Campus Ministry Is Tight-Knit Community
By Luke Brown, Dartmouth ’18
Agape Christian Fellowship celebrated the seniors during their Senior Sendoff event in the spring.
Agape Christian Fellowship is providing a loving and welcoming place in which Dartmouth students can seek the Lord.
Agape, living out the meaning of its Greek name, seeks to shower the campus in God’s sacrificial love. The ministry’s vision proclaims that “even the slightest contact with agape love transforms... Knowing God’s love brings us gently toward a joyful surrender and commitment to sacrificial love for others. God’s love creates family, and that’s what we strive to be.”
Liz Choi, Dartmouth ’20, the student president of Agape, said, “When people enter our space, I want them to feel loved and I hope that, as Christians, we can be vessels for God to use on this campus.”
Agape consists of about forty students, mostly of the Asian-American demographic, but open to all. Members form tight bonds with one another in order then to share God’s love and care with others. Many of the students participate in weekly Bible studies, share meals, as well as attend large group fellowship meetings on Fridays. The Agape campus ministry is led by a leadership team of about thirteen students and advised by a faculty member, Sangwook “Sunny” Nam.
Student leaders are also active in promoting inter-ministry initiatives on campus. They are a driving force behind Thursday Night Worship, in which students from different college ministries gather in Rollins Chapel to pray and worship the Lord in song.
Across campus, Agape may be most known for its Teahouse outreach event that happens each term during a “big weekend.” Whether it’s Homecoming, Winter Carnival, or Green Key in the spring, Teahouse is a main event and refuge for many students. Choi shared the spirit behind this idea. “Teahouse is our main evangelistic event each term and we want to share the Gospel and God’s love through conversations, free boba, and more,” she said.
In addition to Teahouse, Agape’s community-oriented events include corn-mazing, apple picking, a Thanksgiving banquet, a winter retreat, and spring barbeque. Additionally, Senior Sendoff, where graduating students share their stories, experiences, and advice, impacts many students.This fall, Agape’s service team worked to create a specific v ision: “to foster a safe space where people can seek God, while being spiritually supported.”
“We pray that people feel welcomed and not judged, no matter what background they come from,” said Choi. It was this type of community that led Choi to Christ as a freshman at Dartmouth. She saw the sacrificial love of the older students in Agape and experienced Christ-centered service, which led to an openness in her own heart.“In Agape, I felt very welcomed and comfortable enough to be vulnerable about my hurt and brokenness,” she said. “God used the people in Agape to help me heal and [help] me to grow my personal relationship with Him.”
Today, as one of those older students and president of the ministry, she wants to set a similar example and provide the same sort of space and community, not only for younger students, but also for non-believing peers. In this way, Agape is seeking to bring positive change to Dartmouth. Indeed, through God’s grace, Choi sees “Agape being a beacon of light on [the] campus through sharing God’s love with students.”
