My search for faith: the Soujourn Collegiate Ministry

This is the second installment of a semester-long series that documents my exploration of faith on the University of Rhode Island campus. The goal is to sit down with every religious community on campus and learn about their religion and community.

College is a time to be critical. Question everything – yourself, your parents, your community, your country, the world, your faith. Everything.  

That’s why I’m writing this series. Like race, sex and emotions, we’re also afraid to talk about religion. It’s time to open up and have a discussion.

Last week I sat down with the Muslim Center to get a better understanding of Islam and the Muslim community on the University of Rhode Island campus. This week I spoke with a different kind of religious community.

It’s called the Sojourn Collegiate Ministry. It’s a Christian organization on campus, but it’s much more than that. The people of Sojourn meet every week and have discussions about religion and where it fits in their lives. Many of them aren’t Christian. They’re just students with questions about faith. As Tyler Nobis said, who is considered the organization’s Chaplain, people are afraid to go to the church for spiritual questions. This fear forces people to shun out questions they have about God.

But at the Sojourn meetings, there is no fear. It’s just a handful of students who explore human issues. They are still very much a Christian group, but if there’s disagreement, Nobis said, they listen and explore the topic. For someone like myself, who doesn’t believe in any specific faith, this seems to be the place to have discussions.

This is how it works. The organization has two groups – “small groups” and “dialogue groups.” The “small groups,” which meet on Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. in the Memorial Union near the fireplace, are more Christian oriented. It’s for anyone wanting to ask questions and explore following Jesus. The “dialogue groups,” which meet on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the apartments above the Emporium, are for people of any background that want to discuss meaningful topics that pertain to everyday life. Nobis said it’s often philosophical discussions and there is no right or wrong answers. It’s a group where students can ask questions in a non-threatening environment.

“We mostly have people that do not practice any religion,” Nobis said. “We have a lot of agnostics – people who grew up in the church and have questions or people that didn’t grow up in the church and have questions.”

This group started four years ago with Nobis and a group of students who had the idea that they wanted to start an open community forum. Nobis, who already graduated college at this time, wanted this opportunity for students who are afraid to ask questions at a church. The organization’s goal isn’t to convert students, but just discuss.

“It’s healthy to question,” Nobis said. “I think Christians get a bad name for trying to convert. That’s not what we’re doing.”

The Sojourn community does more than just talk. The three pillars they aim to achieve are justice, community and faith. Every year, they go on a charity-based spring break trip. Last year they went to an Indian reserve in Oregon. This year, they are going to Tennessee to explore rural poverty. They also hold charity events like an annual winter plunge (this year’s is on April 2 at Iggy’s Boardwalk in Warwick, R.I.).

“College is a time to question everything and we started a group that’s honest and open.”

If you want more information about the group,  contact Tyler Nobis at [email protected] or visit web.uri.edu/chaplains/sojourn-collegiate-ministry.