Chapter Planting at Mills College - Ministry Exchange (MX)

This document is part of a larger cluster of articles about InterVarsity
chapter planting at https://www.intervarsity.org/mx/page/chapterplanting

Witness, Justice and Prayer at Mills College by Yu-Shuan (Shirley) Sho

The Campus

Mills College is a small women’s liberal arts college in Oakland, CA
(around 400 undergraduates). The campus has rich Christian roots but has
since disowned most of its Christian traditions and association. The campus
was founded by a missionary couple upon returning from their missionary
work in India and Hawaii. The women attending this campus are very strong,
passionate and ambitious students. The campus not only attracts very
conscientious and justice-minded students, it also seems to serve as a
haven and refuge for many victims of abuse and rape (as is the case on many
other women’s colleges, I’m sure).

The Challenges

As you can imagine, on a liberal/progressive campus like Mills, the anti-
Christian sentiment is also very strong. Prior to InterVarsity’s
involvement on campus, students would graffiti on other students’ fliers
for Christian events. Posters would be torn down. In classrooms, the
oppressive history of colonization is almost always coupled with
Christianity. Christianity is often seen as synonymous with Conservatism
here at Mills. What surprises me is that the majority of the students on
campus seem to have had some kind of history with the Christian church,
either through family or friends, but have then disowned it.

The first year I came on campus, I met the Unitarian chaplain who was very
skeptical and hostile towards Christians. She required that we study the
Bible only at the chapel and no where else in order to protect the freedom
from religion among students on campus. We were the exception because all
the other religious groups could host their meetings outside of the chapel.
She would accuse me of violating many campus policies that I wasn’t even
aware of. At one point, after the end of my first year at Mills, she
threatened to not renew our affiliation for the following year. As a
result, in efforts to work at establishing a good relationship with her, I
agreed to email her a weekly notice of all the times I’d be on campus, the
names of the students I’d meet with, etc. Eventually, her term ended on
campus (the result of prayer) and she left at the beginning of last fall
semester 2005. Folks have been praying for a good chaplain for the past
decade on this campus. Just recently, Mills hired a new Chaplain. She told
me she was the InterVarsity student president on her campus years ago and
even attended Urbana! Praise the Lord!!

Campus Contacts and Opportunities

The first year I came on campus, I met a Mills staff person who knew much
about InterVarsity and attends a church in Berkeley. Shortly after, a new
faculty person got hired in the Science department. She used to be a part
of InterVarsity during her undergrad years, and also as a graduate student
in Santa Cruz. Needless to say, the three of us became great support for
each other. I started a weekly intercession meeting with them that has
continued since. Last year, a local pastor’s wife also joined our Mills
intercessory team. We’ve also established a good partnership with another
large church in the area as a result of our student president attending
there and often bringing non-Christian students with her. She is interning
with InterVarsity next year so will be fund-raising with that church and
building more connections.

From the start, we knew it would be important to partner with other student
clubs and departments in whatever events we hosted. We wanted to redeem the
reputation of Christians and Christianity on campus. God has truly done
that on campus-advocating and redeeming his Name.

What We’re Doing

We just hosted a Worker’s Appreciation Luncheon with the Ethnic Studies
Department, the Office of Student Life and several key student clubs on
campus. This luncheon serves to honor and appreciate all of the 80 or so
Mills employees who work in food service, construction, gardening, and
house-keeping. Because of the size of the campus, this event not only
witnessed and ministered to the workers, it also served as an
evangelistic/witnessing tool for all of the Mills community who has heard
about it.

Early this semester, we also co-hosted an event with the Asian Pacific
Sisterhood Alliance during the API (Asian Pacific Islander) Awareness
Month. Together we heard the story of a church community coming around and
advocating on behalf of the Cambodian refugees in Oakland. The story
centers on a pastor and other Christians who moved into a low-income
apartment in the inner-city and sued the derelict landlord on behalf of all
the tenants in that complex (mostly Cambodians). They received more than $1
million in settlement as a result. We invited our Cambodian neighbors
(mostly Christians) to share their stories of transformation and hope. We
also invited a Cambodian dance troop to perform that evening.

Last year on campus, we sold more than 150 purses made by a group of
Filipina women from the largest garbage dump in the Philippines. On a
campus of around 400 undergraduates and 200 graduate students, 150 is a
good number of sales! The purses were shipped over by Father Ben Beltran,
the activist priest who started the social enterprise. He shipped about
1000 purses to my area director, Collin Tomikawa, who went on the Global
Urban Trek to Manila the previous year. The Mills students, staff and
faculty appreciated the opportunity to partner with these impoverished
women through this Catholic social enterprise.

We also hosted an event to share the personal stories of these unique women
and their transformed lives at Smokey Mountain, Manila. We saw first-hand
how these amazing women, who are living in a garbage dump, were
evangelizing the Mills women. As much as people wanted to hate on the
Christians, no one can deny the transformation and hope that was taking
place through this Christian enterprise of economic, social and spiritual
renewal.

In addition to the stories and slides about these women in Manila, one of
the InterVarsity students from Mills who went on the Trek shared her
testimony of becoming a White ally against racism as a result of her trip
to the Philippines. We also invited a Mills Filipina who spoke about her
ethnic identity and social injustices in the Philippines.

Another outreach event we hosted was a discussion called, “Was Jesus a
Feminist?” This attracted many students and brought one woman to Christ.
Since then, she has made a very costly choice to end her part-time job in
exotic dancing in order to follow Jesus. This meant that she’d have to give
up schooling at Mills temporarily in order to make ends meet financially.
She is now a dance instructor, and the Lord is meeting her needs.

Other regular events we have are weekly Bible studies and weekly
opportunities to help out with an adult ESL program in inner-city Oakland.

I had the opportunity of taking two Mills students with me on the Global
Urban Trek to Manila last summer. That trip served our campus in
solidifying our vision and convictions as a fellowship. The students came
back as solid leaders in the chapter. One of them will be coming on staff
next year.

The Vision

My vision and hope is to see a strong, solid group of women in the chapter
who are both introspective and outward-focused in their ministry. I hope
the entire campus comes to know that Workers of Faith* (IVCF) exists and
that we are a positive organization that continues to break down their
stereotypes about Christians. I also want the entire campus to come to know
and follow a radical, relevant and personal God through Christ. What gives
me the most hope is seeing students’ lives transformed and watching their
paradigms chang as they yield to God. I’m tremendously encouraged as I
watch young women make radical choices and overcome really difficult
hurdles to follow Jesus.

God is Working

I have learned much about the integration of prayer, witness and justice.
One without the other is not holistic evangelism. Social justice/activism
without intercession and interpretation is not a complete picture of
evangelism. Intercession without the others is also incomplete. Preaching
without action or prayer-well, that for sure won’t fly at Mills!

Help Needed

How do we sustain a chapter? There is a high turnover rate in the
fellowship as a result of the high turnover rate of admission and the size
of campus. Every year feels like a new pioneering year to a certain degree,
with usually only one or two committed student leaders. We need to work on
building and maintaining the group over the long haul.

*Workers of Faith is a Christian student fellowship at Mills College,
committed to the integration of our faith with social action through
engaging and serving the needs of our communities. Committed to studying
the Bible with critical thinking, we believe in the Bible’s power to change
individual lives as well as systems.

“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and
to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

Chapter_Planting_4yr_Sm_Mills_College.doc