Discipleship, Evangelism, Leadership, Missions

Campus Ministry Spotlight: University of Alaska Anchorage

Our campus ministry spotlight for this quarter is the Mosaic Campus Ministry at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). Founded in 1954, UAA administers four community campuses spread across Southcentral Alaska—Kenai Peninsula College, Kodiak College, Matanuska–Susitna College, and Prince William Sound College. Between the community campuses and the main Anchorage campus, more than 20,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students are currently enrolled at UAA. This makes UAA the largest institution of higher learning in the University of Alaska System, as well as the state.

UAA is divided into six teaching units at the Anchorage campus: the College of Arts and Sciences, College of Business and Public Policy, the Community and Technical College, College of Education, College of Engineering, and the College of Health. The racial/ethnic breakdown of the student population is 58% White, 10% two or more races, 7% American Indian/Alaska Native, 7% Asian, 7% Hispanic/Latino, 4% Black or African American, 5% ethnicity unknown, and 2% non-resident alien. The average age of full-time students is 24. The gender breakdown of the student population is 58% women and 42% men. 91% of matriculants to the university are considered Alaska residents, and 9% of matriculants are considered out-of-state residents.

CAMPUS MINISTRY & MISSION
The Mosaic Campus Ministry is led by Director, Scott Belmore, associate Logan Skoog, three young adult leaders, and four student leaders. Mosaic Campus Ministry is about helping students achieve excellence in all parts of their lives and enabling them to be a more vital part in the their churches, on their campus and in their community. “Our primary objective is to help students know Christ. We want to LEAD college students and others in the academic community to faith in Jesus Christ, CONNECT them to like-minded believers and to the local church, DEVELOP them as disciples and leaders, and TEACH them how to live a MISSIONAL lifestyle,” says Belmore.

Averaging a total of 35 students throughout the year, Mosaic Campus Ministry focuses on weekly activities, such as one-on-one leadership development and discipleship, outreach and evangelism every Monday, small group Bible study tribes, a Tuesday evening large group gathering, intentional coffee conversation meetings between a Mosaic staff or member and new individuals to the group, with the purpose of sharing the gospel. Mosaic Campus Ministry also provides a free breakfast of fruit and water each Friday to serve and meet the needs of the UAA students. The ministry also provides an International/Native/Dorm Ministry, in which they provide rides to Walmart to assist students from other countries and Alaska villages to get supplies needed to live on campus. This allows them to build relationships that lead to gospel conversations.

Mosaic Campus Ministry also facilitates several other events and activities throughout the semester, including a presence during orientation and move-in, a trip to Collegiate Week, hang time with the Belmore family, a fall retreat, a trip to Passion Conference, and various state and local missions opportunities when possible.

CHALLENGES AHEAD FOR TODAY’S COLLEGE STUDENTS
The Mosaic Campus Ministry staff understands that students face a variety of challenges today. From commitment to relationships (building community) to time management and debt, students need as much guidance as possible—especially spiritual guidance—to help them overcome issues such as spreading themselves too thin, maintaining good health, and avoiding social issues and depression.

THE LEADERSHIP REWARD
As a leader who’s passionate about investing into the lives of college students, Belmore says, “The real leadership reward is when you see students ‘get it.’ There’s nothing more rewarding than when students understand what it truly means to follow Christ and to live out a missional lifestyle every day.”

OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES
On the topic of outreach, Belmore says, “When we were developing and starting Mosaic at the University of Alaska, a team of college ladies from the Baylor School of Nursing were key in the beginning stages. They helped us prayer walk the campus and do outreach on the campus. Having this prayer coverage was huge. We had a team of high schoolers and college students from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Cartersville, GA, who helped us prayer walk the campus and distribute publicity flyers throughout the campus.” Mosaic’s associate director has helped tremendously with women’s ministry and outreach. She and the ministry’s worship leader have been integral to outreach and evangelism.

“We were also very excited to have a mission team serve with us here at the University of Alaska. The team was from First Baptist Church, Lafayette. Andrea McKenzie brought a team of students to help us with outreach, evangelism, nightly events, and Secret Church. The theme of the week was ‘A Taste of Louisiana,’ and it was a truly amazing time,” adds Belmore. In addition, a team from Tennessee came to serve the campus and community. Belmore affirms that prayer walking and meeting the needs of the campus and community is very important to reaching students at the University of Alaska.

WAYS TO PRAY FOR MOSAIC CAMPUS MINISTRY
When it comes to specific prayer needs for Mosaic Campus Ministry, Belmore offers this list of requests:

Pray for Summer Bible study. We are going through 1 & 2 Corinthians.
Pray for students who are serving on mission this summer.
Pray for mission teams who are serving with us to share the love of Jesus in Anchorage this summer.
Pray for student leaders.
We are looking for individuals who would be willing to help students get to Collegiate Week. We are in need of air miles or financial donations.
Continue to pray for key relationships on campus to be developed.
Pray for our students to reach out to their classmates, peers, and professors.
Pray that God will provide financial partners for Mosaic.

To learn more about the Mosaic Campus Ministry, its staff, and programs, visit the website!