Last August, I was flying back from an urban-immersion week my school facilitates for some of our student leaders. On the flight, I got into a conversation with the woman sitting next to me about the university where I work. She asked lots of questions because she had a daughter who would be looking at colleges soon. Enthusiasm built as we talked about the mission and programs of the school. She liked what she heard. And, then, she asked the question: “How diverse is your school?” I could tell from the expression on her face that she hoped for percentages that would reveal wonderful ethnic diversity. However, there was no way that my report of modest, but growing, ethnic diversity statistics could express to her the journey my school had been on and how valuable her question was to us. Somewhere in my response, I said, “We are working on it,” and that is the truth.
Like many Christian colleges, there was a time when my school’s demographic was almost entirely Caucasian—students, faculty, staff, administrators, and board members included. Also like other campuses, at some point there was an important shift, and now working toward racial reconciliation and a multi-ethnic community are strategic priorities. In recent years, our campus demographic and ethos have been changing in exciting ways. As we have worked toward making our community a place of peace and honor among the races, we have learned that it is essential that the campus ministry team be right in the midst of the discussion. Though it has been our administration and students who have often led and initiated these efforts, we have seen that in order for the vision to be carried out, every department must play a part. We have learned that there are a few roles that are unique for our campus ministry team to play in the campus-wide endeavor. With many Christian colleges and ministries moving toward this same vision, the goal of this blog entry is to share some of the lessons that my campus ministry team has learned along the way and to invite you to share some of your own as well.
First, we have learned that campus ministers must be purposeful in talking about and teaching the biblical foundations for racial reconciliation and unity among Christ’s Church. It is in large part up to us to make sure that our campus does not perceive diversity as something to be worked toward for political or public outcomes, but because God cares about it. We have come to realize that it is important that those on our team who come from majority culture need to be just as vocal, if not even more so, in articulating these Kingdom values. We have learned that it is important that we do not discount the specialness of ethnic differences with our description of unity—as though we should all become generic, ethnicity-less people. Our unity as a community is in becoming like Jesus, not in asking those of minority cultures to become like those of majority culture.
The second thing we have learned in this journey is that chapel, as the focal point for Christian community on our campus, should both cast a vision for multi-ethnic Christian community, and also act as a mirror that reflects and identifies the growth, challenges, and celebrations of God’s work within our community. The movement from a primarily single-ethnicity worship style to multi-ethnic worship is not quick, nor is it easy. But we truly want our students to be worshippers who are able to worship the God they love in many different styles and alongside many different ethnic groups. With regard to our chapel services, we aim to consistently have chapel speakers from a diversity of ethnicities. But, that cannot be the only way that multi-ethnic worship is practiced. As we consider other elements of our community worship, we have found it helpful to continually ask ourselves questions like: Are the examples of heroes of the Christian faith that we identify from the pulpit all from one ethnic group or one country, or are we acknowledging God’s work in and through many populations? Are we drawing songs from a variety of Christian traditions in our music worship? To what kinds of music are students entering and exiting chapel? Do all the songs cater only to the preferences of our majority culture of worshippers? How are visual images of Jesus depicted? Do they depict Jesus only from the perspective of the majority culture, do they depict Him as Jewish, or do they represent a variety of vantage points of Jesus?
The third lesson we have learned has come from being a part of a student life team that is working toward ensuring that our student services are designed not only with majority culture students in mind, but for students from a variety of ethnic experiences. For our campus ministry team, this has meant thinking about the cultural experiences and intercultural competence of those providing pastoral care, trying to develop relationships with local pastors and churches from a cross-section of denominations and ethnicities, and building a diverse pool of mentors and small group leaders for students. As we create programs and resources, we are trying to do so multi-ethnically so that our entire campus is being nourished by God’s work across ethnicities.
As our campus transitions from being composed of a predominantly Caucasian student body toward a growing balance of ethnic diversity, we are learning to think multi-culturally about the different facets of our ministry. We recognize that doing so expresses care for our student body, utilizes the resources we now have available to us to develop inter-culturally competent Christian leaders and worshippers, and most importantly, we do so because we believe that this is what God desires for our campus. In the journey that we are on as a community, we have had some sad days and some sweet days. There have been hurtful moments caused by ignorance: dismissive comments, stereotyping posters, demeaning words, and wrongful actions. There have also been times of prayer together, heartfelt apologies, good questions, courageous storytelling, creative ideas, and unselfish surrender. Our campus ministry team has certainly had blunders and fumbles in our learning process. There have been times when we didn’t speak up enough, times when we said the wrong thing, and times when we overlooked something important. We have been learning, and we aren’t nearly where we want to be yet. But, even as we continue to learn and grow, we consider it a privilege to help students to be peacemakers, guiding them as they follow in Jesus’s footsteps of courageously crossing borders of race and ethnicity in the name of the Loving Father. It is a privilege and a worthwhile endeavor to continue “Working on it.”
Discussion Prompt: What are some things you have learned as you have been attempting the ministry of racial reconciliation on your campus or within your church? What is working?
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Jamie Noling-Auth is Associate Campus Pastor and Adjunct Professor of Theology at Azusa Pacific University. Jamie has worked in Christian Higher Education for the last 11 years. She has a B.A. in Communication from Pepperdine University, an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell Theological. Jamie enjoys speaking and writing on topics related to spiritual formation, gender issues, and the Gospels. Jamie is newly married and lives in Southern California with her husband, John.
