Building Community at MiraCosta

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 16:01:14 +0000

December 3, 2013

Gordon Govier

Building Community at MiraCosta

The ��Ƶ Bible study that Daniel Lui attended as a freshman at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) became a life changing experience for him when his Bible study leader told him the object of the study was not perfect attendance. Instead, he suggested that Daniel skip the next meeting.

“He challenged me to hang out with my non-Christian friends,” Daniel said. The Bible study leader had noticed that Daniel was not spending much time with his suitemates in the dorm and suggested that getting to know them was the first step in introducing them to Jesus Christ. “That was really a defining moment for me in what it looks like to be a missional person.”

Daniel had grown up in the church and from an early age wanted to be a missionary. Suddenly, as a UCSD freshman, that vision for the future became flesh and blood reality. Instead of waiting to go to a faraway country, he discovered he could share his faith at any time, in any place.

Daniel is not sure that any of his suitemates ever responded to his invitations to follow Jesus after they became friends. But as he began to allow God’s mission to shape his life and his contacts, it did have an impact on others. Later, when he was working in a school cafeteria, he saw his boss come to faith.

Confirming His Calling

After graduation he applied to become an ��Ƶ staff worker at UCSD but was asked to consider MiraCosta College instead. Even though friends who he had asked to pray for his placement told him MiraCosta was the right choice for him, he was conflicted. When Daniel arrived at ��Ƶ’s Orientation of New Staff, the day after graduation, he felt like the reluctant prophet Jonah.

One of the ONS leaders sensed his reticence and asked to pray with him. As they prayed, the leader mentioned a vision of a cactus, with thorns exploding into flowers. Daniel was amazed—the vision matched a vivid dream he had had two months earlier.

Thriving Campus Ministry

Now, seven years after his calling was confirmed, Daniel is grateful to have been placed on the community college campus. “We’ve seen God do a lot of really good work in a setting where we traditionally don’t expect ��Ƶ chapters to thrive,” he said. “I look back now, and I don’t know if I could be anywhere else but the community college. I love it so much. God has grown my heart for 2-year campuses.”

Each week there are five different Bible studies led by MiraCosta students, in the cafeteria or outside in the fresh air. Daniel has worked with the Bible study leaders to help them more sharply focus the studies and also include time for building relationships. “We try to create a highly invitational culture,” he said.

As many as 75 students have been involved with ��Ƶ at MiraCosta, although they’re never all together at the same time. On Wednesday evenings a couple dozen of them pile into cars and attend the weekly Large Group meeting at nearby California State University San Marcos. Some of them may eventually end up working for a 4-year degree at San Marcos and will already be connected to the San Marcos chapter.

Renewing the Campus Community

Daniel finds it ironic that 2-year campuses are called community colleges, because it’s so hard to build community in the midst of commuting students, many of whom are so busy they don’t spend any more time on campus than they have to. “One of the challenges is to give people a reason to stay, and a sense of calling, to realize that maybe God called them to community college for a reason and for a mission,” he said.

��Ƶ is the largest student organization at MiraCosta. Daniel believes ��Ƶ’s presence not only renews the campus but also renews the community in which the campus is embedded. “We’re doing things the university cannot do and is not equipped to do,” he said. “We’re not just giving them education, we’re empowering students with the spiritual authority to get over the things that they’re stuck in. Just because they’re attending a community college, that doesn’t disqualify them from being great leaders in their families and in their future workplaces.”

As an ��Ƶ Campus Staff Member working at a 2-year community college, Daniel has learned that no ground is too hard for God to produce fruit. He hopes to see campus ministry on more 2-year campuses. “We have to stop looking at our fields as difficult places and start seeing them as places where God can get really creative, do unique things, and bring fruit where we don’t expect it,” he said.

Students are coming to faith MiraCosta through ��Ƶ, and Daniel believes this is just the beginning of what God wants to do on campus.

News Keywords

University of California San Diego

Miracosta College

Advancing the Gospel and An Advanced Degree

webteam@intervarsity.org — Wed, 16 Apr 2003 05:00:00 +0000

News

April 16, 2003

Kristine Whitnable

Advancing the Gospel and An Advanced Degree

��Ƶ’s Grad-Faculty Ministry has 120 staff members (paid and volunteer) serving over 116 schools, and ministering to approximately 4,100 graduate students and faculty members. The ministry, as with that of the undergraduates, is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on campus. However, the approach is different because the audience is different socially, ethnically, and intellectually. Graduate students may not have as much time to attend meetings; they are more likely to be married and be involved in a local church. Graduate students come from a more diverse background; more are international students. Graduate students are solidifying their worldview. In this process, questions of faith are often seen in terms of intellectual struggles.

��Ƶ Grad groups have a variety of activities. Most have some meetings for sharing and prayer, which often include a potluck supper. It is easier for graduate students to contribute to a potluck because they have access to kitchen facilities. The food is interesting as many of the students make international dishes. Bible studies are another staple activity. But, as mentioned, graduate students often have intellectual questions. So, graduate students also organize book discussions or theological debates.

Other activities include using the talents of the group in service to others. Magda Chechlacz, a graduate student at UCSD (University of California-San Diego) shared one such experience: “Although Christian undergraduate and graduate students co-exist on UCSD campus, they seem to belong to two quite distinct populations…. A few months ago our (��Ƶ Graduate Fellowship) outreach team realized that one of the ways we could impact UCSD was to serve the next generation of graduate students that may emerge from the UCSD undergraduates. ” In early March, more than a dozen graduate and medical students hosted 20 undergraduates. A panel discussion covered such issues as how to recognize the call to graduate or medical school, what does it mean to be a Christian in grad school, and how best to share Christ with fellow students and faculty. The panel also shared some practical advice, such as what it takes to get into graduate school and how to pay for further education. The evening concluded with a time of sharing and prayer.

Graduate students are not the same as undergraduates, so ��Ƶ ministers to graduate students and faculty answering their specific needs. April Brown, a graduate student at University of New Mexico, expresses her appreciation for this distinction, “That’s why I am so thankful for ��Ƶ’s graduate student ministry. It offers a place for Christian students and faculty to receive spiritual encouragement and nurture, while at the same time providing a comfortable setting for spiritual seekers to explore the faith.”

��Ƶ advances the Gospel of the colleges and universities. The graduate students and faculty members are a part of this ministry. They are ministered to and they in turn minister to others.

News Keywords

University of California San Diego

University of New Mexico