Takeaways
HCFA Members' Sense of Belonging
I asked students in the focus group and the survey respondents to describe what they like about the HCFA community and / or other Christian communities that they’ve been a part of. A large majority of students said that terms like these described their experience within HCFA:- “People who I share my life with”
- “This community has helped me have more of a pay-it-forward mentality; you want people to feel the same love, welcome, and care that you get. When people reach out to see how I’m doing or call me quickly over FaceTime, I want to do that to someone else!”
- “I think the mark of a good community is one where you feel truly comfortable being yourself, despite your flaws and shortcomings. This is definitely the case in HCFA.”
- “Yes, I think our community is a loving group with true cohesion.”
- “Fosters a culture of intellectual curiosity about Christianity or the Word and is a space where I feel open to being totally vulnerable”
- “I have definitely found a great community in HCFA, with people who love, uplift, and support each other.”
- “I feel much more included and involved in the community than I did at the beginning. Sophomore year I didn’t have leadership roles while most of my close friends did, so I felt a little out of the loop and would find out about events that were happening very last minute or afterwards. I wanted to welcome people the way I had been welcomed but didn’t know how I was supposed to do that. It took some people taking me under their wing, seeing me and pulling me into conversations and inviting me to things changed that and made me feel much more a part of the group.”
- “I think for the most part it was. I think as a freshman there were times when I didn't feel like I was a part of the HCFA community, even though I participated in events. But everyone in HCFA is very nice and warm.”
- “there is a fair amount of poor communication...between ministry teams I've noticed”
Existing Community Building Practices
HCFA hosts several events, including Bible studies and Doxa (our large group gathering) which are both held weekly. In addition, events where students often grow closer together and build community include programming initiated by leaders to draw students into the community, Discipleship groups consisting of 3-4 students of the same gender across class years, off-campus retreats, and informal / spontaneous events organized by students. My conversations with staff and alumni especially helped me highlight programming that has been particularly successful over time in building community:- “First Year Outreach has been great! We have student leaders who are full of initiative to serve other people and are really made happy by throwing events for First Years. … We did a scavenger hunt in the fall which was a really limited way of connected First Year students during the pandemic. I think First Year students were really drawn to and thankful for that experience because they got to meet other First Years in person and feel like a part of a Christian community.”
- “Having students who take initiative to make people feel welcome is a victory, and is generally true for all of our student leaders”
- “Discipleship groups allow students to meet and minister with each other, and I think that the idea of Discipleship groups has been really instrumental in helping students come attend religious events and walk out their faith together on a daily basis”
- “Work of being a part of the community is not just in specific organized events, but also in the informal gatherings as well...the really informal things that people can do can be the most bonding"
- “Retreats are massively important in cultivating community! Going off-campus with people from classes or your Bible study makes deep, raw, vulnerable friendship possible in a way that is less possible on Harvard’s campus"
Topics to Address in a "Community Conversation"
In the focus group and on the survey, I asked students to describe topics that they would like to address in a large "Community Conversation" discussion held with the entire HCFA community. Some major takeaways included students wanting to hold conversations about the following topics:- Standing firm on your own Christian beliefs even if they don't fit in with the norm (on Harvard's campus and beyond)
- Holding tough conversations about Christian doctrine that we would want all believers in our fellowship to agree on versus topics where we should leave room for people's different opinions
- Important to hold these conversations intentionally to make sure that no one, including non-believers or people exploring Christianity for the first time, feels excluded from these conversations or from the fellowship as a whole
- Learning to love each other within the fellowship despite holding different opinions
- Acknowledging that we are an interdenominational fellowship and being inclusive of people's diverse faith backgrounds
- Major topics affecting the world, culture, society, university around us, as well as issues that may affect a smaller subset of people, including nationwide racial violence, gender/sexual orientation and LGBTQ issues, social justice issues
- Crossing divides and "bearing one another's burdens"
