Editor’s note: This reflection is part of a series by chaplains and campus ministry directors in the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (NECU) on the ways in which God is at work on NECU campuses.
In the 2020 report “Belonging: Reconnecting America’s Loneliest Generation,” Springtide Research Institute reveals that 1 in 3 young people from the ages of 13 to 25 feel alone much of the time and nearly 40% feel left out and have no one with whom they can talk. Helping young people feel noticed, named and known is a key step in deepening their overall sense of belonging, and that sense of belonging is what we strive to enhance through the office of Campus Ministry and Spiritual Wellness at Midland University in Fremont, Neb.
Working with Midland students Brendan Westlake and Keaton Mackin, the office plans a variety of activities each month. On the first Tuesday, it hosts Reflections, a time of guided meditation in the Lueninghoener Planetarium at Midland and a calm moment amid the hectic pace of college life.
On the second Tuesday of the month, we gather around tables at the Community Meal, passing food family style and sharing stories of life and faith. A guest pastor is invited to each dinner to explain how meals have always been important to the Christian story and to offer communion to those gathered. On the third Tuesday, we volunteer to serve our neighbors in a variety of ways, and on the fourth Tuesday, we meet for Community Chapel, where we sing and pray and a student, faculty or staff member tells their vocation story.
“They feel accepted and welcome. It feels like coming home.”
“People feel comfortable coming [to the activities],” Westlake said. “They feel accepted and welcome. It feels like coming home, in a way.”
“Yes, it feels like home,” Mackin agreed. “We engage people in the experiences. [At the Community Meal,] we ask open-ended questions and allow people to answer. We allow their voices to be heard. We’re learning together.”
Westlake added: “We’re a diverse group, and I think people appreciate Campus Ministry and Spiritual Wellness programs because we feel like a community—homey, diverse, accepting, open.”
At the office of Campus Ministry and Spiritual Wellness, we’re constantly learning, making adjustments to our programs and meeting new people to invite into leadership. Cultivating love through community on campus, we collect stories of people’s needs, listen for the movement of the Spirit and take that next faithful step, creating something to help people feel that they are noticed, named and known—in short, that they belong.
