Ohio Adventist Christian Fellowship: Off and Running!

About Ohio Adventist Christian Fellowship

Here’s a surprising fact: Did you know that 65% of Seventh-day Adventist young people attend secular colleges or universities? Studying at a secular college or university presents challenges to a student’s faith. Being at college may be his or her first time making decisions of their own, without mom and dad there to guide them. University studies are stressful, and social pressures are strong. The Ohio Conference has long hoped to minister to students—Seventh-day Adventists and others—on secular campuses. In September, we started a pilot program to place chaplains at three of our state’s universities: Ohio University in Athens, The Ohio State University in Columbus, and Wright State University in Dayton. Here are some of their experiences.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Off and Running!

After a well-deserved and an over-to-soon break, our students at Ohio University and Hocking College have hit the ground running: starting new classes, experiencing new teachers, figuring out new schedules, and well into their second week of winter quarter.

Our ACF chapter started off well, having a good turnout of students this past Friday at our first Bible Study of the quarter. We spent some time reflecting on the past year, recollecting the lessons we learned in our Christian-Life-and-Journey Bible Study, identifying areas where we recognized God's presence, and thinking of how we have used these lessons and how they will affect our lives in 2011. We know that it is only by God's grace and spirit that we can see success, not necessarily defined by numbers but by a clearer understanding of who Jesus is, and that we start this new quarter with excited anticipation and hope of what we are going to learn this quarter.

In addition to our weekly Bible Studies, ACF will be organizing "The Upper Room", a weekly time of prayer and praise open to students and held at the Baker's Center on Tuesdays at 12:30pm. It is our hope that through The Upper Room, students can begin to experience the importance and impact of prayer. In addition, a prayer box will be available for students not only to leave their requests/praises, but for students to take a request/praise to pray for as well.

We are looking forward for what winter quarter has in store, and despite the chilly weather (We admit that the novelty is starting to slowly wear off for us Californians), our hearts are warm with excitement of what's to come! ACF is off and running :)

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Our Campus Ministries team

Columbus, Ohio is the home of Ohio’s largest university, and one of the largest campuses in the United States. There are 55,000 students on the campus of The Ohio State University. Gina and David Helbley were serving as missionaries in Kazakhstan, when they felt a calling to do campus ministry. David is an engineer, and Gina is a graduate from the ministerial program at Walla Walla College. Now in Columbus, they’ve made their home a center for campus outreach.

Wright State University is located in Dayton, Ohio. Many Seventh-day Adventist students are in the 20,000 student body. We’ve invited Sabrina Araiza, a young adult psychology graduate from Arizona, to become our campus chaplain at Wright State. Sabrina will be working with a team from the Kettering church, under the mentorship of Kettering young adult pastor Elliot Smith.

The state’s oldest university is located in Athens, Ohio, in the foothills of Appalachia. Although Athens is a small city, 20,000 students attend Ohio University. The church in Athens has a vision to reach out to the university community. They’re being assisted by Darrin and Cristine Thurber. The Thurbers come to Ohio from California. Darrin is a ministerial student, and Cristine (known to her friends as Beamy) is a social worker. With the help of other Seventh-day Adventist students and faculty, they’ve started a strong outreach program to students.