Finding Community for Commuters at MELTED

One campus can feel considerably different than another depending on the number of residential students compared to those who commute.  The largest difference between campuses isn’t always the location of the school as much as the location of the students.    The commuter school often has very little community and or well attended activities outside of the classroom.  The growing popularity of taking classes online or driving into and out of campus can save money but makes it hard to make connections. Campus ministries tend to do well at connecting with students in residence Halls (2,470 lived in the dorms last year at NMU). InterVarsity has been working on how to create community on commuter campuses and among commuter students.  Besides distance, commuters may be older, working more hours, have family commitments, etc.   60% of Northern students live off campus, our goal was to start serving some of those who commute from a considerable distance.  The key is adding new opportunities in the middle of the day while they are around.  Joel, Mikayla, Noah, Eli and  Shyanne could not make any of our normal small groups or campus wide meetings that met in the evenings.  So this past semester we met in Melted, our grilled cheese cafe at the center of campus.  Between noon and 1 on Tuesdays we visited, prayed, snacked or ate, and did Bible study.   Some people stayed longer to visit and sometimes a random friend would join our table.  The commuter study was a great success!  I was a bit skeptical that we could connect so well over a lunch hour.  Whereas residential students may have many opportunities for Christian fellowship each week, these students, even more, appreciated and cherished our time together.  This summer I’ve started training Mikayla to lead a commuter study in the Fall.  She will co-lead the first couple of months and then I will hand it over to her.  At the same time I will be leading a second commuter lunch study that meets another day of the week in Melted.  Thank you for praying for Mikayla and our attempts to serve commuter students at Northern in the Fall!