The House
(Campus and YA Ministries)
"The House" is the Episcopal Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Mary Washington. The Episcopal and Lutheran churches in downtown Fredericksburg have shared ministry for years, working together to fund and staff a mission to the University of Mary Washington campus since 2011. In 2018, the leadership of the three churches dreamed up the new position of Young Adult Missioner to coordinate campus ministries to the University of Mary Washington and Germanna Community College and a new young adult ministry in town.
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The House is committed to making itself a place where college students and young adults can fully be themselves. They strongly believe that the diversity of humanity -- of race, nationality, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, ability, and age -- are all illustrative of the image of God each one of us is made in. They hold space for believers, skeptics, and unbelievers alike and are a non-judgemental space for the exploration of faith.
Meet the Missioner
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The Rev. Ethan Lowery (he/him) is an Episcopal priest and a native of Richmond who is very grateful to be back in the land of humidity and thunderstorms, if you can believe it. Ethan is a recent graduate of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley California where he completed a Master of Divinity and also a Master of Arts degree in the area of sociology of religion. His ministry interests include youth and summer camp and multi-generational ministries, preaching, and community organizing. Ethan was involved in his own campus ministry program at the College of William & Mary including serving as the student Senior Warden; his interest in young adult ministry is rooted in being a young adult and having experienced himself the Church not always knowing what to do with 20- and 30-somethings. In his free time, you'll find him sitting still, lying down, wasting time, poorly tending his plants, or replaying old Nintendo 64 games. To get in touch with Ethan, Click here.
Campus Ministry
The House includes campus ministries to both the University of Mary Washington and Germanna Community College. Our main goal is to help college students grow into a mature faith that fits them in exactly who they are and where they are in their lives and to equip them as ministers in the world.
Tuesday Evenings at The House, 5-7 pm
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With the rise of the Delta variant this fall, we are assessing the regular and safe intervals and practices to meet and to build community in-person and digitally; we'll follow the guidance and protocols of the CDC, the local universities, and the three congregations. For the time being, college students are meeting Tuesdays from 5-7pm at The House (with masks, without dinner) for discussions and time to hang out and check in. Discussions so far this semester have included "What is Church?" "What is Ministry?" "What is Vocation?" and will include other discussions about Communion, Prayer, Scripture, and more.
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Student Involvement at the Churches
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Our missioner's work is supported and shared among three parishes--Christ Lutheran, Trinity Episcopal, and St. George's Episcopal, all within walking distance of UMW and The House. Another major pillar of this campus ministry is to support college students' in being welcomed and connected and involved in the multi-generational lives of our parishes, in worship, ministry, fellowship, and learning and finding ways for the parishes to be involved in the campus ministry and at The House.
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Ministry on the Campus
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To state it plainly, a campus ministry is a ministry to a college campus (or campuses). Whether or not students join in fellowship and programming with us, we see it as our responsibility to tend to the needs of the campus community as a whole--students, faculty and staff--and we invite our students to imagine with us what that ministry might be. Our ministerial imagination looks something like What if campus ministry helped to address un-addressed or under-addressed mental health on campus? What if campus ministry made space for students and faculty alike to not do schoolwork all the time, or to actually take their weekends off? What was a safe place to go for students who felt along or were having trouble making connections elsewhere?
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To learn more about The House, click here.