George Washington University

Politics Divides, the Gospel Unites

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:08:41 +0000

October 11, 2012

Gordon Govier

Politics Divides, the Gospel Unites

Gia Coluccio and Kendra Johnson became friends their first week on the George Washington University (GWU) campus. They had a class together and were assigned to the same project group, and then they met again that evening at their first ��Ƶ meeting. “It was a God thing,” Gia said. “We’ve been friends ever since.”

Since graduation they have remained close friends, even though Gia attended the Republican Party convention in Florida this summer as part of the Hawaii delegation, and Kendra is a field organizer in a Democratic Party congressional campaign in her home state of Arizona. “Gia and I, and all our friends in ��Ƶ, had a lot of differences in our families, our cultures, and our backgrounds, but we are bonded together by our faith,” Kendra said.

Gia and Kendra were roommates their sophomore year and again during their senior year. Kendra was ��Ƶ’s chapter president, and Gia also served on the leadership team. “I stayed in ��Ƶ my entire college career, because I found genuine friends who taught me a lot about community, discipleship, and leading a life rooted in Christ,” Kendra said.

Identity in Christ

Located just three miles from the U.S. Capitol, GWU is one of the most politically-active campuses in the country. Many students are like Gia and Kendra, with jobs or internships on Capitol Hill or with political organizations. In the midst of this politicized environment, the ��Ƶ chapter made a conscious effort to avoid political divisions. “We reminded each other that our membership in the body of Christ was where we should draw our identity from—not from our political leanings,” Gia said.

While political conversations were avoided in formal settings, political differences were not totally shunned. “We valued the fact that we accepted each other’s views,” Gia said. “We wanted to show this by making people comfortable expressing their views in informal settings.”

Kendra added, “Living in DC gave us a lot of opportunities to talk politics, careers, values, and beliefs. Never have I had such serious, insightful conversations with my peers. We didn’t have discussions for the sake of argument but to make each other stronger, better citizens, and better thinkers.”

Seeing Differences from God’s Point of View

It may seem strange that a chapter that contained individuals with stark political differences could remain unified, or that two friends could remain close despite their opposite political allegiances. Gia admitted that it seemed strange to her. “I often asked myself how God could be telling us two different things, or even if God is speaking to us on these issues. This is a personal struggle, and I’m still learning how to see political differences from God’s point of view.”

Gia said that she took heart from the story of Paul and Barnabas disagreeing and parting ways (Acts 15:39). Even though their dispute was over Mark’s departure from their mission, Paul later made positive comments about Mark (2 Timothy 4:11), indicating that he still cared deeply about his fellow disciple in Christ.

“Kendra and I disagree on some big political issues,” Gia said. “But we both really care for each other, and we both really respect each other’s faith and relationship with Christ. We encourage each other to listen to God before listening to other political influences.”

“Gia and I were never afraid to address politics,” Kendra added. “Our differences taught us so much, but our different understandings of the nature of politics and policy never got in the way of our larger mission – that we were supposed to share with the world the goodness of God and show the students on our campus the wonder and the power of a relationship with Christ.”

Disagreements Needn’t Divide

During this political season it’s easy to leave God out of the conversations. And it’s not always easy to understand how God is at work through the political process. We Christians sometimes find ourselves in political alignments against our fellow Christians. Just as Christians can disagree on theological points, we can also disagree on politics.

But that doesn’t mean we should avoid politics. Our political system is based on citizen participation. Jesus said, “Give to Caesar what belongs to him, and give to God what belongs to God.”

Gia, and Kendra, and the other members of ��Ƶ’s GWU chapter have discovered that we can still be politically active and honor our Savior if we follow Him first.

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Complete Control

webteam@intervarsity.org — Wed, 12 Mar 2003 06:00:00 +0000

News

March 12, 2003

Teresa Buschur

Complete Control

Angelica’s experience with ��Ƶ actually began when she met Kristy Baik, ��Ƶ staff at George Washington University-Washington, D.C. during a meeting of an Asian American student group on campus her Freshman year. Kristy invited Angelica to a Bible study to learn about Jesus. “As the weeks came and went,” said Angelica, “I found myself returning and seeking to learn more about God—straight from the Source. I was tired of being fed what to believe and I figured this was something that was worth investigating on my own. One night, I could barely believe what I heard.

As Kristy’s involvement with the Asian American group came to an end, she continued to meet with Angelica, helping her to explore her newfound Christian faith. “It was exciting and refreshing to see how real God was to her,” Kristy said. The following semester, Angelica and Kristy focused on developing Inductive Bible Study skills and learning more about Jesus.

Angelica invited several friends to join her in discovering who Jesus is through Investigative Bible Study. Angelica challenged her Bible study group to “keep your career plans in an open palm—offering it up to God, giving God the prerogative to change it as He sees fit.” Angelica illustrates this in her own life. She had been preparing to become a physical therapist since high school. “She wanted to leave a window open, so that God could use it to grow her further or to redirect her future as needed,” Kristy said.

Instead of going directly to graduate school, Angelica believed God was calling her to explore short-term missions opportunities at the Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission on the Mercy ships in Gambia, Africa. These missionary and medical vessels serve some of the poorest countries through medical care, relief, development and training. Her family strongly objected to her desire to pursue mission work, but through prayer Angelica believed she needed to perform mission work and entrust her family to God. “Once I made up my mind that this was what God was calling me to, my family got to observe first-hand the peace, joy, care, power and generosity of God. In less than seven weeks God provided over $7,000 for five months of missions training and work in West Africa. And I’ve never fundraised before,” Angelica said.

Angelica decided to trust God with her family’s objections to her going to Africa for mission work. “Even more amazing than this financial provision is the change in my father. He’s been asking whether I needed anything else for my trip,” she shares.

After some initial training, Angelica was sent to Tugering, a village in Gambia. The group split into teams to travel to different regions. Angelica led a group and while they wanted to explore more of Gambia, they stayed in the village. “I felt the Lord calling me to keep my team in Tugering. Our team was able to connect with the local Christian Church and arrange to have the Jesus video shown for the first time in the native language. There were 300-400 people that attended and some asked if the video could be shown again. We were able to lead one friend to Christ that night,” Angelica said.

“When God wants you somewhere, and you go there, then He’ll really do something through you,” Angelica said. Angelica discovered what God could do through her if she allowed God to have complete control of her life.

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