Conference of European University Chaplains Reviewed

The granite city of Aberdeen was grey rather than sparkling when I arrived in the drizzle. However, the rain didn’t dampen the spirits at the Conference of European University Chaplains (CEUC) 2017.

It was a predominantly Christian gathering, reflecting the current makeup and ethos of the group and so worship together was a central aspect of the time we enjoyed together. This took place in the beautiful surroundings of Kings Chapel at the University of Aberdeen. During it we used liturgy from the Iona Community which both reflected the spirit of the conference but was also appropriate to the ecumenical nature of the gathering.

The first evening was spent getting to know each other, something which seemed remarkably easy. I was struck by the willingness of this group to truly engage with each other. Of course some people had known each other for years and were catching up but for those of us who were new we were immediately able to feel at home. We began with some variation of what became the standard conversation openers of the week. “where are you from? What’s you’re context like?”  This was great because from the beginning it became clear the focus of the week was learning from each other.

I learnt that in Hungry there is a student pastor who is developing his work by moving on to a church plant for recent graduates, whilst in Norway they have re-imagined the old mission to seaman for the 21^st century by sending chaplains to different countries and continents to support students abroad and ex-pats. I learnt in Australia, (yes there were a few from further afield than Europe) there is a chaplain using plants to help people cope and give meaning to transitions caused by the move from one style of building to another. In the Netherlands there are all sorts of exciting things happening including a really exciting innovation at Delft University from TeamMoTiv who have re-imagined chaplaincy into helping develop leadership and soft skills. I also learnt a lot about chaplaincy in Finland, where there is not the multi-faith style of chaplaincy I work in at Aston.

It helped, I think, we all had to truly listen to each other. For the native English speakers we had to concentrate to understand unfamiliar accents whilst for those speaking English as a second language they had to listen into order to interpret / understand. We also had to pause as we spoke, for the native speakers we had to speak at a slower pace and for those who were using a second language they had to pause in order to translate what they were saying before they said it. This was a useful skill.

The key note speakers included Dr. Kristin Aune talking about the latest HE Chaplaincy research going on, Rev Professor Tom Greggs who was looking at Chaplaincy as Sharing in the Sacrificial Priesthood of Christ and Dr Liam Waldron looking at Loneliness on campus: what can the chaplain do to help. Whilst all different they were all useful in exposing the complex nature of chaplaincy and world it is working in. We live in a world where people can feel isolated within a busy environment, where chaplaincies do not come in a one size fits all form and where students, institutions, chaplains and sponsoring bodies/ Churches all need listening to when looking at chaplaincy within education. It is also a world we need to remember that God loves and calls churches to exist for, rather than existing to keep themselves going as Tom Greggs reminded us. 

Beyond the keynotes there were also workshops. I attended one given by Rev Greg Hughson, a Methodist chaplain from Dunedin, New Zealand on A Practical Theology of Suicide Prevention. The work going on there is similar to that being done by Papyrus and others in this country, although he also talks of the need to bring in theology when working with or from the Church to look at this issue. I also gave a workshop on HE Chaplaincy – A  Positive Chance for Engagement through the Diversity and Employability Agendas. Unfortunately this meant I was unable to go to the Team Motiv session looking at their film The New Connection and the work they were doing in Delft in the University of Technology.

It wasn’t all work though, a lot of the networking took place through social events. There was a European Market which was effectively the ultimate Eurovision party, but without the music, a trip to a castle (which I opted for rather than the distillery) and a civic reception at the Aberdeen Town House hosted by the Lord Provost followed by dinner and a ceilidh.

Would I recommend chaplains to consider this conference? Yes, definitely, I think that there is much to learn from the innovation going on in other parts of the world, just as we have something in our multi-faith contexts to offer to the conversation.

Religion and Higher Education in Europe and North America Reviewed

Religion and Higher Education in Europe and North America edited by Kristin Aune and Jacqueline Stevenson is a book focused primarily on research from the UK and the USA, although as the title suggests there are interesting chapters that look at the European context more widely and include Canada. It is an interesting and useful interdisciplinary text which brings together the world of Higher Education practice the sociology of religion which reflects both the editors and contributors’ fields of specialisation.

