During the 1950s, Baptist Collegiate Ministries, then known as Baptist Student Unions, were started at colleges and universities across Virginia to encourage fellowship among Christians on campuses.
Since then, computers, satellite TV, cell phones and Ipods have changed the way students socialize. Students are technologically savvy and have gadgets and gizmos at their fingertips. Socializing often occurs at the local coffee house over a latte or cappuccino, rather than over a cola at a nearby diner.
Mary Washington BCM before …
While culture has changed significantly over the past 50 years, Baptist collegiate ministries across the state have not kept pace, says Susan McBride, team leader of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's emerging leaders team and herself a campus minister at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg from 1982–1997. Many BCM facilities have not been sufficiently maintained and updated to accommodate or attract students—whether Baptist or non-Baptist, Christian or spiritual seeker.
… and after.
According to Greg Alexander, collegiate and young adult ministry strategist for the VBMB, the tide is changing because these facilities “represent great ministry opportunities and Virginia Baptists understand this and have stepped up to the plate and helped put some needed resources through personal work and the giving of money.”
He added that updating the facilities is good stewardship because “space is expensive to own or rent in places like the Fan area in Richmond. Therefore, it is important that when we own space, we maintain it and keep it viable.”
Mary Washington is one such place because it is ideally located adjacent to the campus, says Alexander.
Mary Washington is one of the first campuses to have a full makeover, thanks to the vision of Virginia Baptist churches in the Fredericksburg area, the Baptist Collegiate Ministries of the University of Mary Washington and the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.
“The makeover provides a newer, more contemporary space, as well as up-to-date equipment and resources for us to gather to build community and to be together for worship,” says Rhonda Nash, Baptist collegiate minister at Mary Washington. “We think it will enhance the building of relationships with non-BCM students as we start new small groups, Bible studies and affinity groups in the building, on campus and in the community. The ability to invite a friend to the BCM for a cup of coffee, to watch football or to play a computer game will certainly add to the outreach emphasis and hopefully help us try new ways to reach students.”
The makeover was first imagined in April 2005 in an adult small group in the Fredericksburg area. The group was studying Rick Warren's 40 Days of Community and were challenged to take on a mission project big enough that they needed God's power to accomplish it—the Mary Washington makeover was the result. Members of the group presented the idea to Nash and a group of students, who immediately caught the vision, noting students had already begun painting some of the rooms in the facility to freshen it and attract new students.
A first step in the project was to solicit funding and volunteer labor for enhancements such as a new ceiling, lighting, flooring, furniture, window coverings, painting, computers and monitors, a video projector, piano, bistro tables and chairs for a coffee bar, patio furniture and a grill. Several churches and individuals responded to the opportunity to help.
One immediate need was replacing the roof. A sizable donation was made by one of the local churches as well as by private donors, and this project has been completed.
To date, major renovations and repairs have been completed. Final makeover touches, including the coffee bar and high definition television, will be purchased when funding is available. According to Nash, students are “pleasantly, delightfully surprised” about the changes.
The goal is to energize current Mary Washington BCM participants, while reaching out to those students who may not naturally have an interest in the church or Christianity. As Alexander says, “Our first and most important task on campus is to reach students for Christ. Our buildings need to be a platform for outreach rather than a place to hide from the world outside. It is also a place for our students to build relationships that will strengthen their walk with Christ and with each other and believers.”
He added, “Our buildings cannot be an end in themselves. If we are to reach more students on our campuses, we need a multiple pronged strategy which takes into account that every campus has a personality all their own. It is important to shape the ministry to respond to each school's particular ‘people group,' rather than using a cloned approach. Each of our collegiate ministers are looking at new ways that they can use our buildings effectively and creatively to reach their particular people group on their campus.”