Students at Council schools are not waiting until graduation to make a difference in the world. Every year, students in every field of study reach beyond the borders of their campuses to add their efforts to the fight against poverty, homelessness, the AIDS pandemic and more. Following is a representative sampling of what CCCU campuses are doing:
Abilene Christian University, Abilene, Texas
The ACU chapter of International Justice Mission was the first collegiate chapter of the organization. IJM is a Christian ministry led by human rights professionals that helps people suffering in justice and oppression. Approximately 105 students are involved at this time.
Named after 1John 3:18, the student group Awake 3:18 seeks to raise awareness, provide education and offer ministry opportunities related to the global HIV/AIDS crisis. The focus is directed toward the African pandemic, as well as the needs of families affected by AIDS here in the Abilene area. Approximately 20 students are currently involved in this organization. Along with monthly gatherings, Awake 3:18 is preparing to host Steve Haas from World Vision Dec. 1 as a part of "World AIDS Day." He will be conducting a Chapel forum Nov. 30, and speak at a luncheon on Dec. 1. A "Lives are at Stake" event will also occur on Dec. 1.
The Habitat for Humanity service group works alongside the local chapter to help raise money to build houses for underprivileged families in Abilene. In the past ten years, ACU students have volunteered alongside the local chapter to build several homes in Abilene. This group has seven active members, but teams up with other organizations on campus for each project. The walls of a Habitat house were constructed on ACU's campus during Lectureship in September. The walls will be transported to their permanent location in Abilene.
With branches in Nashville and Abilene, many students, as well as ACU alumni,participate in Healing Hands International, a non-profit organization dedicated to distributing mission relief materials.
Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, Calif.
In January 2005, APU joined schools across the nation in an Acting on AIDS-sponsored three-week-long event designed to raise AIDS awareness. AIDS forums were held along with an AIDS awareness fair in which APU's Health Center, the Peace Corps, World Vision, Compassion, Children of the Nation, and the Acting on AIDS group participated.
Acting on AIDS is a program started by Christian college students tocreate awareness and activism of the global AIDS pandemic at colleges and universities across the nation. With the support of World Vision, Christian college students have formed a network of Acting on AIDS chapters which seek to change hearts on campuses, create awareness in communities, and advocate for those impacted by the global AIDS pandemic.
Bethel University, St. Paul, Minn.
At Bethel, 40 students are actively involved in Acting on AIDS; four students in Amnesty International; 60 students in Habitat for Humanity's Collegiate Challenge (spring break) program; and 30 students in Urban Homeworks (a local organization working to provide affordable housing).
In the 2003-2004 school year, more than 1000 Bethel Students joined the ONE Campaign to fight extreme poverty (by signing their name to the list).At the time, this was the largest contingent of students from oneschool to sign the ONE Campaign.
Two students are also active in the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA).
Cedarville University, Cedarville, Ohio
Cedarville University is leading the way for Christian colleges in the area of international humanitarian aid, taking child sponsorship to the next level. The campus group Women of Vision (WOV), a volunteer program of World Vision, is partnering with the University to "adopt a village" in Zambia.
Cedarville is one of the first members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) to adopt a village.The Fisheni village is an isolated community that faces such challenges as a lack of clean water, a low literacy rate, and a high rate of AIDS. WOV intends to raise $30,000 for the village this year. The support raised will be used to improve Fisheni in three areas: water, education, and health.
East Texas Baptist University, Marshall, Texas
ETBU students are involved in the local Habitat for Humanity chapter and also serve locally and in other parts of the country during spring break trips.
Eastern University, St. Davids, Pa.
About 65-70 students are involved in Habitat activities throughout the year at Eastern, which had one of the very first campus chapters of Habitat.
Eastern also has a chapter of International Justice Mission and is beginning a Compassion ministry. On the missions front, Eastern partners with Food for the Hungry and STEM (Short-Term Evangelical Missions, a missions organization in Minneapolis).
Student club SPEAK (based on the verse in Proverbs to speak out for the poor) just hosted an event on Sept. 23. Led by Dr. Tony Campolo, professor emeritus of sociology, they invited Irish leader of Sinn Fein Gerry Adams to speak here on reconciliation in Ireland. The next step is to invite the leader of the opposing party in Ireland; and then to have them both come together to speak.
Almost all Eastern's campus ministries are social action groups; Habitat, IJM, Prison Ministry which helps lead a weekly chapel service at a Philadelphia prison, Student Missions Fellowship, Transformed! presents the Gospel through drama and song, Watchmen Prayer Group discusses and prays about world issues and conducts events; and especially YACHT Club (Youth Against Complacency and Homelessness Today) which was founded by several Eastern students about six years ago. Eastern students also founded a group called The Simple Way, which lives in the poorest part of Philadelphia and works with the poor helping provide tutoring and school supplies for children, food, etc.
