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Thrivent funding
     In 2004, Minneapolis-based Thrivent Financial for Lutherans funded ELCA campus ministry efforts at four universities with high multicultural populations. The projects were originally conceived as aâ€¨way to develop peer-to-peer ministries that wouldâ€¨enhance the Lutheran presence on multicultural campuses in Baltimore; San Antonio and Edinburgh, Texas; Rapid City and Spearfish, S.D.; and Cambridge, Mass.
       The programs worked through peer ministries among Latinos on the two Texas campuses, among Native Americans in South Dakota, and Taiwanese students in Cambridge and Boston.
       Of the various efforts, Morgan State University in Baltimore developed the greatest student involvement. There the program evolved to emphasize community service rather than peer ministry. Leaders of the Morgan State ministry said they are looking for new sources of funding after the Thrivent grant runs out in July 2007. They hope to fund the program for five more years.

Campus ministry makes inroads at Morgan State

African American students relate 'Lutheran' with 'service'

Morgan State University, getting involved with Lutheran Campus Ministry offers opportunities to serve the surrounding Baltimore community.

The goal of “Outreach Through Service Learning at Morgan State University” is to develop a different kind of Lutheran Campus Ministry on a historically African American college campus. Organizers hope it will point the way for Lutheran ministries on campuses of all types across the country.

Through a Lutheran Campus Ministry program, Morgan State University student Kristen Foreman tutors Syan, 4, at St. John Lutheran Church in Baltimore. Program directors use the service model to attract African American students who aren’t familiar with the Lutheran church.

It’s one of four Baltimore-area campus ministries overseen by the Delaware-Maryland Synod’s directing committee for campus ministry. Others are at Towson University, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland.

“We took a different approach at Morgan State,” said Eric Campbell, an ELCA pastor who chairs the directing committee, “because we thought the service model might be attractive to African American students who aren’t all that familiar with the Lutheran church.

“Last year Reggie signed up more than 300 students who showed some interest in the program. About 100 actually contributed some community service, and about 30 of those participated on a regular basis.”

Reggie is Reggie Price, 50, outreach coordinator of the Morgan State program and a member of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, Baltimore. A layperson, Price is the only full-time staff member for the Morgan State ministry.

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