By Kayla Lutes, Features Editor
Asbury’s campus knows World Gospel Mission (WGM) for its annual goat roast that is put on the Saturday before fall break. The idea behind the goat roast puts on display the heart behind WGM.
Director of Student Involvement Jonathan Powers said, “In terms of red meat, goat is the most common red meat eaten around the world, especially in third world countries. [The goat roast] is a way to live in solidarity with people in third world countries. That’s why we’re here: to help students engage [with other cultures].”
WGM is a parent church organization that partners with churches and schools to help teach people about and engage people with missions. On Asbury’s campus, WGM offers an array of events meant to enact this mission. Global Café meets every Sunday night from 6 p.m.- 7 p.m. These meetings engage with local and international missionaries to share what God is doing around the world. WGM also has an annual ski retreat the weekend of the Super Bowl. Finals week, WGM will put on a relaxation hub in the stuce. WGM is also planning three different mission trips in 2017 for New Jersey and Philadelphia, Mexico and Argentina.
WGM Vice President and senior Hannah Friedeman attended Global Café her first Sunday at Asbury and has been going ever since. “I loved everything about it — the atmosphere, the worship, the speakers, the free food,” she said.
Friedeman has continued attending Global Café because of the perspective it provides. “It’s easy to lose your perspective when you spend all your time in Wilmore,” she said. “Hearing about God’s work in other places and cultural contexts every week really helps burst the Asbury bubble.”
Sophomore Elijah Bachali cited these weekly meetings as some of his favorite times. Bachali said, “There is something to be said for the simple and beautiful approach of sharing stories about missions and offering opportunities to get involved, which is the goal of this ministry.”
Powers emphasized that WGM’s events are open to any student who is interested in attending. “[WGM is for anyone] in terms of finding the ways that their interests, passions, desires and calling match up to what we’re doing. It might be that a student comes one time to hear from a specific missionary. Even then, that’s great,” Powers said.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Hearing about God’s work in other places and cultural contexts every week really helps burst the Asbury bubble.[/perfectpullquote]
“We want to keep an eye and a heart towards missions. [Our goal is] to at least be mindful [of missions] in some way,” he said, acknowledging that the other mission societies on campus may be an avenue for some students to do that.
Junior Brianna Boggs, the outreach coordinator for WGM, appreciates the attention that WGM gives to each individual’s call concerning missions. “They know that the call is different for every individual. Because of this, they have several different opportunities for service,” Boggs said. “WGM wants to promote serving God with the gifts that He has given us, and they have most definitely helped me to find and fine tune those gifts.”
“We’re here to help students discover missions and ways to be a part of missions,” Powers said. “There are great opportunities to learn how to love people around the world. Part of what I hope WGM can teach is that a big part of missions is loving people well. The world will know that we’re his disciples because of that. We just want to help people do that the best we can.”