In the Field: Compelling Christianity

The lights go out. In the front, only the strands of blue and white Christmas lights remain lit. The band begins to play a mix of contemporary songs and classic hymns. Students spread out to give themselves space to kneel or raise their hands. The band has asked to lead a worship night for service this week, the first Thursday after Easter.

At the back of the room, Amber Farhat has been manning a table since the band ended practice an hour ago, available for anyone who wanted to buy a t-shirt or water bottle. But now she steps away from the table. She worships, and she waits. Then a student approaches. She places her hands on the girl's shoulders and begins to pray.  As she prays, you can see the joy and love she has for this student in her smile. She's still praying as the music ends.

It is quite the change from when Amber first started working with Chi Alpha at Saint Louis University (SLU) in 2013. First of all, she made it to campus, unlike the first time she tried to attend service and her car stalled on the highway exit ramp. Secondly, she knows which building to go to. When she first came to SLU, she was told to go into the building with the flags around it and she would find them. What she didn't know until she got there was that SLU has two buildings with flags on top of them -- right next to each other. But more importantly, she has a relationship with the students.

"I honestly was afraid to even talk to people sometimes," Amber says of her first semester on campus. "I just remember sitting down with people and afterward walking away from the night and thinking they will probably not come back because they were too weirded out by me and Chi Alpha in general."

Amber was a student in Mizzou Chi Alpha when she was called into missions. At a regional conference, she heard a missionary speak about the need in Wales, so after graduation she went. "I never thought that this is what I'd be doing; I never thought that I'd be a missionary," Amber said. "But multiple times as a student God told me He wanted me to go to Wales to work there with a church planter, and I finally decided to listen. So I spent a year doing that. I always just felt like the next thing was going to be coming back and working with Chi Alpha."

As the end of her one-year term in Wales neared, her Chi Alpha pastors helped her connect with Matt and Tracy Herman. She met with the Hermans three days after returning to the United States and decided to volunteer with them as they pioneered SLU Chi Alpha. The following school year, she stepped onto staff as a campus missionary associate. She is now in her fourth year on campus.

Group photo from Chi Alpha's first fall retreat, 2014
Photo courtesy of Amber Farhat

When SLU Chi Alpha was first starting in 2013, students would tell the pastor they had been looking for a similar group on campus for three years and not found one. Saint Louis University is a traditionally Jesuit school. Catholic mass is held in each dorm. Students are required to take a theology course. Still, Amber says it is "shockingly secular." In talking about the challenges of ministering on the campus she said, "When more than two-thirds of your campus, and closer to three-fourths of your campus has some sort of Christian background, you would think that faith would play a lot more important of a role in people's lives. And it just doesn't."

To help students make their faith a part of their every day lives, Amber and the Hermans meet with them for one on ones. During these meetings, they are "able to have deep, serious, one-on-one conversations, where you're authentic," Amber said. "You can be accountable to each other, where Jesus and faith are talked about in depth and people are really challenged to consider what does their faith actually mean."

Amber with members of her 2015-2016 community group
Photo courtesy of Amber Farhat

 Amber meets with students in her community group and leaders of the other girls' groups. Those leaders, in turn, meet with members of their own community groups. She refers to it as their discipleship model and says she was prepared for it by what she learned during her time as a student in Mizzou Chi Alpha.

"There was a sermon that we listed to, a podcast, where the pastor said, 'You have to live a life in pursuit of Jesus that's so compelling that people want to live it alongside of you'," she recalls. "That was what I always saw demonstrated as a student in Chi Alpha. That's what I learned how to do in Chi Alpha, and that's what I want to be for the students in the Chi Alpha I work with."

Last year, she told one young woman that she saw the potential for her to be on the discipleship team if she was more connected. "Over the last year, I've watched her really take hold of that," Amber said. "She's very evangelistic. It's really important to her to share her faith, and she wants to do it in a relational way, not just street evangelism." So this year, the student joined another campus group that was started so people could talk about spiritual topics. She met with one of the other members to discuss prayer and ended up telling her what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus. "This girl's not even technically on our discipleship team," Amber said. "She's just someone who I think has grown leaps and bounds in terms of wanting to really lead." Next year, that student will be on the discipleship team.

Discipleship team for the 2016-2017 school year
Photo courtesy of Amber Farhat

"One of the things we talk about fairly often is that our goal is not to create a church, like a campus church, but rather to build a system where people are equipped and can be sent out," Amber says about the purpose of Chi Alpha at SLU. "We don't want to have the best Christian experience happening for our students on campus, and then they graduate and all they can do is think about how much they love their Chi Alpha. Rather, we want them to go off and feel like they're in a place where they can join a church and serve."

Amber with girls from the class of 2017,
at the end of their junior year
Photo courtesy of Amber Farhat

And this year, they'll be sending out nine. Because this is SLU Chi Alpha's fourth year on campus, this will be the first year students graduate who joined the ministry as freshman. Of the nine graduating, seven of them have been involved all four years of school. "We did get, I think, some of the best freshman you can get when you're pioneering on a campus," Amber said. "They'll be missed. They've done a good job, and I would say we could not be where we're at if we did not have them as part of our group."

Four years ago, SLU Chi Alpha started with fewer than 20 students. Next year, there will 25 people on the discipleship team alone. Because nine people are graduating, only eight of the 25 have led a community group before. "It definitely is going to have a feeling of starting fresh to it," Amber said. "As much as I will miss the seniors, I know it's going to be great."

 Prayer requests from Amber:

• Fundraising for herself. Amber's goal is to move closer to campus so she can be full time, and how much support she raises will determine how involved she can be.
• Fundraising for next year's new staff member
• The transition into next school year

If you would like to learn more about Amber's work or support her, you can email me at nicoleejones14@gmail.com or email her directly at adfarhat45@gmail.com.

Group photo from Chi Alpha's most recent retreat, spring 2017
Photo courtesy of Amber Farhat

In Christ Alone

Picture a perfect world. No children dying of starvation. No war. No sickness. No death (not even of your beloved pets). No crime. Everyone sharing. The most beautiful, clear skies, beaches, rivers and streams you've even seen because there is no pollution.

Now let's make it a little more personal. Picture your life exactly as you want it. Your heart has never been broken. You have your dream home and your dream job. You're married, if you want to be. Any children you might have never get into trouble or talk back to you.

Sounds pretty great, right? Here's the catch.

Jesus isn't in it. 

Still sound great? Do you still want that life?

Hopefully, your answer is no. I think for most Christians, it's easy to say that it wouldn't really be a perfect world without our Savior. It's easy to say that we can't live without Him. But what if we took that further?

If all you had was Jesus, would that be enough? Personally, I have a harder time saying yes to that than I do saying no to the first question. And that challenges me.

If everything I ever wanted doesn't satisfy without Christ, then it should be clear that He is all I need. But for some reason, I still find myself looking for more. I find myself looking for fulfillment in my job or my relationships or my accomplishments. I even find myself telling God I need those things or that I need something different in them.

Until my focus is on Him. When my eyes are on Him - not on what I don't have - I find that my life is much more fulfilling. I see how He's using me in my job and not just where I'm lacking. I feel the love of the friends and family He has given me and don't just think of how many of them live far away. I remember that in God's eyes, obedience to Him is the greatest accomplishment I could ever achieve.

The same can be true for you. When our focus is on God, He suddenly becomes bigger than anything we think we're lacking, and He fills the space we think is empty. We learn that if we have Him, we have everything we need.

Join the conversation: What things do you find yourself looking to for fulfillment? What can you do to bring your focus back to God when you start to try to fill your life or your heart with other things?