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The Third DegreeFREE - launchedThe FREE gospel project was officially launched this September at UCCF’s national conference for Christian Union leaders, Forum. Almost 1,000 delegates, staff, volunteers were the first to hold copies of the 400,000 freshly designed copies of Mark’s Gospel set to be distributed to campuses in Great Britain in February 2009. Since then it has been a fantastic privilege to observe the enthusiasm, commitment and excitement with which the project has been embraced by Christian Unions. DundeeAt Dundee University the CU gave out FREE prayer bookmarks during their launch meeting and encouraged members to prayerfully consider five non-Christian friends to whom they could a give a gospel and with whom they could meaningfully engage in conversations. The president of the CU, Claire Livingstone comments that the initiative is really about the CU praying for opportunities, as well as being proactive, intentional and targeted in its preparation for the February mission week. ‘The idea behind using the bookmarks was that by writing down the names of five people CU members wanted to share the gospel with, they would then be made to feel accountable to these people, in praying for them and sharing the gospel with them.’ LoughboroughLoughborough Christian Union (formally known as FES) also put on a range of events to get the gospels out as part of its freshers activities. During freshers week the CU put on an acoustic night in the Students Union bar. About 120 students came along to take part and to hear a short music related talk from Mark’s Gospel — What would Jesus say to Coldplay? There were FREE gospels on tables and students were encouraged to take them away and attend the various follow-up activities. James Watson, Chair of Loughborough University Christian Union, comments: ‘The vision was to connect students with something that would challenge their assumptions about life and present another angle on questions related to the freedom that university life brings’, adding, ‘The event was a big success. There were large numbers of new Christian students looking to get connected with the CU and local churches and lots of hall mates being brought along to a relaxed and people friendly evangelistic event’. Sheffield HallamSheffield Hallam Christian Union will be launched its FREE project during their CU house party in November with seminars on how to study Mark’s Gospel with a non-Christians friend. All of this, of course, is just a small taster of what has been happening across the wider movement of Christian Unions this term. We, in UCCF, are delighted with the response so far. From the various financial gifts made by faithful supporters, the time and work Christian Union Staff Workers have invested in getting students on board and excited about the project, and, of course, the students themselves for embracing the opportunity of giving every non-believing student in Great Britain an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. To find out more about FREE visit: http://www.uccf.org.uk/students/gospel-project or visit the FREE evangelistic website: http://www.free-online.org. Pod Bhogal,
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