A group of eight Globalscope staff and students from our El Pozo campus ministry in Puebla, Mexico returned on Friday from a five-day scouting trip to Guanajuato, a city in the middle of Mexico that is home to Universidad de Guanajuato and its 50,000 students. This was the second trip there to see if it's the right place to plant a new Globalscope campus ministry.
When we invited three busy executive pastors and a university ministry director to experience our ministries in Mexico, their first question was understandable: why should they sacrifice a week away from their work and families? After all, missions isn't new to them. They send missionaries from their churches and university, support and send interns during the summer, and are long-time financial partners with our ministries.
This summer marked a historic moment for CMF as we held a first-ever gathering in our 75-year history, bringing together around 175 missionaries and staff for an unforgettable week.
On university campuses around the world, CMF provides Christian communities for students who, very often, are not Christian. Our Globalscope campus ministries are unique in that Christians, atheists, agnostics and anyone in between can find community together. Their time spent as part of a Globalscope ministry, a community centered on the love of God, is life changing.
Our Globalscope international campus ministries started as a dream to reach college students in major university towns around the world, places where few opportunities existed for young people to explore faith in a loving and accepting community. Now, over 20 years later, Globalscope campus ministers are welcoming students into 14 different campus houses, in 10 countries.
Sophie Anthony will soon graduate with a degree in Human Health from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and in her four years of college, she has had multiple experiences that have shaped her. She interned at a church serving vulnerable populations, volunteered as a coordinator at a food pantry, spent a summer as a REACH intern at CMF’s Globalscope campus ministry in Uruguay, and even participated in a month-long study abroad program in South Africa.
How does a dentist from Costa Rica end up pursuing campus ministry in Germany? For Anne Brown Campbell, it was a matter of asking God what his plans and dreams for her were and getting more connected to his global mission.
Tony Cole is following his call to find new ways to communicate old truths to university students in Tübingen, Germany, as part of Unterwegs, the Globalscope campus ministry team. He puts his background in philosophy and theology to work with his love for bread making and good conversation in order to pass on the welcome of God we know in Jesus. When he isn't working with students, you'll find Tony in the mountains, cooking with friends, or reading in a pub. Here he talks about the importance of partnering with local churches.
For the third straight year, several Globalscope campus ministries from Latin America have teamed up to travel to a different location to serve together. It’s called Proyecto La Paz and each year has been a new and amazing experience. In January students and staff from our ministries in Chile, Uruguay, and Mexico travelled to Brazil where they served with an existing CMF ministry and dreamed about starting a new one.
Though she is still discerning where she will end up, Sarah Lemke is preparing to serve at a Globalscope campus ministry location.