recognized and honored. It is supporting arriving students and accompanying them if, and as, their religious convictions are questioned, challenged, left behind, and/or re-imagined. It is meeting student groups on campus and affirming their worth, belonging, and membership in a community when politicians and culture warriors insist otherwise. College chaplaincy is collaborating with theater guild student leadership to create a storytelling event that could gather a generous community and build a stage for stories and meaning-making to take place. 

College chaplaincy tends to the spirit on campus as a minister tends to the soul of a congregation. There are elements of service that are perennial and those that are responsive. College chaplains seek to bring a compassionate, trustworthy, and non-judgmental presence to caring conversations; be a faithful presence affirming students of all faiths and students of no particular faith; and, tend to the life of the campus that it may be a community of belonging for all students. 

This is just a glimpse of college chaplaincy these last few years at Hiram College, and Hiram is just one small portion of what HELM supports on many campuses throughout the country. Thank you for your support of HELM. 

Rev. Chris McCreight