Although much of our Christian heritage can be traced back to England, the nation has a divergence of cultures and beliefs.
Anderson University’s Associate Vice President of Student Development and Dean of Students Jonathan Gropp and Assistant Director of Campus Ministries Kaitlyn Jenkins co-led a trip to London with a group of students.
The students were able to observe the lives of Londoners, going beyond the usual tourist attractions and into the city, traveling primarily by public transportation.
According to Gropp, the focus of the trip was working with a local church and International Mission Board staff members who are focused on sharing the Gospel with university students.
“Our group worked on two campuses, Kings College and The London School of Economics. We went to the campus each day and set up a table and whiteboard in what would be considered the “quad” area of the university. The Anderson students engaged those at these London institutions with questions like, ‘What brings you joy?’ seeking to move the conversation toward spiritual matters,” Gropp said. “Many students were willing to share their beliefs and allowed us to share what we believed and why we have placed our faith in Jesus. We also used a spiritual survey to engage students that didn’t come to our table. The survey asked questions about how important the spiritual area of their life was and if they would like it to become more important. We closed the survey by asking if we could share what we believed and if they agreed we were able to share the gospel with them. We also let them know about the student ministry that that was hosted by the church we were working with and invited them to attend.”
While the mission team didn’t see anyone commiting to following Jesus, they felt that God used them to plant seeds in people’s hearts.
“We were grateful to play a part in what the Lord is doing in London,” Gropp said.
