Episcopal News Service has featured the Lutheran-Episcopal chaplaincy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The ministry offers fellowship, spiritual care, and home-cooked meals.
The group sometimes jokes that they should be known as the “Scurvy Prevention Society” instead of the Lutheran-Episcopal Ministry. To reach Massachusetts Institute of Technology college and graduate students who often live on free pizza and Ramen noodles, the ministry offers a homemade meal each Wednesday night cooked by the chaplains – who both happen to be vegetarians.
The students “tell us they’re trying new foods for the first time,” said the Rev. Kari Jo Verhulst, the Lutheran chaplain. “They’re actually getting some vegetables!”
The home-cooked meal is just part of the appeal for the 10 to 15 students of the blended Lutheran-Episcopal Ministry in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“This group made me realize that there were other Christians who thought similar things that I did,” said Lindsay Michelle Sanneman, a second-year graduate student. “It made me feel like I was not alone.”
Sanneman attended the weekly worship service and meal at the beginning of her first year of graduate school. After trying out several other churches and groups, Sanneman knew she had found a place to belong, and she rearranged her schedule to leave Wednesday nights free.
Eighteen months later, she is the president of the ministry.
Read more about the many Lutheran-Episcopal Ministries around the country in this series highlighting highlighting fifteen years of Called to Common Ministry.