Blog

James studied Management at UMIST between 2000 and 2003 where he was a member of Ivy Church, a Fusion Connection Church. Today he is the Managing Director of Hampton Manor, a Michelin starred ‘restaurant with rooms’ in Birmingham. As a student I helped run Alpha courses in Manchester curry houses We had 90 people on some courses. Students can’t resist free food and...

In its first four years Touchpoint has reached 700 students and young people in five of Norway’s university cities and towns. Caroline Harmon caught up with Roy Elling back in May to find out more. Roy Elling Foss is employed by the Missionary Federation to build Touchpoint Norway. Roy lives in Kristiansand, and leads Touchpoint Kristiansand and Touchpoint Norway. Tell us a...

In each issue of Fuse we profile a Fusion Connection Church. Rosie Fraser caught up with Jon Carter, one of the Student Workers at Kings Cross Church (KXC) in London. Tell us a bit about your church? We’re seven years old as a church, so we’re still pretty young. We’ve grown from just a handful of people to between 500 and 600...

Britain’s second largest city is home to 65,000 students and seven universities. Caroline Harmon caught up with some church leaders in the city to find out what God is doing there. Jeff Stamps, Assistant Pastor at Birmingham Vineyard It feels like Birmingham is on God’s map at the moment. I came to Birmingham because I love big cities. I think God loves...

Student Mission Award Nominations Open Here at Fusion we’re taking nominations for our first ever Student Mission Awards until 30th November 2017. The awards will celebrate church-based student mission all over the UK and with 10 categories you’re bound to find one that you can enter your mission activity into. We’ll be announcing the winners at big awards ceremony in London on...

Alice Goble is in her third year studying Acting at Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. Two weeks before Fuse spoke to her two of her friends gave their life to God whilst on an Alpha course. When I got to Rose Bruford I was thrown in with lots of people who don’t have the same beliefs in me. Having grown up in...

whats going on in the world of fusion? Stay in the know. #loveyourunipodcast Want to be in the know with what's happening on the ground in universities, amongst students and in local churches? We're talking campus, faith, life, and sharing our best stories. Subscribe to the loveyouruni podcast now to join the student mission conversation with Miriam Swaffield and Luke Smith. Small print: It...

Ben Jackson is a Student Worker at King’s Church in Portsmouth. Each year his church receives a list of students who have signed up to the Student Linkup app* and are coming to study in Portsmouth. Here he tells the story of the ‘radical transformation’ of one of the students who appeared on this list. I’m a Student Worker now but...

Student Linkup is Fusion’s church finding app and website: www.studentlinkup.org. Annabel and Adam explain why they would recommend it. Annabel Annabel Hawkins is a law student who found that Student Linkup helped her get stuck into church straightaway. By the end of her first year two of her mates had got involved too. I signed up to the Student Linkup app at a...

Ivy Fallowfield in Manchester meets next to a large hall of residence and counts a number of students amongst its members. Luke Smith caught up with Anthony Delaney, Leader of Ivy Churches; Nick Duffy, Team Leader at Ivy Fallowfield; and Olli Davis, Ivy’s Student Worker. Tell us a bit about your student work Olli: We meet students where they’re at. We run...

‘Evangelists just make more evangelists.’ It sounded obvious once he said it, but this simple statement from my friend struck me as revelation. It's accepted as obvious that leaders naturally raise up other leaders similar to them. It's a bit of a running joke at church when one of the girls I mentor preaches that she even has the same...

Alan Scott believes the local church is the hope of the world. Why do you think the local church is the hope of the world? Everywhere around us people are desperately hurting and secretly hoping to break free from the only life they’ve ever known. Something incredible happens when the church shows up in the community and beyond the walls of the...

"We are too young to realise that certain things are impossible. So we will do them anyway.”   William Wilberforce, a great hero of faith, church, politics and social change who took Paul’s words to Timothy very seriously. ‘Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in...

Miriam Swaffield’s on a road trip. She’s visiting every university location in the UK in a camper van. I’m sat in a coffee shop by the River Tyne in Newcastle. This is the 44th uni location I’ve visited in Benedict the camper van. Only 25 more stops to go and I can’t believe how far we’ve come.  In just over a year...

Mo Crawley is a worship leader who has been involved in Bristol Organic Worship, a movement that has had a big impact on the city and its students. What is Bristol Organic Worship? We hold evenings where people can come and focus on spontaneous worship without set songs. A band will just start playing chords and start a rhythm and then if...

Esther Kovoor, 20, is a Worship Intern at her local church, Christ Church Clifton, in Bristol. How did you get involved in leading worship? When I was 15 I sang in a talent show in my church youth group. I then started singing in the worship band and later on leading worship. It’s been amazing how God has taken something I was...

I stopped ‘going to church’ 35 years ago, when I became involved with a Christian community near London. I wholeheartedly embraced their mantra – ‘Church is what you are, not where you go.’ As a 'new church' we did not meet on a Sunday but on a Thursday, so that weekends were free for people to enjoy time with family, friends...

Worship in groups doesn’t have to involve singing. God has given us a wide range of creative gifts we can use to praise him. The following ideas will work well in small groups.   Write a Psalm Many of the psalms were originally written and used as hymns. Select one to read out, then ask everyone to write their own. Emphasise that the...

Worship and politics; you rarely see these two words in the same sentence. Andy Flannagan does, but he has the privilege of leading worship in Parliament. With a national election approaching, he considers whether, on a deeper conceptual level, there really is a connection? Worship is fundamentally about who we bow the knee to. We may worship at the altar of...

‘And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice - the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.’ (Romans 12:1 [NLT]) It’s this verse I turn to more than any other to...

Dr Micha Jazz has been walking the path of a Contemplative Activist for around ten years. Here he explores the difference between meditation and contemplation and looks at them in three different ways. Meditation and contemplation are two distinct prayer disciplines forming part of the fivefold framework for encountering God: Thanksgiving, Confession, Intercession, Meditation and Contemplation.  Meditation uses some external reference, say...

Bethany is a student at Loughborough University who had just finished her first year when she spoke to Fuse. Her church recently began holding weekly ‘Prayer Lock-Ins.’ What are Prayer Lock-Ins? They’re an hour on a Sunday evening to make a space to relax in God’s presence. Everyone arrives by 8pm, then we lock the doors and pray for an hour. For...

James Aladiran leads Prayer Storm, an organisation seeking to awaken a generation to a lifestyle of prayer and intercession. He explains why prayer is for everyone to Caroline Harmon. You lead Prayer Storm. So you must be pretty good at prayer? I see myself as a prayer evangelist because in the area of prayer and intercession the body of Christ within our...

Brian Heasley is the National Director of 24-7 Prayer in Great Britain and previously pioneered their work in Ibiza. He talks prayer – answered, unanswered and with unusual prayer partners – with Caroline Harmon. Why should we prioritise prayer? The priority has always been Jesus and being disciples of Jesus. To be an effective disciple I need a relationship with him, I...

From the very beginning of time music and words together have been shaping cultures and individuals. Music moves the heart: words inform the mind.  It is no surprise, therefore, that the singing of psalms and scripture and then later hymns and songs inspired by scripture, has been a feature of church life from the very beginning. Louis F Benson, an American...