Chloe will be blogging for us every now and then in the weeks before she starts university.  We hope that  her experiences/thoughts/excitments/fears as she prepares for uni will help others in the same position!

!Hi everyone!
My name is Chloe, I’m 19 and a gap year student, and I’m starting as a fresher at Warwick University this October! Despite the fact that every time I tell someone what my course is, they say: ‘Oh… what is that?!’ I’m so excited to get back to studying, although I’ve had a great year out. I moved down to the south coast for 6 months to work for a church as a youth worker, and had a great time setting up and running a youth group and meeting some amazing people. The second half of my gap year I worked full time (with a few holidays squeezed in!). But one of the best things about taking a year out was being able to get in touch with what God had planned for me. I had the time to question and pray about what I really wanted to do with my future. And one day everything just fell into place and I found something I know I will be really passionate! I know that I’m going to be placed where God intended me to be and I’m looking forward to finding out why.

Having moved away from home once already this year, I didn’t realise how much I would miss them until we were all gone in our separate directions. But I found that this was the point when good friendships can develop even further, as you have to go out of your way to keep in touch – it makes you realise how valuable true friends are.

Looking ahead to October, I know that I’ll have to make a new group of friends, and linking up to a local church is a great place to start. That’s where Fusion comes in – I already have a list of student friendly churches from the Fusion website and the free Fuse magazine where I can join a student cell group and build new relationships! It’s an exciting prospect because I know the friends that I’ve shared my journey with so far will still be there – we’ve been through so many ups and downs together and I know they are for keeps. But I also can’t wait to meet a new group of people from places I’ve never even heard of, and appreciate what makes us diverse, and what brings us together!

Chloe x

The steady fragmentation of the community and breakdown of the family has had its effect on university culture. 

Here are three steps that will ensure you are sending the school leavers in your church to university well prepared for the life they are about to go into.

In the past few weeks we've had a flood of new churches joining the Fusion Connection partnership.

They are:

St Paul’s Ealing

Harvest International Church Reading

St Thomas Trowbridge

St John’s Egham

The Rock West Bridford

St John the Baptist, Stapleton

Devonshire Rd Christian Fellowship, Liverpool

St Paul’s Leamington Spa

BCF Bristol

Exwick Parish Church

Centrail Baptist Church Chelmsford

London City Life

Silverdale Elim Church Newcastle

Grace Community Church Staines

Kingsgate Richmond

You can search ALL the Fusion Connection churches around the country here...

If you would like information about how your church can join the Fusion Connection you can look here...