Marge at Large

The students and I outside Verbier, passing out cookies. Behind us is the base of the Swiss Alps.

 There is only one thing better than cookies:

Free cookies. With Swiss chocolate chunks.

Our first slope cookie and coffee ministry kicked off last weekend, and, considering I have never pioneered a ministry before, and definitely not  in a French speaking country, everything went surprisingly well.

Enough visitors ski at Verbier that it’s not hard finding English speakers. Especially when you have cookies in had. Plus we set up coffee and tea and six smiling faces, which in the cold culture of Switzerland attracted enough attention even without the blaring music.

Note: No one ever told me you can’t listen to Modest Mouse when you’re doing ministry. It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Along with the cookies we passed out a couple of verses that Ben – a student from North Dakota - hand picked for the day. Most people were confused about why we would sacrifice our time and money to stand in the cold and when we told them it was to “bless people” we usually recieved polite but awkward smiles - a poor attempt to cover up the fact that they were probably skimming the parking lot for our mental institution probabtion officer.

Which, I’m the first to admit, many “evangelisers” may need. But I am a firm believer that Christians can be normal. Maybe even cool.  

Maybe.

The amazing thing about the Boarder’s DTS is the group of “alternative” style students that is attracts, not at all fitting into most people’s Christian missonary box. Which I think is a great thing.

They are able to talk to people who probably consider themselves too “cool” for Christianity, and make connections over things like snowboarding, music and art, proving that we aren’t all bible bashing, close minded, ultra conservative nut jobs trying to break out of our Christian bubble for the first time ever.

Not that that’s a bad thing…

But in this European, secular culture, it really is unfathomable to most that anyone would do anything for any other reason than themselves. And the very idea of it seemed to make them uncomfortable.

But our calling has never been to “make people comfortable,” has it?