[is there more to life than this?] loveyouruni

Does anyone here get those Alpha newspapers through the post? Basically, they’re full of good news stories about people whose lives have been changed and who’ve come to know Jesus on Alpha courses. Some of those stories are crazy. I remember I read one a couple of months ago. This guy used to be a soldier, then ended up as a mercenary and then became a people trafficker and underworld figure. Somehow he ended up on an Alpha course, gave his life to Jesus and now it’s been totally transformed. There always seem to be stories like that, if it’s not a former mercenary it’s a former drug addict or gang land enforcer who has been totally blown away by the grace of God.

These stories are fantastic but when I was at uni, maybe I was really blessed, but none of my friends were mercenaries, drug addicts or had any criminal connections that I knew of. It wasn’t like I was in a Christian bubble either, I shared a house with a load of guys who didn’t know Jesus yet, most of my mates on my course didn’t know him either. Sure, they had their stuff but by and large, they seemed to be doing OK.

I think that’s one of the challenges of ‘mission’ in the student world. Even though the government aims to have 50% of school leavers in higher education this year, university and the student world is still a pretty middle class bubble and most people are concerned with having a good time, getting a decent degree and popping out the other end into a reasonably well paid career, hopefully in a job that they find relatively interesting. A lot of people just seem to be doing alright and it can be hard to see what would make them turn to Jesus. Still, I know that they would have a better life with Jesus.

We need a vision. What’s your vision for your uni? One of the things I find helpful is to imagine what the lives of people I know would look like if they knew Jesus. Start dreaming with God about who they could be and praying that you can introduce them to him.

Sometimes I think it’s easy to think that the need for Jesus is ‘out there’ somewhere but it’s right here on our doorstep too. Friends in halls, housemates, team mates, the people you sit with in lectures, they all desperately need Jesus in their lives and we have a part to play in showing it to them.

Who’s in your secret congregation, those people you can have the most immediate and significant impact on, and how can you serve them? It might be the people in your hall of residence. Maybe it might start by chopping some of the things you’re doing to make more time for friends who don’t know Jesus yet. Maybe it’s the guys you play football with, or the group your working on a project with on your course. We all have a secret congregation, it might just be 4 or 5 people but imagine if we all committed to secretly pastoring those 4 or 5. Think about how many people that would represent across the country.