About Urban Abbey
Student Empowerment & Support
A New Campus Ministry
An area ripe for the Abbey’s expansion is among college-age students in the Omaha metropolitan area. The Abbey is a place for seekers, a place for people trying to make sense of what it means to be a Christian community of faith in a complicated 21st century world. College students are exploring this question as well. They are engaging with and challenging the tenants of their childhood belief systems, and United Methodist Campus Ministries that are connected with the Urban Abbey could be a place where college students can be exposed to progressive Christianity alongside their peers, but also in a framework of a radically inclusive, multi-generational, Christian community. Not only will their questions be tolerated here, they will be required. Our Wesleyan tradition appoints us to the theological task of working out our own salvation.
WE are called to engage young people in this vulnerable space of transition. It is also critical that the UMC continue to invest in new ways of “being church:” ways that remind us that the church is not a building; it is the body of Christ made up of diverse people made in the image of God, and so we need all kinds of people present if we hope to understand who God is. We need communities that are theologically expansive, that are grounded in our commitment to learning from one another, and that are unafraid to engage with the questions of life’s ultimate meaning with a sense of urgency. A faithful and vibrant church in the 21st-century will not be afraid of the dark spaces and the hard questions. We will ask, seek, knock, and faithfully live into the answers.
Campus Strategic Outreach
Gather at least 2 prayer walk partners at each campus for weekly prayer walks.
Improve data management system to identify and target potential student leaders.
Gather high quality first contacts through participation in UNO January Involvement Fair and expansion of tabling strategy on each campus to include new locations and times.
Strategically promote events and offer activities at table that will appeal to students open to the exploration of Christian spirituality in community (e.g. advertise QueerFaith on campus initiative, promote Summer Great Plains Internships, recruit for Music Guild, offer use of Prayer Loom, Floor Labyrinth, Ashes-to-Go).
Meet with Student Groups at Creighton and UNO to hear their hopes and concerns and introduce them to the Abbey.
Deepening Campus Relationships
Partner with student groups on each campus for an event either on campus or at the Abbey.
Have follow-up coffees interested students from each campus.
Start a regular lunch group at Creighton University for fellowship / spiritual conversation.
Develop series of QueerFaith on Campus events with partners
Increase attendance of pastor at campus events.
Connect with faculty/staff who can refer students to our ministry.
Leadership Development
Increase post-worship small group participation and focus on leadership development.
Recruit students to participate in Urban Abbey Music Guild.
Increase student service participation in and through the Abbey.
Recruit a Leadership Team for QueerFaith on Campus initiative.