'Too Important to Let It Slip Away': College Ministers Concerned About Future Support

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Key points:

  • Leaders of Holston Conference's five Wesley Foundations express concern about the future of their ministries, especially as the denomination downsizes.
  • Wesley Foundations received funding cuts as the Holston Annual Conference revised its 2024 budget mid-year in response to reduced income related to local church disaffiliations.
  • For the past few weeks, these United Methodist ministries have been going full speed to welcome students settling in on state college campuses in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. 
  • Wesley Foundation leaders share examples of how their ministries make disciples and change the lives of college students. 

ALCOA, Tenn. -- A few weeks into the new school year, the Rev. Beth Tipton, Wesley Foundation director, has already engaged with two college students who want to be baptized.

Meanwhile, Jewel Raines is so committed to her Wesley Foundation at University of Virginia College at Wise, she and another student, Zach Potechek, recently participated in a faith-sharing conference to prepare for the school year.

“We have struggled with new membership, so I wanted to attend the conference in hopes of gaining new skills to bring back to campus,” says Raines, a sophomore from Blackwell Chapel United Methodist Church in Meadowview, Virginia.

In Holston Conference, the five United Methodist ministries that fall under the “Wesley Foundation” title are working hard to reach out to student populations at five state colleges, according to their leaders. It's easy to find examples of how their ministries are making a difference.

“One of our recent alumni, Hannah Underwood, served as an intern for us where she led a Bible study for the first time,” says the Rev. Caleb Frazier, Wesley director at East Tennessee State University. “She discerned a call to ministry and is now attending Wesley Theological Seminary, pursuing pastoral ministry.”

At the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, students find the Wesley Center to be a safe space to spend time between classes, says the Rev. Keith Moore, director.

“We have one student, William, who commutes from Cleveland,” Moore said. “Another student, Julie, is more local. Since she doesn’t have her own vehicle, this is her new place to study and relax between classes.”

Even with these bright spots, Wesley Foundation leaders express concern about the future of their ministries, especially as the denomination downsizes. Wesley Foundations were among ministries receiving funding cuts as the Holston Annual Conference revised its 2024 budget mid-year in response to reduced income related to local church disaffiliations.

"We are actively doing ministry everyday with dwindling resources and support," said Tipton at University of Virginia College at Wise. "As we consider re-districting once again ... a prayer and concern and a challenge is, how do we fund the future?"

Some Wesley Foundation participants also said other denominations have larger student followings on their campuses, which presents a steeper climb for United Methodists to invite new people and build participation.

"Wesley is a smaller, tighter group, which is exactly why I love it so much, but standing beside ministries like BSM [Baptist Student Ministry], it kind of feels like we get overlooked,” said Delilah Jones, a senior at University of Tennessee in Knoxville and member of Mafair United Methodist Church in Kingsport.

Welcome weeks

At this time of year, Holston’s five Wesley Foundations are going full speed to welcome students settling in on college campuses in East Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The goal is to attract newcomers as well as veteran participants.

“I think just being excited about Wesley and doing our best to make other people excited is a great way to make Wesley more attractive,” Jones said. “Once people find their friends within Wesley, it gets a little easier for them to participate – but just getting them involved and get out of their comfort zone is the hard part.”

At a recent “Sundaes on Monday” event, the Wesley Foundation at Radford University hosted nine students, including five first-timers, according to the Rev. Ila Schepisi, co-director with her husband, Cory Schepisi.

The Radford group also offered “pizza on the lawn,” a cookout, game night and a hike. “These gatherings are designed to help students get to know each other and create easy ways to invite people to come get connected,” said Ila Schepisi.

At a Saturday night bowling party, the Wesley Foundation at University of Virginia College at Wise hosted 16 students, “which is great for the first weekend when they usually go home,” said Tipton. The campus ministry also offered an activities fair booth, welcome cookout, doughnut giveaway, and group trip to nearby Trinity United Methodist Church for Sunday morning worship.

At the Wesley Foundation at University of Tennessee in Knoxville, 25 participated in Sunday evening worship, said the Rev. Mary K Briggs, director. Other activities include Olympic game night, a scavenger hunt, cookout, do-your-own flower bouquet, and s’mores night.

At East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, the Wesley Foundation has a solid group of about 40 regular participants, said Frazier. This year’s activities, so far, include an Aug. 27 launch with worship and breakfast for dinner, followed by a bonfire. Wesley students also provided move-in assistance for incoming students, met at Camp Bays Mountain for a weekend leadership retreat, and participated in Sunday worship at Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church.

At University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, the Wesley Center has hosted a “puppies and popsicles” event, women’s and men’s small groups, Bible study, tie dye night, a shrimp boil, open house, and free coffee and snacks, Moore said.

Counting the cost

Named after John Wesley, Wesley Foundations are among the United Methodist collegiate ministries but different than campus ministries at United Methodist-affiliated colleges such as Tennessee Wesleyan University and Emory & Henry University. Ask The UMC.

