The Third Degree

Widnes College Christian Union - possibly the smallest CU in the world.

Both members meet in a shabby classroom every Tuesday lunchtime for prayer and Bible study, led by their FE (further education) CU staff worker, Martin Povey. 'Not exactly the cutting edge of campus-based evangelism', you might be thinking.

Except that recently, the bunch of 'A' level philosophy students who have their afternoon lesson in said classroom have been coming early to eat their sandwiches and discuss Christianity, turning the otherwise tiny CU meeting into a kind of evangelistic symposium.

Exeter University Christian Union is certainly not the biggest CU in the world, but large enough to host their annual Christmas Carol service at the home of the mighty Exeter City FC, where over 3,500 people crammed in last December, to sing the old favourites and hear a clear presentation of the gospel.

Meet the family

Two CUs that may appear to exist in different worlds, but in reality are far more closely linked than one might think. For example, both groups share the same convictions that the apostolic gospel is true and therefore at the very heart of what they do and who they are. And both exist in order to see students submit their lives and thinking to God's word, live in dependence on him and reach fellow students by proclaiming the good news.

Add in another 258 CUs, ranging from just a handful to several hundred in number, plus a significant bunch of relay workers and staff led by the Director, Richard Cunningham, and you'll get a feel for the size of the UCCF family.

It might have been tempting, therefore (bolstered by the knowledge that thousands of supporters, the 'extended family' if you like, pray and give so faithfully), to have eased through our 75th anniversary year in a state of backslapping complacency. But I think it's fair to say that we were all convinced of three things:

1. Anything that UCCF has usefully done in the past has been achieved under God, by his grace alone and in spite of our profound weaknesses.

2. That our ambition and vision for gospel growth needs to keep apace with the ever-expanding harvest field that we are working in. The fact that the Government intends to see 50% of school leavers attending college or university by 2010 presents us with a colossal challenge.

3. That our society is as antagonistic as ever towards authentic Christianity, to which our response must be that of persuasive and uncompromising gospel proclamation.

Making the most of life

And so our 75th anniversary year kicked off with the launch of the life gospel project, in which CU members distributed 400,000 copies of John's Gospel, specifically formatted and designed for students.

The number one rule of the life project was to give out the gospels in such a way that there was a good chance of them actually being read. In other words, no sneaking down corridors in the dead of night, ninja-like, slipping gospels under neighbour's doors.

What this resulted in was a greater sense of dependence upon God and a whole movement of students driven to prayer. For the Christian students, it was a great opportunity to be part of a nationwide evangelistic initiative, and for many, learn for the first time what it means to share their faith.

Great stories emerged of Christian students wanting to know the content of the gospel before they handed it out to their friends. For example, the leaders of Newcastle CU were so concerned to train students in knowing their way around the gospel, that they designed a poster to stick on CU members' walls reminding them how to share the gospel from John. The idea spread and the initial plan to make 130 copies turned into a print run of 6,000.

Over 40 university missions used the life theme last year and CU members in their hundreds experienced a renewed determination to win their friends for Christ. Indeed many throughout the country were wonderfully converted.

But the influence of life hasn't just been limited to our shores. At least 35 IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) movements around the world have taken up, or are planning to take up, the idea and launch their own life initiatives.

Our relationship with IFES, however (which incidentally does boast the largest CU in the world - a weekly gathering of 3,000 in Rwanda, led by a graduate who was converted through Swansea CU), isn't just about the sharing of ideas. As soon as the 'mission season' was drawing to a close last year, large numbers of staff and students started to plan in earnest their summer mission trips to 14 different countries.

These 'summer teams' are just brilliant for opening one's eyes to the scale and scope of the global mission field. Not surprising, then, that many of the students who have been on a summer team have graduated and moved overseas to work with the IFES movement they'd previously visited. Lindsay Brown, General Secretary of IFES, said: 'The story has not yet been fully told of the contribution which these young graduates of the British student movement have made to the advance of the gospel over the last 15 years.'

A typical trip will involve taking around 15 British students to camps that, as a rule, redefine the word 'basic' and are quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Christian students from the partnering country will bring a load of their non-Christian friends for a week or more of holiday, English lessons given conveniently in the form of evangelistic Bible studies and painful introductions to British culture!

A fresh start

There wasn't too much time for a rest, before the new academic year started. For 60 recent graduates, this meant the start of their life as a 'relay worker'. This is a year-long programme of discipleship training and ministry experience, which for the vast majority is simply life-changing. For the CUs, September meant one thing: freshers.

The first few weeks at university are undoubtedly key. It is a time when new friendships are tentatively made (though often lasting for life) and new opportunities are explored. It is also a time for the CUs to get seriously active. Take, for example, Edinburgh University. The Christian Union put together some 'welcome packs' to give to the new arrivals (who are always on the scrounge for free pens and the like in Freshers week) on the condition that they took part in their survey about religious beliefs. In the first two hours, 1,000 packs had been given out and over 250 students were subsequently followed up.

And so as the new term got under way, so did the many and varied activities of the Christian Unions: evangelism training days; weekly CU meetings; Christianity Explored, Student Alpha and Discovering Christianity groups, house parties, lunch bars and much more.

30-minute cold contact

A 'lunch bar' is the name given to events that are held in easy-to-reach venues, with lunch provided and a short talk given in order to give clear answers to the questions that students are asking about Christianity. So, for example, in the 15 minutes before a lunch bar talk begins, an entire campus would be blitzed with flyers inviting people to a 'free lunch and a short talk on 'Tsunami: Doesn't God care?' With a title like that, it isn't difficult, or rare, to get well over 100 non-Christians along, through cold contact, in less than 30 minutes.

The benefit of these events isn't just to engage unbelievers and show them that Christianity is the only way through which these big questions can be reasonably answered, but to provide a gateway to the gospel. In other words it is to introduce them to Jesus Christ.

The Christians also benefit through this, and all the other forms of evangelism they get involved in, by learning what it means to 'demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God' (and we trust that our soon-to-be-launched apologetics website will be a vital resource in this area). But more than that, it teaches them to pray for and love the lost, trusting that the gospel is indeed 'the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes'.

Looking forward...

Of course, our goal is not simply to put on lots of training and evangelistic 'events'. We want to help our students work out how to bring their faith to bear on all areas of their lives: their sports teams, their halls of residence, in the societies of every description and, of course, their academic studies where every thought is to be taken captive for Christ. And we want to help each generation of Christian students become young men and women who love God, love his Word and love each other. One other factor that links the Exeter and Widnes CUs is that both are committed to uniting students from all sorts of church backgrounds and denominations who will confess the fundamental truths of the faith (as expressed in the Doctrinal Basis) and stand together in gospel unity.

2004 closed with thousands of students all over the country attending carol services, with several CUs managing to pack out entire cathedrals! And now we find ourselves, once again, in the middle of a term jam-packed with missions and training weekends, looking forward to the excellent student track lined up for this year's Word Alive. The planning for the annual CU leaders conference, 'Forum' is already well under way with Terry Virgo and Vaughan Roberts lined up to speak. And on it goes...

And so, as we thank God for the blessings of the past year, we look to him alone to lead us through the year ahead. Please would you pray for us?

If you want to know more about the work, contact the UCCF office (0116 2551700) and ask for an annual report. Also, your nearest staff worker will be happy to take a church missionary or prayer meeting, particularly in May when students will be busy swotting for exams!

Ken Cowen is the North West Team Leader for UCCF and is based in Liverpool.

The big 'seven five' - UCCF's best year ever!

Meet the family

Making the most of life

A fresh start

30-minute cold contact

Looking forward...

Ken Cowan

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