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“We serve four mission fields, but we have only one mission,” says Michael Bartley, director of the United Methodist Wesley Foundation at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. “Our mission at Wesley Foundation is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, create leaders, and transform lives.”

The four mission fields the 42-year-old graduate of Duke Divinity School refers to are four groups of students. He identifies them as churched, dechurched, unchurched, and international students.

• Churched students, Bartley says, have grown up in the United Methodist Church and stuck with it through their high school years. “When I first came into campus ministry 13 years ago, 75 or 80 freshmen would walk through our door the first week of school. They would say, ‘I’m Methodist and I’m going to come to Wesley Foundation.’”

He says now only three or four walk in and say they are United Methodists and are coming to Wesley Foundation.

Why has the number declined?

“We still reach out to churches and to high school kids and encourage them to think of Wesley Foundation as their home at OSU. That hasn’t changed,” Bartley says. “What has changed is that we have fewer United Methodist students on our campus.”

• Dechurched students, Bartley says, have given up on church. “Many felt like they graduated from church when they were confirmed as members at 13 or 14. By the time they were 16, they had decided church didn’t offer them much, if anything, and they dropped out. Now they assume the church still doesn’t meet their needs, so they are not coming back.”

He says some dechurched students were forced by their parents to attend church. Now their parents are not present to make them go, so they are enjoying their freedom by staying away from church.

A few, he says, gave up on church because of something that happened—or didn’t happen—at church. “Perhaps someone did or said something that hurt them. They are still angry and don’t want to go back and risk being hurt again.”

• Unchurched students have seldom, if ever, gone to Sunday school, worship services, or youth groups. They make up the fastest growing mission field for Wesley Foundation at Oklahoma State, Bartley says.

“Generally speaking, unchurched students are easier to reach than dechurched students,” he says. “Most are willing to give the church a try—unlike many of the dechurched who have given the church a try and given up on it.”

• International students from at least 50 countries attend Oklahoma State. Some are Christians, others are affiliated with other religions, and some have no religious affiliations.

Since most international students are far from their families and familiar support systems, they need a place where they feel loved as God’s children. Bartley says Wesley Foundation seeks to be that kind of place for them.

Students experience changes

The majority of undergraduate students at OSU are between 18 and 25, and most are experiencing climactic changes, or soon will be, Bartley points out.

“They are asking themselves questions like: Am I supposed to be alone at this point in my life or am I supposed to be with someone? What vocation do I want to prepare for? What does my life mean? How can I get the most out of life?”

He says it’s popular in our culture to encourage young people to make independent decisions.

“Being part of our culture, it’s easy for us in the church to say, ‘Let’s stand back. If students need us, we will be here and they will come to us.’ But the problem is, young adults are experiencing too many climactic changes. If we as a church don’t put ourselves out there into their environments, they simply will overlook the church.”

He’s convinced that a ministry of presence with college students is not sufficient. “Today it takes a ministry of engagement to effectively serve the campus mission fields. Not just passive presence, active engagement is what it takes!”

Bartley says to be actively engaged, the OSU Wesley Foundation must use a variety of approaches to reach its four mission fields.

During his 13 years as a campus minister he has learned that fun, food, and fellowship are important, but they are not all it takes to fulfill Wesley Foundation’s mission.

“We must provide two absolute essentials if we are to make disciples of Jesus Christ, create leaders, and transform lives,” he declares. “First, we must help students learn the basic stories of the Bible and discover what these stories teach them. And second, we must encourage students to serve others, sharing God’s love.”

Bible study builds foundation

During the fall of 2007, Matthew—a junior majoring in zoology—started attending Wesley Foundation. After he had been in several study groups and worship services, he came to Bartley for help.

He explained that he had seldom attended church until his senior year in high school. Then he attended a few times, decided he wasn’t getting anything out of it, and quit. He said now he wanted to learn more about the Bible.

Matthew said to Bartley, “Every so often, I hear you guys making reference to Bible stories. I’ve never heard the stories and never read the Bible. Would you be willing to tell me the stories and explain them to me?”

Bartley gladly agreed. And now he meets with Matthew and another student each week and tells them Bible stories. They are taking their time with each story, searching for what it reveals about God, about life, and about how they can live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ.

