Jennifer Su

Photo by Andrew Campbell

Sowing the Seeds of Christianity


When people ask me why I chose to come to Northwestern, I usually respond by commending its location or Medill’s reputation. But in reality, the decision I made three years ago boiled down to a single conviction: God wanted me here.

True, as a prospective student I hadn’t actually witnessed any hints of the campus’ religious atmosphere. But I did have a supernatural sense that Northwestern would be fertile soil for my faith in Jesus Christ. And I was right. College gives students the opportunity to explore religion without parental pressure, and for me, this freedom made my faith more real, more accessible than my childhood impressions of "organized religion" — Bible-thumping televangelists, anti-abortion demonstrations and countless rules.

Despite my insanely demanding schedule (common to most of us at Northwestern), I’ve begun to perceive the presence of God in a constant, practical way. Instead of being a distraction to my religious life, my activities and studies actually have cultivated my understanding of God.

Soon after arriving on campus, I found myself among the masses of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a large group of peers who encouraged me to take my faith to a deeper level. Some may argue that such gatherings of people discourage open-mindedness, but for me quite the opposite was true: These people challenged me to ask myself why I believed what I did and, coming from different religious backgrounds, they showed me how true Christianity is more than just head knowledge, churchgoing and spiritual jargon. It is living a life both like and with Jesus, who offers forgiveness and a sense of wholeness for anyone who will receive his message.

Spending one spring break doing community service on Chicago’s largely impoverished West Side brought the nebulous ideas of faith I had been developing to a real, hands-on level. Along with other participants in InterVarsity’s Chicago Urban Project, I felt alarmingly displaced at first amid the rundown houses and the streets littered with newspapers and hopelessness. But gradually, through the example of Christ’s love, we learned important life lessons: How to love, not pity. How to give, not judge.

Spiritually, the most challenging experience of my college years began at the end of my first year, when God planted in my head the idea of starting Northwestern’s only current Christian magazine. I attempted to dismiss the notion because of a variety of logistical problems that seemed impossible to overcome — such as fundraising and garnering a dedicated staff — but I couldn’t release it from my mind. Soon, other students who joined the effort shared that God had inspired them with the same idea. When even funding exceeded my expectations, I knew the magazine’s birth was in God’s hands.

Now mustardseed, with a circulation of 1,500, is distributed on the campus bimonthly. Although the staff has struggled to define its goals and its target audience is often unreceptive, we’ve definitely experienced our share of miracles. Once, when we had less than a week to raise $1,000, five of us huddled together in Shepard Lounge to pray for provision, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:20). A week later a $1,000 check came in the mail.

As the editor of mustardseed, I not only deal with issues of journalistic integrity, I also try to ensure that the magazine is an accurate representation of the Bible’s message. In a way, the publication symbolizes the most important lesson I’ve learned at the University — that spirituality and an intellectual approach to the world can coexist.

Even academic course work has helped me strike this balance. In a Russian literature course I pored over Dostoyevsky, whose characters in The Brothers Karamazov contemplate the existence of God as they suffer the consequences of their misdeeds. In history classes I’ve seen how Christianity has evolved, for better or for worse, over the centuries.

Even in religion classes, I’ve grappled with Hegel, who couldn’t give me satisfactory answers to life’s philosophical questions quite like the Bible could. And although I may never find myself in a science classroom before graduation (I’m a journalist, go figure), friends report to me that they often see God as they study microorganisms whose complex intricacies point to the hand of a divine Creator.

Both in and out of Northwestern’s classrooms, God has aided me in developing an all-encompassing faith that I believe will last long past my college years. Through the many fulfilling friendships and experiences I’ve had here, he has fed me morsels of spiritual understanding — an integral part of my education.

Jennifer Su of College Station, Texas, is a junior in the Medill School of Journalism and an editorial intern at Northwestern magazine. She spent the winter quarter at National Geographic Traveler magazine as part of Medill’s Teaching Media program.

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