Volume 12 Issue 1 | October
16, 2017
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Monthly Snapshot
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FRESHERS WEEK IN BIRMINGHAM
The week was so full and so wonderful that I’ll try to summarize the highlights:
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| Lydia praying for her campus |
Birmingham City University (BCU) is an
urban campus of 22,500 students with the feel of an art school. A second-year
student named Lydia is leading the movement mostly on her own, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to
make Jesus known!
I find visiting
a place I’ve never been to be exhilarating. The idea of moving to a place I’ve
never been, however, was a bit nerve wracking. I couldn’t even picture it in my
mind. I needed some context, so I made plans to visit Birmingham to get to know
my team, experience ministry in a new culture, and explore the city before I
move. We decided it would be best for me to come during freshman orientation
week, called “Freshers Week” in the UK.
The city feels
very much like Pittsburgh, except that everyone walks everywhere. It’s not
really a driving city, which will mean that the location of my new apartment
will have major implications on my daily life. I got some great tips on what I
should bring with me and on how to thrive in a radically new lifestyle. It will
definitely be an adventure!
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| My teammates, Harry and Sandeep, meeting students at Aston |
My team is
currently launching at Aston University, a school of 9,500 directly across the
street from BCU. We attended the freshman involvement fair and got a feel for
campus life. An experienced and well-trained student leader from another Agape
movement is starting a second undergrad degree there and will be helping us get
started.
University of
Birmingham has the most well-established movement and student leadership team.
Like any traditional “red brick” campus, it has a self-contained and highly
academic feel. Many of the 33,800 students study the sciences, medicine, and
law, and aside from the Agape student leaders, none of the students I talked to
ever even think about spirituality in daily life.
Agape weekly
meetings are discussion groups hosted in pubs on campus. Non-Christian students
own the group as their own, and I watched in awe as Govind, a self-proclaimed
“non-religious” student, pulled out one of our evangelism tools to start a
conversation about spirituality with a new student at the meeting. It’s
fascinating! I’ve never experienced ministry like
this.
PRAISE AND PRAYER
Praise the Lord for a productive trip to the UK! Not only did I spend a week with my incredible team, but I got to spend a few days with my fiancé Adam and his family on either end of the trip. Face to face time is priceless!
Please pray for Adam! Two weeks ago his claim for asylum was denied and he was inexplicably detained. The order for his deportation has now been overturned, and we are currently in the judicial review process. It has been the hardest season of either of our lives, which is why this letter is so late. We have no idea what the future holds, but we know the One who holds the future. We are praying fervently that the Lord will keep Adam safe in the UK so that I can join him there in January. I will update you as I am able.