 

What I particularly liked about this book is that it contains chapters looking at a range of different faith groups and their interaction with Higher Education. Jasjit Singh’s chapter “Samosas and simran: university Sikh societies in Britain” gave an interesting overview of their development and current position. As a chaplain who interacts with a range of users of the university multi-faith centre in which I am based this gave me a useful insight.

Similarly, Charlotte Shira Schallie’s chapter looking at Jewish student identity and the politics of identification in Canada was useful in giving an insight into the experiences of students from that faith. Whilst primarily focusing on the debate within British Universities on Israel-Palestine Ruth Sheldon’s chapter gave a complementary insight into Jewish student identity.

These chapters came within section two of the book: “The religious student experience: learning from qualitative studies”, which was for me the most interesting part of the book. It also contained a paper from Aune and Guest developing some of the material from the research study and book Christianity and the University Experience which they were involved in.

The most enlightening chapter within this section was Invisible Islam: Muslim student migrant’s everyday practices in French secular universities by Anna Virkama. The portrayal of the French Secularism tends to be stereotyped within British media and discussion as does the way it is negotiated. This article reminded the reader that the construction of identity and the negotiation of context is complicated and differs according to individuals. The reductionist approach many of us take towards that situation is shown to be reductionist by this chapter.

Qualitative research and case studies are interesting and have much to teach us but it is also useful to examine the wider scope of the landscape and this is what the first part of the book does, using more quantitative methods coming from survey data.

The United States has more data available and so it is not surprising that two of the three chapters in this part of the book focused upon them. Jonathon P. Hill sought again to caution people against reaching reductionist conclusions about the secularising impact of secular universities by arguing for people to look at a wider range of variables in relation to religious affiliation and belief by students. This chapter adds a useful new piece to the pile of material relating to the secularisation debate.

This common theme of “it’s complicated and varied” was echoed by Paul Weller and Tristram Hooley looking at How religion or belief frame participation and access in UK higher education. The argument they gives argues that with regard to the core concerns of education, retention and achievement / teaching and learning / the university experience religion is important and there should be far more data being gathered, analysed and acted upon in relation to it.

This argument that much more notice should be taken of religion in relation to the policies and planning of universities is taken up in the final third of the book “The place of policies, structures and curricula”. This chapter focused more upon the UK and Europe and dealt explicitly with some of the issues which come out of us living in the era of PREVENT and the events which are argued to have made it necessary.

The chapter by Sariya Cheruvalli-Contractor and Alison Scott-Baumann about Islamic Studies in UK universities: challenging the curricula did this more implicitly than other papers in this chapter. They looked at the way many courses still have their roots in Orientalism and the way in which the courses need to update themselves to deal with the lived experience of Muslims and Muslim young people today. This goes back to the earlier themes this book dealt with so well, the importance in recognising the diversity of religious identities and negotiation of context. This theme is further underlined by Joke van Saane who looks at “the role of religion and personal life orientation in curriculum development processes within the domain of religious studies”.

Adam Dinham’s chapter calls loudly for higher education institutions (HEI’s) and society more broadly to deal with the urgent need for an increase in religious literacy. This call coming loudly from within practical theology and the sociology of religion community and beyond is one which we need to take seriously. Doing this would enable HEI’s and others to do what Duna Sabri is calling for when she talks of the need for us to take the religion part of the 2010 Equality Act as seriously as we do other parts.

The conclusion and overall recommendations coming from this text come within the introductory chapter from Stevenson and Aune where they give 12 practical recommendations about how HEI’s could move further towards being “religiously inclusive”.

Is this book worth getting hold of? Yes, most definitely, if you have any kind of role in planning, policy formation or teaching and learning within universities or are involved in HE Chaplaincy work. It is a unique book which was published as part of the Society for Research into HigherEducation (SRHE) series. The breadth of the book, the multi-faith contributions and the fact it is the most contemporary text available with a range of contributions from top researchers in the field make it, I would argue, an indispensable text for those currently seeking to develop medium term plans in the current HEI context with all its shifting sands. 

Birmingham Central Hall.....Hidden Space or Living Heritage?

Today my lunch break from work was spent wandering around the old Methodist Central Hall in Birmingham, where Birmingham's Hidden Spaces are holding an exhibition until tomorrow.

