FreshLook committee

Kevin Trapani, Committee Chair

In June of 2003, the rector and the vestry charged an ad hoc committee, called "FreshLook," to assess the Episcopal Campus Ministry at UNC and the Chapel of the Cross and to reach conclusions and recommendations, if needed, by September. The FreshLook Committee represented a broad sampling of the parish as well as a group of folks with extensive Episcopal Campus Ministry experience, and Bill Morley, Priest Associate at the Chapel of the Cross, facilitated several of our meetings. The committee members were Anne Altaffer, Bob Chase, David Dill, Ben Garren, Mary Brenda Joyner, Mary Agnes Rawlings, Sarah Taylor, and Jeff Williams. The chairperson was Kevin Trapani.

We met six times as a group during the summer, and we:

Interviewed all members of the Chapel of the Cross clergy

Surveyed and interviewed current and past ECM leaders and participants

Met with the Chaplain, Stephen Stanley

Met with the Chairperson of the University Ministry Committee, Michael McElreath

Met with the UNC Faculty Advisor to the ECM, Jean DeSaix

Met and shared initial conclusions with the University Ministry Committee

Met and shared initial conclusions with the current ECM leadership group (five Chaplain's Assistants)

Sought opinions from a wide range of other adults who have been engaged in ECM activities over the years.

What follows are our conclusions, as ratified by the committee, the University Ministry Committee, and the vestry.

• Clarification: The chaplain is responsible for all campus ministries.
• Clarification: The University Ministry Committee provides counsel and support to the chaplain.
• Clarification: Responsibility for the planning and execution of the activities of the Episcopal Campus Ministry lies with the ECM.
• Clarification: The chaplain provides spiritual guidance and formation, support, and counsel to the ECM.
• Recommendation: Episcopal Campus Ministry leadership has been inconsistently effective. Consequently, we recommend a more intentional, more effective program of Christian leadership development for both leaders and members of the ECM.
• Recommendation: In order to enable #3 above, there is a need for a reduction in the amount and nature of leadership of ECM activities now borne by the faculty advisor, the University Ministry Committee, and the "Oldies."
• Recommendation: The Episcopal Campus Ministry and the parish would benefit from more extensive ECM interaction with other ministries of the parish, including, but not limited to, the Johnson Interns, the Episcopal Youth Community, CrossTies, worship, and service ministries.
• Recommendation: There is a need to memorialize the procedures, protocols, practices, and programming of the Episcopal Campus Ministry, creating a clear and broadly distributed model that will ensure more consistent experiences for the students each year and improve the effectiveness of the annual leadership transition.
• Recommendation: ECM is an integral part of the life of the parish. As such, it requires an increased level of ongoing, appropriate administrative support in order to allow the students to focus their energies on programming, worship, service, and Christian formation and to broaden the reach of the ECM among the wider Christian community on the UNC campus.

The findings also required us to recommend three additional vestry actions, two of which were agreed to at the November meeting:

Task: a group comprised of parishioners and current ECM participants to put ECM's "best practice" protocols into a formal document. Jean DeSaix is leading this effort, which will be concluded by year-end.

Task: a group of parishioners, clergy, and current ECM leadership to design and implement a sustainable leadership development program for ECM participants by the beginning of the second semester of this academic year. This group is led by Kevin Trapani.

Task: a group of parishioners to assess overall Chapel of the Cross campus and young adult ministries and recommend changes, if needed, to improve them, particularly in the areas of Christian leadership development and spiritual renewal. The vestry chose to delay this initiative until the new chaplain is in place and to integrate it more effectively with the Parish Long Range Planning process.

Episcopal Campus Ministries, focused on undergraduates at UNC, has been a central and impactful ministry of the Chapel of the Cross for decades. The recommendations above will make our proud heritage sustainable and, in keeping with the long-standing desire of the University Ministry Committee and the vestry, will help to expand the presence of the Christian message on the UNC campus across other university communities: faculty, administration, and graduate students. The FreshLook Committee thanks the vestry and the rector for this assignment and all the participants for their caring and candor. We are honored to have had the opportunity to plan a role in the continuation of this important ministry.