Wayne State College has several different ministries on campus, and while they all aim to serve Jesus, they go about it in slightly different ways.
These range from small Bible studies to meals together and just hanging out in good community.
One of the smaller ministries is Cup of Grace, which is associated with Grace Lutheran Church in Wayne. They meet Sunday nights for a short Bible study, and then a home-cooked meal provided by the church members.
“You can come to Bible study and stay for a meal, but you don’t have to come to Bible study to have the meal,” Riley Lubeck, the club’s president, said. “We encourage anybody and everybody who just needs a warm home-cooked meal to come join us.”
Lubeck said one difference between other ministries and Cup of Grace is their building just off campus that is open all week.
“I think something that draws people in is they don’t only use it on Sundays,” she said. “They can use it throughout the week whenever they feel that they need it.”
Another ministry with a Sunday night meal provided by a church community is Christian Student Fellowship. After the meal provided by members of Journey Christian Church, CSF meetings consist of a short message and a chance for those gathered to engage in further conversation. They also host various Bible study opportunities throughout the week.
“This year we’ve just created a really steadfast community, and people love to be together.” Sara Wright, a CSF staff at WSC, said. “Not only do they love to be together, they are willing to be vulnerable together, and I 100% believe that ministry does not happen without vulnerability first.”
Wright said she thinks this genuine enjoyment of being together, even throughout the week, is something that helps set CSF apart.
“I would say that our community culture has created a space, not only for the students who are already a part of CSF, but anybody coming into CSF, that they are known, valued and loved by us, and most importantly, by God,” Wright said. “And that’s what makes them keep coming back.”
In a different fashion, Fellowship of Christian Athletes builds Biblical community by capitalizing on the connections athletes already have with each other.
“FCA is a group of student-athletes that get together, and they want to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ,” John Schwarte, the WSC associate athletic director and FCA advisor, said. “We meet once a week, and we go through a book in the Bible and allow them time to ask questions about what we’re reading.”
Schwarte said FCA is primarily, though not exclusively, for student athletes, and aside from weekly Bible study, they do not hold a lot of extra events.
“We’re a heavy hitter when it comes to learning what the Bible says, and we do a really intense deep dive,” Schwarte said. “We really make them focus on the, ‘well, if this is convicting you, that’s good. That means change needs to happen,’ kind of thing.”
Ratio Christi, which is Latin for “the reason of Christ,” also has a very specific mission as a Christian apologetics ministry.
“We’re not here to compete with other Christian ministries at WSC; instead, we aim to fill the void and provide a space where different worldviews can dialogue respectfully, regardless of the differences,” Peter Mutayoba, the Ratio Christi chapter director at WSC, said. “We really thrive on discussing tough and taboo questions and creating a space for honest dialogue, whether someone identifies as a Christian, an atheist or even if they’re just curious.”
Mutayoba said other ministries do a fantastic job of reaching people’s heart, so Ratio Christi aims to complement that by addressing the heart and the mind.
“Our core identity really lies in equipping students, faculty and staff to think with a biblical worldview,” Mutayoba said. “We have a passion for Jesus and for helping students grasp the reasons behind the Christian faith, historically, philosophically and scientifically.”
Cru is one of those ministries that is aiming for fellowship and the heart.
“I think what makes Cru Cru is that it’s a lot of relational building,” Nathan Flecher, a Cru co-president, said. “Cru’s mission is that everybody on campus would know somebody that knows Jesus, with the idea that we can build up leaders within Cru so that when they all go out to their own churches, they can have leaders in their churches there.”
Cru aims to do this primarily through bi-weekly Thursday night Cru meetings, Connect Groups and Bible studies. A big difference for Cru comes not in specifically what they do, but how they are structured.
“Cru is different than the other ministries because it’s student-led, and if the students want to change something, we can just change something where we see fit.” Flecher said. “We can always be refining and reshaping what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.”
Navs Ignite also aims to build students up in Christ through things like a weekly Navs Night on Wednesdays and Bible studies.
“We want to know Christ, we want to make him known and we want to help others do the same,” Zack Thompson, a Navs Ignite staff, said. “We want to help students actually know, and not just know, but actually learn to love Jesus and to be changed and transformed by him. Then we want to help students participate in their faith and help students learn to grow and be able to talk about their faith with others.”
Thompson said Navs Ignite values one-to-one discipleship, helping people where they’re at in their relationship with God and helping them grow closer to him.
“I hope that students do engage in our ministry and they establish lifelong patterns of following Jesus, both in terms of actually being able to read and to know the Scriptures but also learning how to engage in biblical communities with others,” Thompson said.
Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) also puts a high priority on building faith as a lifelong choice.
“This is a way of life, rather than just a college group or something that you get involved with in college,” Elijah Lundstrom, the FOCUS team lead, said. “We’re obviously Catholic, so we promote the Catholic faith, the sacraments and the apostolic teachings, but what really sets us apart is that way of discipleship.”
Lundstrom said the ultimate goal is to make it unnecessary for FOCUS to be at WSC because people are already living out their faith.
While FOCUS provides opportunities for discipleship one-on-one and in Bible studies, Wildcat Catholic hosts Thursday community nights and Mass throughout the week.
“FOCUS and Wildcat Catholic are technically separate clubs, but FOCUS is very involved with Wildcat Catholic just because it’s ‘Fellowship of Catholic University Students,’” Krista Jorgensen, Wildcat Catholic president, said. “It’s the same target audience.”
Jorgensen said what makes Wildcat Catholic different from other ministries was weekday Mass and offering the sacraments.
“We have the Eucharist and this is what makes it different from every faith,” Jorgensen said. “It’s the source and summit of our faith.”
“Right at the root of this all is community building,” Jorgensen said. “As much as we are here to administer the sacraments, we’re also here to build up your relationship with God.”
Several ministry leaders also said they have been seeing incredible recent growth within the ministries on campus.
“We’ve had a great increase in the two years that I’ve been an officer,” Lubeck said.
“We’ve been seeing higher numbers,” Flecher said. “It’s just a byproduct of how the Lord is moving, and it’s been super cool to witness.”
“It’s evident that we’re seeing Jesus moving in the lives of students, just across the United States period,” Wright said. “I believe that they’re searching to find anything and everything to fill that hole, and a lot of times our students are finding that Jesus is the piece that’s missing.”
While the ministries are different, they still host things together, such as Cru, CSF and Navs Ignite hosting a worship night together near the end of the 2025 fall semester.
“Honestly, with all the different ministries that are happening, I feel like we’re really unified,” Wright said. “Yes, we’re different, but there’s one area of unity, and that is we’re all teaching the gospel. The gospel message is key. If we’re not teaching the gospel, we’re not doing anything.”
