Worker Profile: Joyel Allen

Service program: transForm
Serving since: 2022

Assignment:

I serve as a campus missionary to Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia. I am sent as part of a larger team serving local colleges and universities through a large global family of church and campus ministries called Every Nation Campus. My sending church is Divine Unity Community Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

College is such a special time in life! Students are away from home for the first time and have the opportunity to figure out who they will be. The college campus offers many different lifestyles and experiences that students can choose from. This is why I am so happy that God placed me on the college campus. I get to share the gospel with and disciple students from many different backgrounds. These students who receive the gospel return to their families, the workplace, and the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe that if we can change the campus, we can change the world.

Biggest challenge:

My biggest personal challenge is my schedule. I am the point person for our ministry at Mary Baldwin University, so everything falls under me. I find myself constantly reevaluating what is most important for me to spend my time on. I love my job so much that I don’t mind spending extra time on campus or working on administrative tasks, but as a result of that, my work-life balance needs some work. My biggest challenge within the ministry on campus is that we are new. Being new is a blessing for so many reasons. We get to start fresh and decide what messages we want to communicate. But on the other hand, we must often reintroduce ourselves and operate off of a smaller foundation. But I know we have all we need in God.

Biggest joy:

My biggest joy is building relationships with the students. I love them all so much. I love to hear about what they’re going through and being there for them. And it is through that relationship building that discipleship happens. God allows me to speak his truth over them and show them God’s love. I’m not sure why God chose me to do this—but I couldn’t be more grateful.

A typical day:

A typical day for me starts with some administrative work like making posts for social media and getting agendas together for meetings. I try and do this when students are in class. Then I head to campus and I go through One 2 Ones with students. This is a tool that goes through the foundations of Christianity. After doing one or two of those, I meet up with students just to get to know them more and build relationships. We also have a weekly Bible study and a weekly prayer meeting. Now and then we have some fun fellowship events as well.