The Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry (BHECM) equips young persons to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ toward becoming spiritual leaders who will transform the church and the world.
The Methodist movement was started on a campus; it was there that John and Charles Wesley formed a campus ministry (the Holy Club) to empower students to develop a relationship with Christ, grow as disciples and combine their Christian service with their vocation in a life-long witness of faith. Though the details have changed due to the needs and demands of each succeeding generation, this process continues to be the primary model through which campus ministries operate in what has now become the United Methodist Church.
In The Book of Discipline, ¶601 reads, “The purpose of the annual conference is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world by equipping its local churches and by providing a connection for ministry beyond the local churches, all for the glory of God.”
The Board of Higher Education and Campus Ministry is the primary organizing entity and connection to the Annual Conference for the conference’s Wesley Foundations, the United Methodist (UM) campus ministries on selected non-UM-related campuses. In the Iowa Conference, there are three: at
- The University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls Threehouse
- Iowa State University in Ames Wesley Center
- First United Methodist Church in Iowa City Wesley Foundation
The BHECM also maintains and oversees the relationship between the Annual Conference and its three historically-related United Methodist colleges in Iowa:
- Cornell College in Mt. Vernon
- Morningside University in Sioux City
- Simpson College in Indianola