| Becoming contagious
By Hannah Kroon
Guest Writer
Willow Creek Church, a large dynamic church located in suburban Chicago, is coming to Calvin this Friday and Saturday to lead a conference titled “Becoming a Contagious Christian.”
Students can attend the conference on Friday from 7 to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 to noon.
Both will take place at the Prince Conference Center.
Willow Creek’s Web site says, “'Becoming a Contagious Christian' is a highly practical, skill-based seminar designed to help you learn to communicate your faith in a style that reflects your personality.”
Senior Molly Delcamp, an intern with the Directors of Spiritual Leadership Development, described the event. “This is supposed to be a workshop for people to figure out ways of evangelizing, to dispel the myth that evangelizing is just talking to people on the street," she said. "We tend to think of evangelism only as going out to the streets, but we should evangelize everywhere, including on-campus.”
Sophomore Sheri VandeWerken enjoyed reading the book by the same title of the conference, “Contagious Christianity.”
She said the book was about “finding the evangelizing method that works for you. Evangelism is not just about knocking on doors and telling strangers that they need Jesus.
Some people work better at building trusting relationships in order to share the gospel to others. 'Contagious Christianity' helps everybody find their individual evangelical style.
“It is largely about reaching out, forming your own testimony," VandeWerken said.
"Everybody has a testimony to share with others; some just know how to share it better."
All students are invited to come to this conference, but upperclassmen are especially encouraged to attend. Delcamp said she and senior Ben Katt were both enlisted by Chaplain Dale Cooper to be “like the S.A.C.s for off-campus students.”
This conference is one waythey are trying to get off-campus students more involved with Calvin.
“We get the sense that among the upperclassmen, once you’re out of the intentionally Christian community on campus, it’s easy to 'fade out' of one’s career at Calvin," Delcamp said.
"We’re trying to change that. We should look very different. This conference is one more piece that can feed people and encourage evangelism, which is a good spirit to have on campus,” she said.
Willow Creek is an interdenominational church that started in the 1970s with a small group of 125 people, but has grown to minister to thousands, making it one of the biggest churches in North America. VandeWerken, who is from the Chicago area, said the church “has a 'gazillion' different outreach ministries.”
Delcamp said Willow Creek has had a really successful conference in Chicago. “They’ve done it for several years, now they’re taking it on the road," she said. "We’re their first stop.”
The conference is free for Calvin students, but they need to register at the Spiritual Leadership Development office, located in Hiemenga Hall 372, so the planners know how many people to expect.
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