All of the university's short term mission trips have a justice component as well. This fall, Eastern will have 450 students serve 9,000 hours in communities of need in service learning.
George Fox University, Newberg, Ore.
In October, students chose to live in "solidarity with the poor" by fasting for a day and sleeping overnight on the Newberg quad.
On Saturday mornings, James Project volunteers clean debris from homes with code enforcement warnings, help build homes for low-income families, split and deliver firewood, transport elderly and disabled adults, or work in food banks through various agencies. Last term, 210 student volunteers worked on 17 projects in or near Newberg.
"How did Christ do it? That's what we're called to do," says Chris Roenicke, who leads the James Project. "Day by day, we are trying to do what we're called to do - help orphans, widows, and marginalized people."
George Fox students has also held the Acting on AIDS T-shirt campaign, during which one in five people wore bright orange T-shirts on the Newberg campus to represent the proportion of African children expected to be orphaned by AIDS by the year 2010.
Last December, students participated in another campaign, "Lives Are at Stake." Rows of stakes bearing 1000 images of children whose communities are affected by AIDS lined the quad pathways.
On Friday nights, 30 or more students regularly volunteer under bridges in downtown Portland and Salem. They serve meals to homeless people and, perhaps more importantly, develop ongoing friendships.
Greenville College, Greenville, Ill.
Greenville has had a Habitat for Humanity student chapter for many years, and each year the students hold a 36-hour Shak-a-thon event as part of this chapter. During the Shak-a-thon students commit to a 36-hour, two-night "homeless" experience where they wear one set of clothes, don't eat and sleep in boxes, etc. in order to raise awareness on campus for the homeless and need for adequate housing.
The new initiative this year (in partnership with three Free Methodist churches- with which the college is affiliated- in the area) involves raising the money and assisting in the building of one complete house. Together the partners will need to raise a total of $35,000. They plan to build the house this school year.
Hardin-Simmons University, Abilene,Texas
The HSU Community Enhancement Program, which boasts a Friendship House and 6 Habitat for Humanity homes has recently become a separate non-profit entity as other Abilene organizations come on-board to expand the effort.
HSU is currently building a Health Sciences Academy magnet school that will serve area high school students. A "first of its kind" effort, funded by HSU and located on the University campus, the academy will help high school students obtain medical technology certifications and provide advance placement courses for students planning for medical degrees.
Houston Baptist University, Houston, Texas
Students, faculty and staff gathered for a vigil Sept. 14 to raise awareness for the hundreds of thousands who have perished in Sudan's southern region of Darfur. "As citizens of the United States, we often don't know what's going on in Africa," said Dr. Christopher Salinas, director of public policy and associate speech professor. "We need to let those in power know that we do know what's going on in Africa, and that we do care about it." Salinas organized the vigil as part of a nationwide 10-day effort to raise awareness in the U.S.
Malone College, Canton, Ohio
Malone's Acting on AIDS chapter is ten students strong now, with many more students expressing interest in the topic. "Personally speaking, I have an interest in many areas of social justice," says AoA member Megan Grubb. "I have been researching over the past few months because it is impossible to address AIDS without also addressing the issues of hunger, poverty, clean drinking water and more."
Mount Vernon Nazarene University , Mount Vernon, Ohio
After attending an Acting on AIDS Student Leadership Summit conference in February of 2006, Mount Vernon Nazarene University students Brittany Dissingerand Zachary Wilson returned to campus determined to start an Actingon AIDS chapter at MVNU.
Last spring, Dissinger and Wilson kicked off by focusing on AIDS awareness, using bulletin boards, chapel services and other outlets to get the word out. This fall, they plan to officially begin MVNU's Acting on Aids chapter by applying for membership and electing officers to spearhead a campaign based primarily on AIDS awareness, fundraising efforts and collaboration and correspondence with other chapters around the country.
More than 300 students (25 percent of the traditional undergraduate student body) are involved in some sort of ministry, volunteer program, community service, or outreach program locally, nationally, and internationally every year.
Northwest University, Kirkland, Wash.
Northwest University students have raised more than $53,000 to fight human trafficking, and have developed plans to raise awareness and funds on an ongoing basis. The money raised primarily goes to The Home Foundation to help build a clinic in Bombay, India, for victims of human trafficking who have been turned out on the streets because diseases such as AIDS have made them no longer desirable in the brothels.
Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa
Northwestern has a very active chapter of International Justice Mission (IJM) on campus. A student-led "Season of Justice" event in 2005 was so successful that IJM adopted that program, renaming it Justice Week, for use by campus chapters across the country.
About 40 students each year participate in Habitat for Humanity building projects.
