Meet Encounter: a group full of Christian values and love

Oluwatomike Bali
Staff Writer

Encounter is a Christian group that was birthed in 2010. It initially started out with a group of sophomore boys in 2008 who were so passionate about Jesus and decided to meet up every Tuesday evening in Crawford lobby and have real talk. 

It was called Real Talk because they would talk about school, their struggles and whatever difficulties they might be going through and would end with prayer.

Their aim was to walk through the bridges that people have built within their hearts due to things that they might or are going through and make them realize it is absolutely okay to share their struggles and that it was a safe place.

This went on for a while and then their female friends noticed what they were doing and decided to also start their own group and they named it Real Talkcampus for guys and girls.

It was this way until they noticed the significant growth among both groups and knew they needed to do something about it, so they decided to merge both the boys and girls group together in 2010 and came up with the name Encounter.

Encounter has since then been an active recognized student organization on campus. They meet up every Wednesday in CSU 245 at 9 p.m. – 10:15 p.m. The primary aim of the RSO encounter is to create an environment for Christians and non-Christians to be able to come and worship, meet new people and build a community. 

They are also very particular about spreading love to people especially students on campus as they understand that students can go through a lot of difficulties while trying to earn a degree. 

According to Alexandra Wilkinson the current president of the organization, “Encounter is considered a safe place and it is a great place to build a community that actually care and love you. Our main aim is to share as much love as possible to people irrespective of the race, culture or belief of the person”.

Membership is open to all college students within the Mankato area as it is a good opportunity to build a community.

Encounter is a good avenue to build friendship, faith and a Christian community that doesn’t judge. As it was stated earlier, Encounter is open to all and as a student looking for how to build a Christian community check out this recognized student organization. 

Feature photo courtesy of Encounter Facebook.