Crew, a student ministry group, welcomes all faith questions

The Neighborhood, an open and affirming college ministry, is housed at the Missouri United Methodist Church. The church is located at the edge of downtown Columbia, across from Shakespeare’s Pizza.

They rebranded as the Neighborhood three years ago, along with introducing a student group called Crew. Rebes Bennett, the director of The Neighborhood, is in charge of the group. 

“We talk a lot about the things that students feel like we don’t normally talk about in church, and I know I never really got to talk about in church,” Bennett said.

This year, Crew has started “Ask Me Anything,” discussions that allow students to ask any question they have relating to faith. No question is rejected.

“A lot of churches won’t allow you to ask questions about the Bible and about God,” senior Rachel Sacharin said. “But here, that’s our number one thing. We want you to ask these questions because if you don’t ask, you don’t know.”

Students, such as junior Dany Fischer, submitted questions through a Google Form provided by Bennett at the beginning of the semester. Then Bennett divided the questions into themes each week, such as heaven and hell. Each meeting included a slideshow of research and presented the perspectives of other faiths on the theme. 

“A lot of my questions revolve around things that I want to hear other people talk about, not necessarily questions that I want answered,” Fischer said. “So some of my questions were [about] what I wanted to know what people thought about, like the concept of heaven.”

When The Neighborhood was rebranded, the discussion group came with it. However, Bennett said attendance was low until recently. She said she believes their openness is the cause for larger groups each week.   

“There are definitely a lot of other ministries on Mizzou’s campus and a lot of phenomenal ministries,” Bennett said. “There’s not a good place for students to go that are LGBTQ+ or wanting to just be good allies and explore their faith. In terms of Christian ministries, I think we are the only one affiliated with Mizzou that is open and affirming.”

The Neighborhood and Crew now post their meetings and events on MU Engage. They also promoted themselves at the involvement fair, Speakers Circle and at Pride Fest.

“The Neighborhood really stood out to me because they’re very inclusive,” freshman Emily Bryant said. “[Bennett] laid everything out for me and asked what I was looking for, and it made me feel welcomed.”

Crew meets every Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. for the entire year. “Ask Me Anything” will be the theme until the end of the semester, when students will vote on a new discussion theme. Any student is welcome.

“You just have to be interested in having conversations with other people and asking questions with other people and learning about other people’s perspectives,” Fischer said. 

Edited by Namratha Prasad, nprasad@themaneater.com