One day last summer, I found myself trying to read in the Diag while one of the infamous preachers in the Diag chastised a girl for wearing a low-cut shirt.
“You’re really not making it any easier for Christians to be Christians in Ann Arbor,” I thought.
After half an hour of preaching to brick walls, he came and talked to me. Thankfully, I wasn’t wearing a particularly low-cut shirt on that day. “You know what there needs to be more of?” he asked me. “Christians at the University can’t just practice their faith in an inward-looking community. They’ve got to remember the evangelical part of the faith, too.”
I’m not sure if the guy was aware, but what he was doing seemed to drive more people away than fulfill his mission.
Which made me think: Is this the face of Christianity that most people see in Ann Arbor?
Because the truth of the matter is a lot of the work that campus churches and religious groups do isn’t that different from many of the service organizations on campus. Yes, there is the view of Christianity is that of the Religious Right protesting with bloody fetuses outside of Planned Parenthood and an anti-gay “shame on you” message at military funerals. But the mission of many Christian communities on campus isn’t “in-ward looking” at all. These are the communities that, like many of the service organizations on campus, organize volunteer events in Detroit, host education events about sex slavery in Southeast Asia, and raise money for justice missions.
This is the face of Christianity in Ann Arbor that one might not be able to literally see, but it’s probably listened to about a membership of 900-or-something more people than the Diag preacher. In Ann Arbor terms: The preacher in the Diag is like the PETA activists yelling for an animal-equality revolution; campus churches, and yes, even evangelical ones, on the other hand, are like social justice and political organizations with a message demonstrated through education and action.
The difference? The motives of service organizations tend to be able multi-culturalism, social justice, and breaking stereotypes; the motive of campus churches and religious groups tend to include something about loving God’s people.
There’s One%Matters, which is based on the philosophy that if everyone gave “1% of our income, 1% of our time, and 100% of our heart,” drastic changes can be made in the fight against extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS, slavery and broken communities.
Last summer, a group of college students who attend the Social Justice Bible Study at New Life Church decided to not only sacrifice something for forty days, but also to commit to acting upon their commitment to social justice. Some gave up eating out at restaurants, while others gave up on drinking coke. In place, they donated the money they saved to buying items for the physically needy and sharing why they sacrificed.
“It truly made my heart come alive to see Jake Clay, who had given up on going out to eat, tell the stories of how he would go out to eat with his friends on Sunday and not buy anything and how he had the opportunity to tell twenty-five people what we were doing and why,” said Erin Deroo, the Conference & Event Coordinator at New Life Church.
Vineyard Church in Ann Arbor holds a homeless ministry in Liberty Plaza every single Friday night without fail. Dinner is provided, but so is conversation. According to Vineyard Church, “The food, as much as it's needed is only the occasion for the greater gift of community and relationship shared by those who serve and those who receive.”
The night starts off with a prayer blessing the food while the hungry stand in line, patiently waiting a turn to pick from the selection of entrees, deserts, and pastries donated from local businesses. It ends with a circle of held hands and closed eyes in prayer. It’s at this moment of peace and relative silence where any differences among people seem to unite as one.
“I love going down to Liberty Plaza on Friday nights to find people extending God's love to people on all sorts of levels,” says LSA sophomore Hannah Wilson. “Because of my deep love for God, I long to love all people in the same way that He loves me—sacrificially and abundantly.”
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