Argument: FOCUS Missions Show Many Ways to Serve

“The world needs people who will stand up for the truth and will lead others to experience the same. Jesus loves each college student immensely, and He's asked me to bring them to Him. What could be more important than that?” explained Sidney Snyder, a full-time missionary who ministers to the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University of Indianapolis. She, along with three other team members, believe that a Catholic missionary presence on college campuses is valuable for the students there. The organization they work with, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), sends missionaries to college campuses to minister to the students there; while the benefits of this arrangement are sometimes overlooked or not fully appreciated, this strategy provides a powerful and crucial way for them to reach their goals.

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The idea of missionaries is certainly nothing new. Throughout history, men and women of faith have gone across the world, made intense sacrifices, and even risked their lives for the sake of sharing their religion with others. Their actions showed a deep commitment to their ideals. While many different faith groups and denominations do missionary-related work, Christianity is the religion that is most frequently associated with missionaries. Traditionally, Christian missionary motivation comes from Jesus Christ’s command known as the Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (New International Version, Matthew 28:19-20). Lamin Sanneh, a Yale Divinity School professor of Missions and World Christianity, summarized, “The faith they received they must in turn share” (Imtiaz). This sharing has made a concrete impact on the world, as Robert Woodberry, sociologist and faculty member at Baylor University, shared in the American Political Science Review.  According to his research, Christian missionaries have been "a crucial catalyst initiating the development and spread of religious liberty, mass education, mass printing, newspapers, voluntary organizations, and colonial reforms, thereby creating the conditions that made stable democracy more likely."

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Now, amid rapid culture and technology changes, the missionary landscape is changing, both conceptually and physically. Controversy has erupted over abuses, and there are debates over whether religious evangelism gets too close to colonialism. Therefore, while missionaries have historically focused on traveling to foreign countries to preach the Gospel, more recent missionaries often emphasize their humanitarian efforts extended to those in need. “Christian missionaries nowadays are relatively less inclined to tell others about their faith by handing out translated Bibles, and more likely to show it through their work… [Many] hope their actions, and not necessarily explicit words, will inspire others to join them” (Imtiaz). Additionally, as Figure 2 shows, more missionaries are doing their work without leaving their native country. This is where FOCUS comes in.

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FOCUS was founded in 1998 as a Roman Catholic outreach program by Curtis Martin, who holds a master's degree in theology and wrote the book Made for More. The organization’s primary goal is "To know Christ Jesus and fulfill His Great Commission” through sending missionaries in teams of at least four (two men and two women) to colleges across the world but primarily in the United States. There, they seek to "win the hearts of college students, build them up in the faith and send them out into the world" ("The Main Thing"). Unlike some modern missionaries, they are unashamed about proclaiming their missionary goals, while concentrating on ministry closer to home, building relationships with college students through Bible studies and one-on-one mentorship. They go about their mission in a gentle and entirely non-forceful way. Allie Fitzsimmons, another missionary at IUPUI, shared, “The hope is that who I am and how I live can help bring others to the Lord.”

 

More recently, FOCUS has introduced nationwide conferences, called SEEK and SLS, to help reach college students in a more accelerated manner, gathering thousands of young people to listen to engaging speakers. Katherine Dugan, assistant professor of religion at Springfield College, explains, “Most immediately, the conferences are structured to inspire dramatic experiences of God and positive experiences of Catholicism for college students. More broadly, SEEK2013 was designed to create a community of dynamically orthodox Catholics who are committed to weekly Mass attendance, are able to pray occasionally in Latin, are well-versed in Catholic teachings, and maintain a personal relationship with Jesus that they share with friends, all the while being savvy in the norms of contemporary US youth culture in which they are immersed on college campuses around the country” (Dugan 153). This is a common theme in FOCUS: bringing orthodox Catholic traditions into and blending with modern culture. Knowing their audience helps them make their message relevant and meaningful to them. One student who attended SEEK in 2019, Luke Metzer, shared the power of this experience: “Every talk I went to, I was just blown away. The gifts that those people they chose as speakers and keynotes have are truly amazing. I can’t commend FOCUS enough for putting on a conference like that. I think it’s hard to go to SEEK and not be changed about the way you think about your life and how you arrange your priorities" (Mauricio-Perez). These conferences have a significant impact on those who attend. 

