Our Christian witness at Swarthmore College is a ministry of presence and spiritual nurture.
Students need to be encouraged to develop a sense of selfhood in God that is personally meaningful, intellectually credible, and socially responsible.
Partners in Ministry facilitates such growth through regular worship, retreats, small gatherings, and individual counseling. We encourage interfaith dialogue and activity. We are an alternative to and, at the same time, also seek common ground with other religious movements on campus.
We provide a spiritual balance for the pervasive humanism at the College and in the culture at large. We support students from church families and encourage new seekers who are looking for a faith to guide their lives.
The College is working to support students who come from many different cultural perspectives. We applaud this effort and want to help unify the Swarthmore community by encouraging the spiritual values that come through experiencing a loving and merciful God.
We believe that the full development of students means their development intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually.
This was the vision that inspired the founders of Swarthmore College. We share this vision.
The Rev. Joyce Tompkins currently holds the ecumenical chaplaincy supported by Partners in Ministry. She is an Episcopal minister with an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a graduate degree from The General Theological Seminary Her predecessors were a United Methodist, a Baptist, a Lutheran, and a Quaker.
Our campus program, named the Swarthmore Protestant Community, provides:
College life is a demanding experience. Fostering the life of the Spirit is critical when young minds are searching and lives are being molded. The need for this ministry among students has grown to require a full-time presence on campus, and we are committed to maintaining that presence.