In This Issue:
- COVID-19 and NCF Student Ministries
- It’s Time to Invite New Leaders!
- We Need Your Stories and Testimonies
- Calling All Seniors
- Follow Us on Instagram
Happy March NCF Student Ministry Leaders!
We are thankful for you and all you do for the nursing schools you are a part of and serve on!
COVID-19 and NCF Student Ministries
We are praying for you all as you navigate the changing landscape of your campus and nursing program this spring with the COVID-19 virus.
Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions about moving your NCF meetings online. InterVarsity chapters around the nation are planning for online ministry for the rest of spring semester. We can help you stay connected and supported as in-person meetings are suspended. As much as you can, do not stop meeting this semester. Reach out to me at jen.wojtysiak@intervarsity.org for help!
Here are four ways to stay connected and keep ministry moving forward:
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Create a group chat on a unified platform for your chapter (GroupMe, FB Messenger, WhatsApp, etc).
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If you are still on campus, gather in small groups of three to pray throughout the week for 15 minutes. Invite other nursing students to pray with you. They may be open to an invitation at this time.
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Move your meetings online through Zoom or another video platform. We are currently gathering online resources such as bible studies and videos, I will send those to you as soon as they are ready.
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Continue succession planning - you may not have chosen your leaders for next year yet, still do so, set up phone calls with potential leaders and cast vision for next year. Invite them into leadership by the end of the semester. See below for tips on inviting new leaders.
Discuss as a group how you can creatively be the hands and feet of Jesus at this time to one another and to those around you. I am convinced that we are here for such a time as this and that God can grow ministry through this! A number of your students might be experiencing anxiety and grief over the end of their semester. You can respond in a number of ways:
1) Acknowledge their feelings: this was not how they had envisioned their semester ending. A number of nursing students around the nation are not leaving their campuses to finish clinical rotations. They are scared and frustrated. If this is the situation at your university, consider having them meet to pray for one another.
2) Remind them of God's love and care for them. He sees them and is with them. They are not alone.
3) Ask about their support network: who can they stay in touch with via technology to remain connected?
Let us take heart that the Lord is doing something new in our midst and He is more present then we know.
A New Thing for Changing Times Devotional
Isaiah 43:18-19 (English Standard Version)
“Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.”
Scary headlines in the news, rapidly changing culture, growing levels of anxiety and loneliness on campuses and in our communities around the US - all these real and hard issues can be overwhelming! With the development of technology, our culture changes more rapidly. Information spreads faster and farther causing us to be easily overwhelmed. As a follower of Jesus, it can be easy to wring our hands or throw them up in exasperation and cry “What are we to do?”
The prophet Isaiah starts out Isaiah 43 with the command to “fear not." He continues in this chapter of Isaiah to remind the Israelites of the reasons to fear not and reminds them of all God has already done and all He has promised to do. That brings us to verses 18-19 where he lets them know that God is doing a “new thing."
As we look out into the world we may not be convinced of this. But rest assured, the Lord is not silent, distant, or absent from what is going on around us. He is at work and is doing something new in our world and culture. Our God is so big and so powerful the changes around us might just be what ushers in a new movement of God. We can move forward with faith, trust, and hope in his ability to work all things for good amidst changing times!
For practical suggestions and information please see the attached link to our COVID-19 webpage.
It’s Time to Invite New Leaders!
It is time to invite new leaders into leadership! Don’t know how? Check out our step by step resource. Don’t have new leaders? Reach out to NCF and schedule a 30 min coaching call. Email jen.wojtysiak@intervarsity.org. Don’t let your chapter close without new leadership. Pray, trust God, look, and invite others into NCF leadership.
We Need Your Stories and Testimonies
What has God been doing in NCF this year? We want to know and celebrate with you! Please take 5 minutes and submit a testimony along with a picture of your NCF chapter to jessica.harper@intervarsity.org. Your story could be featured in our national member communication. We look forward to hearing about your campus and appreciate you sharing with us. Thanks!
Calling All Seniors
You might or might not be thinking about graduation but we are thinking about you! Consider becoming a member of NCF. Join a community of Christian nurses that can support you even after graduation. We want to see you thrive in your career after college. Join NCF at 55% off the normal price of membership! Click here to complete the Graduating Senior Special Offer form to receive the best graduation gift ever!
Follow Us On Instagram
NCF is on Instagram! Please follow @nurseschristianfellowship and encourage your friends to do so too!
In Christ,
Student Ministries Director, Nurses Christian Fellowship/USA
jen.wojtysiak@intervarsity.org
