A Brief History of University Christian Ministries
Ouside University Christian Ministries before Lunch Bunch.
By Erik S. Hanley
UCM is an interdenominational Christian group which began in 1954 as a campus ministry to the Downer's teacher’s college before UWM was created. Established as an outreach of the Wesley Foundation, UCM was originally called the Wesley House for United Methodist Church campus ministry.
This name and ministry continued for several years until the formation of the National organization for the United Ministry of Higher Education in the 1960s. This was an organization in which 20 denominations pooled resources to do campus ministry together. These resources were then allocated to each state.
This new ministry experienced various levels of success until 1998 when the United Methodist church pulled out without any warning and began their own campus ministry. Then, in 1999 United Presbyterian and the United Church of Christ stopped their support as well -- they were the three big supporters for UMHC, which then collapsed.
United Methodists later discovered they couldn’t afford to run a campus ministry themselves and connected with the Presbyterian Church, United Church of Christ, American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin, and the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee in another joint effort that became University Christian Ministries.
UCM is an interdenominational Christian group which began in 1954 as a campus ministry to the Downer's teacher’s college before UWM was created. Established as an outreach of the Wesley Foundation, UCM was originally called the Wesley House for United Methodist Church campus ministry.
This name and ministry continued for several years until the formation of the National organization for the United Ministry of Higher Education in the 1960s. This was an organization in which 20 denominations pooled resources to do campus ministry together. These resources were then allocated to each state.
This new ministry experienced various levels of success until 1998 when the United Methodist church pulled out without any warning and began their own campus ministry. Then, in 1999 United Presbyterian and the United Church of Christ stopped their support as well -- they were the three big supporters for UMHC, which then collapsed.
United Methodists later discovered they couldn’t afford to run a campus ministry themselves and connected with the Presbyterian Church, United Church of Christ, American Baptist Churches of Wisconsin, and the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee in another joint effort that became University Christian Ministries.