If you spend yourself on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed; so your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. Isaiah 58:10
At the University of Vermont (UVM) we desire to be an open network of friends who are exploring and experiencing Jesus. To an on-looker this may look like two friends sitting in the student center reading and discussing the Bible, or a group of students going cliff jumping into lake champlain, or a small bible discussion in a dorm room, or a bbq, or spending time in Burlington's under-resourced neighborhoods.
This is where my role as a member of the UVM staff team comes in. I bridge the students involved with Navs and the under-resourced neighborhoods. We have partnered with a local church who has been serving and empowering the youth in these neighborhoods for years. The college students might spend Saturdays at kids church building relationships and singing with hand motions, or they might tutor a middle schooler; while others might be a small group leader for Girls Group and Boys Group. Girls Group and Boys Group are for the preteens in our community. We focus on everything from relationship building, sharing stories, conflict resolution, dinner, community, serving all centered on Jesus.
Through this partnership we desire to encourage and empower the youth and college students alike; to not only speak like Jesus, but to be like Jesus, gracious and merciful. At the same time we also desire to empower the youth to be generation changers, active community members, to dream, and to be lifelong followers of Jesus.
