Faith Renewed

BY ELIZABETH YOUSSEF, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Sophomore Asha Patel participated in the Wilberforce Leadership Program last spring after discovering it through some friends at the Study Center. “I joined Wilberforce at a time when I was really unsure in pursuing my faith and in my religion, and the program really engaged me,” Patel said. “It wasn’t just a Bible study – it was, ‘how can we take this and formulate an action-packed framework of living for the Lord?’”

The program provided a new structure for her to think about living a Christ-centered life with her vocation. “I saw the Christ-led life in a full, fun, and loving way while also studying the Bible in a deeply intellectual and more profound way,” she said.

This year, Asha is participating in the Year 2 cohort led by Madison on Friday afternoons. The cohort participates in different vocational training and discusses different topics every week. “My biggest takeaways are the importance of the Sabbath and a general framework for gratitude,” she said. “A framework for how we focus on what we’re grateful for, and what the Lord has given us, versus everything that we want, and not just shaming or pushing ourselves in trying to get ahead.”

The Wilberforce Leadership Program (WLP) is designed to equip students to understand what God is calling them to in their vocation and how to practice live faithfully in their work at UNC and beyond. Asha is continuing to think about how to live an integrated, Christ-centered life through the WLP, her campus ministry, and church.

“Wilberforce changed the way I live my life,” she said. “Everything has to have the Lord’s hand in it and my encouragement to freshmen and sophomores is to give the WLP a chance, it’s a great resource.”

This is an excerpt from our 2024 Fall Newsletter.

Finding Wisdom and Welcome

BY AJ JACKSON, ‘25

The Study Center has been more than influential in my formation as a person and as a follower of Christ over my four years at Carolina. It started right when I got to campus my freshman yearand signed up for Carolina Way Camp. There, I met so many other Christians and friends that I still have to this day. The Study Center and all the people there really accepted me and brought me in – and were so kind to me and so generous. So many people there have become my mentors, and the connections that I’ve made through the 12 have been really amazing.

Coming to Carolina, there’s a lot of questions. There’s a lot of getting to know yourself and who you are, who Christ is, what a relationship with Christ looks like, and how to live your life as a Christian. How do you be a Christian at Carolina? The Study Center has been so great about reaching out to me and making sure I’m doing well and following up on conversations.

The things the Study Center hosts are great as well. I’m part of a couple different Bible studies hosted at the Study Center, and there are a lot of opportunities to develop your faith there and learn through seminars – on The Screwtape Letters and Paradise Lost, for example – as well as the Fellows Program.

The Study Center has also been a great place for me and all sorts of folks to come, feel welcome, and have a home and place to hang out. It has really helped me feel welcome and secure at UNC. I was a guy who came to campus with pretty much no friends and no background on the school. To feel welcome and wanted at the Study Center, and poured into by the staff there, has made a difference in my life and put my life on a better trajectory.

I can’t speak highly enough of the Study Center and I encourage every person who comes to UNC to get involved, get to know the staff on a personal level, and get plugged into the different ministries and programs there. It’s a great place to hang out with other students and see familiar faces – and I think it is such an awesome, welcoming space because it hosts so many different events and campus ministries.

I thank the Lord that the Study Center has been put here at UNC. I pray it continues to thrive and grow and that more and more students go there to learn, grow in their faith, and have friends and community.

This is an excerpt from our 2024 Fall Newsletter.

Providing a Christian Education

BY ANDREW BORROR, DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS AND OPERATIONS

Education, in its fullest sense, is about growing as whole people. It is not only concerned with learning facts or getting a job, but with fully becoming who God has made us to be. At the Study Center, our hope is that UNC can be a great place to get a Christian education to grow as whole people in Christ.

When students come to college, they generally want to learn something (knowledge), but it also matters greatly who they are becoming (character), who they are growing alongside of (community), and what God is leading them to do with their lives calling). These four aspects of education inform the four pillars of our work: theological education, spiritual formation, hospitality and unity, and vocation.

In one sense, the four dimensions of education cannot and should not be separated. Our hope is that students who take a theology class with us, for instance, are also growing spiritually, making new friends, and being prepared for their vocations. But at the same time, certain opportunities and resources lend themselves more naturally to one category than another.

The following pages offer examples of how students are growing through being involved with the Study Center. Each page takes one of the four circles, provides a brief overview of our offerings in that area, and tells the stories of specific students. We hope you’ll enjoy reading about how God is at work.

This is an excerpt from our 2024 Fall Newsletter.