By: Nicole Alcindor
Every Wednesday at 5 pm in CCN, room 0016, a group of students gather together to study the Christian Holy Bible for Purchase Christian Fellowship (PCF)—a club started in October 2018.
“One of the main purposes of Purchase Christian Fellowship Club is to give a space for Christian students to connect to one another while strengthening their faith,” said the club’s president, Bradley Plausse,18. “And another is to allow for students who aren’t Christian to get a chance to learn about it through reading the Bible and talking.”
Members of Purchase Christian Fellowship Club gather together to study the Bible on a weekly basis with Pastor Steve Magneson, an Associate Pastor from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Westchester.
As a freshman screenwriting and play-writing major, Plausse had a difficult first semester. Coming from a Presbyterian church in Connecticut, he had a hard time connecting with people on campus because he hadn’t met anyone striving to live a Christian lifestyle, as he does.
“I began to think about the idea that they already have a Hillel club, a Buddhist club, and many other religious clubs on campus, so why not have a Christian club that would allow for Christians to be able to meet one another?”
There had been a Christian club on campus in 2009 called the Christian Fusion Club, but it stopped meeting after its leaders graduated. Plausse took the same club charter and created Purchase Christian Fellowship Club.
He hopes that the club will help dissipate any negative preconceived notions about Christianity. “I want non-Christians to learn that being a Christian doesn’t mean you are part of an evil cult,” said Plausse.“There is an unfortunate population of crazy people within churches who have caused many people pain, but that doesn’t mean that all Christians are hateful or crazy.”
Bradley Plausse, president of Purchase Christian Fellowship Club and Therese Biazon, vice president of the Purchase Christian Fellowship club, are both Christians who have met new friends from attending the club
In order to properly educate students about the Bible and Christianity, Pastor Steve Magneson, 43, comes to help lead the club’s Bible studies.
“The Bible teaches that humanity is broken, we mistreat each other and our selves and we don’t honor God. The teachings of Jesus transforms all that,” said Pastor Magneson. “When I come to Purchase Christian Fellowship Club, I strive to make everyone feel welcomed regardless of their beliefs, sexuality, or any other reasons.”
Many Christian and non-Christian students have found that the Purchase Christian Fellowship Club has increased their biblical knowledge and has helped them to meet new friends.
“Purchase Christian Fellowship Club welcomes people from all different faith backgrounds and they don’t judge you,” said freshman biology major Audrey Quick, who was raised Catholic.
“The Bible studies for PCF are very open to different ideas and interpretations,” said biology major and vice president of PCF, Therese Biazon, who was raised Roman Catholic. “Sometimes it takes other people’s perspectives on the same lessons you learned to allow you to see your faith from different perspectives and in a much deeper way.”
For creative writing major Emily Hargitai, who didn’t grow up in a practicing religious family, attending Purchase Christian Fellowship Club has helped her to discover her Christian faith and she no longer considers herself non-Christian.
“Following the path of Christ never seriously occurred to me until after I started attending PCF,” said Hargitai. “After I started attending PCF meetings, I started to learn so much about the Bible and theology from the discussions. I had so many of my questions answered because we put our heads together to tackle difficult and seemingly unanswerable questions.”
Please contact the club president at bplausse@comcast.net for any further questions.
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