College/University Ministry Stories

Point @ UBC  From Their Christmas Prayer Newsletter Dec. 2006

“Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations for Your inheritance; and the uttermost parts of the earth for Your possession.”……..Psalm 2:8 (MKJV)

Point @ UBC Thanksgiving Gathering on Oct. 7th As part of our continuous calling to be at UBC, we indeed see the hand of God working here through things that were beyond our own imaginations and planning. We are thankful that He is willing to use us and indeed we are humbled by the new friends that we came to know in the last months. We pray that this Christmas, as we have shared with you, will be a meaningful one to you and your families. We thank you for being a part of us. Let us continue to ask God for help to reach out to those who are hurting and feeling lonely during this Christmas time and as God touches them individually. Have a Blessed Christmas! Rich, Kyle, & Victor Ministering at the Point@UBC

Christmas Gathering on Dec.16, 2006. Standing from left: Hannah & Victor, Kyle, Seifollah, Yasmin, James, Lynda, Jeanie, Byron, Wichai, Kazu, Rich, Ulricke, Cha. Seating from left: Mojgan, Adria, Kelly, Suzanne, Emily, Alicia Prayer requests 1) Pray for our church planting efforts at UBC, as we continued to build friendships through relational means. 2) Pray for a strong and matured team of leaders to be raised up by God to anchor the church planting efforts. 3) Pray for UBC as the Lord continues to soften the ground and the hearts of the people to be open to the Gospel. 4) Pray for the outreach and community programs we planned to implement in UBC for 2007. 5) Pray for Suzanne and Kyle as they try to secure permanent presence in this community with a place to stay and concerns with immigration issues. 6) Pray for Rich, Victor and our families as we look to God for His provisions.

Some stories

English Corner started off on September 7th as an outreach effort to reach the international students in UBC. After a month, we had 13 students from six different countries and it was an interesting mix of people that God brought into our midst. Besides having a wonderful time with the students teaching them conversational English, there were times when we learnt from them about their cultures, beliefs and views about God. Out of the thirteen students, many dropped off along the way and left about four faithful ones that continued with us through the rest of the term. Out of these four, two has visited our church plant and they expressed interest to want to know the Bible more. We praised God for these two and others that we have crossed path with throughout the last months. We were much encouraged by the response we received though we started off modestly.

The church plant became official on October 14th and we had our first service coinciding with the Catalyst 2006 conference held in Vancouver. Since then, we have as many as five visitors coming by besides the regular group of worshippers numbering between seven to ten people. We continued to trust God in bringing the people as we move in to make contacts with the residences located within UBC.

The First Service At The Point@UBC Oct. 14, 2006

from Rich Carruthers.  Point@UBC...the First Two Months--

I am thrilled with God and His wonderful work in our midst at UBC over the past two months.  Each week, in addition to the core team, God has brought along at least one new person, and with our Christmas celebration, He has brought along some who have come over the past two months.  As people/students get to know us, it is obvious that the groundwork we have laid in prayer and Scripture meditation together, and in praying for the campus, is evident both in our growing fellowship and in the growing openness to the Gospel which we see.  In the long haul, I believe the manifest Presence of God as seen in our love for each other, our worship, our praying and our desire to bless others, will result in a great outpouring of God's blessings, both through spiritual awakening and revival.  I'm so thankful to be ministering with a team of people. 

A personal story:  A few weeks ago, Hillel House was vandalized.  As I chatted with my friend Eyal, who is the Executive Director of Hillel, and gave him my concern, he told me one of his staff was organizing a Roundtable Forum to discuss Anti-Semitism on campus.  He said he'd really like me to come and he hoped other Chaplains would attend as well.  When I shared this with our Point@UBC team, they were concerned as well and agreed with me that this was important enough for us to alter our normal Friday morning team meeting.  So we went as a team to the Friday morning Roundtable at Hillel.  Eyal was most grateful and touched by our show of support for him and the Jewish community at UBC.  By God's grace, we know such joint actions of serving will make a great impact; not only on the Hillel group but also on other groups God connects us with on campus.