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Katherine Dugan sees a complicating factor in the work FOCUS does as she draws attention to the privileged life FOCUS missionaries lead compared to some counterparts and predecessors. Missionaries fully fundraise their own salaries, asking friends, family, and church congregations to consider supporting their endeavors. This money funds needs like housing as well as resources that help them engage with students, like meetings over coffee.  A missionary Dugan interviewed explained that they consider the money to belong to God:  "'When we ask our mission partners to give, we ask them to give . . . directly to God, and God is giving us the resources to do this work on campus.'"  According to Dugan, "This spiritualization of finances reflects the middle-class privilege of being able to be detached from the material necessities of money” (53). While FOCUS is certainly aware of physical poverty and organizes many mission trips abroad, it is not necessarily their top priority. In fact, many missionaries speak of encountering poverty in other countries as an opportunity that opened their eyes to the spiritual poverty of people around them and inspired their commitment to FOCUS. For example, Allie Fitzsimmons shared about her first mission trip to Mexico, saying, "It changed my worldview. Returning home, I remember walking and thinking, 'Jesus, I want to serve the poor.' Living in a small town, there certainly were those who were less fortunate, but it was harder to serve in the way I’d experienced. I felt like the Lord told me, 'Look around you.' I saw students at the university, most of whom did not know or have the love of God that brought me such freedom. They were spiritually poor. I felt the Lord said, 'These are the poor I want you to save.'" 

 

Dugan argues, "This discourse de-emphasizes material poverty and allows missionaries to reinterpret ‘the poor’ as metaphor. The tradition of caring for the poor is part of the Catholic infrastructure upon which FOCUS built, but it is being remodeled by these missionaries. (54). These missionaries get much of their inspiration from saints, men and women who have lived as followers of Christ and are considered by the Catholic Church to have attained the glory of heaven. However, Dugan sees a contrast between the extreme, difficult lives of the saints and the relatively comfortable lives of millennial missionaries, wondering how effective FOCUS missionaries can be under the circumstances. While the positive impact missionaries have in humanitarian causes may be clear, it might be harder to see their effectiveness among privileged young Americans. 

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As a rebuttal to Dugan's concerns, while the college students they minister to are not always in the same kind of physical need as many across the world are, these missionaries believe that spiritual need is an even greater and more urgent issue. While Curtis Martin shared that the end of evangelization is essentially "to transform poverty of every kind," many of FOCUS's endeavors can be explained by the Scripture verse, “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (New International Version, Mark 8:36). Therefore, spiritual poverty, to them, is the most urgent need. FOCUS missionaries know that they are not living in a particularly dangerous country and will most likely not be killed for their beliefs, unlike many previous missionaries and saints. They want to imitate the virtues of the saints and feel that they can accomplish this in any circumstance, including as first-world missionaries. They choose to live out a calling right where they are, which in turn helps them to reach students where they are. Their ministry centers on relationships, not moral laws or social justice. Sometimes that is just what some college students need. In an uncertain and stressful time of life, simply being able to connect with slightly older young adults who often have been through college recently can be reassuring. While discussion of religion can be heated and volatile, encountering a small group of people who emphasize wanting to care for the students and share with them a divine love that they have found is unique and sometimes refreshing. The college students they minister to acknowledge their impact: many, if not most, of the missionaries who are a part of this organization entered because they were so impacted by their missionaries as students that they wanted to share what they had found. Peter Nyugen, a former student at Tulane University and now a missionary with FOCUS, explained in their 2018 report that before encountering FOCUS, “I was like a dead man walking, practicing my faith with no soul." FOCUS helped to change this, with the result that he has now joined the ranks of their full-time missionaries. 

 

It may be that FOCUS missionaries will never win a Nobel Peace Prize for their work in the slums of India, like Saint Mother Teresa of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) did. Nevertheless, they believe that they are striving to embody the spirit of her ministry, as she expressed: "Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are - in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see" ("Good Advice").  

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Whether in India or Indianapolis, missionaries are overall united in purpose. They feel that they have encountered a divine love more important than anything else, and they want to share that good news with others. They do this in a variety of ways, from building hospitals to chatting with college students. Missionaries show that there are many different ways to serve and to help others, wherever you are. Advocates of service and missions should consider the benefits of missionary work and consider looking for ways to use their time and talents to serve others in their own way.

 

 

Works Cited

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Dugan, Katherine. Millennial Missionaries: How a Group of Young Catholics Is Trying to Make Catholicism Cool. Oxford University Press, 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1944065&site=ehost-live.

