discussion

ZoomProsa - Jesus Junk

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Our coffeehouse discussion groups, Café com Prosa, have been online for over a year now, under the name ZoomProsa. Last Saturday, I took the helm and gave the introduction for our last catalytic event of the semester.

We have been using a series of introductions that seek to stimulate students to do some inner searching, to ask the questions of what drives what they do and believe. We have used some of the classic existential questions to hopefully spark a cord: How did I get here? Who am I? What is my purpose? Why is there evil in the world? What comes after death?

This week we asked the question about what they think of Jesus as a possible way to answer these questions. In fact, Jesus pointed to himself as the answer to these questions! If truth is what these students are seeking, then Jesus’ words should come as a relief: “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

However, we know that there are LOTS of ideas floating around about Jesus, some true and some not-so-true. "Jesus Junk” is a term we have used for years - cultural concepts about Jesus that are deterrents to really getting down the historical and true understanding of Jesus. Brazil is full of these constructs, as are many Western cultures. Sometimes we need to sift through these prejudices in order to help focus on Jesus.

"Jesus is an interesting figure, but what ruins him for me is his fan club.” This is a common reaction for many college students here in Belo Horizonte. While they are not without due cause for such an opinion, we try to offer a way to sift through their Jesus Junk and focus on the Biblical and historical Jesus. We focus on three concepts:

One of the slides used, using the doctrine of Imago Dei - man made in the image of God.

  1. What did Jesus say about himself?

  2. What did others say about him? - including prophecies, his friends and his enemies

  3. What did he do? - mainly his miracles and his resurrection from the dead!

This is part of our approach to wade through the sea of "noise” and focus on the simple truth of who Jesus was.

Pray with us for students who continue to ask these honest questions, and for us to be able to clearly communicate what the Bible reveals about Jesus.

PNP2017 Recap

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Recap video of the PNP with English subtitles

For the last four years, we have organized a week-long beach project with students called Prosa na Praia (PNP). Full of fun, deep conversation and discussion groups, we try to create the same atmosphere of our monthly coffeehouse discussion event called Café com Prosa. We combine the beach, summer vacation, discussion and profoundly relevant issues into a package and add lots of fun!

Our Theme: Skepticism
University students are part of the “generation of skeptics”. But, what is skepticism? In general, skepticism is characterized by a posture that doubts or is untrusting of accepted concepts. Yet, one wonders, is it possible to be absolutely skeptical? The obvious answer is NO! It is not possible to be completely untrusting. The most skeptical person will trust in, at the very least, his or her own skepticism. Therefore, if on one side we have the skeptical generation, and, on the other, the fact that everyone trusts in something, we raise this question: “Skeptics, in what do you trust?” This was our theme for our last Café com Prosa discussion groups of 2016. During those discussion groups, we asked the “If everyone trusts in something, why not trust in God?”

Jesus in the Age of Skepticism
We decided to have a PNP theme that would continue with the same idea as “Skeptics”. Our aim was to present the same idea, yet through the perspective of Jesus himself. How would Jesus answer the above question? Would Jesus say that God is trustworthy?

In stark contrast to our skepticism, Jesus was a man of great convictions. He strongly affirmed absolutes concerning God, human beings and the origin of so much skepticism - sin. While we have doubts, Jesus has assurance. While we have a hard time trusting, Jesus trusted unwaveringly. Given these considerations, we asked the PNP participants to consider “Jesus in the age of skepticism”. Our aim for PNP 2017 was to survey the gospel by observing Jesus’ convictions about these four points: 1) God’s character, 2) Man’s problem, 3) God’s solution and 4) Man’s response.

It was a challenge unpackaging the gospel to students who were in such different points of their consideration of Jesus. Of those on the PNP, there were Christians, non-Christians open to talking about Jesus, non-Christians closed-off to the idea of Jesus and those who had never shared their opinions about spirituality with us. However, we were extremely encouraged to see the power of God before our own eyes: many left the PNP stating a desire to have a relationship with God.

Fun!
Beyond the amazing and deep conversations that took place, the PNP sought to deepen our community through shared experiences. To achieve that, we had many informal moments at the beach, pool, sports and especially through dividing up into teams and facing off in a multi-faceted competition. It was fun way to create intentional contact and camaraderie to get to know everyone even more. It became one of the most talked about memories of the PNP.

Equipping Leaders
One of the most exciting objectives of this year’s PNP brought was an opportunity for young Christians to lead and learn through being room leaders. Our aim was for them to be intentional with their time with others in their room and to lead the discussion groups. The hope was that this new experience would fuel in them a desire to multiply their lives. Our evaluation and the feedback we received was very positive. This was an important step in seeing God provide momentum toward laborers being raised up for His harvest field.

Partnership with the Local Church
This year we invited some young professionals from our local church to the PNP. Having them with us provided the students from the campus the opportunity to see and hear from other people in different phases of life. Also, it provided quality contact with the Body of Christ. Unexpected benefits of having church members with us were the support they provided by serving, prayer throughout the PNP and, also, via encouragement they gave us by being reminded of what God is doing through Campus Outreach.

Testimonies:
Below are two short testimonies of PNP participants.

PEDRO: a non-Christian student who has participated in our events and been involved in an investigative Bible-study. Pedro has been attending our church since returning to BH from the PNP. 

Through the PNP I had an opportunity to delve even deeper into my thoughts about Christianity and Jesus, and I still felt amazingly comfortable to share my ideas and doubts about it all. I believe that opportunities like these, in an environment where everyone is relaxed, should be valued because through such experiênces  we can build friendships, new understandings and grow personally and spiritually.

CRISTINA: a local church member that only recently came to have personal contact with our ministry. 

Participating in the PNP was an encouraging experience because it showed me a beautiful vision of the infinite love of Christ. Being there brought me an immense gratitude for the staff that live a calling to this love. I only recently joined our church, so I had never seen up-close the work of Campus Outreach. So, after seeing a glimpse of their lives, I see how what they do is only possible by being full of the Spirit and compelled by the love of God! It was obvious that they needed to depend on God in many moments, especially in their weaknesses. To wrap it all up, it was an amazing experience in which I could experience the love of Jesus and see an example how we can glorify God in our own lives.

Please Pray For:
* God to open the spiritual yes of students who heard the gospel at the PNP
* New Bible studies to help these students to repent and believe in Jesus.
* Wisdom and perseverance for our team as we lead these students.

Change Your World 2012

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Each year during vacation time in the US we receive students from other Campus Outreach franchises for a few months to walk alongside us here in Belo Horizonte. This year, a team from CO Birmingham, made up of students from Troy Univ. and Berry College, is getting to know Brazil and its college students.

This team is working with both our campus teams, at UFMG and PUC-Minas. Our staff and students on campus enjoy this exchange experience because there are events, out-of-town trips, and a good bit of what Brazilians are good at – hanging out and talking about their lives.

Our theme this year is “Change Your World”, an idea that begins with the fact most college students have a desire to change their own world through a degree, and even the whole world in view of so many problems that they face today. Because of this common thread, we also ask students to consider what role God would play in changing the world, and begin to talk about some pretty powerful statements of Jesus.

All this is in the hope that students who usually disregard Jesus as antiquated and irrelevant to their lives would begin to ask questions and investigate for themselves who Jesus is and what they think about him.

We believe Jesus is relevant, and we are asking God to use us to make himself known here on the campuses of Belo Horizonte.