Rob Schrumpf
Lead Pastor
What Does Love Require?
Here we go.
Obviously, COVID-19 is having a major effect on campus this fall, including how we gather as a church, what events are possible or prohibitive, what precautions and procedures will be needed, and the overall mental, emotional, and physical health of students and staff. Throughout the summer, we have gathered information, waded through the complexities, discussed strategies, and processed various opinions and emotions as we seek God’s heart for the campus, as well as prayerfully support and honor the University by adhering to the policies of the Protect Purdue plan.
Presently, that looks like hosting Sunday worship services both in person (with pre-registration) and via live stream. We’re organizing House Groups, where students can sort through the big questions, grow in their discipleship, and connect with one another in a more intimate (albeit socially-distanced) context. We’re encouraging a depth of relationship with Jesus that often gets sidelined amidst the busyness and social pressures of college life, as well as inviting them to look outward to a campus that desperately needs the hope of Christ.
With our staff and students, we are continuing to ask the question, “What does Christ-centered love require?” It is a question that redirects us away from fearful self-preservation and toward the self-sacrificial, compassion-bearing, joy-filled reliance on Jesus and
His promise to restore all of creation to Himself. This question has a way of cutting the through the static and increasing the volume on the Gospel!
With our staff and students, we are continuing to ask the question, “What does Christ-centered love require?”
We believe that God doesn’t waste anything, including this cultural moment; and thus we have an opportunity—a necessity, even—to prayerfully rethink and reframe the House both inside and out. Our collective heart is to keep in step with the Holy Spirit and seek first His Kingdom through a biblical lens that is infused with His living hope and brings grace and truth to the gravitational pull and pain of this chaos. This will likely continue to be a wildly strange journey. And yet, in the midst of so many unknowns, we are reminded once again that we have a God who knows, who sees, who loves, and who goes with us. He is building this House.
