Every year Halbert Missions Center hosts Missions Week – an event designed to serve those at ACU and beyond. Set to take place Sept. 20 -25, this year’s event will feature favorites such as a coffee meet and greet, an interactive prayer night and service day. Notable additions include a Hispanos Unidos concert, local food trucks and guest speakers.
“Missions Week will run the entire gamut, from having fun, to cross-cultural learning, to serious spiritual reflection,” Larry Henderson, bible professor, said.
Students can expect different activities to take place each night Monday through Saturday, with an emphasis on community service, growing spiritually and challenging perspectives. Clubs on campus are encouraged to show up and share their respective missions with attendees.
The Halbert Missions Center connects students with both global and local opportunities to participate in ministry. Though they host trips to destinations around the world, Missions Week brings the culture home with an emphasis on exposing attendees to different perspectives. Through conversation over coffee to a game night – each day will connect students with new ideas and service opportunities.
“Missions Week is special because it helps showcase the diversity we have on campus,” Henderson said. “We have students from different backgrounds, with different talents and tastes, but so much more in common.”
There will be many opportunities for students to learn, particularly from guest speakers set to be present in chapel Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Among the group include ACU Alumni Kelly Davidson and John Mark, a father and son who have done extensive mission work in Thailand and Peru. Tuesday’s Coffee Meet and Greet will function similarly, with coffees from around the world available to taste and discuss mission work over. Local non-profits, on campus clubs and international missions will all set up stations to advertise their ministry.
For those who favor a more involved role, the annual Colossians 3:23 Collective Street Show is open for the first time to all who are interested in showcasing their talents for students, faculty and staff. This year’s show will feature live music, food trucks and a variety of interactive stations on the Quad.
“The focus of the night is how God can use skills and talents for his missions,” said Dodd Roberts, director of the Halbert Missions Center.
Though each night is designed to engage attendees, there are plenty of other ways for students to get involved during the day. Saturday’s event will feature service projects taking place both on and off campus at various times. The idea is to demonstrate how students can participate in missions on an everyday basis, whether it takes place across the world or close to home.
“We’re trying to generate awareness of opportunities for students to live missionally,” Roberts said.
This year’s Missions Week will offer plenty of chances for students to put this into practice on campus.
