Written by Elaine Naulu
It’s a new season, it’s a new academic year, and we are thrilled to have our students back on campus! There is something special about the first week of a new school year. The campus comes alive again and we love seeing students reconnect with old friends, new friendships begin, classes commence, and a renewed sense of anticipation for what God might do in the months ahead.
Our first week was filled with opportunities for relationship and ministry—from New Student Orientation and our Back-to-School BBQ to Convocation, chapel, classes, community gatherings, and our annual New Hope Classic Golf Tournament. Through each of these moments, God is forming our student body into a community of people who are learning to follow His call and live it out.
As I look back on this first week of the fall semester, I’m reminded that God doesn’t wait for the semester to get underway before He begins working. He is already at work both in and through our students. From day one, we have seen students stepping into opportunities to use their gifts, serve others, and put what they are learning into practice. That is one of the things that makes New Hope so unique. We don’t believe ministry begins after graduation. Ministry begins now.
Our students experienced this firsthand as many of them served during this first week of school at New Hope West and Open Bible Youth Camp. They led cabins, led worship, built relationships, shared the Gospel, and watched God transform the lives of more than 125 students.
For Harry, a third-year student at New Hope, that experience has already become one of the most significant moments of his college journey. He told us that leading a cabin at youth camp and watching students’ lives be transformed has had the greatest impact on him during his time as a student.
At New Hope Christian College, we believe education is about far more than earning a degree. It is about knowing God, discovering His call, developing the gifts He has placed within us, growing in character, and learning to lead others toward Jesus. Academics matter, but so do the opportunities to take what students are learning and immediately put it into practice.
For more than a century, God has been faithful to New Hope. We are grateful for what He has done in generations past, but we are looking ahead with faith and expectation for what He will do in this generation. And that is what makes the beginning of this school year so exciting. God is shaping our students while, at the same time, working through them to shape the lives of others.
The year has only just begun, and God is already moving.
