Taking the Spiritual Temperature of Andrews University

Pastor Shane Anderson describes doing spiritual ministry at Andrews University as a weekly “sprint.” Anderson, the lead pastor of Pioneer Memorial Church, the largest church on Andrews’ campus, explains that effectively reaching each person requires an exuberant amount of time, requiring help from university chaplains and other student leaders to adequately serve the community. 

“From a ministry perspective, it’s a bit of a double-edged sword,” said Anderson. “On the one hand, you want to be able to impact people directly, and that means time. …If I spend a day with every person on this campus, people will graduate before I get to them. So, on the one hand, you want to be personable. On the other hand, I also realize that sometimes my influence is not going to be felt one-on-one; it’s going to be felt in a larger context.”

Anderson expressed that having fellowships that provide worship experiences catered to various cultural and ethnic perspectives, like New Life Fellowship and Genesis, are also positive contributors to improving campus spirituality. Despite this, rumors and discussions have circulated amongst AU students and employees that Anderson, or other AU or PMC leaders, are interested in either permanently or temporarily shutting down the other churches. 

“Unity” or Division Under PMC?

AU Associate Chaplain Simona Mills-Pitcher, who also serves as the lead pastor of New Life Fellowship, explained that she was once approached with such a proposition by a student leader. “I had a student come in and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to be at PMC. Can we shut down all of the worship spaces, Genesis, One Place and New Life? We’d like all of us to come together and worship at PMC.”

Pitcher said she responded to the student, saying, “I love the idea of collaboration, but I hate your idea of shutting down the worshiping experience.” Pitcher argues that utilizing the spiritual gifts and resources of the different groups would be more beneficial than silencing select worship communities for the sake of a sole service. 

Anderson clarified that he has no interest in shutting down other campus churches for any duration and reaffirmed his appreciation and belief in the necessity of the cultural congregations. Anderson also shared that, nearly immediately after his arrival at PMC and Andrews in 2023, he had been asked by several congregants and community members if he planned to shut down the other churches, which he denied. He admitted that, despite his feelings, it is possible that other PMC leaders or members have the desire to shut down other churches.

Similarly, Michael Nixon, former AU vice president for University Culture and Inclusion, expressed concern about having worship available solely at PMC. “The thought process around that was ‘unity,’ and you know, ‘we need to be unified and come together and let’s start the year worshipping together under the same roof,’” said Nixon. “It’s always interesting language to use when you’re inviting people into your space that’s not being closed and infringed upon. It’s unity under this roof under these terms with this worship style under these circumstances, which is the old tactic that would be used on campus.”

Politics and the Pulpit

Like Anderson, Pitcher believes that students’ “diversity in their experiences with Christ” is a strength when it comes to campus spirituality and ministry opportunities. However, even with all this spiritual support from various church gatherings, ministries and four university chaplains, both Pitcher and Anderson are concerned by the current rate of church attendance by students. In the Faith Engagement Survey distributed to undergraduates in spring semester 2025, 48.4% of respondents stated they attended church services four times a month.

Pitcher shared that she believes that some of the “politics” in the church surrounding decisions on worship and leadership, such as discussions on controversial viewpoints, such as Christian nationalism, being used in church spaces, takes away from the “urgency” needed for ministry today.

Nixon shared similar concerns about how church and national politics have influenced the Andrews spiritual environment. He believes that former PMC Pastor Dwight Nelson, former university president Andrea Luxton, and former provost Christon Arthur started to be viewed negatively by many on campus, mainly conservatives.

Nixon continued, “I think that there were people who were frustrated with Pastor Dwight, particularly after he preached a sermon about white privilege, in the wake of 'It is Time.’” Nixon believes that the campus was later painted by some as “woke” and “apostate,” the type of language he says is “now being used in the broader political sphere” by conservatives to attack progressive beliefs or policies. After Nelson and Luxton’s retirements, Nixon noticed how “some of those same folks trickle back on campus and find sort of a safe haven to act like everything is now okay.” He clarified that he is unsure whether Anderson and the current AU president, John Wesley Taylor V, have contributed to this sentiment. 

