God is at work in the Universities

This Network Good News Story was written by Thomas McBride from UCCF and explores three encouraging stories of what is happening in University Christian Unions (CUs) across the Great Britain.

Here are a few stories we would like to share about the work God is doing in universities.

Firstly the broader picture. Across the past couple of years, we've been delighted to see students becoming more and more open to talking about spiritual matters and trying out church. Through this, the Holy Spirit has been at work and hundreds of students have become Christians at universities across the country.

Generation Z can be quite apathetic, so creating an inviting community for students to experience Jesus' love is becoming increasingly the way that students begin seeking, rather than hearing answers to complex questions about life and the universe. In addition to this, there have been a large number of students who have discovered Jesus through His Word, whether through curiosity of just picking up a Bible or often through videos and content online. It's an exciting time to be a CU member and to be involved in the ministry of UCCF and I've been continually encouraged.

Earlier in the year an article called 'a quiet revival' has made its way around Christian charities and we have certainly seen evidence in our ministry of the statistical claims it makes.

CU Events

Secondly, over a hundred CUs took part in events weeks this year, and here is an encouraging story from one of them.

Imogen (name changed) is a student at Keele University who thought she had no interest in Christianity, in fact she had experienced religion in quite a negative way. However, what Imogen found at a week of events run by Keele Christian Union changed her life. Through exploring the Bible's claims of truth, forgiveness, love, peace and hope in Jesus, these events changed her perspective on Christianity and ‘opened her eyes to things about God she never knew’, she shared. By the end of the week, Imogen admitted that she’d been searching for something to fill the emptiness she felt inside. The week before she would never have considered setting foot inside a church, but after attending one of the events, she ended up coming back on her own.

‘Her story just really touched me,’ said CU member, Emily, who offered to pray with Imogen and shared her testimony. At the Friday event, the speaker invited people to join in with a sinner’s prayer, his words echoing into the upper room. In that moment, Imogen accepted Jesus’ forgiveness – and described experiencing ‘a warmth she’d never felt before’. Imogen now has a Bible and has continued to explore faith.

Uncover Luke

Thirdly, our heart at UCCF is to give every student the opportunity hear and respond to the Gospel. Part of the way we do this is through our conferences and resources, which equip students to share the Gospel with their friends. This year is an exciting year for UCCF as we are launching our newest Uncover resource, learn more here. Uncover Luke is being launched at our main student leaders conference, Forum. One of the aims of this new book is to facilitate students to evangelise to their friends. It contains the whole of Luke's Gospel alongside thought provoking artwork and questions. Personal evangelism is a key way in which students begin seeking Christ, and Uncover Luke is designed to appeal to the current generation of students. This new edition will help CU students to use it to open up the Bible to their friends, and support non-Christians as they seek to understand the Gospel.

CU Leaders

Finally, God has blessed the regional student leader conferences (Regional Forums) that took place back in March this year. The goal of these conferences is to support new and potential future student leaders, and this year many more CUs were represented at Regional Forums than in recent years. Uncover Luke was soft-launched that week too, and since then, we have been supporting new CU committees in understanding how to use the resource well before it is released.

Here are a couple of stories: Three CU leaders came to Forum North West from Carlisle CU. This is a huge answer to prayer and the first time leaders from this CU have joined the conference since before the pandemic. Lucy, Josh and Calum don’t have specific roles, but arrived eager to be equipped in how to serve their campus. The weekend had a great impact on how they thought about leadership. Before going to the conference, Lucy was still considering whether to do a year in CU leadership or not. ‘Forum North West was really useful to find out more about the vision behind it all’, she said, ‘and I'd love to be involved with leading the CU next year.’

‘Being able to spend time with people who have the same mission and mindset is so exciting and so encouraging! It’s a reminder to keep doing what we’re doing. It was honestly so much fun as well!' These are the words of student, Rachel, one of two students who attended Forum London this year from St Mary’s, Twickenham CU. This is the first time this CU has attended a centralised UCCF event since the CU was revived a few years ago and the new committee were keen but initially nervous to come. By the end, they were both very glad they could be there, as it gave them the practical skills ahead of the year to think, plan and pray as they look to share the Gospel.

Prayer Points

Please join us in praying for the following as we go into a new academic year in September:

• Our UCCF Forum leaders conference at the beginning of September.
• New committees and for all the CUs across Great Britain as they seek to share Jesus with their peers.
• Please pray that many students might be able to make good use of Uncover Luke and that it would be used to clearly point people to Jesus.