A United Vision
While FIU and UM each has Community Night on its own night, once a month we come together and worship as one body at either FIU or UM. We also do shared mission trips, service projects, and fellowship events. It’s great to meet students from another campus and build relationships with someone whose story is quite different from your own. We believe our diversity is our strength. The student bodies of FIU, UM, and MDC are each very different with students coming from so many different backgrounds, upbringings, and understandings of what it means to be a Christian, and we think life is more beautiful when we come together to celebrate those differences and learn from one another. This is why we are intentional in having one ministry with many parts, and it’s only when we come together that we are whole.
Wesley Houses
A Wesley House is an intentional Christian community. Students, staff, and other young adults connected to Wesley live together in one of three “houses”—UM, South Miami, or Vista Verde. Those who live in the house commit to being intentional with one another in their discipleship, including regular meals together (“Family dinners”), praying and studying the Word together, reading and discussing books together, and serving the community.
The UM intentional community is a place for people of all faith journeys, ranging from uncertainty of what they believe to fully committed Jesus-followers, to share in a common life where they are free to ask questions and raise doubts, and engage in wholesome conversations about their struggles and joys of trying to live a life of faith. Up to 9 students live in apartment-style rooms with shared common spaces.
Our vision is to be people who seek, love, and glorify God. We will strive to grow individually by pending one on one time with God and making following Jesus our first priority. We will strive to grow together by praying together, edifying one another through scripture, and keeping each other accountable. We will respect each others personalities, feelings, and opinions. We will reach out to our community by serving other students through outreach and intentional friendships. We will hold each other accountable by asking each other: Are you going to God with this? Does this please God? Is it Biblical? We are committed to recognizing and celebrating God’s faithfulness in our lives together by presenting ourselves as living sacrifices for His honor, praying together, and constant worship.
Our vision is to shape our community into a loving, honest, and intentional home, fostering the spiritual growth and well-being of ourselves as well as those around us. We will invest in our individual spiritual growth by immersing ourselves in a God-centered atmosphere and to help us mature in our walk of faith through encouraged servanthood. We will promote the investment in each other’s spiritual growth through holding one another accountable on a day-to-day basis, the regular convening for group devotionals and bible studies, and through the setting aside of time for communal times of praying for the needs of our community and those around us. To do our best to do good and not harm to each other in our interactions, we will conscious of and choose our words carefully at all times, being intentional with one another and asking about what is going on in each other’s lives, and through taking up our leadership role through the prioritization of the needs of others before our own. We will strive to serve our community by serving the homeless, setting aside time each month to assist them. The majority of this assistance will take the form of volunteering at homeless shelters, helping with (or quite possibly starting our own) used clothes drives, or setting up a table with meals on the side of the road although it is not limited only to these three possibilities. We will hold each other accountable for seeking God’s will in these ways by asking each other the following questions: “How is your prayer life?”; “What are you reading in scriptures?”; “How have you been a witness this week?”; and “How are you struggling to be holy?” We are committed to recognizing and celebrating God’s faithfulness in our lives together through the hosting and celebrating of an occasional worship night (sometimes impromptu), a dedicated time of praise after each of our family meals, an open invitation to our home for the purpose of fellowship to the surrounding community and to those with whom we come into contact, and through visual representation of answered prayer and praises on our prayer wall.
Mission Trips
Every Spring Break we take a mission trip either regional or international, spending the week being the hands and feet of Christ, sharing the love of God with others.
Retreats
Offered to intentional community residents and United Wesley student leaders, this is a free retreat that takes place every August where students set the tone for the school year, build relationships with each other, and discern what their hopes and dreams for what God might have in store for them this year.