Jesus at the Center: Forming Faith Communities in the Spirit of CALLED25
by Rosie Chinea Shawver, MDiv
At CALLED25, Bishop Mike Martin didn’t offer a strategic framework or a long list of ministry best practices. Instead, he gave us three words that cut through the noise and recenters our vocation as campus ministers:
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.”
That wasn’t a warm-up. That was the mission.
In a Church often preoccupied with programming, assessment tools, and institutional benchmarks, Bishop Martin reminded us of the one thing necessary: to help students fall in love with Christ. Not as an idea or ideal, but as a living person. If our ministries lose that center, we risk forming communities that are busy but not rooted, active but not alive.
From Presence to Communion
We minister in a moment marked by disaffiliation, distraction, and deep loneliness. Students are arriving on campus not just spiritually unformed, but unsure of whether they even belong anywhere at all. And so the call to form the faith community, the first of the six essential aspects of campus ministry named in Empowered by the Spirit, is as urgent now as it was in 1985.
“Campus ministry… forms communities of faith which witness to the presence of the risen Christ.” (Empowered, no. 1)
But forming a faith community isn’t the same as building a club or hosting events. It’s not about getting students into pews, it’s about helping them discover that they already belong to something sacred: the Body of Christ. The kind of community Empowered calls for is rooted in the Eucharist and animated by mission. It’s a space of welcome, healing, truth, and transformation.
Fr. Conrad Murphy’s white paper, The Primacy of God’s Action in Campus Ministry, speaks directly to this. He reminds us that before we reach, plan, or preach, God is already moving. “God is already at work in the lives of our students long before they walk into our events or offices,” he writes. Campus ministry, then, is not about initiating God’s work, it’s about recognizing it, reverencing it, and cooperating with it.
This posture of reverence is echoed by Andrew Mountin in his essay, With the Eucharist at the Center. He writes, “The liturgy is not just what we do, it’s what forms us.” When the Eucharist becomes the heart of our campus communities, not just an obligation, but a source of beauty, encounter, and formation, our students are drawn into a communion that is bigger than themselves. They don’t just attend something sacred. They become someone sacred.
Encounter, Belonging, and Mission
Paul Jarzembowski’s reflection, Has Our Vision Changed?, puts it plainly: “There is a genuine hunger for community in the academic world.” That hunger may not always be spoken in religious language, but it’s there. Students may not come looking for God, but they come longing to be seen, known, and loved. And that’s where the Church must meet them.
“Campus ministry must make a special effort to reach out to individuals who are suffering from isolation and loneliness.” (Empowered, no. 35)
This is where forming the faith community begins, not with a theology lecture or a retreat flyer, but with hospitality that evangelizes. The first smile, the first meal, the first moment of belonging is where the soil of the heart is prepared.
“The faith community seeks to gather those who wish to serve others and to bring healing.” (Empowered, no. 37)
But welcome alone is not enough. Students need more than friendship, they need formation. That’s why the liturgy matters. That’s why small groups matter. That’s why one-on-one accompaniment matters. We are called to build a culture that says: You matter. You belong. And you were made for more.
Mary Catherine McDonald and Dominic Sanfilippo, in their joint paper on LGBTQ+ ministry, describe forming “a community of unconditional welcome.” While their focus was on a specific pastoral context, their insight speaks to a universal truth: true Christian community invites students to bring their full selves into relationship with Christ, not in spite of their complexity, but through it.
“The faith community should offer support and challenge, nurture and empowerment, trust and accountability.” (Empowered, no. 39)
In this kind of community, evangelization and healing go hand in hand.
From Club to Communion
As Bishop Martin said, “We’re not forming clubs. We’re forming disciples.”
That line got laughs in the moment, but it also got nods. Because we know it’s true. Clubs offer connections. Community offers communion. One meets social needs; the other meets spiritual longing. One fills time. The other fills the soul.
“We pray that the faith community will be a place where all are empowered by the Spirit to use their gifts and talents in service to the Church and the world.” (Empowered, no. 39)
And that empowerment begins with us. As ministers, we don’t just manage activities, we manifest presence. We embody the Church’s care. We reflect the love of Christ.
“Campus ministry can be defined as the public presence and service through which properly prepared baptized persons are empowered by the Spirit… to be a sign and instrument of the kingdom in the academic world.” (Empowered, no. 21)
So Where Do We Begin?
We begin where Bishop Martin began:
With Jesus.
Not as a concept, but as the center.
We begin by allowing ourselves to be re-evangelized.
We begin by trusting that God is already moving on campus.
And we begin by building spaces—Eucharistic, hospitable, Spirit-filled—where students can experience the radical truth that they are already loved and already chosen.
We are not creating community from scratch. We are revealing what already is.
And our work, like everything in the Christian life, begins and ends in Christ.
Next Steps for Campus Ministers
1. Audit your welcome.
Walk through your ministry spaces as if you’re a new student. What does the signage say? Who greets people? Does the environment say “You belong”? Invite a student unfamiliar with campus ministry to give feedback.
2. Elevate the liturgy.
Choose one way to make your next Sunday Mass more intentional: add a student greeter, invite student musicians to rehearse prayerfully, or encourage a few students to personally invite their roommates to attend.
3. Start a conversation about community.
Gather your student leaders and reflect on this question: What’s the difference between a club and a faith community? Let them name what they see, and dream together about what’s possible.