The Third Degree

Andy Shudall was one of UCCF’s first Relay workers. He went on to join their staff, first working directly with CUs, then as a regional team leader, and most recently as Relay Co-ordinator. He and his family, along with Nigel Pollock (director of training and development), leave UCCF and the UK this summer to join the IFES movement in New Zealand.

JC: Where did you study, and in one word, how would you sum up your experience there?

AS: St. Andrews in Scotland. Trans-forming.

JC: How did you first hear about the Christian Union?

AS: Freshers week (I was a very wobbly Christian). I saw posters for the ‘CU Jimmy’ events — it looked naff and cliquey, enough to convince me that CU was something never to be part of. Lots of my friends went but I refused. Finally someone challenged me that I was narrow-minded, ignorant, and prejudiced (they were right, but I didn’t let them know that). I went to CU, hated it, but went back for some unexplained reason. Two years later I was asked to consider leading the CU. God had moved in my life significantly through church teaching, but also through the teaching, friendships and challenges of being in CU. It was a crucial part of my life — words don’t do justice to the depth of gratitude I have to God for what he did in and through the CU in those years.

JC: When and why did you first join UCCF?

AS: I, true to form, disliked UCCF for being (in my opinion then) overly conservative, narrow-minded, anti-charismatic, and irrelevant. I then met the staff in Scotland, began to get to know other students, and went to Forum. All of these together showed me that I was narrow-minded, ill-informed, and prejudiced. Forum clinched it for me; it really was a life-changing week. Especially as Nigel Lee mentioned a ‘new thing’ UCCF were starting for graduates and encouraged me to think about it. I could think of nothing else for months and finally badgered Nigel Pollock for a Relay (as it was dubbed during the year) application pack. I joined for no other reason than a compulsion to do so — a sense that this was what God was calling me to do, and to do anything else would have been disobedience.

JC: What was UCCF like then? Any big differences or similarities?

AS: It was different. Relay was brand new and experimental, the staff team was smaller, the work with CUs was divided into ‘universities’ and ‘colleges’ departments, and it was the days before the gospel projects. Lots of features of CU life were the same, but I think over the last 12 years we have become clearer in the understanding and outworking of our vision, better at resourcing students and staff. Also, Relay has become established as one of the key aspects of UCCF ministry as well as serving the gospel in the church and the world, by equipping men and women to be disciples and disciple-makers wherever the Lord sends them.

JC: Have you changed much since you started with UCCF?

AS: I hope so! Superficial things have changed Ð hair length (varied to both extremes from skinhead to shoulder length), waistline (increased), glasses (now much more stylish), geography of where I live (St. Andrews, Glasgow, Leeds, Leicester). The important thing is that I now know that I did not know very much when I started. But now I know that what I know is all I need to know — that there is more grace in the Lord Jesus than there is sin in me.

JC: Why did you decide to stay with UCCF for so long?

AS: Because it would have been disobedience for me to do anything else — that sounds glib, but it is true. The stuff that has motivated me in the short term (the stuff that makes it easier) has been seeing people come to faith, grow in their knowledge of and love for Jesus, and being gripped by the grace of God as they understand the Bible more and more. Surprisingly, it has also been the strength of the gospel through the adversity of hard times and difficult relationships.

Ultimately, I have felt constrained to be in the work with CUs, students, staff and Relay workers, and this has been God’s doing. There were times when I begged him to take me out of the work, and other times when I’ve pleaded with him to keep me in the work. It’s him though, it’s all because of Jesus. Don’t blame or praise me for sticking around so long, it’s not been a career choice — for me, it’s been about obedience.

JC: What one piece of advice would you want to give to anyone working with students?

AS: Love Jesus more than you love the students, teach them his Word rather than sharing your wisdom, and you will love and serve them in ways that will see the Lord do ‘more than you can ask or imagine’ in their lives and in your own.

JC: What one piece of advice would you want to give to students today?

AS: Love Jesus and his Word more than you love your own life. Count all that this world offers as security as loss, and you will see the glory of God close at hand, and you’ll long for heaven in the gains and losses of life, until the great loss in death and the great gain of eternity. ‘For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

An expanded version of this interview appears in the latest issue of The Blurb student magazine. For more info see http://www.uccf.org.uk

Jonathan Carswell

© Evangelicals Now - July 2005
Please consider supporting this ministry by subscribing.