Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Who is John Henry? What is Haven House Christian Study Center?
My wife, Mary, and I have served with Youth With A Mission for forty years, starting with our initial training year in 1985. Our mission is to empower university students to connect their education, profession, and calling with God’s global purposes, facilitated through Christian mentorship. To achieve this, we formed a team and founded the YWAM Student Centre in 1998, where we developed a university ministry training course that has equipped campus missionaries in nearly 100 cities across 35 countries.
Currently, we are primarily focused on Haven House Christian Study Center — a new initiative aimed at creating a space where students, scholars, professionals, and missionaries can delve into the relationship between faith and vocation, discipleship, and global mission.
Haven House is more than just a building; it’s a vibrant spiritual and intellectual community centered on loving God with all our hearts and minds. We aspire for it to be a venue where students can explore profound questions about purpose, truth, calling, culture, and the future of society through a biblical worldview.
Over the years, we've mobilized hundreds of students from over 100 universities to more than 40 nations through internships and mission assignments. These students have worked alongside various ministries, schools, hospitals, and community organizations, harnessing their fields of study to serve, evangelize, pray, and discern their vocational paths.
What excites me most is helping students recognize that every field — whether it’s engineering, medicine, education, business, communications, agriculture, or the arts — can serve as a powerful platform for advancing God’s Kingdom.
How did this begin?
This vision grew from two lifelong passions: world missions and the university, with a focus on Christian mentorship and the connection between faith and vocation.
I began to see that universities were never intended to be spiritually neutral institutions. A book by Charles Habib Malik, a Lebanese intellectual and the first General Secretary of the United Nations, helped me understand something that much of our world has forgotten. Not only did Malik ensure the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first UN resolution, was passed, but he also authored a book titled A Christian Critique of the University.
Malik brilliantly outlined how history’s great universities emerged from a Christian worldview in which the pursuit of truth was intrinsically connected to knowing God and understanding His creation.
At the same time, I noticed students preparing for their careers without grasping how their professions could align with God's mission. Many assumed that missions were solely for pastors or evangelists.
But Scripture and history tell a larger story. God is the original creator, teacher, healer, communicator, architect, and builder. Human creativity reflects His nature.
You might say the Church worldwide went to sleep and forgot her story. We’ve been commanded to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, yet many Christians seem more focused on seeking rescue from the world. Leslie Newbigin, another significant 20th-century missionary to India, compared the worldview of the modern Western Church to Eastern mysticism in his book Signs Amid the Rubble. The vast majority of Christians are fascinated with end times and the rapture, mistakenly believing it represents an escape.
What have we forgotten? Mission history profoundly shaped education, literacy, medicine, translation, agriculture, transportation, and communications. Christian leaders emerging from universities produced revolutionary scientific, medical, and technological breakthroughs. Economic and governmental systems were established from a Biblical Christian worldview, reinforcing the understanding that God has granted all humanity the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Universities were founded with a missionary purpose, and missionaries were sent to pioneer schools, hospitals, banking systems, farming practices, and churches. In the process of translating the Bible, missionaries produced dictionaries and printing presses, illustrating that the Gospel is intended to touch every part of life.
That vision eventually led us to say “Yes” to pioneering the Haven House Christian Study Center — a place dedicated to forming students spiritually, intellectually, and vocationally for lives of service and leadership. This initiative is a testament to the importance of Christian mentorship in empowering students to integrate their faith and vocation. We received a call from a local Christian businessman who had been discipled in a house off the Stockton campus over 40 years ago. He was introduced to me because of our work with students. He and his ministry organization partnered with YWAM Student Centre and purchased the house.
What is your vision?
Our vision is to see a generation of believers who no longer separate the sacred from the secular, joyfully participating in God’s amazing mission to bring the glory of the nations to honor and worship Jesus Christ. We aim for students to grasp that their vocation is more than just a job; it is their ministry — their life’s work becomes their offering, whether they are engineers, teachers, doctors, artists, entrepreneurs, scientists, counselors, or communicators.
Haven House exists to help cultivate a worldview that champions faith and vocation. It is becoming a hub of Christian mentorship, hospitality, learning, prayer, and thoughtful engagement with culture and society.
I believe the university remains one of the most strategic mission fields in the world, as nearly every sphere of society — including government, healthcare, law, media, economics, education, and technology — flows from it.
Furthermore, modern transportation and communication technologies have opened up unprecedented opportunities for global missions. Technology is not the enemy; it is a valuable tool that can help accelerate Christ’s command to 'go into all the world and preach the Gospel.'
What’s unique about your approach?
Our approach emphasizes integration. We do not separate spiritual formation from intellectual development or professional preparation within our university ministry. At Haven House, we encourage students to share meals with Christian faculty and alumni, engaging honestly in discussions about faith and vocation, truth, culture, and their calling. Through Christian mentorship, we aim to guide them toward a deeper love for God and their neighbors, while also providing practical ministry experiences through service and missions. With decades of experience in empowering students to learn humility through real-world service alongside long-term ministries and organizations, we aspire to help them listen, serve, and honor all people made in God’s image. As Loren Cunningham said: 'The way you discover your gifts is really by serving, not by searching.'
What advice would you give someone wanting to do this work?
Start by serving faithfully where you are. Engage in Christian mentorship by studying hard, learning cultures and languages, and developing spiritual disciplines. Be hospitable; open your home and your table to students and young adults who are eager to explore how to live out their faith and vocation in a chaotic and disconnected world through university ministry.
Missions is not primarily about travel—it’s about love, obedience, and service. It involves knowing God and making Him known, which is achieved by making ourselves truly known.
I believe the most effective missionaries blend humility and teachableness with spiritual maturity and practical usefulness.
Here's a timeline of where we've been
Through the YWAM Student Centre, we have successfully coordinated thousands of people on life-transforming mission experiences. We have organized small-scale outreaches, diverse internship project teams, seminars, 12-week residential courses, and a few large conferences in many places through the years.
MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ADD TO YOUR FAITH...
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
-197dec4.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
.jpeg/:/rs=w:370,cg:true,m)
About John & Mary Henry
John & Mary
Rev. John T. Henry is a dedicated missionary with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) who has enriched university ministry for over forty years. As the Director of the YWAM Student Centre and Haven House Christian Study Center located near Stockton University in southern New Jersey, he plays a pivotal role in fostering Christian mentorship among
Rev. John T. Henry is a dedicated missionary with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) who has enriched university ministry for over forty years. As the Director of the YWAM Student Centre and Haven House Christian Study Center located near Stockton University in southern New Jersey, he plays a pivotal role in fostering Christian mentorship among students. Throughout his extensive ministry, John has guided thousands of university students and young adults in discovering their faith and vocation through biblical teaching, mentoring, hospitality, prayer, and cross-cultural service in over forty nations. He frequently speaks at churches, conferences, retreats, and leadership schools, passionately assisting believers in developing a biblical worldview and understanding their identity in Christ. John encourages them to faithfully integrate their faith into all aspects of life. Together with his wife, Mary, he has devoted their lives to mentoring emerging leaders and creating Christ-centered communities where individuals are recognized, loved, challenged, and equipped to impact the world for Jesus Christ.