Canterbury House MSU

Canterbury MSU Episcopal Mission to Michigan State University

2022 has been a big year for Canterbury MSU! Last fall was filled with energy and excitement as students returned to campus for the first time in nearly two years. That enthusiasm turned to disappointment as the Omicron variant sent us back to our computers and students to their residence halls. We continued to meet on Wednesdays at 7:30 pm and built a strong core of students. We offered Glitter Ashes To Go on campus on Ash Wednesday and participated in Holy Week at All Saints, East Lansing. A ski day and an Easter party kept things fun. And as we have for the past several years, we continued to ask how the Holy Spirit was leading us to engage the MSU community and how we might grow and change.

In the spring, an answer began to form. Canterbury MSU has not had a space of its own for more than 5 years. We’ve met in the back of coffee shops and most recently in a shake shop near campus, with the support of St. Paul’s, Lansing. These worked well but limited our gatherings to a few hours a week. Due to Covid, many commercial spaces were vacant in downtown East Lansing, and rents were down from pre-Covid days. We began to wonder if this was the time that we could find a place of our own. After an intensive search and great deal of back and forth, we landed on a storefront property half a block north of campus on M.A.C., a main thoroughfare. The board of directors eagerly decided that this is where the Holy Spirit is calling us. In a matter of weeks, we raised more than three years’ rent with generous pledges from the board and All Saint’s, East Lansing, and St. Paul’s, Lansing. St Paul’s is the mother church of this side of the diocese and, as they did in 1880s, is ensuring that the Episcopal Church has a presence at MSU.

After a summer spent remodeling, thanks to MANY volunteer hours, we are a visible presence 24/7 proclaiming God’s love to MSU and East Lansing. We are welcoming students to Wednesday night gatherings, for coffee and cinnamon rolls on Thursday mornings, and to Sunday evening worship with All Saints. We view the 2022-2023 academic year and this new space as a laboratory for ministry. We will try out new programs and offerings, collect data, revise, change, and try again. We have a three-year lease and are committed, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to giving all we can to build a 21st century Episcopal student community at 225 M.A.C. Please stop by and visit when you’re in the area!

The Rev. Donna McNeil