About Cooperative Baptist Student Fellowships in N.C.

Mission: We create and nurture innovative faith communities for young adults and others

Vision: Everyone has a place to belong, an environment in which to grow, and an opportunity to serve others, in Christ.

Values/Guiding Principles:

We believe authentic community,,,
- - is at the heart of Christian faith
  - provides a safe place for exploring life-defining questions
  - sustains through gathering and equips for scattering
  - exists not for its own preservation but for the re-creating of the world
  - collaborates with other groups
We believe God has gifted everyone with leadership capacity.
We believe in the transformative power of Jesus’ love and its impact in the world.
We believe in encouraging holy curiosity about the world.
We believe faith requires doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with God.

Here is a statement about the BSU from the class of 1998

You Are Here - X

Have you ever wondered how you got here, and how here caine to be here? As you react

this, you are part of a story whose beginning is unknown and which wi/i con tinue on

because of what you will add to it. Sometimes, in trying to discern where ‘ou are going,

it is helpful to know from whence you came. What is written below is

a portion of our

story; it is our story. Take pride in the history that hasJbrmed you, and commit yourself

to continue the story for others.

The Baptist Young People’s Union first came to Wake Forest College in 1921.

Over the years, the group has weathered a change in campuses,

a change in name,

changes in leadership, and in the lounge space we call home, but a commitment to

the value of community and spiritual growth has endured. From the beginning,

our predecessors lived up to our Baptist reputation through active

participation in social change and activism.

Wake Forest BSU students have been willing to step out and make their voices

heard in the university community and beyond. It was BSU students who, in the

early 1960s, helped organize the “African Student Program,” which was a leading

force in the racial integration of the university. Demon Deacons joined Baptist

students across the state in urging the US government to end the conflict in

Vietnam. The work of

a 1980 Wake Forest BSU alumnus led to a partnership

between the NC Baptist State Convention and Baptists in logo, Africa. Since the

start of the NC Student Summer Missions program, our BSU has sent dozens of its

students around the world, as far as England, Africa, and Indonesia.

In 1978, the BSU moved from its home in Wingate 104 to the place we know’ as

The BSU Lounge. Within these four walls, students have been nourished by

weekly Horizons meetings, covenant groups, dinners, prayer groups, Roundtable

discussions. coffeehouses, lounge baseball, and those spontaneous and

unforgettable 3:00am discussions of some of life’s most unanswerable questions.

This is just

a small fragment of the story of BSU. The rest is told in those strange

items hanging on the walls of this lounge, in the scrapbooks, newsletters and

magazines on the shelves of the BSU library, and in the memories and anecdotes

of those who have gone before us. Look around. Read your story. Know who it

is who has brought you here and what they have done to prepare the way for you.

Continue the BSU tradition of questioning, seeking, encouraging and acting.

What chapter wi//you add to this story?

This message brought to you with love and encouragement by the Class of 1998.