 

Fitzsimmons, Allie. Personal interview. 19 Sept. 2019. 

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FOCUS, focus.org. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019.

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FOCUS. "FY18 Annual Report." 2018. PDF file.

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"Good Advice for the Ages: Find Your Own Calcutta." Asheville Citizen - Times, Sep. 10, 2016. ProQuest, ulib.iupui.edu/cgi-bin/proxy.pl?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1818066176?accountid=7398. Accessed 16 Oct. 2019.

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Greenfield, Craig. "Is Missionary Work Colonialism?" ChurchLeaders, 29 Mar. 2019, churchleaders.com/outreach-missions/outreach-missions-articles/347614-is-missionary-work-colonialism.html. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

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Imtiaz, Saba. "A New Generation Redefines What It Means to Be a Missionary." The Atlantic, 8 Mar. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/03/young-missionaries/551585/. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.

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Luckhurst, Toby. "John Allen Chau: Do Missionaries Help or Harm?" BBC News, BBC, 28 Nov. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-46336355. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019.

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Martin, Curtis. "Curtis Martin - Evangelization - solving poverty in all forms." YouTube, uploaded by FOCUSequip, www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&time_continue=185&v=9qxzUtRpGEI&feature=emb_title. 

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Mauricio-Perez, Vladimir. "What makes the SEEK Conference so powerful for anyone who attends?" DenverCatholic, 23 Jan. 2019, denvercatholic.org/what-makes-the-seek-conference-so-powerful-for-anyone-who-attends/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019.

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Snyder, Sidney. "Re: FOCUS missionary." Received by Monica Simmons, 30 Sept. 2019. 

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The Bible. New International Version, Biblica, 1978.

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"The Main Thing." FOCUS, www.focus.org/about/the-main-thing. Accessed 29 Oct. 2019.

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Woodberry, Robert D. "The Missionary Roots of Liberal Democracy." American Political Science Review, vol. 106, no. 2, 2012, pp. 244-274, doi:10.1017/s0003055412000093. Accessed 25 Nov. 2019. 

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November 11th Draft 

 

“The world needs people who will stand up for the truth and will lead others to experience the same. Jesus loves each college student immensely, and He's asked me to bring them to Him. What could be more important than that?” explained Sidney Snyder, a full-time missionary who ministers to the campus of Indiana University – Purdue University of Indianapolis. She, along with three other team members, believe that a Catholic missionary presence on college campuses is valuable for the students there. The organization they work with, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), sends missionaries to college campuses to minister to the students there; while the uniqueness of this arrangement is sometimes overlooked or not fully appreciated, it is crucial for them to reach their goals.

​

The idea of missionaries is certainly nothing new. Throughout history, men and women of faith have gone across the world, made intense sacrifices, and even risked their lives for the sake of sharing their religion with others. Their actions showed a deep commitment to their ideals. While many different faith groups and denominations do missionary-related work, Christianity is the religion that is most frequently associated with missionaries. Traditionally, their motivation comes from Jesus Christ’s command known as the Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (New International Version, Matthew 28:19-20). Lamin Sanneh, a Yale Divinity School professor of Missions and World Christianity, summarized, “The faith they received they must in turn share” (Imtiaz).

​

Now, amid rapid culture and technology changes, the missionary landscape is changing, both conceptually and physically. Controversy has erupted over abuses that have arisen, and there are debates over whether religious evangelism gets too close to colonialism. Therefore, while missionaries have historically focused on traveling to foreign countries to preach the Gospel, more recent missionaries often emphasize their humanitarian efforts that are extended to those in need. “Christian missionaries nowadays are relatively less inclined to tell others about their faith by handing out translated Bibles, and more likely to show it through their work… [Many] hope their actions, and not necessarily explicit words, will inspire others to join them” (Imtiaz). Allie Fitzsimmons, another missionary at IUPUI, shared, “The hope is that who I am and how I live can help bring others to the Lord.” Additionally, more missionaries are doing their work without leaving their native country. This is where FOCUS comes in.

​

FOCUS was founded in 1998 by Curtis Martin as a Roman Catholic outreach program. The organization’s primary goal is "To know Christ Jesus and fulfill His Great Commission” through sending missionaries in teams of at least four (two men and two women) to colleges across the world, particularly in the United States. There, they seek to "win the hearts of college students, build them up in the faith and send them out into the world" ("The Main Thing"). They concentrate on building relationships with college students through Bible studies and mentorship.

