Home Missions Seeks to Grow Campus Ministry

April 29, 2008—The Northeast U.S. is, in many ways, the country’s capital of higher education. Hundreds of colleges and universities dot this growing megalopolis, which includes Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.

Surprisingly, there are only two Christian Reformed campus ministries in this massive region, both located in New Jersey. That’s something Christian Reformed Home Missions is hoping to change.

Peter Schuurman, Home Missions’ Educational Mission Specialist, is on the East Coast this week in an effort to do something about the campus pastor shortage.

Schuurman is specifically speaking to a group including the Home Missions Eastern U.S. Ministry Team, regional CRC pastors, and other church representatives to explore solutions to the question: how can the denomination reach campuses and the next generation for Christ?

“We hope to spend time sharing what God is doing now and brainstorming about what he might yet do on college campuses through our East Coast churches,” says Schuurman.

The denominational philosophy, Schuurman explains, is for a campus minister to be embedded in a local Christian Reformed Church. With that in mind, he hopes the discussions on the East Coast will lead to some ideas about what future Home Missions-CRC campus ministry partnerships might look like.

Currently, more than half of the 23 Home Missions-funded campus ministries are located in Canada.

Schuurman recently conducted discussions in the Chicago area, which focused on possible ways to grow campus ministry in that region. He points out that “as a church, we need to nurture another generation of kingdom leaders, and campus is one strategic place to do this.”

Ben Van Houten, Christian Reformed Home Missions

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