Campus and young adult ministry

Young Adult and Campus Ministries continues to support the ministries in churches and on campus that help to create younger adult missional leaders. We continue to find ways to inspire new ministry and connection.

Campus ministry

Dakotas Conference Campus Ministers are busy working with students to change the world in the name of Christ. If you have any students in your congregation at the colleges and universities listed below, please click on the link to email the ministry leader below and let them know. Also, be sure to tell your students about our Dakotas Conference campus ministries.

Black Hills State University, Rev. Paul Lint, Spearfish UMC, Spearfish, South Dakota
Dakota State University, Rev. Peggy Hanson, Madison UMC, Madison, South Dakota
Dakota Wesleyan University,  Rev. Anthony Purcell, Rev. Taryn Ragels, DWU Campus Ministry, Mitchell, South Dakota
Fargo Area Schools—North Dakota State University, Moorhead State University, Concordia, TBD 
Minot State University, Rev. Chang Yi,  Vincent UMC, Minot, North Dakota
Northern State University, Rev. Andrea Johnson, North Highland UMC, Aberdeen, South Dakota
South Dakota State University, Rev. Jen Tyler Osterloh, First UMC, Brookings, South Dakota
South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Rev. Scott McKirdy, Canyon Lake UMC, Rapid City, South Dakota
University of North Dakota, Niroop Sugunaraj, Zion UMC, Grand Forks, North Dakota
University of South Dakota,  Jordan Minnich Kjesbo,  First UMC, Vermillion, South Dakota

Here are some additional ways for the local church to support young adults headed off to an institution of higher learning:
     6 fun, non-worship ways to reach youth and college students
     Collegiate Ministry Finder from the UM Global Board of Higher Education and Ministry (GBHEM)

     UMC Find-a-School tool

Young adult ministry

Do you have a unique way to invite young adults to be part of a ministry?  Grants are available to churches to reach out to young adults and inspire their faith.  Proposals can be submitted through the Breakthrough Ministry Grant application.  Click here for the application. Grants are awarded on a quarterly basis  and can be automatically renewed for a year based on proposal. 

Connect your young adults to faith communities away from home

Young Adults from your congregation go out into the world each year, and often it's a new, strange city. After you have poured so much into them, how will you equip them for connecting with a Christian community in their next life-phase?

Going to college, technical school, or any higher educational opportunity brings significant change to a young person's life. Students often leave the communities where they have grown up, breaking the bonds with their local church. Finding a new church home that is a good fit can be difficult. It is often easier to simply drop out of church.

Dakotas Conference churches can help young people maintain their connection to God and a faith community. Home church members can encourage students to maintain and grow in their relationship with God, as well as succeed in their studies.

As young adults venture off to school, we want them to remember their church family at their local UMC and pray for each of them. Start a young adult ministry program that makes a connection through personal notes, care packages, phone calls, prayer, and more.  Invite them to "follow" your church's social media (facebook, etc.) page so they receive updates about your church's activites.

Encourage young adults to establish a spiritual "home base" where they can connect with other students who share their faith and religious background. You can help them by contacting the pastor or church in their new community. Let them know who you are sending, to assist your young adults in finding another loving, welcoming, and nurturing congregation, and a connection to United Methodism in the Dakotas Conference. 

If your church has young adults moving outside the Dakotas Conference, please help them connect with a local faith community by using the Find-a-Church tool from United Methodist Communications.

Also, see the wealth of resources and ideas our denomination has curated for connecting young adults with Jesus and worshiping communites. UM Communications has them all organized for you at UMC.org. 

Exploration

Exploration is a three-day event being held every other year for young adults age 18-26 to hear, discern, and respond to God's call to ordained ministry and to explore their gifts for service as a deacon or elder in The United Methodist Church.