You Are So Loved :: An Outreach Serving the Campus

As students walk on to campus one Wednesday morning, they happen to notice large hearts chalked on the footpath with the words next to it “You are so loved…” As they lift their eyes and walk a few meters further up the path, they are greeted by someone with Student Life who smiles warmly and says, “Good morning! Would you like a free cookie?” The students excitedly accept a little white bag with a heart-shaped sugar cookie enclosed. On the outside of the bag they again read the words, “You are so loved.” Along with it, a note of encouragement from Student Life and the verse “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” [2Corinthians 5:14,15]. Students would have also noticed our cookie laden table and billboard in the Quad with John 13:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”The You are so loved outreach was an effort to show students at Victoria University that they are truly loved by God and that we, as Christians, are so compelled by Christ’s love that we would demonstrate it not only by our words but by our actions as well. Our gesture and the cookies (of course) were very well received by the students. We enlisted the help of the US Summer Project team that was in town, some other Christians, and our local church to bake cookies. We gave away between 1600-1700 heart-shaped sugar cookies in the course of 2 hours! In addition, we took plates of cookies to several of the campus faculty and staff who were blown away and felt very appreciated by our group. We believe this is just one more way we can build tangible connections to the campus we serve at and provide students with the opportunity to be within arm’s reach of the Gospel!