Our Mission (in a nutshell)
“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory” - Matthew 12:20
Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) is a student run Christian Ministry Club on the campus of Colorado Mesa University.
Western Colorado Christian Campus Ministry (WCCCM) is a group of organizations and individuals that support the students of CSF.
Mission Statement: We aim to create a culture of peace on campus of Colorado Mesa University, while focusing on helping students navigate college life through finding identity in self, others, and God.
- Note: Peace is defined as knowing who you are supposed to be with God, inside yourself, and in theworld around your. This peace can only come through an active relationship with Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
CSF student rights:
WCCCM Leadership team:
Biblical teaching behind this mission:
Matthew 5:13 says: “You are the Salt of the earth.”
Matthew 5:14 says: “You are the light of the world.”
Salt and Light are two important aspects of ministry.
When we set up a light on a hill we are shouting to the world, “Come this way if you want to find salvation!!” When someone is broken by life’s circumstances, they need this light to guide them to the arms of their loving Father.
However, today’s generation is becoming more and more cynical. Research over the past few years has shown that fewer young people believe the church is relevant to their personal lives. They will often look for every other form of help (including the internet and drugs) before asking for assistance from their local preacher. This chasm has been greatly compounded by recent world events including the pandemic and quarantine. It is getting harder to convince college students to consider church as an option.
That is why we focus on being salt on campus. Reaching into the lives of students and adding Christ flavoring. Developing personal relationships - one on one - to show these young adults that Christ is still alive and still loves them and the church is still relevant. We do this through the examples of those in our Extended Family, who share their time, experiences, and resources to connect and disciple young adults while inspiring them to do the same with their peers.
An example of how this happens:
Af few weeks ago, after CSF met, I received a call from one of our students. She wanted to apologize because she missed the meeting, but she had an excuse. She and I had been talking about how Christians need to be ready to show Christ’s love when opportunities arise - and God saw fit to make one arise in her life. Earlier that day, she and a friend discovered that another student was struggling. This is a single mother that is trying to overcome many difficulties and take classes for dental hygiene. She is trying to get assistance, but has not been successful so far. She had no money for groceries. So our student grabbed a friend and they went shopping for this woman and took her a gift package. Later in the week, our student and I met for coffee to talk about this experience. She said that she has never felt better in her faith and with God than when she was helping this woman. We discussed ways she could continue helping people without making them dependent on her, or overwhelming her resources. I was able to give her a gift card for City market (thanks to a donation from an extended family member) and some baskets (thanks to another donation from a different extended family member) to help her to make more care packages. She is excited about our upcoming Extended Family event because she wants to spend time with “people who are living out God’s faith the way she wants to”.
How our funds are being used:
Besides our regular ministry expenses (salary, etc...) here is a breakdown of how we have been using our funds for one month in 2022:
I would like to point out that these items given were given in expectation of greater giving - the students are not just getting free stuff. For example, we gave students gift cards for coffee so they could bless other students with a cup of coffee and conversation. All of our students are doing things to reach out on and off campus. For example: One student is making gift baskets for her classmates that seem overwhelmed. One is inviting students to the gym to help them cope with stress. One girl is planning a girl’s night to connect with girls that seem to be lonely, while another student is looking for ways to organize his friends hand out water bottles to homeless people near the campus. With the help of our extended family, they are looking for ways to be God’s hands and feet wherever they go.
Goals
Short term goals for this year:
Long term goals:
Current Needs:
Obstacles and prayer requests
Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) is a student run Christian Ministry Club on the campus of Colorado Mesa University.
Western Colorado Christian Campus Ministry (WCCCM) is a group of organizations and individuals that support the students of CSF.
Mission Statement: We aim to create a culture of peace on campus of Colorado Mesa University, while focusing on helping students navigate college life through finding identity in self, others, and God.
- Note: Peace is defined as knowing who you are supposed to be with God, inside yourself, and in theworld around your. This peace can only come through an active relationship with Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace.
CSF student rights:
WCCCM Leadership team:
Biblical teaching behind this mission:
Matthew 5:13 says: “You are the Salt of the earth.”
Matthew 5:14 says: “You are the light of the world.”
Salt and Light are two important aspects of ministry.
When we set up a light on a hill we are shouting to the world, “Come this way if you want to find salvation!!” When someone is broken by life’s circumstances, they need this light to guide them to the arms of their loving Father.
