Information on Higher Education Sunday 2009 - August 16
College life consists of many new and interesting experiences. Often those experiences include the importance of hanging your towel, how much caffeine your body can actually endure, and what a wonderful invention the microwave is. Sometimes a college student wants to try something new, like becoming a vegetarian or sleeping full-time in a hammock as opposed to a bed. More often than not, these new habits require devotion such that previous dedications fall to the wayside. These are usually the years when church becomes a smaller priority than classes, searching for laundry quarters, or keeping the car running. What is there to offer? Chances are, the average college student feels that church is either too repetitive, uninspiring, or falls short of challenging them. But just look at the competition. The average university offers a buffet of new ideas, encounters, and challenges. Why should we look anywhere else? The truth is most college students won’t look anywhere, and therefore the church needs to see the local campus as a mission field. That’s one of the reasons why we’ve instituted CoYAM, College and Young Adult Ministries in the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee.
CoYAM is a new unit of the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee. College and Young Adult Ministries (CoYAM) hopes to be a resource for the churches in the presbytery looking to provide ministry to college students/young adults. We just held our first meeting and are really excited about what God is doing within the lives of college students/young adults in the PC (USA). Through CoYAM, the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee can begin to not only bridge the gap between the church and the college campus, but also reach and relate to those students who gave up on the church before they even reached the university or reach those who have graduated from college and are searching for a church home.
Higher Education Sunday in the PC (USA) is August 16, 2009. Each congregation is encouraged and invited to participate in a presbytery-wide offering for campus ministry. We pray especially this day for students going and returning and for faculty and staff of local colleges/universities. Please find ways to involve the college students and faculty/staff in your congregation on Sunday, August 16. There will be a bulletin inserts for Higher Education Sunday at the July presbytery meeting. Please give generously to support our FIVE campus ministries in this presbytery: Austin Peay, MTSU, Sewanee, TN Tech and Vanderbilt/Belmont.
Drew Wilmesherr, MTSU ‘10
CoYAM Member