Are we following Jesus at all?
Last week I helped run an event for twenty-somethings in Ireland and we had Pete Portal sharing with us and something he said caught my attention.
He said ‘Following Jesus will always take us to people on the margins of society, and if it doesn’t we need to ask ourselves are we following Jesus at all?
Now for me that was challenging and as I have talked to students who attended the night that has left them challenged also.
So often in University, Christian students are seen as figures of amazement if they manage to maintain their faith in their 3 or 4 years away. Student’s who end up leading a small group or being part of church leadership are seen as even more amazing. However fulfilling the task of loving the poor, those on the fringes of society, a task set for all Christians by Christ himself- doesn’t seem to be one that is expected of students.
I’m from a small provincial town in Northern Ireland called Lurgan. Now where I am from there is lots of poverty, but if you want to- you can turn a blind eye very easily. (Note- this is not encouraged! read on for more.) However when I travel to university cities around Ireland meeting students and student workers I am often faced with the uncomfortable and in-ignorable facts of poverty as I see so many homeless people sitting on street corners in and around university campuses. I cannot avoid, and students cannot avoid those on the margins.
So we are left with two options- do something, or do nothing.
When we think of student mission we imagine Club Mission, praying on campus or in the libraries or we imagine student small groups. We don’t often imagine students engaging with the poor, the marginalised and the oppressed.
What if students across the land woke up to the reality that in our cities we are called to the marginalised. Imagine if it was Christian students who befriended the poor, if it was Christian students who fed the hungry and if it was Christian students who discovered that in doing so they find life.
