NGU Sees Record Attendance at Annual Church Fair
Posted on: August 26, 2024
Tigerville, SC—North Greenville University hosted its largest Church Fair in university history on Thursday, Aug. 22 in Tigerville.
Representatives from more than 90 churches around the Upstate were on campus talking with students, providing resources, and extending invitations. The South Carolina Baptist Convention provided a free meal to church volunteers working the event.
NGU’s Church Fair has been steadily growing and has produced many meaningful connections over the years.
“We have North Greenville students that have become members of our church and are now serving regularly,” said Will Cleland, associate pastor at Abner Creek Baptist Church. “Church Fair was a blessing to us. We’ve been able to engage students on the things that we value.”
Joshua Gilmore, senior director of church and community relations at NGU, said the university’s partnership with local churches has been a benefit to students.
“The aim of the event is simple—we are just trying to connect NGU students with the local church,” he said. “We believe that students will make friends, visit a church, and then commit to a local family of faith. This event is just a front door (so to speak) for students to enter through the doors of a local church.”
The Church Fair brought a number of NGU alumni back to campus. Slater Baptist Church Pastor Scott Catoe, a 1999 NGU graduate, said church attendance is vitally important for college students.
“The most important decision you make as a college student is not what you major in,” Catoe said. “It’s where you’re going to go to church.
“That’s where discipleship and connection happens, and it’s a really good thing to spend time with people that are not your age,” he said.
Brandon Simpson, pastor at Christ Fellowship Cherrydale, echoed Catoe’s sentiments.
“Our vision for college students in our church is to connect them to multiple generations,” Simpson said. “We don’t want you to go from North Greenville where you’re attending events and doing everything with your friend to driving 30 minutes to come do the same thing with the same people. We want to connect students with folks who are several life stages ahead and produce a love and a high view of the local church.”
Noting the success of the event, Gilmore recalled inviting Greenville Vietnamese Baptist Church to attend.
“I told them, in all honesty, we might have one or two Vietnamese students at NGU, but they were more than welcome to participate. To my surprise, their whole church showed up and served an authentic Vietnamese meal to the NGU students as they passed by,” Gilmore said.
“I ran up after the event to thank the pastor for being so gracious. He told me that we do have a Vietnamese student, and they invited him to church on Sunday. The student agreed to come to church, but, sadly, did not have a car. The pastor said, ‘But, it’s no problem, someone from the church will come pick him up on Sunday.’ This NGU student’s college experience has been positively impacted by the local church,” he said.
