Students and staff serve, study in Greece and Turkey

A team of 23 Liberty University students traveled to Greece and Turkey last month. The 13-day trip included both service and educational elements, first spending a few days in Greece to serve various humanitarian organizations before visiting historical landmarks in both countries.

The trip was facilitated by LU Serve.

Students were given the option to earn class credit for either New Testament Survey or one of the required Theological Survey courses while on the trip as well as earn CSER credit.

While in Athens, Greece, students and staff served with an anti-human trafficking organization Nea Zoi (Greek for “new life”), which focuses on providing women with resources to escape both legal and illicit brothels. The group also worked with Threads of Hope, an offshoot of Nea Zoi that aims to teach these victims practical skills to help them earn a living after escaping their captors.

In addition, the group also took a two-hour human trafficking simulation with Operation Mobilization.

Outside of their work opposing human trafficking, Liberty’s team also served through a partnership with One Heart, an organization that aims to provide medical relief and Christian-based trauma healing for refugees and families. This included packing meals, speaking with families, cleaning the facilities, among other tasks.

“I think it was helpful to serve on the front end (of the trip) because it set the tone for the whole trip,” LU Serve Associate Director for Student Development Dr. Tim Yonts said. “The thought that there are people in this part of the world that are being trafficked and there are refugees coming to this part of the world. It’s not all rainbows and sunshine, and even though touring is fun, and it is exciting to see these new places, there is a dark underbelly where Christians are at work trying to be salt and light to people who need it.”

LU Serve Director Steven Gillum likewise highlighted the importance of including service in the trip.

“It is always a blessing for students to see the real needs of other people in another context and to serve alongside organizations to meet them,” said Gillum, who also attended the trip.

Yonts, who led the trip alongside Gillum and LU serve project coordinator Emily Dye, played a large role in teaching the survey courses offered on the trip.

As the group transitioned over to Turkey, members were not able to serve in the same capacities as in Greece, due in large part to the country’s hostility toward Christian missionaries. Despite this, Yonts emphasized that they still shared Christ’s love through a “ministry of presence.” Instead of filling specific needs as they had in Athens, they served their tour guides, hotel staff, and everyone else they met through treating them with kindness and respect.

“My prayer for the students was that our conduct would open a door one day for a church planter or maybe another person from Liberty to do more work in Turkey,” Yonts said.

This was Yonts’ third trip to Turkey and second to Greece through Liberty. After traveling to Turkey in 2018 for a faculty enrichment trip, various circumstances prevented Liberty from sending another group until 2022.

In both countries, the group visited multiple areas and churches mentioned in the Bible, including the sites of the seven churches referenced in Revelation, as well as Corinth, Mars Hill, and other biblical locations they had read about and studied. Dye stated that the visit encouraged her in her faith.

“One of the things I can see is you go to these ruins and they’ve been here for 2,000-plus years or so, but to actually realize and read Scripture while you’re standing there, it grew my faith,” she said, noting that this was her first trip to that region. “In seeing what was here and what’s not here anymore and even understanding that they are ruins now, but our faith is founded on such a solid foundation that stands the test of time.”

“The experiences were life-changing for our students,” Gillum said. “Each site had a different Biblical context to explore and study. The sites provided unique opportunities to think about the principles in the Scriptures and for our group to discuss past and contemporary issues related to the Christian church and mission.”

The university plans to send another trip to Turkey and Greece in 2024 through the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity.  It will be led by theological studies professor Dr. Bryan Litfin, who attended this year’s trip also. Litfin has published multiple books, including both nonfiction and fiction works, about church history and has taken trips to both Greece and Turkey in the past.

“I love to see the students’ eyes widen as their horizons are expanded,” he said. “It’s a great joy for me to take them by the hand and lead them into a biblical story and lead them into a church historical story that I love. It gives me a chance to share what I love with students. As a teacher, there’s nothing better than taking students on a trip like that and helping them grow in their love for the Lord.”