This was a digital community born in the midst of a global crisis.
When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, TWU took careful measures to care for its community. Resident Directors and dorm leaders helped campus residents make plans to move safely home, one by one.
Those who remained on campus were students who, after exhausting all efforts, could not return home because of travel disruptions and prohibited access to destination countries under lockdown.
At the beginning of March 2020, Trinity Western University’s Langley campus was home to over a thousand students. By the end of that month, the on-campus population was reduced by 80%, to over two hundred students, the majority of whom were international students.
On the other side of the world, parents of those students waited anxiously, looking forward to news from their children, and for reassurance that their young adults were well cared-for on campus.
Across the miles, student families prayed for their university students and for Trinity Western University.
It was at this moment that Janice Nikkel, Director of TWU Parent & Family Network, sensed a need to create a global prayer gathering.
On March 26, Nikkel partnered with Jonathan Fehr, Director of Digital Communications & Alumni Engagement, to begin hosting a weekly online prayer meeting.
The vision was to “create a space for members of our community to gather and pray during this uncertain season,” Fehr explains.
At the first online Zoom meeting, over 96 parents and alumni joined in from around the world.
Nikkel and Fehr welcomed calls from a multitude of time zones, from parents and alumni who were sheltering-in-place in countries such as China, Jamaica, Bermuda, Uganda, New Zealand, and across Canada and the USA.
“This is just another example of the incredible community we have at TWU,” Nikkel shares, “I’m thankful to be able to connect with other believers in this way during this uncertain season.”
Due to popular demand, the first prayer meeting turned into a reoccurring one.
“It was supposed to be a single meeting,” Fehr recalls, “but everyone in attendance requested that we make it a regular event for a few months.”
Since then, weekly meetings have welcomed a faithful core of about 50 people who attend consistently.
The new TWU Alumni & Parent prayer meetings have been uplifting for participants and leaders alike.
“It’s been such an encouragement to me personally to see our community come together week after week to pray over one another and our school,” Fehr reflects.
Several TWU leaders, including representatives from TWU’s Student Life and Commuter Life, have been invited to open the meetings and to provide community updates. In this way, the TWU Alumni & Parent prayer meetings provide a connection point between student and alumni families, and the University administration.
The TWU Alumni & Parent prayer meetings also highlight how the University is a globally connected community.
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Trinity Western University is known for its community. Through TWU's Parent Chapter program, parents, guardians, and grandparents come together as part of the greater TWU community in their own geographic areas. To learn more about TWU's Parent & Family Network, please visit https://www.twu.ca/parents.
The TWU Alumni Association helps TWU graduates thrive together in community. To learn more about the TWU Alumni Association, please visit https://twualumni.org/.
Trinity Western University is Canada’s leading global Christian liberal arts university committed to inspiring hearts and minds.
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