Coordinated by three Dutch UT and ITC students who provide consistent guidance as the tide of international members ebbs and flows, today there are over thirty members who meet regularly for Bible study and Christian fellowship.
Most members learn about the Bible Study group from friends or through the ITC Christian Fellowship which offers nondenominational church services in English. Each week, a different spiritual leader - pastor, priest, or professor - directs the service. The church is independent, which encourages grass-roots leadership. For example, when Velma Abuzo, an ITC Masters student, arrived from the Philippines, she felt alienated at first by the myriad differences between ITCCF and her home church. The flexible nature of the church, however, enabled her to take over direction of the choir and transform one aspect of the church into something that felt familiar to her as well as to other congregants. Stuart Finn, an UT Masters student from South Africa, claims, 'Nondenominational works here because of the range of believers.'
BSTwente seeks to offer fellowship with Christians and non-Christians alike. The latter often attend as guests of regular members. The group aims to learn more about the Bible in a friendly, informal setting. Fifteen to twenty participants gather on Tuesday evenings at a member's home. For the first hour and a half, they break bread together. Next comes singing, praise and worship. Then the partakers divide into two groups to study the Bible together. The evening concludes with open prayer. Upon Velma's suggestion, there is now a rotating division of labor concerning Tuesday tasks. She believes that this contributes to the feeling of belonging.
The Dutch student coordinator, UT undergraduate Frank Dekker, depicts BSTwente as a 'nice place to meet other Christian people and to talk about God.' Frank's relationship with God plays a very important role in his life. Velma too describes Christianity as 'an integral part of me' and 'can't imagine life without it.' For Stuart, Christianity is 'the way you live your life... it is a reference point, the moral code you believe is correct, and he is 'glad there's a place to go with a common perspective on life.'
The group actively encourages newcomers to join them. As Velma explains, 'The Bible says you have to witness people, to encourage people to learn about God.' This is not always a simple task according to Stuart, 'As a Christian, you've got to believe it's the only way. If people aren't believing it's your duty to share this with them. But it's difficult, sometimes it appears to be a violation of rights.'
Part of the group's appeal is its diversity. Christians uniting from five separate continents cannot help but bring with them different viewpoints. Among these three BSTwente members alone, at home Frank attends the Reformed church, Velma a Pentacostal church, and Stuart both an Anglican Church and a charismatic church called His People. New ideas shatter the molds that formed them as Christians and challenge their views. For example, Stuart finds his native South Africa to be more spiritual, more in tune with the idea of God. He was surprised to find that Christianity in Europe is laden with tradition to the point that many people seem to practice religion out of habit rather than out of devotion.
Stuart is also fascinated by the analytical, logical debates that ensue during their Bible study, which he believes to be unique to the UT/ITC scientific community. As international students, Stuart and Velma like the idea of a support group. For people who are shy about expressing their faith, finding this group emboldens them. As Velma puts it, 'It's really soothing when you're in a foreign country and someone prays for you.'
All three students hasten to add that there are also many light, fun moments because BSTwente is most of all about fellowship. 'It's fantastic!' chimes Velma.
For more information:
http://www.student.utwente.nl/~ifes/
or contact Frank Dekker at [email protected]
Kristin Zimmerman
In descending order, Velma Abuzo (Philippines, Masters student in Urban Planning at ITC), Stuart Finn (South Africa, Intl Masters student in Chemical Engineering at UT), Frank Dekker (The Netherlands, 2nd year undergraduate in Civil Engineering at UT)