I hadn’t been in there before, but I had heard about its history. There are various outlets around it and back in the day it had been a big rave venue. These days it has been a club, but it has lost it's licence and a recent appeal and so it's future is yet again up in the air. I knew it wasn’t in great shape, but I was shocked by the level of disrepair within there. There is a major investment needed in this building which is grade 2 listed as you will see from the pictures I took in there.

Wandering around this building that the Methodist Church had sold some time ago I was deeply moved. There was an emotional reaction which I wasn’t expecting.

As I looked around there was something within me which was trying to make sense of it all. This was not just a building, this was the former spiritual home of some of those I worship with and some of those who sit in congregations I preach to when I am fulfilling local preacher appointments. It is also the building that I pass every day on my work in a university chaplaincy which is on the campus which lies in the shadow of this great building.

In an effort to make sense of it all I turned to the work of Rev Dr. Joanne Cox-Darling and a paper within the Holiness Journal, which Wesley House, Cambridge produce. The article I turned to was Mission-shaped Methodism and Fresh Expressions. Now, before I start I want to make clear that I am aware chaplaincy is not a fresh expression, as such. However, as Kate Pearson identifies within her chapter in Ross and Baker (eds) Pioneer Spirituality: Resources for reflection and practice there is an overlap between chaplaincy and pioneer ministry.

Within her article Cox-Darling has a section on Central Halls which she quotes one minister as identifying as “the Fresh Expressions of their day.” She goes through and identifies some key aspects of their theology and ecclesiastical practice which were important and went beyond the buildings.

As I read through this article and reflected on what I had heard a guide in the Central Hall say with regard to what she thought had contributed to the demise of the central hall I was conscious that within our work we need to recognise far more the inheritance we have and the link to those who were there before, sometimes in the same physical area.

Cox-Darling talked about Central Halls having their own standing orders and legal status, giving a flexibility. When I compare my role and place as a chaplain, who is not ordained and is answerable to an ecumenical management committee of whom the Methodists are a part to my husband and the world he is entering as a student presbyter I appreciate that I do have a freedom others don’t. I do have far more flexibility in my ministry.

The guide at the exhibition had explained that the physical geography of the area had changed and that contributed to the decline of the Central Hall. In the early twentieth century the area was an urban one on the edge of the city centre, surrounded by houses where the universities now stands. For the Central Halls, Cox-Darling argues, “the context is the primary focus of mission and ministry, not necessarily to the original inhabited congregants. “

 

Today chaplaincy exists not only within the university where I work but also amongst the retail community in the city centre. There is also a Methodist Deacon who has a city centre focus within the area. Reading Cox-Darling reinforced something that has been there in various ways all year as I have thought about our proximity to the old building, we in those roles are in a very real way the current incarnation of the Central Hall.

She goes on to talk about the way in which “the missional theory of Central Hall ecclesiology maintains a focus on contextual appropriate service to a local community and a relevant vehicle for authentic and passionate communication of the gospel.” This acts as both a comfort and a very big challenge to me. This isn’t about proselytising, that is clearly not something we can (or wish to) do in this context. It is about being there and being honest why you’re there and sharing God’s love in a way which is real and passionate.

For the most part, as I explained in a recent piece for the circuit bible study material linked to Holy Habit on service, that translates to those things which get built upon filling or emptying the dishwasher and setting out chairs. It is the hospitality and being about which builds relationships and it is through them you not only get to support Christians but most importantly to come alongside and share God’s love with those who are unlikely to set foot in church and learn from them as they to show God's love too (even if they would not name it as such). Put like that, I think that a lot of what was going on in the central hall probably isn’t too different from what we do in our context.

So whilst the building might be crumbling I would like to think the spirit of Central Hall is still there and yes, it is there in fresh expressions and inherited church but it is also there very much within chaplaincy.

My understanding of the heritage I have as a chaplain in the context within which I work has grown as a result of the visit to this space and the wrestling which accompanied it. I still have questions relating to what I saw today and am still disturbed by aspects of it but thanks to the insight of Cox-Darling I am not despairing rather I am humbled as I realise that it is my turn to hold their baton for a season.