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InterVarsity Prince George Update
March 22nd, 2023
For our Prince George friends, we will be holding an IVCF fundraiser for Scripture Camp at First Baptist Church at 7:00pm on April 15th. This is a time we hope to reconnect with many of you and share stories of the goodness of Jesus on campus.
A LAMP ON A HILL INTERVARSITY Fundraiser link: https://
This season has been a challenging time for us. We have had deaths, family crisis’, broken vehicles and many trails that has defined the first half of 2023 as “Sorrow filled”. And yet, at the same time, we cannot deny the kindness of Christ in this season.
In January, Brad was able to lead a young man in our community to Christ. Since then, he has been discipling him weekly. This has been an incredibly encouraging time Brad and for our church to see those who have been lost in darkness, not only hear the good news but came to Christ. All occurring in our tiny Tim Hortons in the Hart.
We have been having a more defined presences at CNC this year. During February, I spent time alongside a nursing student, serving Chai and asking the question, “How do you car for your souls?” This led to some great conversations. At the end of our time tabling, a student returned and wanted to chat about his hurt he had received from the church. We chatted long after many of the students had gone home and talked about how we can still trust Christ after hurt.
During the month of February we hosted a reading break retreat where we took students from UNBC and CNC up to Smithers. Our goal was to take students up to Smithers so they could go skiing! We were able to take three international students, two from Iran and one from Pakistan. One was a very devote Muslim student. There are many twists and turns about that retreat from broken transmission lines to high winds preventing us from skiing but the highlight was Sunday evening. On Sunday, we invited local youth groups for a youth night at the lodge that was hosting us for the retreat. After the games, we hosted a worship evening to bring a piece of what a IVCF fellowship worship is all about! The two Iranian girls had decided to stay for the worship and afterwards came up to me and said, “Cristyn, this is the first time we experienced the worship of Jesus. It was beautiful!”
When we were on our way home from Smithers, I invite our students to our upcoming Scripture Camp. All the international students said they would like to come, even our devote Muslim friend!
Writing these words brings me to tears. This season, I have been watching Jesus draw Muslim students to himself. It has been a common occurrence in the chaplaincy to have conversations with Muslims. We have been incredibly humbled in seeing Jesus drawing these students with the sweetness of the Gospel.
Our Friday Lunch programs have extended into late afternoons where our conversations with students have revolved around the Gospel, invitations to Christ and to our up coming Scripture Camp. We have been blessed to have our new volunteer, Sam and our friend Josiah Barton from Youth for Christ join us on these Fridays.
March began with one of my Exec students leading a woman’s conference called, IF: Gathering. We booked at room at UNBC, set up a TV and joined with women around North America to watch the conference. The conference surrounded Psalm 23. It was an amazing time of worshiping Jesus together. On Friday night, I was walking around campus. There was a karaoke event happening in the pub down below. And just upstairs was a group of young ladies singing the “Goodness of God”. The students singing gathered interest from others on campus. Some stopped to listen while others asked if they could join. We were excited to see this connection and the impact of worship on campus. The weekend was a big encouragement to my Exec Team as it allowed the ladies in our fellowship to grow deeper in community and in their relationship with Christ.
Currently, we are looking forward to Scripture Camp. This year, I am estimating that we will be bringing fifteen students down. And who knows! God has been surprising me this year. There may be more. We will be going through the Gospel of Luke. Our theme this year is looking at “Encountering Jesus”. The Gospel of Luke is the Gospel for the outcast and marginalized. What we are planning as a regional team makes me incredibly excited to see how Jesus will be encountering students at the end of April.
As a result, we are in need of raising $8500.00 this year.
This number involves travel, scholarships for students and future projects. Many of our students we are taking down are international students and are struggling to pay the $330 for Scripture Camp.
With the grace of our Lord Jesus that first brought us to Him,
Love
Cristyn Bergen