Student Involvement
Get involved!
Students are the heart and soul of Brent House and are involved in every aspect of ministry.
Would you like to get involved in Brent House’s community and ministries? We’d love to have you!
The first step is just to show up: at worship, or Afternoon Tea, or an evening speaker event. Our chaplain, Stacy Alan, is happy to sit down with you and explore your interests as well. Students are involved in the ways listed on this page, but don’t feel limited by the list! If there’s something you think God is calling you to do through Brent House, let us know.
Student Involvement
Four ways for students to get involved are Interns, Peer Ministers, Hospitality, and Liturgy/Worship. If you would like to live in the House, check out the Residents page!
Interns
Through its relationship with Chicago seminaries and the University of Chicago Divinity School, Brent House has enjoyed the various gifts that interns can bring. Interns support community life with their presence and interact with students in a way that carries a peer understanding of academic pursuits and the rhythms of spirituality within scholastic life. Interns are a means for Brent House to both provide and receive mentorship and teaching, and to allow the community to participate in the formation of spiritual leaders in the Episcopal Church. The presence of these relationships also allows interns to model and answer questions about vocation, which frequently come up among young adults as they explore the developmental tasks of undergraduate and graduate degrees. Finally, interns serve as support staff, working with the chaplain to reflect on the health and morale of the community, as well as discerning ways to use the intern’s unique gifts for the growth of the community.
Peer Ministers
The Peer Ministers are a group of undergraduates, usually second- and third-years, whose primary purpose is to discern and carry out our ministry. The Peer Ministry Team meets before Sunday Service to discuss weekly programming and to talk about future possibilities. Being a Peer Minister is also a way for many students to explore their own place in the Church and to give them resources to put some of their ideas into practice. Examples of Peer Ministry-driven programming have been Brentsday, Religion on Campus dialogues, and Dinner and Conversation with faculty members. Peer Minsters are also a resource for other students to get their own ideas off the ground. Most of all, the Peer Ministers are the familiar faces that offer hospitality, fellowship, and sometimes pastoral care to all who need it.
If you are interested in becoming a Peer Minister, please speak to the chaplain. New Peer Ministers are usually chosen in mid-Spring for the following academic year.
These are the Peer Ministers for 2010-11:
Hospitality
One of the most central aspects of Brent House is its commitment to providing a comfortable, fun, and safe space. Our most common form of hospitality is the constant presence of food. No seriously–there is always food. Anyone seeking any kind of community or fellowship is welcome though there may be a great deal more Eddie Izzard jokes and random Christian factoids than one is used to. Hospitality takes on many different forms from our regular Sunday service at 5:30 followed by dinner, to watching West Wing and occasionally Star Trek to attempting to do homework at our afternoon tea on Wednesdays. (If you have yet to experience the joy that is Episcopopoly, please come visit.) Once a month our graduate students join the Lutheran graduate students for our “Called to Common Mission Sherry Hours”.
You can help out with this effort! We are always open to new ideas and if you have any suggestions about how we could improve or what you would like to see please do not hesitate to talk to any of us.
Liturgy/Worship
All students are invited to be active participants in our liturgy. Almost every aspect of the service welcomes student involvement, from setting the altar to reading or preaching to serving as a Lay Eucharistic Minister to offering a spontaneous reflection after the sermon. The Chaplain and Intern provide support and guidance in all these endeavors and especially to student preachers. Students also from time to time plan other services, such as a Taize evening prayer service, a Tenebrae service during Holy Week, or a U2charist. Of course, there is also always a place for those who simply want to participate as congregants.