​

Katherine Dugan, assistant professor of religion at Springfield College, draws attention to the privileged life young adults who commit to living as missionaries with the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) lead compared to some counterparts and predecessors. Missionaries fully fundraise their own salaries, asking friends, family, and church family to consider supporting their endeavors. This money funds needs like housing, as well as resources that help them engage with students, like meetings over coffee.  A missionary Dugan interviewed explained that they consider the money to belong to God. “When we ask our mission partners to give, we ask them to give . . . directly to God, and God is giving us the resources to do this work on campus.” This spiritualization of finances reflects the middle-class privilege of being able to be detached from the material necessities of money” (53). While FOCUS is certainly aware of physical poverty and organizes many mission trips abroad, it is not necessarily their top priority. In fact, many missionaries speak of encountering poverty in other countries as an opportunity that opened their eyes to the spiritual poverty of people around them. According to Dugan, “This discourse de-emphasizes material poverty and allows missionaries to reinterpret ‘the poor’ as metaphor. The tradition of caring for the poor is part of the Catholic infrastructure upon which FOCUS built, but it is being remodeled by these missionaries… [FOCUS] is reliant on a middle-class disposition of “first-world missionaries” who respond to the spiritual poverty of college campuses” (54). These missionaries look for inspiration to many saints, men and women who have lived as followers of Christ and are recognized by the Catholic Church as having attained the glory of heaven. However, these young adults live in markedly different circumstances from many of the beloved saints. Dugan sees a contrast between the extreme, difficult lives of the saints and the relatively comfortable lives of millennial missionaries.

​

 “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (New International Version, Mark 8:36). Many of FOCUS’s endeavors are based on this verse. While the people they minister to are not in the same kind of physical need as many across the world are, they believe that being in need of spiritual aid is an even greater and more urgent issue. FOCUS missionaries know that they are not living in a particularly dangerous country and will most likely not be killed for their beliefs, unlike many previous missionaries and saints. They want to imitate the virtues of the saints, which they feel they can accomplish in any circumstance, including as a middle-class American. They know that they are fortunate to have more resources than many others. They choose to live out a calling right where they are, which in turn helps them to reach students where they are. They focus on the relationships, not moral laws or social justice. Sometimes that is just what college students need. In an uncertain and stressful time of life, simply being able to connect with slightly older young adults who often have been through college recently can be reassuring. While discussion of religion can be heated and volatile, a small group of people who emphasize wanting to care for the students and share with them a divine love that they have found is unique and sometimes refreshing. While FOCUS missionaries may never win a Nobel Peace Prize for their work in the slums of India, like Mother Teresa did, they nevertheless believe that they are striving to embody the spirit of her ministry, as she expressed: "Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering, and the lonely right there where you are -- in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see" (“Good Advice”).

​

Whether in India or Indianapolis, missionaries are overall united in purpose. They feel that they have encountered a divine love more important than anything else and they want to share that good news with others. They do this in a variety of ways, from building hospitals to chatting with college students. Missionaries show that there are many different ways to serve and to help others, wherever you are. Advocates of service and missions should consider the benefits of missionary work and consider looking for ways to use their time and talents to serve others in their own way.

​

 

 Works Cited

​

Dugan, Katherine. Millennial Missionaries: How a Group of Young Catholics Is Trying to Make Catholicism Cool. Oxford University Press, 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1944065&site=ehost-live.

​

Fitzsimmons, Allie. Personal interview. 19 Sept. 2019. 

​

"Good Advice for the Ages: Find Your Own Calcutta." Asheville Citizen - Times, Sep. 10, 2016. ProQuest, http://ulib.iupui.edu/cgi-bin/proxy.pl?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1818066176?accountid=7398. Accessed 16 Oct. 2019.

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Imtiaz, Saba. "A New Generation Redefines What It Means to Be a Missionary." The Atlantic, 8 Mar. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/03/young-missionaries/551585/. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.

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Snyder, Sidney. Personal interview. 30 Sept. 2019. 

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"Mission Stats: The Current State of the World." The Traveling Team, www.thetravelingteam.org/stats. Accessed 19 Nov. 2019.

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The Bible. New International Version, Biblica, 1978.

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"The Main Thing." FOCUS, www.focus.org/about/the-main-thing. Accessed 29 Oct. 2019.