Eli Schotland, Staff Writer
March 8, 2024
This year has seen the return of FOCUS, a space for Christian-identifying students and faculty to connect and discuss their faith. FOCUS stands for Fellowship of Christians at Universities and Schools. Many schools in the ISL and nationwide have FOCUS groups or similar Christian affinity spaces. FOCUS is one of the few religious spaces on campus. Both Kehilla and MESON (Nobles’ Jewish and Middle Eastern affinity spaces) derive part of their shared identity from religion, but neither organization labels itself as strictly religiously driven.
Why was the Nobles FOCUS group founded? One of its leaders, Lauren Yoon (Class I), noted that she knew many other local schools had specific spaces for Christian students, but she did not see that same space at Nobles. “Nobles was one of the few schools that did not have a FOCUS group…every other school in the ISL had one. We had one before the [COVID-19] pandemic, but it went away.” Some digging uncovered that Nobles’ old FOCUS group disbanded due to a lack of interest in the pandemic years, since attending regular club meetings was particularly difficult in the virtual era, and many students did not want to spend more time on Zoom than they absolutely had to. As with many organizations at Nobles, interest in a particular group waxes and wanes over the years.
Yoon discussed how it can be difficult for Christian-identifying students, who often do not feel seen at the school. “It can be hard to be a Christian [at Nobles] sometimes because there’s not a lot of Christians here.” Many students find belonging in affinity spaces composed of people who share the same characteristics as they do, and FOCUS provides that companionship through the community that it builds. FOCUS’ membership is diverse in background and features a wide range of grades and ages. Yoon discussed how FOCUS meetings are not just religiously focused, but they also play games and do icebreakers.
FOCUS is a nondenominational group (meaning it does not favor one Christian sect over another) made up mostly of Catholic and Protestant students. The United States is a Protestant-majority country, but Massachusetts is one of the few Catholic-majority states in the Union. As a result, anyone who identifies as any sort of Christian is welcome. “FOCUS is…open to faculty and students who either identify as Christian or are interested and want to know more about [Christianity],” Yoon said. So in some ways, it is an affinity space, and in other ways, it is more like a club. Either way, having an open, inclusive space is one of the identifying characteristics of a FOCUS group, Yoon said.
FOCUS also has a Bible study component. English Faculty and FOCUS Faculty Advisor Margaret Draper mentioned how she and the student leaders really wanted to have a Bible study. The national FOCUS organization assigned Nobles a Bible study leader named Brian. I went to one session to watch him in action, and it was both fun and interesting. First, we talked about the highs and lows of our week and ate donuts. After, we read the parable of the Prodigal Son, a biblical tale in which a son strays from his father’s path but returns home eventually and is redeemed. Each person read a few paragraphs, and at the end, we discussed what we thought the message of the passage was, what it meant to us, and some other excellent discussion questions. FOCUS uses the New International Version of the Bible, a translation of the Bible that seeks to make Christian teachings available to the wider population by using modern language and more succinct text. I found it very easy to read and understand. Yoon defined their Bible study as focusing on the theme of “what it means to be well…spiritually, physically, [and] emotionally.” For many Christians, the Bible holds the answers to this question and provides guidelines on how to live a happy and fulfilling life.
In conclusion, FOCUS helps to build a community and foster an understanding of what it means to be Christian, both at Nobles and in the wider world. Yoon said that her favorite thing about the group was “being able to walk through the halls and seeing people who are coming to meetings and saying, ‘Yes, that’s another Christian here, I’m not the only one.’” It is very important that everyone at Nobles feels like they have a space to be themselves and to connect with people who share the same identities or interests.
(Photo Credit: FOCUS)
