christian union universities
Text for Chick-fil-A
Students Deliver Sandwiches , Answers to Hard Questions by ayleen sanchez , brown ’ 19 c h r i s t i a n u n i o n : : t h e m a g a z i n e
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As final exams were approaching , Christian Union at Brown University organized a “ Text for Chick-fil-A ” event in an effort to engage students in open discussions about Christianity .
The leadership development ministry also sought to ease the stress of finals with the free sandwiches . During the two-hour event , students were invited to text a question about Christianity , God , or spirituality , along with their location on campus . A representative from the ministry would then hand-deliver a Chick-fil-A sandwich along with an answer to their question .
The students organizing the event dedicated a lot of time into advertising far in advance , building anticipation while making it both inviting and accessible . A key component of the outreach was the potential questions , including less threatening ones such as “ Do dogs go to heaven ?” to more hot-button ones such as “ Can a person be a ‘ homosexual ’ and a Christian ?” These efforts sparked a lot of conversation among students as they began to discuss topics likely to elicit the most controversy in the secular environment of Brown ’ s campus .
The questions arrived at a fast pace as soon as the event began . Students were dispatched immediately . Gianna Uson ’ 18 , who was part of the team that received the questions , said the supply of sandwiches did not last long .
“ I think we received around 200 texts within the first 15-20 minutes ,” she said .
Many volunteers were worried students would be either ambivalent , hostile , or focused on the free food , but there were no reports of antagonistic behavior during the deliveries , only civility and positivity .
Lisa Yang ’ 20 was pleasantly surprised by the interactions she encountered .
“ There were certainly those who raised objections and those who saw this as no different from any other event with free food , but there were also people with genuine questions . [ These students ] now have at least one place where they can find someone
with whom to talk through struggles .”
Questions received ranged from simple , fact-based inquiries such as “ What were Jesus ’ last words on the cross ?” to those that were interested in deep discussion . For example , in the lobby of one of the libraries , a small group of Christian Union volunteers delivered a sandwich to a person asking how religions can coexist if Christianity claims to teach the only truth . A discussion around truth and relativity ensued with the Christian Union team and four of the student ’ s friends .
Brenton Duhon ’ 19 , who helped with the outreach , said , “ Students were extremely receptive to the conversations and , in many cases , were more interested in the discussion than the free chicken sandwich .”
Although largely successful , the suggested questions received some negative feedback . For example , one student was upset by the question “ Can a person be gay and a Christian ?” and began to draw attention on social media to Chick-fil-A ’ s well-known support for traditional marriage . Although several similar situations arose in the hours prior to the event , student volunteers , though nervous , prepared for the deliveries with prayer , remaining confident in God ’ s moving grace .
And the conversations continued long after the sandwiches were finished and the event had ended . Uson reported that “ some people texted follow-up messages saying that it was okay if we didn ’ t get a sandwich to them , but to come anyway to have a conversation .” Many volunteers , such as Uson , readily gave more of their time after the event had officially ended as they engaged in conversations , allowing God to work through them .
Members of Christian Union ’ s ministry said it was a true blessing to be able to establish a place where students could open up about their struggles and questions about Christianity . | cu