November 17, 2023/12a

If any Gannon University student is looking for weekly, meaningful, Christian-based discussions and fellowship, regardless of faith backgrounds or beliefs, Campus Ministry Christian Life Groups (CLGs) offer exactly that! This year, Campus Ministry hosts groups for people seeking to pray and share together and a coed Discipleship Group which teaches and fosters intentional discipleship among its participants.

Men’s Christian Life Group Meets: Tuesdays at 8:00p in Kraus Hall (between Finegan and Waldron)

Ely Personius, a First-Year graduate student in the Physical Therapy program, serves as one of the student leaders for Men’s Group each week. Personius’ current vision for Men’s Group is for “Christian men [to] come together in community and grow with each other as brothers in Christ.” His own faith is strengthened by the insights of the other men and “being around other Christians just makes [Personius] want to know Christ more [him]self.”

Furthermore, he is also motivated by witnessing how Christ is moving through the lives of other men. Their hour-long meetings this year have focused on Scripture and reading from the Bible. After reading predetermined sections of the Bible, those in attendance reflect together on some discussion questions and what the text meant to each of them. They then end their meetings taking prayer requests and praying intentionally for each other. For sophomore Biomedical Engineering major Parker Stage, the other co-leader of Men’s Group, “seeing the fellowship of men, who are vulnerable and seeking the Lord, and taking what we learn from [the] group and applying it to our individual lives” makes Men’s Group rewarding and “continually restores and builds [his own] faith in Christ.”

Women’s Christian Life Group Meets: Wednesdays at 8:00p in Kraus Hall (between Finegan and Waldron)

Nursing major Courtney King “first decided to attend the Women’s Group on campus because [she] was looking for a community of girls who shared similar values with [her].” Now, as a sophomore, she leads the group. This encourages her “to build [her] own faith so [she] can share with others and encourage them to build theirs as well.”

This year, King leads the women in attendance through “a weekly guided study on trusting God and becoming who He intended [them] to be.” This guided study is Biblically based and serves as the focal point of each meeting. Each hour-long gathering provides opportunities to build sisterhood and community, watch a video corresponding to the study, and share insights, reflections, and prayers.

Discipleship Christian Life Group Meets: Thursdays at 7:00p in Beyer Hall (Room 409)

According to freshman Journalism Communication major and French minor Jordan Baird, the “Discipleship [Christian Life Group] is open to both men and women, and people that come from different sects of Christianity, so it brings a diversity of thought that…really adds to our discussions.” For Baird, the hour-long gathering “makes a dedicated time every week that I spend thinking about God, and it makes me think deeper about my faith because we debate and share ideas every week.”

While open to students of all denominations, religions, and walks of life, the weekly Discipleship meetings and discussions primarily center around Christian ideas and concepts like “What is joy?” or “Who is Jesus?” After beginning with a prayer, those in attendance discuss and debate these and similar questions and then conclude by praying for one another and for others.

Freshman Timothy Haklar, who is double majoring in Environmental Science and Philosophy, appreciates the Biblical perspectives that are considered when answering and debating certain questions; and the new forms of prayer that are introduced each week. For Haklar, the Discipleship Christian Life Group “feels like a sort of Emmaus-like experience where we are all on the way and asking each other about what happened with the one we call the Christ” (cf. Luke 24:13-35).

In addition to teaching the Word of God via the Bible, praying for one another, and worshiping together through different forms of prayer, the Discipleship CLG also fosters intentional discipleship by encouraging and providing service opportunities on a regular basis.