This past weekend I talked to a recent graduate after the wedding of two of our student leaders. He reckons the missing piece of the puzzle to finally get him involved at Uni Fellowship after already being at Uni for two years and being heavily involved at a church, solid on Bible and ministry but not necessarily in parachurch partnership was ...
Drum roll ...
His girlfriend’s church sponsoring him to attend Pre-Season Conference during O Week in his third year.
Initially he thought he didn’t need Uni Fellowship because he got great Bible teaching and training at church. But at Pre-Season Conference, he realized that his personal missing piece of the puzzle was Fellowship, networking with other believers studying at Uni. All of a sudden, he didn’t feel so alone and he had a cohort of others around him passionate about living for Christ and speaking up for Jesus on Campus with their friends and classmates.
While his home church is wonderfully solid on God’s Word, his growth in knowledge and skills skyrocketed that year and beyond as he engaged with Uni Fellowship’s leadership development training and Uni-level biblical teaching, deepening and broadening his knowledge and experience beyond what his home church was able to provide at that scale.
When he graduated, he continued to learn and work and prepare to bring the good news of Jesus to a fairly un-reached suburb of Hobart, starting a Bible study in his home. Now he is a valuable member of a re-launch of an established, old Anglican congregation committed to reaching that same suburb.
I love his story! It’s such an excellent expression of local church partnership with Uni ministry that feeds back into the growth of local church (and beyond!).
At University Fellowship of Christians we are in a unique position to speak into the University realm of conversations and ideas and worldviews and point those who are questioning, confused by the world's lack of answers where authenticity becomes the ethical standard.
Christians and churches (both local and further afield) partnering with us in this important work makes a massive difference in young people's lives as staff and students are showing up and are here for these types of conversations.