Introducing Village Campus Ministry
A letter from pastor becca
July 28, 2025
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Dear Friends of Campus Ministry,
On behalf of the leadership of Lutheran Ministries in Higher Education, I want to extend our profound gratitude for your support of our ministry with college students in New York City. We are thankful for your partnership as we invite students into diverse, inclusive communities where they experience God’s unconditional love, explore Christian faith, and discern vocations to serve their neighbors and build a more just world.
I am writing to you today to share some exciting news. After much prayerful discernment, Lutheran Ministries in Higher Education will be relaunching in August 2025 as Village Campus Ministry, an ecumenical, progressive Christian campus ministry in New York City.
This may seem like a big change, but it is in fact the culmination of decade-long journey of growth and transformation for our organization. Starting in 2015, LMHE began collaborating with local Lutheran, United Methodist, and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations to serve more students across the city. By building strong ecumenical partnerships, we have grown from a small Lutheran ministry on one campus to a thriving, multi-site, multi-denominational ministry serving students from across the Christian spectrum. We have discovered that that we have so much more in common than what divides us, and that by working together, we are able to offer a stronger and more inclusive Gospel witness to students in our city than any of us could ever do alone. Thanks be to God!
As our ministry programs and leadership have grown increasingly ecumenical – and increasingly energized – we have discerned that the time has come to find a new way to talk about ourselves as an organization. While we remain deeply committed to our partnership with the ELCA, the name Lutheran Ministries in Higher Education no
longer fully reflects who we are. By taking on a new name, we are not leaving our past behind but instead drawing the circle wider so that all our students and partners can feel fully welcome, represented, and valued in our organization.
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So, why call ourselves Village Campus Ministry? First, we believe deeply that it takes a village to nurture students in faith—and that we’re stronger together than apart. Our ministry is possible because we are doing it together with a diverse group of individuals, congregations, and denominations that share a commitment to the lives and faith of young adults. Our new name honors the spirit of collaboration that defines our work and celebrates our shared witness to Jesus Christ. Moreover, in the midst of an often overwhelming and isolating city, we are committed to helping students find their own diverse, inclusive “village” where they are known and loved by God and community. Our new name reflects the centrality of Christian community in all that we do.
What does this mean practically? Please rest assured that our ministry programs will continue into the 2025-2026 academic year uninterrupted. The only real change will be that these programs – The Vine, LaMP, and PRiSM – will all now be known by our new name. We trust that this shift will help us more clearly communicate our identity and mission to students and supporters alike. We remain committed to deepening our relationships with our judicatory and congregational partners in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Methodist Church, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), while remaining open and welcoming to all students seeking community and spiritual grounding.
We are so happy to be expanding our work and our witness, and we hope you are too. We are confident that in the season to come, we will be even better positioned to positively impact the lives and faith of students across New York, and we cannot wait to get to work.
Again, I cannot thank you enough for being part of our village of support for students. Without your generosity, care, and faithfulness, none of our transformative campus ministry work would be possible.
If you have any questions or thoughts to share, please don’t hesitate to be in touch. You can reach me directly at becca@villagecampusministry.org.
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Yours in Christ,
The Rev. Becca Seely
Executive Director