What is Episcopal Campus Ministry in Columbia?

It is a community of college students in Columbia, MO, who worship, pray, live, laugh, eat, celebrate, discuss, and seek to live out the baptismal covenant. We meet twice a week on a regular basis; Sunday nights at 5pm from worship and dinner, and Wednesday nights at 7pm for the Weekly Logos, which is simply a unique bible study. Our worship together is in the big church and our dinners and bible studies and other get togethers are usually all in the undercroft, which is basically the basement. The entrance to the undercroft is on the west side of Calvary off of Locust Street.

What does ECMBIA stand for?

The ECM stands for Episcopal Campus Ministry. The BIA associates ECM with Columbia in that the last three letters in ColumBIA are BIA. This same technique is used by the local NPR station KBIA. Therefore, ECMBIA is Episcopal Campus Ministry in Columbia!

So ECM in Columbia is the following:

Friendship

Not just friends to hang out with, though you'll find that, too, but friends who will challenge you as you challenge them, celebrate your life as you celebrate theirs and who will be companions with you as together we search for purpose and meaning in our lives. ECM is about building soul friendships-friendships that change who we are. Friendships rooted in Christ that last not just four years but a lifetime!

Direction

One thing we all have in common is we are trying to figure out what to do with our lives. What are our gifts? Where is God calling us? We search for those answers together as a community of honest conversation and prayer where you can be yourself-sure and celebrating one minute, unsure and scared the next-and it's OK 'cause we've all been there. Community

We experience God when we dedicate ourselves to each other. Our faith isn't just something personal, it's a community worshiping, playing, praying, serving, laughing, studying, crying and living together. It's not a clique or closed group but one that views each new person as a gift waiting to be unwrapped. That means you. That means everyone. Home

The undercroft at Calvary is a place where you can hang out, study, watch TV, or meet with a small group. The whole area has wireless internet, so you can use the ECM computer or bring your own. It is a place that you can make your home away from home! Service

Our faith is not signing off on a strict list of beliefs but about a way of life focused on loving others. For ECM, service is building relationships with those from very different circumstances from ours, women breaking free from the prison of prostitution, and people living with AIDS, seeing Christ in them, learning that we are not as different as we might think, and realizing that as we serve, so we are served. Celebration

ECM is not a community of tolerance, but of celebration. That means we don't just "tolerate" people of all colors, genders, sexual orientations, nations beliefs, shapes and sizes, We celebrate the many diverse gifts God gives us in each other. We're not perfect. We struggle with diversity, but when we do, we struggled honestly and openly and celebrate everyone's presence in the community. Worship

Sunday evenings we gather with members of Calvary to celebrate the Eucharist and to have dinner: 5.00 pm Calvary Episcopal Church (123 S Ninth st., Columbia, Mo, 65202, click here for map)