Seminarians who took part in the Christ in the City missionary visit were, from left, Luke Meyerhoff, Koby Nguyen, Peter Bergkamp, Kyle Demel, Jacob McGuire, Paul Brungardt, and Isaac Hilger. Five Christ in the City missionaries from Philadelphia recently joined 10 seminarians from Wichita to spread that love among the homeless in Wichita.

Michaela Fullerton, a Christ in the City missionary, said they were well-received during their three-week stay that began on May 19. “We’re very grateful to have been there and to have been able to spend time in the city of Wichita.”

The seminarians and the missionaries from Philadelphia were in service to the poor but also focused on community life and individual formation. “We lived together, prayed together, cooked together, cleaned together, and basically lived our whole life in common for those three weeks – and it went well,” Fullerton stated.

The women were guests of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ motherhouse just south of Newman University in Wichita. The men stayed at a residence of the St. Joseph House of Formation on the St. Joseph Parish campus in Wichita.

The seminarians participated in various trainings during the first week. “The missionaries all gave different trainings. Some of them focused on ministry – we have street ministry training where we talk about the experience of homelessness and how we approach homelessness as a mission. We had trainings on life, the formational side of Christ in the City: a talk on personal prayer, a talk on community life, and different things like that to kind of set the tone for the program for three weeks,” Fullerton explained.

Fullerton recounted an interaction with a woman who shared her faith amidst challenging circumstances. “She shared that she had a big case management meeting and that she was at a point of a new beginning in life. She shared her faith in the Lord with us which is an experience that always impresses me to see how faithful some of our homeless are – especially noticing their circumstances in life.”

Her gratitude and faith that the Lord would take care of her was inspiring, Fullerton added.

The mission of Christ in the City is to love and serve the poor. “The 10 people who are local to Wichita who joined us are still in and around the Wichita area,” Fullerton noted. “When we go to places to bring this mission of bringing love to our friends on the streets, we know that there are people still there who have grown in their love for the poor and will continue encountering them. We hope and pray that during our three weeks there we were able to lay a foundation for that to continue.”