Reformed University Fellowship has been ministering to students at Brown University since 2001. The ministry team is preparing to celebrate their 25th anniversary as a campus ministry next year.
No one would have guessed that this Ivy League school would be the location for a mass shooting.
On Saturday, December 13, a shooter entered a classroom where students gathered to prepare for a final exam. The gunman left two dead and nine injured.
Travis Hutchison serves as the campus minister for Reformed University Fellowship at Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design. When the shooting happened on Saturday, Hutchinson was 50 miles away, preparing for a dinner meeting in Boston. Then the notifications and calls on his phone started multiplying. He never sat down for dinner.
Hutchinson headed directly back to campus, and within three hours, he and Lorena Silva, RUF’s intern at Brown, had located all 150 students connected to their ministry. None of the students were among the casualties, though one student was in the room when the gunman opened fire. At least one of the victims was an active part of another evangelical ministry on campus.
The suspect remains at large, and authorities have asked the public for assistance identifying him.
“Fear, anxiety, and uncertainty are lingering over campus,” according to Hutchinson. “Students are simultaneously dealing with sorrow and trauma. People feel unsafe. Students aren’t comfortable leaving their rooms.”
Hutchinson said the experience made him thankful for the deep connection RUF has with the local church and praised the responsiveness of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Providence. David Sherwood, the senior minister at Trinity, set aside his prepared sermon for Sunday to preach on the tears of Jesus.
The members of Trinity have opened their homes to students who would prefer to stay off campus, provided meals, and even offered their homes as a place to do laundry. Former RUF students at Brown have sent money to help students whose travel plans changed because of the shooting and now face financial challenges in getting home for the winter break.
“Brown is a tight-knit community,” says Hutchinson. “The people at Trinity and our alumni have been extremely supportive. We are hosting a Zoom prayer meeting this week for RUF alumni to pray for Brown.”
Hutchinson is in his fourth year as campus minister. He’s thankful for the training he received through seminary and RUF to navigate this tragic situation. He also praises the role Lorena Silva has played as an intern amidst the chaos of the weekend.
“Keep praying for us,” Hutchinson said. “And pray for God to use this to draw students to himself. We are people who want to be able to lament all the effects of sin while yet showing the world we have a true and certain hope in the face of tragedy.”