��Ƶ alumni - Tiffany Wright

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:09:03 +0000

May 15, 2012

Sarah Kirk

��Ƶ alumni - Tiffany Wright

Each year thousands of ��Ƶ students around the nation participate in ��Ƶ Urban Projects. Urban Projects help students apply what they have learned through Bible study in a way that is difficult to match. And while their experiences during the summer are typically powerful, the real testimony often comes years later after their graduation ceremony.

I recently chatted with Tiffany Wright, who participated in the Chicago Urban Project in 2005, about her experience and how the summer she spent in Chicago continues to impact her life today.

How did you get involved with the Chicago Urban Project?

As a student, I had many friends involved with ��Ƶ and heard about their experience with different urban projects. Because I was already interested in teaching in an underprivileged community, the Chicago Urban Project (CUP) seemed to be the perfect fit.

What’s your most vivid memory from the Project?
My most vivid memory was a silent retreat that we did one day. I had never done one, and I loved going away, not speaking at all, and spending time with God. If I ever get the time, I definitely want to go on one again.

How did your experience shape who you are and what you are doing today?
My experience with CUP broadened the scope I had of ways that I could make a difference in a community, and it showed me that my gift was connecting with the young women in these communities through mentorship and spiritual adoption.

Say more about what it means for you to mentor and spiritually adopt individuals that God has placed in your life.
After college I lived in Cleveland for a time, and I worked at an afterschool program called City Mission. There I worked with 7th and 8th grade girls, helping them with homework, teaching them how to be successful young women, and most importantly teaching them about Jesus. This is where I met my goddaughters. They were actually two of my more challenging students, but God gave me ways to connect to them. Now they spend some of their summer, their spring break, and any other time they have free with us. We basically fill in any gaps they might have in parenting, which is different for both of them.

What advice would you give to other Urban Project alumni?
Just keep your eyes, hearts, and minds open to the ways in which God wants to specifically use you, and don't base your calling on someone else's call. Communities need all different kinds of ministry to really turn them around. God will show you where you are needed.

What’s next for you?

My husband and I recently moved back to Chicago so he could pursue an MBA, and I’m currently taking caring of our one-year-old daughter full time, while continuing to be a godmother/sister to the three women God has brought into my life.

Photos - Top: Tiffany, center, and goddaughters; Bottom: Chicago Urban Project Team 2005

To read more alumni stories, go to http://www.intervarsity.org/get-involved/alumni/alumni-stories.

News Keywords

Chicago Urban Project

��Ƶ alumni

Taking a Risk to Love

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:41:46 +0000

News

January 20, 2012

Abi Christian

Taking a Risk to Love

Living in a tiny apartment with no air conditioning, a week’s worth of clothes, and $20 for groceries isn’t how most students choose to spend their summers. Add to that a houseful of strangers in a tough Chicago neighborhood, and most people would pack their bags and head back to school in a second.

For Amy Wells, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, spending her summer this way with ��Ƶ’s Chicago Urban Project (CUP) and learning about God’s heart for justice and racial reconciliation deepened her faith and changed the way she viewed her campus. She even added sociology as her second major, so she could continue to help people work through issues of race, gender, and inequality.

From Country to City

Amy first experienced CUP during her spring break as a freshman with eight other students from Eau Claire. Going from a small and mostly white community to an ethnically diverse one in the city was eye-opening. “I’d never been a minority in my entire life,” said Amy. “People would stare at us or pretend we weren’t there.”

Throughout the week, Amy studied the Bible with the undergraduate and Asian American ��Ƶ chapters from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The students talked with locals about racial and economic injustices the community faced, and Amy heard similar frustrations expressed in the Asian American students’ stories of growing up.

“I left feeling I had been really sheltered in my life,” said Amy. “I really struggled with being white and how I can use my privileges in a positive way instead of oppressing other people with it.”

The Hard Work of Reconciliation

Before her junior year, Amy returned to CUP for their summer program. She joined other students as they studied the book of Amos, served in the community, and lived simply, with no electronics, limited phone usage, and few clothes.

“We didn’t have material things to give us comfort,” said Amy. Without internet or familiar friends, Amy found that she and her housemates talked more about the hard lessons they were learning together.

“Even though we are Christians, reconciliation didn’t just happen,” said Amy. “There was a lot more racial tension than I expected.” From shopping for spices on a mutual budget to sharing personal reactions to the injustices they saw in their neighborhood, the group realized how much their cultural and ethnic backgrounds shaped their perspective.

“It was hard working on these things there. But in the real world, it’s even harder because it’s not everyone’s goal to work at reconciliation,” said Amy. “There’s a lot of brokenness, and there’s no easy solution.”

Yet as hard as it was, Amy’s experience strengthened her conviction to seek out relationships with people different from her. “We need to surround ourselves with different people to have a bigger picture of God’s kingdom,” said Amy. “We should celebrate our diversity instead of being color blind. Everyone has a piece to bring to God’s table.”

Loving the Community You’re In

Returning to her campus, Amy wanted to continue pursuing cross-cultural relationships. When one of the students in Amy’s dorm Bible study, an Asian American woman, told Amy she wanted to start a Bible study to reach Asian American students who might not be comfortable joining the mostly white ��Ƶ chapter, Amy was excited.

“After all I had learned about multiethnicity and cross-cultural ministry, I wanted to help and be supportive in whatever way I could,” said Amy. But she also wanted the group to be led by Asian Americans. When her friend asked for help and invited her to attend, Amy began going to the study as a participant.

The small group grew quickly; 15 students now attend. As Amy builds new friendships within the group, she realizes she has a unique role: to be a bridge for this small group to connect with the larger chapter and to help the chapter understand how to welcome more Asian American students. “It’s a process and takes a lot of time,” said Amy. But through Amy’s and her friend’s intentionality, more Asian Americans have been attending the chapter’s events than ever before.

Through her ��Ƶ experience, Amy has learned that each community—whether inner city Chicago or northern Wisconsin—has its own struggles, but God calls us to love others unconditionally, no matter where we are. “There’s brokenness all around us – in our homes and on campus,” said Amy. “We don’t have to wait to go anywhere to serve. Just be willing to take risks to love other people.”

News Keywords

University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire

Chicago Urban Project

Chicago Urban Project

������Ƶ alumni - Tiffany Wright

������Ƶ alumni - Tiffany Wright

Taking a Risk to Love

Taking a Risk to Love

From Country to City

The Hard Work of Reconciliation

Loving the Community You’re In

��Ƶ alumni - Tiffany Wright

��Ƶ alumni - Tiffany Wright