It was a long drive on May 11 as 81 students, alumni, faculty and campus ministers drove from all over South Carolina to Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in Harlem, N.Y., for a week of learning and outreach.

Students from Wesley Foundations of Charleston, Claflin, Clemson, Coastal, Francis Marion, Lander, USC and Winthrop universities traveled hundreds of miles to participate in the first Harlem Mission Week. Historically, the week has been known as Sea Islands and has been held in Hollywood, through Rural Mission Inc., and then in New Orleans after the devastation of Katrina. This year, S.C. campus ministries decided to experience the sights and sounds of the city.

One goal of Mission Week is to build community and fellowship between the campus ministries.

"My favorite part of the trip to Harlem was getting to know other students from the different Wesley Foundations across the state," said Angela Renee Johnson, an alumna of Winthrop. "All the young adults came from diverse backgrounds and brought a new outlook on ministry and the different ways we worship."

The group was hosted by the Rev. Luonne Rouse, familiar to many in the S.C. Annual Conference and now a pastor in Harlem. Rouse's church, Metropolitan Community UMC, housed half of the group and was the site of all of the group's meals and worship. Salem UMC housed the other half of the group. UM campus ministers from around the state planned the trip and facilitated some of the small group and devotional time, including the Rev. Jo Anna Fallaw of Francis Marion Wesley, who talked about fasting.

For much of the trip, there were three showers for all the participants, and so the idea of fasting from showers and other things considered basic needs became a reality.

The beginning of the trip was spent hearing from local people about both Harlem's rich history and the complexities of urban ministry. Small groups were able to do service work around the community and in surrounding areas through street clean-up, community gardening, cleaning up a Hispanic church, creating a prayer garden, serving at Metropolitan's Welcome Table and in a food bank, and more.

"I really enjoyed working on the prayer garden in the back of Metropolitan Church," said Ashlee Warren, a junior at Winthrop. "It was a complete mess when we first found it. Some of the members did not even know it was back there. We cleaned it up within a day, pruning shrubs, planting flowers, painting and cleaning the deck and creating a prayer area. Seeing the area change so much by the work of about 20 people was really great."

Two days were spent at the Church Center Building of the United Nations, owned by the Women's Division. The UM Seminar Program through the Women's Division and UM General Board of Global Ministries offers seminars on a wide-range of topics for $12 a day. The topic of the two-day seminar continued the education and work of the beginning of the week with the theme "Race and Urban Poverty."

After seeing poverty firsthand, Warren said, "My favorite part of the trip was neighborhood mapping. My group went to the Upper East Side, an extremely wealthy area. Getting to see the wealth difference between Harlem and that area really put an exclamation point on the trip."

The UM Seminar offered food for thought and times of reflection for participants. For many, the site visits were eye-opening, as small groups learned about initiatives to battle poverty.

"My favorite part ... was traveling to Fort Washington Collegiate Church in Spanish Harlem to hear Edguardo's story ... seeing his first murder at the age of 7, drinking heavily and dealing drugs by the time he was 15, and then leaving it all behind to follow Christ by the time he finished high school," said Megan Augustine, an Americorps/Vista staff member from Winthrop.

"What was most inspiring to me was the fact that he went back to where he came from to promote change and inspire teenagers and young adults to live a better, more meaningful life," she said. "The way he ministers to his youth group really made me re-evaluate how I should be ministering (to) others. He made it clear that you need to communicate to others in their language -- whether that be Spanish, hip-hop, or something entirely different -- and that in their language, they will be able to better understand and follow Jesus Christ."

Junior Whitney Anderson of Clemson was also inspired by Edguardo's story.

"After hearing his story, I now want to do something in Loris -- yes, the big city of Loris -- to help my community and youth," she said. "I can't wait to get started!"

There are dwindling numbers of young people and churches struggle with paying apportionments, but this trip and the ministry of campus ministries, which are partially funded by those apportionments, show each day that there are young people who are active in seeking to be the body of Christ in the world, one campus minister said.

Reprinted with permission from the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.

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