November 25, 2002
by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE – About 300 Presbyterians will join more than 700 other college students in a national ecumenical conference next month.

Students from around the nation, most of them between 18 and 25 years old, will ring in the New Year during the quadrennial gathering, which begins in Albuquerque, NM, on Dec. 28 and runs through Jan. 1. Campus ministers and a host of international guests will also take part.

"The aim is to gather students together from around the United States and the world to sing, pray, worship and learn from one another," said Jolinda Matthews, the event's administrative coordinator and a staff member of the Council for Ecumenical Student Christian Ministry (CESCM), one of the co-hosts.

Participants in the conference, which is held every four years, will celebrate their Christian unity and their diversity and "come together in a spiritual community" in keeping with the conference theme, Celebrate: Weave Us Together.

They also will work on developing student-leadership skills global understanding and "carry on the ecumenical tradition of gathering together," according to Matthews.

The conference schedule includes worship, Bible studies, small-group discussions, cultural events, networking opportunities, and a keynote address from Millard Fuller, founder and president of Habitat for Humanity International.

"The major piece is that it helps students get out of their little denominational ghettos and see what else is moving around Christendom," said the Rev. Bob Turner, associate for student ministries for the Presbyterian Church (USA). "I think it's a great opportunity."

Campus chaplains, vocation directors, seminary admissions officers and students will lead more than 80 workshops on subjects ranging from AIDS to globalization to the latest models of campus ministry.

The Rev. Paula McGee, a former basketball star at the University of Southern California who gave up the hardwood for the pulpit, will address the conference and lead a workshop on discerning one's calling – in the church or outside.

A handful of international students from Uganda, India, Uruguay, Finland, Canada and the Middle East will represent the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF), an ecumenical organization of student movements that began in the late 1800s.

"It's an opportunity to learn what everyone else around you does, and maybe discover that they're not so different, after all," said Ross M. Turner, a 21-year-old Kansas State University student who will attend the conference. "There are going to be so many people that you're going to make new friends, and you're going to make new networks."

Worship leaders will include the Rev. Wendell Gibbs, the Episcopal Bishop of Michigan, and the Rev. Rodger Nishioka, an associate professor at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, GA, who is a former staff member in the PC(USA)'s youth ministry program area.

Three students from abroad will speak on globalization and related issues including HIV/AIDS, economic development and the war on terrorism.

The CESCM and the National Catholic Student Coalition (NCSC) are hosting the conference at the Albuquerque Convention Center, a project of the higher-education ministry components of several denominations.

The other member churches of the CESCM are the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

PCUSA News Service