Jacob Elanko (senior, marketing) has served as a worship leader, director, and student pastor at One Place Fellowship, Proximity Vespers, PMC, and CFE throughout his time at Andrews, and notes a similar shift in the values of PMC from what he describes as a more balanced tone under Nelson’s leadership to the influx of more conservative Adventist speakers and programs under Anderson.

“I do feel as if PMC has taken a shift towards being more traditional in a sense, and I’m sure there are some beliefs held from people in the congregation that might clash with some faith leaders from AU,” said Elanko. “Things such as Mark Finley, Ted Wilson, and GYC are definitely things that I don’t think were that all too common a few years ago at PMC.” 

A Need for Mentors and Opportunities

Samantha Flores (senior, music education) has served as a music director for Makarios and Genesis during her time as an Andrews student and says that she loves participating in spiritual events. She also expressed great disappointment in the current spiritual temperature of Andrews. “From the time I have been a freshman until now, I have seen that the spirituality on campus has been on a decline,” she shared. “One thing that has been different is that in the past, there were more ways to easily involve students who wanted to be a part of certain fellowships and ministries, but I’ve noticed that these past two years, it’s been the same people needing to take over.” Both Flores and Elanko expressed that a stronger mentorship system is needed to prepare the next generation for spiritual service.

The removal of Change Day, an annual service event that was the university’s largest every year since Arthur helped establish it in 2017, is a major contributor to the loss of service and spiritual opportunities. Although CFE has worked to replace some of those missing opportunities, the cut of Change Day due to reduced budgets campus-wide suggests a decreased ability by Andrews to supply opportunities on such a scale. 

To combat the low levels of spiritual engagement, Anderson stated that he wants to see both PMC and other church groups and ministries provide more projects and service opportunities for students to participate in on and off campus. He spoke about how PMC’s Belong Ministries is a good start to promoting spiritual engagement, and he desires for the other campus churches to help reach students outside of Sabbath services.

“There’s even more that we [PMC] can do. Collegiate Sabbath School really picked up in the last year and a half…these are key parts of discipleship,” said Anderson. “Me preaching on a Sabbath morning is but one part of an overall discipleship ministry. So, what I would crave for any of our fellowships is to ‘go and do likewise.’”

Flores stated that for fellowships to do more, students must be aware of available opportunities and possibly be incentivized by offering co-curricular credit to meet the requirements students must meet each semester. “One thing Genesis is trying to incorporate is working more on the service aspect of our ministry, going to Service Sabbath and participating in helping those in the community,” she said.

Christ, Not Co-Curriculars

Outside of Sabbath services, many students are engaged in Bible studies and other theological small groups. Johnny Schnepp (senior, theology), who leads different student Bible studies, believes that school leaders should encourage more small groups and mission projects. He also believes that requiring church attendance and co-curricular programming is an ineffective practice. 

“I think that fining people for not showing up to a spiritual event is not something Christ would institute,” he said. “I strongly disagree with the idea of co-curricular credit and think the idea should be rethought.” 

Schnepp added, “I think it would be good if they had a day, every single week, where students could go serve the community either with doing service for people, or some types of evangelism. None of these students will leave Andrews as ‘world changers’ if Andrews doesn’t even have weekly activities where students can practice that.”

Spirituality is clearly a priority for many of Andrews’ leaders and students. However, there are clear concerns and disagreements on how culture, politics, and school rules should influence how the school community ministers internally and externally. As the university must contend with the difficulties of bringing a diverse community of thousands to know Christ, Andrews may have to rethink how it does ministry to bring more of what Anderson calls “spiritual relevance” to its students and prevent the campus spiritual temperature from being a “lukewarm” environment that Revelation 3:16 warns against.