However, today’s generation is becoming more and more cynical. Research over the past few years has shown that fewer young people believe the church is relevant to their personal lives. They will often look for every other form of help (including the internet and drugs) before asking for assistance from their local preacher. This chasm has been greatly compounded by recent world events including the pandemic and quarantine. It is getting harder to convince college students to consider church as an option.
That is why we focus on being salt on campus. Reaching into the lives of students and adding Christ flavoring. Developing personal relationships - one on one - to show these young adults that Christ is still alive and still loves them and the church is still relevant. We do this through the examples of those in our Extended Family, who share their time, experiences, and resources to connect and disciple young adults while inspiring them to do the same with their peers.
An example of how this happens:
Af few weeks ago, after CSF met, I received a call from one of our students. She wanted to apologize because she missed the meeting, but she had an excuse. She and I had been talking about how Christians need to be ready to show Christ’s love when opportunities arise - and God saw fit to make one arise in her life. Earlier that day, she and a friend discovered that another student was struggling. This is a single mother that is trying to overcome many difficulties and take classes for dental hygiene. She is trying to get assistance, but has not been successful so far. She had no money for groceries. So our student grabbed a friend and they went shopping for this woman and took her a gift package. Later in the week, our student and I met for coffee to talk about this experience. She said that she has never felt better in her faith and with God than when she was helping this woman. We discussed ways she could continue helping people without making them dependent on her, or overwhelming her resources. I was able to give her a gift card for City market (thanks to a donation from an extended family member) and some baskets (thanks to another donation from a different extended family member) to help her to make more care packages. She is excited about our upcoming Extended Family event because she wants to spend time with “people who are living out God’s faith the way she wants to”.
How our funds are being used:
Besides our regular ministry expenses (salary, etc...) here is a breakdown of how we have been using our funds for one month in 2022:
- - 10 cups of coffee with students for one on one discipleship meetings ($103.50)
- - 2 City Market Gift cards for a student to make gift packages for other students ($50)
- - 2 Traders gift cards - each for 2 cups of coffee for students to take another student out for coffee (donated by
- - Trader’s coffee).
- - 2 CSF water bottles ($20)
- - 20 baskets to make gift baskets (donated by an Extended Family member)
- - 2 lunches for students that had no food for lunch ($25.17)
- - Groceries for students ($40)
- 1 bread maker for a student to make homemade bread to share with other students on campus. (donated byan extended family member)
I would like to point out that these items given were given in expectation of greater giving - the students are not just getting free stuff. For example, we gave students gift cards for coffee so they could bless other students with a cup of coffee and conversation. All of our students are doing things to reach out on and off campus. For example: One student is making gift baskets for her classmates that seem overwhelmed. One is inviting students to the gym to help them cope with stress. One girl is planning a girl’s night to connect with girls that seem to be lonely, while another student is looking for ways to organize his friends hand out water bottles to homeless people near the campus. With the help of our extended family, they are looking for ways to be God’s hands and feet wherever they go.
Goals
Short term goals for this year:
- We would like to enlarge our extended family to add more people, experiences, and resources to the
lives our students. - We would like to see more students inspired to be disciplers and world changers on campus.
Long term goals:
- Within the next five years, we would like to be able to hire Adam full time (he continues to work as a
volunteer). - We would like to develop Christian housing in the next ten years.
Current Needs:
- More people to join our extended family team. Any opportunity to share our vision would be greatly
appreciated. - Walmart and City Market cards ($25) value, that I can have on hand for students in need.
- Coffee cards ($20) value that we can give to students to encourage them to take other students to
coffee. - Your continued support.
- Your continued prayers.
Obstacles and prayer requests
- The biggest obstacle we face is the current climate of chaos. The more crazy the world seems to
these students, they more the more difficult it is to get them to sit down and talk about the Christ and the church. Pray that God opens doors so that we can have these conversations - sending us more students to disciple. - We also need people and organizations to catch our vision of flavoring the campus (and our community) with Christ’s love. As people catch on, they want to get involved. But we often have to work through negative perceptions (such as “I have nothing to offer” or “I don’t have time to commit to someone else’s problems”). Again, please pray that God opens doors and hearts - sending us more workers for the harvest.
