Campus Ministry and our Social Witness: CCW Newsletter 11.22.24

Campus Ministry and
our Social Witness

CCW Evolve Gatherings Re-cap

Evolve Gatherings are special CCW worship services where we invite our students to take intentional steps in their relationship with God. In past years, we have focused on spiritual disciplines, the Wesleyan Doctrines of Grace and the United Methodist membership vows.

In 1743, John Wesley devised three general rules to guide Methodists toward deeper personal holiness. The rules are simple: Do no harm, do good, and stay in love with God. At Evolve this semester, we have been exploring what it means to follow these rules by looking to the United Methodist Social Principles. The social principles are a set of key areas that the General Conference of the United Methodist Church believes are important to speak into. They are a “call to faithfulness and to social engagement… intended to be instructive and persuasive in the best of the prophetic spirit.” (United Methodist Social Principles, 2024).

At our first Evolve of the year, Derrick gave an introductory talk on the principles and the history of the United Methodist Church’s concern for social justice. In October, Matt Hartley joined us to share his passion for building a table with many seats, open to all people. And just this month, we spoke with Sarah Flint about being good stewards of creation and the environment. These gatherings encouraged conversation around issues that we may not notice, or take for granted.

Our students have started to think about how they might direct their careers toward work in one of the principles they feel passionate about. We recognize that God is calling us all to be good stewards of creation and the world around us. Such work is often exhausting and thankless, yet we can find reassurance that even the simplest of actions - doing good, doing no harm, staying in love with God - can have great impact.

Ty Revell (he, him)
Campus Minister

CCW STUDENT TESTIMONY

In 2020 when I was a high school senior, I went to an event called College Connection at the Warren Willis Camp and Conference Center. This event brought together a lot of different Wesley Foundations from around the state to inform us soon-to-be college students about their campus ministries. I already knew some members of CCW at the time because they were a part of the summer leadership team at Warren Willis Camp. I was searching for a community with like-minded people. Growing up, raised Catholic, I didn’t have a youth group at my church. I was yearning for that going into college. CCW had both of these points and that is what brought me here.

There are a lot of things that I like about CCW, but one thing that really sticks to me is how we have been adaptive as a ministry. I started college at the beginning of the pandemic when there were no in-person events. CCW started online gatherings to bring the community together when we couldn’t be face to face. Even when we were online, I still felt like I had a community. When I started living on campus in the spring of my sophomore year, although it was weird and an adjustment seeing people in person again, it didn’t feel weird for me to be with CCW. I’m grateful for that, because starting college is rough for anyone, but especially when you did your first year fully online, you feel like you have to rush to feel a sense of belonging. That came easier to me with CCW. Another thing I like about CCW is that everyone is able to be involved in their own unique way. When I started living at UNF, I got involved by interpreting the songs for CCW during Evolve. For context, I graduated in May 2024 with a ASL/English Interpreting Degree. In the past, I have interpreted songs and prayers at my church back home, but I wanted to continue when I am in Jacksonville and CCW has allowed me to do that. This has also given me the chance to interpret at San Marco Church, CCW’s affiliated church. I love doing this every week and being able to show my love for interpreting.

My vision for the future with CCW is for other students to learn and know that they have a gift they can use, if they want to, no matter if it’s big or small. I know everyone has a journey, but I believe that we can take that journey, and use it to inspire us personally and the people around us. I love being a part of CCW, and I hope to share that love with others for years to come.

Taylor Buonasera (she, her)
Student Leader & Residential Staff

The Wellness Project is a mental health initiative sponsored by Studio Wesley. It began through the generosity of the Florida United Methodist Foundation and aims to normalize, educate, and support college-aged young adults at the intersection of faith and mental health.

Since its conception, The Wellness Project has been curating and locating mental health and wellness resources specifically for college aged young adults. This process began by interviewing mental health professionals on what was missing and led to an initiative that includes a variety of digital media available to college aged young adults.

Current digital media being created by The Wellness Project include Experiencing Mental Health and Practicing Mental Health.

One of Studio Wesley’s interns, Tess Landreth, has created Practicing Mental Health to inform people of holistic, but scientifically backed, ways to care for your body and mind. Practicing Mental Health is a series of Instagram reels that air biweekly.

Experiencing Mental Health is an anonymous blog series. Different members of the Studio Wesley team write about their real-life experiences with mental health and wellness. The blog is written in the form of a letter to allow the reader to feel like they are not alone. Topics picked and shared by the team include those that are often seen as “taboo” to talk about.

Other resources within The Wellness Project include:

Talking Mental Health – a podcast designed to normalize, advocate, and inform people about hot topics on mental health and wellness. This is done through a series of interviews with both professionals and college aged young adults.
Cohorts designed to educate on specific mental health topics and create community spaces to share these experiences.
A list of mental health professionals to allow easier access to mental health care for college aged young adults. When creating this list, professionals were vetted by being asked a series of questions regarding their specialties, their experience, and if they are a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community.
A list of crisis lines on our website. Some of these lines are broad, while others are specific to different demographics depending on the need.

As The Wellness Project continues our work, we are constantly thinking about ways to make college aged young adults feel safe when it comes to seeking help. Whether information, resources, or a community – the hope is that The Wellness Project can fill the gaps in need for quality mental health resources especially in ministry spaces.

Allison Corwin (she/her)

Assistant Director of Studio Wesley

Campus to City Wesley Foundation is the United Methodist ministry to college-aged young adults on campuses in Jacksonville
and St. Augustine;
serving college students online through Studio Wesley.

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Sections of this newsletter were edited with the assistance of artificial intelligence.