Understanding Differences

The activist panel grew out of the desire to see students grasp the meaning of advancing ministry at the University of California-Berkeley. The student organizations invited to participate in the discussion were those with fewer members, such as the Asian Political Coalition, Black students, and Filipino students.

Shirley Sho, InterVarsity staff at the University of California-Berkeley, organized the event to provide a safe atmosphere for students to learn about the different communities on their campus.

The activist panel grew out of the desire to see students grasp the meaning of advancing ministry at the University of California-Berkeley. The student organizations invited to participate in the discussion were those with fewer members, such as the Asian Political Coalition, Black students, and Filipino students.

Shirley Sho, InterVarsity staff at the University of California-Berkeley, organized the event to provide a safe atmosphere for students to learn about the different communities on their campus. “Unless we know and learn more about who they are and what they are passionate about, we can’t really effectively contextualize the Gospel to present God as One who is essentially relevant to them,” Shirley said. The idea for a panel discussion came from Shirley’s experience with an Asian Pacific Islander Issue Forum she participated in to discuss issues of faith and ethnicity. “The student activists came with much skepticism and mistrust towards the Christian community. After much conversation, I sensed that many barriers and walls towards God were broken,” Shirley said.

The students began to realize that although they are different, they all have similar views about some significant issues. The students were surprised to find that the other participants shared their exploration of faith and social action. The students on the panel shared what they believe in and why, discussed how to move forward in pursuing social justice, and how faith and social action intersect in their own lives. One of the panelists shared, “I am a Christian but never attended or spoke of church since college when I became an activist.” After the session, “Students came up to me and thanked me for breaking the stereotypes they had of God and representing a refreshing perspective of a God who hates injustice and fights on the behalf of the poor and the oppressed,” Shirley said.

The panel discussion encouraged students to build relationships with student activists on campus through sharing their beliefs in Jesus Christ. A non-Christian student on the panel expressed interest in joining a GIG (Groups Investigating God), a Bible study for non-Christians. By learning about the backgrounds and beliefs of non-Christian students, Christians are better able to encourage others with the Gospel of Christ on campus.