Pas de foi / Steps of Faith

Coucou! / Hey there!

I hope you are doing well and enjoying some lovely Fall weather! (I'm still waiting over here...I can't complain about the sunshine, but I sure would love to see some fall colors!) This past week has been, like the weeks before it, very full of blessings and God working in exciting ways. I just want to take some time to highlight a few ways our students and friends are taking "des pas de foi" - steps of faith.

STUDENT-LED MOVEMENTS
For some time now, it has been the vision of Agapé Campus Europe and our national leadership to see students catching the vision, stepping up, and taking ownership of their own movements to be a part of God transforming their campuses in radical ways. We want our role as staff to be simply about being there for students, to ask them "How can we help you or be a resource for you?" instead of asking students to help us with "our projects." Last year in Montpellier, we tried to begin implementing several student leadership teams with the goal of getting students more involved and invested. We had some successes, but it was difficult to maintain and communication was a nightmare. This year, as I've mentioned before, we have one student leadership group made up of a core of truly committed, faithful students. We have been praying, hoping, and waiting to see how this new system would work. This last Wednesday at our weekly Bible study, we saw the first fruits of what God has been doing. One of our student leaders, Lucille, is a Messianic Jew and a recent convert to Christianity. Jeanette challenged her to share her testimony (the story of her faith journey) in front of the group Wednesday night, and she gladly accepted. Lucille got up in front of the whole group (almost 30 people - praise God for growth!) and shared her story. It was touching, easy to relate to, coherent, and interesting - everything you could ask for in a testimony! - and many people were deeply impacted by what she had the courage to share. Next, Loïc, another of our student leaders, got up in front of the group to explain the concept and the content of what we will be doing this semester for our Bible studies as a group. After his brief but very clear introduction, he had us divide into guys and girls, and he and Agnès (who he has asked to help him out) directed our smaller groups through the study and the questions. They both did a fantastic job listening, asking questions, directing, and adding their own insights. It was so much fun to be a participant in this study, and we were so proud of our students for stepping up in such a big way, and doing such a wonderful job!

DISCIPLESHIP
This past week has also seen many different people taking steps of faith in discipleship. I was able to meet with Alice, who came to Christ last fall, and challenge her to grow in her faith with me through a study of the book of Ephesians. God was so clearly guiding our whole conversation, and even the area of study! She said the thing she wants to learn about the most this year is how to receive and better understand the love God has for her, even though she doesn't deserve it. What better book to study than Ephesians? This past week when we met, we talked about her identity in Christ - how her value is received from God and not something she has to (or even can) achieve herself. It was exactly what she needed to hear from the Lord, and I know that I needed the reminder as well! Yesterday, my teammate Kimberly met with Christie, a friend of our mutual friend Grace and a medical student. They met up for lunch, and ended up talking about baptism, since Grace is going to be baptized on Sunday at church. Christie shared with Kimberly some of her doubts and fears about getting baptized, and said she didn't feel ready to get baptized because she knows she still sins. Kimberly was able to share with her that getting baptized represents a commitment to God and to living for Him, but doesn't mean that you no longer sin. She asked Christie at the end of their time together if she would like to meet up again to continue exploring what the Bible says about this and other topics, and Christie said yes! Kimberly will meet with her again next week and hopefully will continue to have opportunities to pray with her, to pour into her, to share truth with her, and to encourage her. Hooray for discipleship! Lastly, my friend Isabelle contacted me yesterday about coming to Parcours Alpha (more on that later!) last night, but I explained to her that it's geared more towards people who are not yet Christians. I asked her if she would be interested in studying the Bible outside of our weekly Agapé meetings, and she said yes! I will be meeting with her later today to talk to her about what discipleship is, and to ask her if she would like to continue growing and learning alongside me this year.

Please pray for me and for my teammates (Megan, Kimberly, Jeanette, and Joëlle) as we continue to challenge and encourage students to take steps of faith in leadership and discipleship. Pray for courage for us as well as we take our own steps of faith! 

I still have so much to share, but I'll have to save it for next time! Thank you very sincerely for your thoughts, prayers, and support! God is so good, and He is definitely at work here! Bisous, et à la prochaine!