Every year, the Center for Student Action enables thousands of Azusa Pacific students to go beyond their everyday lives and experience something different. Varying from local to global ministries, over 100 opportunities are available to undergrads.
Local Ministries:
Over 20 local ministries are offered for students to engage with nearby communities. Weekly, monthly and one-time programs are available. CSA wants to guarantee students a variety of options to earn service credits and serve.
Local ministries cleaning up neighborhoods.
CSA Courtesy
“With local ministries, students are given the opportunity to look beyond the walls of APU to get to know people in the community,” said senior psychology major Nathan Mather, student ministry coordinator for local ministries.
These ministries provide a platform for students to go and make meaningful connections with people they might not otherwise meet.
“It can be difficult to know how to get involved just by yourself. Many people don’t know where to start,” Mather said.
Mather oversees children’s local ministries, which includes an outdoor soccer league that meets at Powell Elementary School. ODSL, Open Door Soccer League has weekly practice and games that APU students help coach.
“Another great children’s ministry is a camp for children with special needs held at Thousand Pines called Jill’s House,” said Mather.
Thousand Pines is located in Crestline, California, about an hour from campus. Volunteers are paired up with a buddy and spend the weekend with the person engaging in different activities like archery and arts and crafts.
The LA 101 trip allows students to go into the heart of the city, and the focus is social injustice. It is a four-day experience only held four times a year. For more informations students can email localministires@apu.edu.
“As a participant, you get to experience the parts of LA you normally just drive by but never really get out and go see,” said Kellie Wilson, a senior English major at APU and LA 101 participant in November 2013.
LA 101 group from Nov. 2013 trip
LA 101 Group Courtesy
She said LA 101 leaders make the most of the four days. The group of 10 left the house every morning around 8 a.m. and arrived back the Los Angeles Eco Village, their dwellings for the weekend, around 10 p.m., she explained.
Students visit a variety of places including Homeboy Industries, LIFT, Animo Jefferson Charter Middle School, LA Plaza Museum of Mexican American History, Olvera Street, California African American Museum, Central City Community Outreach and immigration court.
“One of the most eye-opening takeaways from this trip is that even today, many people still aren’t treated equally, and LA 101 really helped me to see that,” Wilson said.
She enjoyed the trip so much she plans to go again at the end of October with her sister.
Mexico Outreach
Mexico Outreach trips are offered throughout each semester for students to shuttle down to Mexico and serve on the team of their choice at a multitude of sites.
Brigades are weekend trips offered a couple times a semester. Mexico Outreach provides longer trips during Thanksgiving, spring break and summer vacation.
Students spread the gospel and share God’s Word in Mexicali Valley and Ensenada, the program’s two base camps.
Action Teams:
In 2015, the CSA office will be sending out students on action teams to 24 different global trips, 22 during summer vacation and the remaining two over spring break.
“We want to mobilize students to step out of everyday contexts, get away from what they’re used to,” said Laurelyn Shaw, program coordinator for action teams.
The U.S. action teams Puerto Rico and Utah take place over spring break from March 7-14. Shaw explained this is due to the ministry partners they work with availability.
Five new trips are being offered next summer in Nicaragua, Lebanon, Paraguay, Nepal and Republic of Georgia. CSA has also brought back the “Reclaim” to the middle east trip from past years.
“The vision we have for action teams is to expand our understanding of who God is and who we are,” Shaw said.
Exposure to other cultures and increasing understanding and awareness of them are also elements to the vision of action teams, according to Shaw.
Not every trip offered is based around discipleship. More than 15 of the scheduled trips work with children. About three of the trips focus on health awareness and public works projects for locals.
On-Campus
On-campus service credit opportunities are available too. Last fall, CSA held a food packing event where students volunteered and put together 20,000 meals that were shipped off to Tanzania, Haiti, Mexico and LA.
For the past 31 years APU has hosted the Night of Champions every March. Service credits are given to volunteers of the event.
To get more information on any of these service opportunities you can email localministries@apu.edu