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An ‘Oasis’ At Michigan University

October 9, 2012

Oasis a new Christian Reformed Church/Reformed Church in America-sponsored church plant, has begun on the campus of Western Michigan University (WMU) in Kalamazoo, Mich.

WMU has more than 26,000 students, making it one of the largest universities in Michigan.

Oasis aims to help and equip college students to become a new generation of church leaders, says Ron DeYoung, who heads up the International Student Ministry side of the university’s Bronco Campus Ministries.

The launch comes four years after The Gathering, a campus ministry ended after area churches became more in tune with the needs of college students.

Since The Gathering closed, DeYoung has prayed that a new ministry opportunity reaching WMU’s North American student population could come to fruition.

The initial stage of the launch began this fall as members of the launch team began meeting with Daniel Teerman, a Reformed Church in America (RCA) pastor, the coach and mentor of Oasis staff. A more public expression of the ministry is scheduled to begin in January.

“One of the things we’ve been asking over the past few years is, ‘Why another campus ministry?’ DeYoung said.

“But one thing that is absolutely essential is that we need to build leaders in our denominations.”

Teerman, who planted The Bridge, a RCA congregation in the nearby suburb of Portage, had sensed God moving in the same direction.

Since The Bridge launched 2 1/2 years ago, Teerman developed a heart for college students to become more active in local churches before they graduated. His attention quickly shifted to WMU’s campus.

“Here’s this campus of 26,000 students ... and it became pretty obvious that we have to have a ministry here,” Teerman said.

Oasis will operate in the geographic area of greater Kalamazoo, Mich., where approximately one in every six people is connected to the university.

While campus ministry was once effective by offering worship which was attractive to university students, DeYoung said campus ministries must change their model for ministering to college students.

DeYoung said the need to identify leaders at campuses like WMU is essential, given that membership in local churches is becoming more diverse and more of the younger Christian Reformed Church (CRC) and RCA members are opting for state universities rather than Christian colleges.

“The reality is that things have changed,” said DeYoung, who has been involved in campus ministry for the past 16 years after serving as a pastor for 18 years.

“The church has a phenomenal need to learn how to minister to people on the fringes (people who are unlike us) and we can no longer rely on parachurch organizations to minister for us or to provide the leadership our church needs.”

In launching Oasis, the leadership team will strive to make the ministry distinct. In recent months, both the CRC and RCA have evaluated how they are doing campus ministries, realizing reaching college students requires a fresh approach.

Several CRC-RCA campus ministers and church leaders will meet later this fall to develop a new model for effective church based campus ministry, specifically to be used in the United States.

Oasis is seeking to learn from this gathering and to incorporate as much as possible into their ministry plans as an example of how the CRC and RCA can be effective in getting as much out of their campus outreaches as possible.

While the campus church plant will have Western Michigan students serving as elders and deacons, Teerman said it’s essential that students become active in a local congregation that they could become part of full-time once they graduate.

Students working with Oasis will be part of a Discipleship Ambassador’s program in which they will spend a semester actively attending morning worship before returning to campus for the Oasis service Sunday night.

Like with any launch, progress will be made slowly, but gradually, making sure that Oasis can be not only distinct, but also effective in making leaders out of today’s university students and how the new ministry can partner with local churches.

Teerman said students will find greater fulfillment growing the church while understanding how big of a role they can play.

“This is a way for them to connect students with local churches because that’s what we feel like they are looking for ,” Teerman said. “To feel connected.”