What's happening at UMBC

While most college students are enjoying the last of their weekends, finishing up last minute homework, and getting ready for the start of a new week, 30 young adults are joining together Sunday nights at UMBC for fellowship, teaching, and prayer! That’s not something you see everyday.

ChristLife has joined forces with UMBC’s Newman club to start a 6-week course called “Discovering Christ”. The purpose of this course is simply to introduce or reaffirm in young adults the love of Christ and the impact of having a relationship with Him. The course consists of: dinner, fellowship, prayer, a teaching, dessert, and small group discussions. The themes of the courses include of variety of topics such as: “The meaning of Life”, or “Why do I need a savior?”. There are about 30 young adults that come each week, including a core group of 10 young adult leaders who help to facilitate the different aspects of the course.



The vision of this course can be summed up by the inspiring words of Pope Benedict XVI when he said:

"Those who allow themselves to be led by the Spirit understand that placing oneself at the service of the Gospel is not an optional extra, because they are aware of the urgency of transmitting this Good News to others...I assure you that the Spirit of Jesus today is inviting you young people to be bearers of the good news of Jesus to your contemporaries."
- Pope Benedict XVI, Papal Message for World Youth Day '08, July 24, 2007

The Pope does not give us the option; he makes very clear the necessity of sharing your faith with others. Hopefully through this course young people will enter into a relationship with the Lord and it will have a ripple effect as they pass it on to others.

As a participant in this course, I can testify to the impact that is has had on my life and the lives of many other young adults. This past week my small group discussion was about the love of God as our Father and how it is constant know matter what we do or how many times we fall. It was a tear filled conversation as we reflected on our own failings and the freedom that comes with surrendering them to the Lord. We ended the discussion each saying a brief prayer giving our individual burdens to the Lord and allowing His love to free us! It was a very powerful experience for me, and hopefully the rest of the group!