At the beginning of their study, Bartley gave Matthew a children’s Bible. When asked how he felt carrying a children’s Bible around campus, Matthew said, “It was awkward at first. I stuck it in my bag, but it doesn’t bother me now. Our group at Wesley Foundation knows what I’m doing and they help me. If I’m reading the Bible and looking puzzled, they ask me if I’m stuck. I tell them I am and they give me some background on the story. It’s becoming a community effort to help me become better acquainted with the Bible.”

Serving strengthens discipleship

Discipleship is about service, Bartley encourages.

“Sitting in a Bible study group is a good place to start, but it’s not enough. Discipleship is about practicing what you have learned. We provide opportunities for students to stop focusing on themselves and focus on others.”

He says teaching Bible stories and providing service opportunities are keys for ministering to all the different kinds of students.

“We help our churched students deepen their understanding of the Bible and give them opportunities to serve. We help dechurched students unlearn some things they have picked up about the Bible and replace negative experiences they have had at church with positive experiences, and give them opportunities to serve. We teach unchurched students Bible stories and give them opportunities to serve. We help international students grow in their understanding of the Christian faith and give them opportunities to serve.”

In addition to helping students find service opportunities in local churches and in the community, Wesley Foundation sponsors mission trips to areas with special needs in the U.S. and elsewhere—they went to Belize last summer.

Wesley Foundation also sponsors two major projects on the OSU campus where scores of students serve.

One is Wesley Foundation’s Store House, which stocks canned goods, vegetables, and other food products. Churches, individuals, a local food collection drive, and an Oklahoma City food bank donate most of the items. Students distribute them to individuals and families who need help but do not qualify for other assistance.

The second service opportunity Wesley Foundation sponsors is their New Foundations Project, an after-school program that teaches life skills to sixth and seventh grade students who have special needs.

Bartley says one student who worked in the project before she graduated now teaches in an inner-city school in Sacramento. She recently told him, “I am a different teacher because of what Jesus taught me in New Foundations.”

Scores of young adults credit Wesley Foundation with helping them become better disciples of Jesus Christ and better leaders, Bartley says. Here are a few examples he mentions (the names have been changed):

Steve knew the name Jesus when he came to Wesley Foundation four years ago, but he didn’t know the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Now he does. He recently told Bartley, “I wouldn’t know Jesus if it had not been for Wesley Foundation.”

Beth started attending church while in high school. Her parents divorced soon after she came to college, and she felt broken and lonely. She found comfort and hope at Wesley Foundation. Bartley says she is now healing and finding God’s transforming gift of life.

Nicoleta and Marin are married international students. Since they were far from their home and their Orthodox tradition, their life in Oklahoma was often lonely and difficult. But they found a new home at Wesley Foundation. In 2007, Bartley and Wesley Foundation members celebrated their third wedding anniversary with them.

Bartley says the celebration not only brightened the lives of Nicoleta and Marin, it illustrated how American students are growing: “Jesus is teaching us how to welcome strangers.”

A few months ago, a Wesley Foundation member brought a friend to Bartley who was having a tough time. As they stood outside his office, he heard the Wesley Foundation member say, “This place doesn’t look like much, but it is a life-saving place. People around here will love you.”

The spiritual growth of Wesley Foundation students was never more apparent or more meaningful to Bartley than it was Feb. 15, 2006. That’s the day his nine-year-old daughter, Abriana, was stricken ill and flown from the Bartley’s home in Stillwater to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa.

Doctors diagnosed her condition as a staph infection called methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. They told him and his wife, Ronda, that Abriana might not live through the night.

He vividly remembers how devastated he felt that evening when he walked out of intensive care. But his spirits were lifted when he stepped into the waiting room. “I saw a collection of Wesley Foundation students, hand-in-hand, heads bowed, praying for God’s healing presence.”

As soon as the students heard about Abriana’s illness, they had headed for Tulsa, about 50 miles away. They came to the hospital nearly every day during the entire ten weeks that Abriana was hospitalized. They did household chores and helped care for the Bartleys’ two other children and sponsored a fund-raising dinner to help them with hospital expenses.

Bartley says Abriana has fully recovered.

“We saw plenty of miracles while our daughter was sick. One miracle was seeing how students are experiencing God’s love at Wesley Foundation and are being transformed into the body of Christ, bringing comfort and encouragement to others.”

Boyce Bowdon was a pastor for 20 years before he became director of communications for the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church, a position he held for 24 years. Since retiring in 2005, he has continued to write magazine articles and is now completing his fourth book. Dr. Bowdon and his wife, Arlene, live in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

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God on campus By Boyce Bowdon

God on campus
By Boyce Bowdon