ORONO – After a three-month interim, the Wilson Center at the University of Maine has a new chaplain.

Timoth Sylvia, 31, however, says he wants students doing much of the work.

Sylvia says he wants to rely on students to lead the Protestant student center’s interdenominational worship services, as well as help him reach out to the campus community.

Previously a junior high and senior high school minister, Sylvia succeeds interim chaplain Ron Walden, who served briefly after the resignation of Joe Whitehead in March.

Sylvia began work on July 28, having moved from Iowa one year ago to attend the Bangor Theological Seminary, and he now lives in Bangor. Most of his work has been through the major Congregational denomination, the United Church of Christ, but Sylvia said he plans ecumenical services.

“The priority is to the students,” he said. “[The center] is pretty much going to build itself with the involvement of students.

“My style is contemporary, with lots of music, a little Scripture and a message,” he said. “The services need to be tailored to a point where participants from different denominations feel comfortable.”

Reaching out to first-year students through campus events and the university’s e-mail network is key to establishing continued use of the center’s programs, he said, and among one of his first priorities as chaplain.

“It’s so important to get folks right off the bat in setting this into their schedule,” Sylvia said. “Technology is a huge part of any youth ministry. The days of sending out fliers and waiting for people to show up are kind of gone.”

Originally from Massachusetts, Sylvia said he also hopes to involve international students and members of the neighboring Catholic Newman Center in worship services.

Updating the Wilson Center building to better serve students and holding coffeehouse-style meetings are among his other plans, he said. Additional programs will develop in response to students’ interests, Sylvia said.

“Because we are an ecumenical ministry, I’m very flexible to the needs of students,” he said.