Sent to Serve: Vanguard Students Take Their Faith to the World This Summer
Every summer, something remarkable happens at Vanguard University. Students trade the familiar rhythms of campus life for faraway locations, ancient lands, and communities in need, carrying with them the conviction that their faith is meant to be lived, not just studied.
This summer, Vanguard’s Office of Global Education and Outreach is sending students to six destinations across the globe: the Holy Lands, El Salvador, Greece, Sri Lanka, Europe, and Northern Ireland. Each trip is intentional, faculty-led, and rooted in Vanguard’s mission to integrate faith, scholarship, and service.
“These are moments where faith becomes tangible and learning moves beyond the classroom,” said Scarlet Wu, assistant director of Global Education and Outreach. “In each of these places, students grow in both understanding and faith as they engage new cultures, build relationships, and respond to real needs.”
Where They’re Going
From May through July, students will fan out across the world in pursuit of that calling. In El Salvador, pre-nursing, pre-med, and kinesiology students will partner with One ATTA Time to support clean water initiatives and community health efforts, gaining clinical hours while serving alongside local leaders in sustainable development. In Greece, a team led by the Global Center for Women and Justice will engage with government officials, law enforcement, and survivor care organizations to understand how the country is confronting human trafficking. In Sri Lanka, students will serve an Assemblies of God church through feeding programs, tutoring, and special-needs ministry. Business and communication students traveling through Amsterdam, Paris, and Madrid will examine global media and storytelling firsthand. And in Northern Ireland, where Vanguard has nurtured a 18-year partnership with Cornerstone City Church in Derry, students will support VBS, soccer outreach, and community service in a region still healing from historic religious tensions.
Students traveling to the Holy Lands will walk where Scripture was written, engaging with archaeologists and historians to deepen their understanding of the biblical text within its geographical and cultural context.
Connecting it all is a theme that has shaped Vanguard’s chapel year, Isaiah 6:8: “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
“You can’t focus on a verse like that and not feel compelled to respond,” Wu reflected. “Whether serving, studying, or simply being present with others, students start to see how their education and faith belong together, shaping how they live and how they love.”
For Wu and the Global Education and Outreach team, the trips are about far more than destinations. “It’s not just about where they go this summer,” she said. “It’s about who they are becoming in the process.”
How You Can Help
As these students and faculty depart for communities near and far, we invite you—Vanguard’s extended family of alumni and friends—to hold them in prayer. Pray for safety, open hearts, and meaningful connections. Pray that the seeds taking root this summer would bear fruit for years to come. And pray that each student would return forever changed by the God who sends, and who goes with them.