Holston Conference has a long history of supporting its Wesley Foundations. In recent years, the Holston Conference budget allocated about $17,000 for each of the five Wesley Foundations, said Rick Cherry, treasurer. Holston Conference also pays for directors’ salaries.

Annual budgets for each Wesley Foundation in Holston vary from $45,000 to $110,000, depending on fundraising, district contributions, and endowment support, the directors said. Some of Holston's nine districts are able to provide less support than in past years.

"The district amounts of support are different, because some districts don't have the resources to support the Wesley Foundations at the same level," said Briggs.

In 2024, the five Wesley Foundations also experienced a cut in capital improvements matching grants provided by the Holston Conference budget, from $50,000 total in recent years ($10,000 for each) to $15,000 total. In 2025, the total amount available for capital improvements will decrease from $15,000 to $7,000, Cherry said.

Reducing aid for capital improvements is tough, some directors said, since all five Wesley Foundations have aging buildings in need of upkeep.

“We count our pennies, because we only have a finite amount to work with,” said Ila Schepisi of Radford. “We really feel it even if it only looks like a couple of bucks.”

On top of everything else, the board at Radford’s Wesley Foundation learned earlier this year that the director’s salary for the 2024-2025 school year had been cut to a part-time amount of $20,000 – lower than the $50,000 or more for current full-time Wesley Foundation director salaries in Holston Conference.

With no Wesley Foundation director in place as the fall term approached at Radford University, Ila and Cory Schepisi stepped up to serve as interim co-directors until the end of 2024. The Radford Wesley Foundation’s board is currently seeking financial support as well as a new leader to serve in 2025.

“We knew it would be hard to find anybody in a crunch time for $10,000,” Ila Schepisi said, referring to the $10,000 available for the director’s salary through the end of the year. “It’s too important of a ministry to let it slip away.”

Both Ila and Cory were students in the Radford Wesley Foundation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, they said, and have since served on the board for decades. Through the Wesley Foundation, Ila was encouraged to participate in a gathering called Exploration, where she confirmed her call to ministry. Today, she is an ordained deacon in Holston Conference.

Discipleship, not quantity

While Schepisi said she understands that budget cuts are necessary, she questions “the optics” of reducing support for ministries that reach young people -- in the same year that Holston completed its "New Voices" fundraising campaign for ministries reaching young people. 

At Annual Conference in June, Schepisi raised the same concern when she asked the Annual Conference to consider a motion to eliminate budget decreases to camp and retreat ministries and campus ministries. (After debate, the motion was not approved.) 

The amount raised for New Voices, $205,581, was distributed in equal portions to Holston’s five camps, two colleges, and five Wesley Foundations.

"It wasn't because I thought the budget cuts were unfair. It was all about the optics of perceived poor stewardship," she said. “I felt like the people who were donating to New Voices thought they were giving us a boost, not backfilling our budget cuts." 

At Annual Conference, the Rev. Mary Thompson, executive director of Holston Conference Camp and Retreat Ministries, encouraged church members to give directly to ministries reaching young people, recognizing that additional cuts in support might be forthcoming.

Tipton, Briggs and other Wesley Foundation leaders say they hope that church members will do the same for their student ministries, either with direct financial donations or by contacting the directors to learn about cooking dinners, providing exam goody bags, sponsoring mission trips, or fulfilling Amazon wish lists, as examples.

Tipton shared the story of a student who didn’t know what a Bible was when he first came to the Wesley Foundation in Wise, Virginia, a year ago. This year, he’s one of the two students who want to be baptized.

"We look at the success of our ministry not in quantity of people, but success in fostering relationships that lead to the development of disciples,” Tipton said. “That’s what the Wesley Foundation does.”

Even amid the challenges of a changing ministry landscape, Frazier of ETSU says he’s motivated to keep reaching out to college students. Earlier this year, his Wesley Foundation board campaigned to raise $600,000 for facility improvements.

“The Wesley Foundation is a very unique and special ministry that fosters such important community,” Frazier said. “I thank God for all the labors and investments that Holston has made over the years to make this happen. Every year lives are transformed.”

At UT in Knoxville, Briggs says it’s the students who do the hard work of reaching out to other students, and it’s the students who deserve the support of their local United Methodist churches.

“They are excited about our ministry,” Briggs said. “They share the enthusiasm and do all they can to promote our ministry and to welcome and involve everyone. I feel like it’s my job to resource them.”  

Wesley Foundation websites

Radford University

University of Virginia College at Wise

East Tennessee State University

University of Tennessee, Knoxville

University of Tennessee, Chattanooga

Holston Conference includes United Methodist churches in East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and North Georgia, with main offices in Alcoa, Tennessee. Sign up for a free email subscription to The Call.

Annette Spence serves as Editor of The Call, the newsletter of Holston Annual Conference. This article is republished with permission from the conference website.