Photo by Jermaine Ee on Unsplash.
Students who come to New York City for college come to live and learn in the City That Never Sleeps. It’s a good bet they’re bright, ambitious, and eager to make their mark on the world.
But there’s another type of NYC student: the locals who’ve long been woven into the vibrant, diverse fiber of the city. Many attend one of the 25 City University of New York colleges, the NYC public university system and the nation’s largest urban university.
By some estimates there are 1,000,000 college students living in NYC, which explains why there are several Reformed University Fellow ministries intent on reaching them. RUF Gotham and RUF City Campus are two of the ministries that span several institutions to minister to students and, by extension, their campus — even if their campus is the nation’s largest city.
Wei Ho serves as campus minister for RUF Gotham which aims to reach college students studying in Midtown Manhattan around Central Park. Most students come from Fordham (Lincoln Center) and Hunter College, though there are also students from other Midtown schools, including Marymount and New York Tech.
Because there are around 110 colleges in NYC, being a multi-school RUF located in Midtown opens Gotham to the possibilities of reaching other schools in the CUNY network and the surrounding area (Juilliard, Berkeley, John Jay, Ailey School, School of American Ballet, etc.).
We chose the name “Gotham,” Ho said, because we wanted this to be a RUF for NYC students. “Gotham” is a nickname for NYC that pre-dates the Batman comics by 130 years. The ministry’s full name is “Gotham Student Movement,” because “we desire to see student movements of the gospel spread throughout NYC schools.”
Many RUF Gotham students NYC is home. “They will very likely stay here after college, raise their families here, and, if they are Christians, be involved in local churches.” Ho said.
Traditionally, RUF exists for the college campus, but colleges in Manhattan don’t have dorms and classrooms surrounding leafy quads; in many ways, the campus is the city.
Still, there are dorms and academic buildings, so to foster a sense of community, RUF Gotham offers small groups that meet on campuses. The on-campus meetings reach students where they spend most of their time. The midweek large group meetings — which include RUF hallmarks such as singing together, reading Scripture, and hearing the RUF campus pastor preach – take place off campus and combine students from all the campuses.
Ho says that there is a story that has captivated the heart of many NYC students. For the NYC transplant, “it is a vision for what their life can be in New York and what they believe the city can give them. For some students this is their dream, and college in New York is a steppingstone to [it],” Ho said.
Local students hear a different story. They represent the diversity of New York City’s five boroughs, and many have sacrificed out-of-town opportunities and scholarships to remain in the city. Ho emphasizes that though CUNY is academically esteemed, these students often have family responsibilities and obligations outside school.
Helping Students Love Jesus and the City
Further south in downtown Manhattan, Matt Terrell is ministering to students at RUF City Campus. City Campus has a campus “home” at New York University, but it still draws students from several campuses, with most students coming from NYU, The New School, and Fashion Institute of Technology.
Terrell observes that students who come to New York City “because they want to be the best in the world at something.”
The challenges to ministering to these students are not unique. Secularism, ambition, strains on a student’s time, teaching students to value community – those tensions exist everywhere. But it’s all more intense in NYC, Ho said. Put ambitious students in a city brimming with opportunities, and they fill every moment with activities, making life in community more difficult.
And they might not know another Christian in their fields of study or among their friends. Inevitably, doubt creeps in, forcing students to confront the question, Am I crazy for believing in Jesus?
“We get to walk with students through these difficult years, helping them navigate the challenges of following Jesus in a post-Christian world and equipping them to remain faithful to him for the rest of their lives,” Terrell said.
While secularism is dominant in NYC, the growing immigrant population has reinvigorated the spiritual climate in the city.
And while secularism is dominant in NYC, the growing immigrant population has reinvigorated the spiritual climate in the city. Ho said a change in the spiritual climate of NYC has made now “the best time” to be a Christian in NYC.
“Any time students can gather with other students and feel a little less crazy for following Jesus in a place like this … there’s a real hunger for that,” Terrell said.
For Cassie Ang Yu, attending The New School meant a move from Singapore to the United States. In Singapore she attended a church affiliated with Redeemer City to City, so she was drawn to Redeemer Downtown in Manhattan. It was through Redeemer that she discovered RUF City Campus.
Yu earned degrees from two colleges within The New School: her BFA degree from Parsons School of Design and a BA from the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, mixing with the most progressive ideologies in an already-progressive city. “New School is as progressive as it gets, even by New York standards,” she said.
When she tried to start an RUF small group Bible study at The New School, students didn’t even show up at first. Eventually a few students studying creative arts like film and fashion joined her group. Some students Yu met carried emotional wounds from church or wanted to shed the restrictions of organized religion.
She noticed that NYC students might be deeply secular, but often they are open to meeting new people and having new experiences.
Yu began college at age 21, so she immediately connected not only with a college ministry, but a Redeemer community group for residents. This connection gave her a sense of rootedness in a city of new identities. She appreciates that unlike other college ministries, RUF disciples students into the local church.
Since graduating, Yu has stayed in New York City working in philanthropy and UX (short for “user experience,”), the process used to create products that consumers can understand and enjoy using. Initially her husband’s medical schooling allowed the couple to stay in NYC. She and her husband prioritized staying in NYC, and they have continued attending Redeemer Downtown. “RUF strengthened my commitment to local church and love for the city,” she said.
Whether students stay for school or the rest of their lives, RUF in NYC wants to teach them that people shaped by the gospel seek to love and serve the city with a Christlike love rather than using the city for what it has to offer.