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by Benjamin Tertin

"Especially at our school, full disclosure is not looked favorably upon."

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Prokope Faces Initial Challenge, Combats Silence

Prokope, a Greek term, means "progress in the face of resistance." Sam Albertson (left) founded Prokope. Now Elizabeth Ernst and Laura Rice lead the women's group while Michael Irvine and Krispin Mayfield lead the men.
--Benjamin Tertin, photo

Prokope, an on-campus ministry for students, has been mistakenly typecast as a support group for sex addicts only.

Since its debut two years ago, the group has expanded slightly, but Prokope's radical approach to Christian community has kept the greater student body at bay.

Prokope founder Sam Albertson, a senior, described the group as a "grassroots movement" that met initial opposition. "Especially at our school, full disclosure is not looked favorably upon," Albertson said. "Prokope targets those who have never disclosed their weaknesses or past experiences with others."

According to the group's mission statement, Prokope is for men and women who have been told that their specific weaknesses are uniquely deplorable. The statement says: "Among the evangelical subculture, this means people who have struggled with addiction (sexual, chemical, relational), homosexuality, clinical depression, or have experiences characterized by abuse, abortion, divorce and so on."

Dr. Brad Harper, professor of theology, has aided Albertson with Prokope's development. He said everyone is broken, but some people become captive to certain kinds of broken behaviors.

"People on this campus who are cutting themselves are medicating," Dr. Harper said. "Bulimics are medicating. People struggling with alcohol and sexuality are medicating, and they're doing it in private because they don't feel they can talk about it."

Prokope began as a men's group, but within one semester, seniors Laura Rice and Elizabeth Ernst formed and now co-coordinate a Prokope women's group that meets separately.

Both women lived in Multnomah's dorm community for three years but said they often felt isolated.

Rice said: "This is a new concept for women; women do Bible studies or encouragement hours, not small accountability groups. We don't really talk about our struggles."

Ernst described the group as a "place to talk about your life and what you're feeling without any condemnation, knowing that the person next to you might struggle with something different, but the deeper issue is the same."

Prokope men's coordinator Michael Irvine said, "People may think that Prokope is exclusive to sexual issues because, in reality, those are very common manifestations of deeper problems, but we're getting beyond the different manifestations."

Krispin Mayfield, Prokope facilitator, said the group has changed his life. He said that, through conversation, group members are able to process "the ways past experiences have contributed to our current behaviors." Mayfield will be Prokope's men's coordinator beginning this fall. Adjunct professor of psychology Byron Kehler has advised and mentored Prokope leaders, along with helping them to schedule guest speakers for meetings and retreats.

Professor Kehler is the founder and executive director of Agape Youth and Family Ministries -- one of the largest Christian counseling agencies on the West Coast.

He said, "One of the challenges within the Christian or 'faith' community has been the acceptance of our full selves, recognizing that redemption is a process."

Professor Kehler said that people today have a "dire need to process their pain and alienation in an accepted environment," and he referred to the recent slayings at Virginia Tech as an example of what might be prevented with more groups like Prokope.

Sophomore Scott Elliott, who joined Prokope last semester, said, "It has helped me face the darkest parts of my sin and past, to take Christ's forgiveness and turn it inward on myself."

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