Invisible Children (www.invisiblechildren.com) has a large presence on Northwestern's campus because of two students, Northwestern students Amy Barr and Kristin Lorey, who coordinated an effort to include Orange City as one of 130 cities around the world participating in Global Night Commute. The event includes a group walk to a designated location, where the participants will sleep outside on behalf of the "invisible children" of northern Uganda. Every night, thousands of Ugandan children walk more than six miles from their village to a larger city to sleep because they are likely to be abducted and forced to fight in the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) if they stay.
Northwestern sent six students and a staff member to the Acting on AIDS conference at Taylor University last year. One of AoA's speakers, Serge Duss of World Vision, will speak in chapel at Northwestern on Nov. 20, 2006.
The college annually sends a few students to the Christian Community Development Association conference. Four students, a professor and a staff member will be going to the Sept. 27-Oct. 1 conference in Philadelphia. A Northwestern student received a Spencer W. Perkins Fellowship in urban ministry last fall at that conference.
Many students and recent alumni have participated in Mission Year, a program founded by Tony Campolo's son Bart for people ages 18-29 to live, love and serve for one year in the inner city.
Oklahoma Baptist University, Shawnee, Okla.
Five OBU students participated in a Habitat for Humanity project last summer. Amnesty International is a growing chapter at OBU, with about 20 students actively involved so far.
Palm Beach Atlantic University, WestPalm Beach, Fla.
PBAU has an active Acting on AIDS chapter. Students also raised funds to build a well through The 1000 Wells Project of Blood: Water Mission (Jars of Clay ministry). PBAU participated in "The One Campaign" organized by "Bread for the World" (www.bread.org) collecting signatures from PBA students urging our leaders to fulfill their promises to the world's hungry and poor people.
Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, N.Y.
Roberts Wesleyan has active chapters of Acting on AIDS, Voice of the Martyrs and Habitat for Humanity. Roberts also sends out several short-term mission teams each year, both nationally and internationally. The college also has local social action groups, such as prison ministries (primarily visitation) and a street ministry (providing food and friendship to homeless people in inner-city Rochester, N.Y.) called In Jesus' Name.
Southern Wesleyan University, Central, S.C.
Southern Wesleyan students participated in building a Habitat for Humanity house last year.
Several university employees have been involved in social action projects, for example David Mills spent the summer in Africa working with AIDS orphans. Students also have goneevery Wednesday to Gettys Middle School in Easley, S.C., to help with the STAR program that identifies students who are likely to drop out of school.
SWU student Abraham Deng is a Lost Boy of the Sudan (www.abrahamsdream.com).
Last year, two groups of students went to help with Hurricane Katrina Relief, and SWU students went to Cambodia to help with girls rescued from the sex trafficking rings.
Spring Arbor University, Spring Arbor, Mich.
Plans are currently underway to develop a campus chapter of the International Justice Mission. In the past, students have organized social justice organizations of their own, like LINK (students led various activities to educate the community about AIDS), but the students are hoping to join a national organization to heighten their effectiveness and help distribute information about the injustices around the world. While the university is just getting started with this organization, students are hoping to participate in the weeklong Season of Justice this spring and plan other events to spread awareness and educate youth about some of the injustice around the world.
Taylor University, Upland, Ind.
Taylor has an active chapter of Acting on AIDS, and in Feb. 2006, hosted the Acting on AIDS Student Leadership Summit. Taylor also has a student group that works with local AIDS advocate group Living with AIDS and Dignity (LAD). TU social work students have worked with a couple of men from Anderson on Christmas baskets and special events.
Trinity International University, Deerfield, Ill.
Trinity has a chapter of Acting on AIDS, which has six officers. Well over one hundred students participated in wearing the orange "ORPHAN" T-shirts back when that event took place.
Wayland Baptist University, Plainview, Texas
Wayland has an active group of students involved in Habitat for Humanity. One young man helps coordinate regular (almost weekly) work days at the site and another young man serves on the local branch's board of directors. The group is pursuing the possibility of building a house entirely by our university during our centennial celebration in 2008-09. The core group of workers for this is around a dozen.
Westmont College, Santa Barbara, Calif.
Westmont's student ministry Voices of Hope used to be part of Acting on Aids but is now connected to another organization working with AIDS. They will be working with Westmont and community AIDS awareness and fundraising.
Invisible Children is continuing this year to raise awareness about and pray for the situation in Uganda.
Bread of Life is not connected with an outside organization but is doing social justice work by feeding the homeless in Santa Barbara on Thursday nights.
Whitworth College, Spokane, Wash.
Whitworth's Acting On Aids chapter has 54 members, its Amnesty International chapter has 15 members and its International Justice Mission currently has five members.
The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities is a higher education association of 180 intentionally Christ-centered institutions around the world. There are now 105 member campuses in North America and all are fully-accredited, comprehensive colleges and universities with curricula rooted in the arts and sciences. In addition, 75 affiliate campuses from 24 countries are part of the CCCU. The Council's mission is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help its institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.
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