Over the past school year, the Office of Ministry and Evangelism (OME) has formed two new student-led ministry teams: Disability Outreach Team (DOT) and Caring for the Stranger. Both groups emphasize connecting Wheaton students to the needs of the surrounding community and individuals.
As the school year comes to a close, these two ministry teams will continue to expand on students’ opportunities and desire to serve alongside others in the surrounding communities.
Callum Hotmire, a senior anthropology major, is the Caring for the Stranger ministry director, dedicated to assisting immigrants in Chicagoland, specifically refugees. He hopes to raise awareness about refugee issues and provide opportunities for students to engage and build relationships with refugee families and individuals.
“There is this desire on campus to help the refugee, and this could be the thing that drives people to help,” said Hotmire.
This past semester, Hotmire worked as an intern for World Relief, a humanitarian organization that helps refugees and other immigrants alongside the global Church. As part of a volunteer mobilization team, Hotmire picked up the mantle for the vision of a refugee-focused ministry team that has been circulating the OME for about five years.
Hotmire developed a flexible charter that would enable upcoming cabinet members to adapt the ministry team for future needs and changes. Hotmire hopes to bring awareness through future events, like info nights, provide a volunteer-based structure for members in collaboration with College Church’s ESL program and partner with athletic teams to host sports clinics for refugee children.
Erik Ostrem ’22, a volunteer coordinator for World Relief, along with Lori Atkins, the volunteer manager for World Relief, has been collaborating with Hotmire and OME to create the group’s mission.
Ostrem emphasized that this ministry team could make a difference by building relationships with refugees.
“Loneliness is one of the biggest challenges that a lot of refugee and other immigrant families face,” said Ostrem. “It would be really great to have Wheaton students who are intentionally going out into the community to get to know these people and intentionally make the effort to see them.”
Additionally, the OME helped jump-start the Disability Outreach Team (DOT), a ministry devoted to breaking the stigma surrounding disability through relationships and experiences. Junior Linnea Diersen, a secondary English education major, leads DOT. Diersen’s older brother, Joshua, has autism, which motivates her to advocate for awareness of disabilities.
Since her freshman year, Diersen has been an active participant in the disability leadership group called Oikos, led by Thomas Boehm, director of the Center for Faith and Disability, and Ryan Gallagher, assistant director of the Center for Faith and Disability, a center that engages in disability contexts through a biblical lens. Diersen has also volunteered consistently at College Church’s disability ministry called STARS, particularly the Friday Night Fun program.
“I was profoundly impacted by that experience,” Diersen said. “By meeting all these different adults with disabilities, I often feel like these individuals are overlooked, and the fact that they’re so close to campus. This is such a profoundly impactful experience to do ministry.”
Over the past year, as she has continued establishing the group, Diersen attempted to bridge the gap between the College Church STARS ministry and students by bringing over forty STARS individuals to campus to interact with students on April 2. The next day, the group invited STARS members to an interactive worship session in Armerding. Diersen has also recruited students to volunteer at Friday Night Fun each month. Working alongside the Center for Faith and Disability and Oikos, DOT also executed a string of events during Disability Awareness Week this past April, including displaying informational booths and service animals.
Diersen’s plans include scheduling chapel speakers, testimony sessions with students, worship nights with STARs individuals and more.
Boehm, who founded the Center for Faith and Disability in 2019, highlighted how this ministry is transformative for students through its hands-on nature that underscores the academic culture of Wheaton. “This student-related move is the appropriate inward-facing opportunity to demonstrate the things that I’m trying to see be transformed in schools and churches across the country because you can’t lead where you haven’t been,” Boehm said. “And we need to make our demonstration louder than our declaration.”
