Creating Community [Case#4] — One Chapter, Two Strands

 “How do I know God is real?” Peter, a graduate student and member of the MIT Asian Christian Fellowship, had been searching for the answer to this question over the years. Last fall, he had made a tough decision. He turned down an investment-banking job in New York City to stay at MIT and finish his master’s degree. He was also intentional about growing spiritually and finding the answers to his questions about faith before leaving the world of academics for the workplace. He kept searching.

On December 6, 2000, our chapter quietly listened in awe while Peter shared in our large-group meeting that he had finally found his answer. This former skeptic shared that God is indeed real. Peter was offering his life, with all its sins and victories, as proof! Because of Peter’s honest testimony, our entire fellowship was encouraged to believe in the living God.

It was through his inner struggles that Peter eventually came to understand the grace of God and the reality of a relationship with him. Other students, too, were opening up about their personal pain and how God was healing them. Many began to hear from God in direct and powerful ways. As we listened to God, he began equipping us for deeper ministry.

Despite many spiritual blessings and growth, there was another strand weaving through our chapter. Many students on our campus feel very alone. It’s not just the non-Christian students; most students in ACF deal with loneliness, too. They feel that no one really knows them and there is no one they can trust. Even the ACF leaders often feel like they don’t belong to any meaningful community.

The academic workload for an undergraduate at MIT is one of the toughest in the nation. There is a saying that floats around campus: “School, friends, sleep; choose two.” There have been seven suicides at our school in two and a half years. We asked ourselves what we could do to counter the immense pressures and loneliness of students at MIT.

The first change we made was moving our large-group times from Wednesday to Friday so that students would hang around after the meeting rather than rush back to their studies. They were ready to relax after a long week of work, and it created the needed space for relationships to grow and strengthen.

We also focused our winter retreat on relationships and intimacy. We studied the biblical view from Genesis to Revelation. Students got a better understanding of the intimacy they were created for, and how self-protective behavior and sin get in the way. Our prayer time on the final night was powerful as some students confessed sin and received healing and greater intimacy with God and with the fellowship.

We have a long way to go in understanding God’s unconditional love for us, but we’re going to keep taking risks to build relationships and community at MIT.

—James Choung has been on staff for six years with MIT’s Asian Christian Fellowship (formerly the MIT Korean Christian Fellowship) and is newly and happily married to his wife, Jinhee.