Prior to the end of the first semester, Seven Richmond ‘18 took the stage during morning assembly to announce the beginning of a first-of-its-kind student organization at University School: the Fellowship of Christians of University School. In his morning announcement, Seven discussed some of life’s greatest religious questions. Seven told the student body that his club would be a “Thirty thousand foot flyover of Christianity.” Creatively named and well presented, FOCUS immediately garnered substantial positive attention from the student body. Thus far, the club already has 50 members spanning all four grades.

To date, all meetings have had a fairly successful turnout, with anywhere from twenty to thirty students in attendance on average. Faculty members have also joined, participating actively in meetings. Going forward, Seven plans to expand the scope of FOCUS by partnering with Hathaway Brown’s Christian student group and inviting guest speakers to stimulate further discussion of major Biblical themes and religious exploration.

Each meeting begins with a prayer. Students gather, holding hands in a prayer circle. Although all meeting begin identically, no two meetings are the same in content. During the first official meeting, students split up into small groups to discuss the meaning behind various Bible verses. Soon enough, some groups began to discuss different religious issues and debate various religious questions. Importantly, Seven encourages this type of open discussion and debate at meetings. In fact, during one meeting, Seven asked each member to write down religious questions on a piece of paper. To follow up on this assignment in the most recent meeting, Seven lead a discussion of what one student wrote on his paper: “Why is god so silent? Am I just praying to silence?” Through group discussion, the fellowship came to the conclusion everything in our lives is actually a gift from God.