When I started with the Arts and Social Work Faculty in 2024, there was one initiative that the committee were really keen on that I’d never come across before as a student or a Howie. They called it the “LRLR Adoptee night”.

It was their initiative to help the faculty keep praying for and considering serving in the LRLR, places which are Less Reached with the gospel or Less Resourced with gospel resources to disciple believers. 

The adoptee part was related to the fact that we have been partnering with the same missionary family in this way for a few years. Michael and Rani, who are EU Grads themselves, now serve the LRLR in Belgium with CMS, working in university ministry with the GBU (the EU equivalent group in Belgium).

What’s super encouraging about this partnership is that the student committee that first organised these events in 2023 hadn’t actually met Michael and Rani! The student committee wanted to partner with them because of their connections to the Arts faculty as students, and enjoyed ‘a very Paul moment’ being in fellowship with people they hadn’t met yet. 

So, 2024 rolled around, and my new committee, fuelled by the vision of partnership as we read in Paul’s epistles, organised another two LRLR adoptee nights over the year. These evenings were great times of fellowship, involving games, usually with some amount of Belgium-themed trivia, and enjoying some yummy food, often with a Belgian link like waffles or chocolate. But of course, with the nights focused on our partnership, we video-called Michael and Rani and heard about their ministry in Belgium, before sharing what we’d been up to in the EU that semester. 

2025 followed suit again, with slightly more punny names for the events, but the spirit remained the same – partnering in prayer with Michael and Rani, but also seeking to encourage them in fellowship over these calls. I would love to encourage you to consider doing this with your church missionary partners – get together for a call to encourage your partners in the work they’re doing and keep reminding yourselves of the ways God is at work around the world. They don’t have to be extravagant nights; one evening, we simply enjoyed ice cream in cones, but they are such spiritually refreshing moments as we lift our eyes to the work going on around the world. 

It’s been really encouraging as the Arts and Social Work staff worker to see how the heart these students have for the LRLR has fuelled them to continue in their partnership with Michael and Rani through messages, photos, and prayer when they haven’t gotten to meet them in person yet. This year will be no different. We have some exciting plans in store for our semester one LRLR adoptee night, even though Michael and Rani won’t be able to join us for a call, but I won’t reveal it now and ruin the surprise! 

Give thanks for the joy and privilege it is to partner in gospel work around the world. Your partnership with the Gradsfund enables our gospel work on the USYD campus, but it also enables our students to partner with the work going on around the globe! What a community we belong to, this global church, as we fulfil Christ’s mission to go and make disciples of all the nations.