This is something that every worldview or religion needs to try and explain, and Christianity has a lot to say here – but also makes sense of our deep longing to be free from suffering and the injustices we see in the world.
A personal highlight was meeting six or seven students from the CU who were particularly passionate about sharing Jesus with their Muslim friends. After the session, they approached me with numerous questions, and we had a wonderful conversation for over half an hour. It was encouraging to see their enthusiasm and understanding grow. This is especially significant because Southampton has a large Muslim student population, and these CU members are keen to reach out and serve them.
DUCU were in the middle of their build up to their Events Week, their major outreach for the year; featuring our friend Michael Ots as the main speaker. As such, I was asked to speak about how we go about answering tough questions. The aim of the session was to help the students to have the courage to speak about their faith – and not to fear the ‘killer-question’ which stifles open faith conversations.
I had the privilege of joining the student Christian Union (CU) group from York St John University for their weekend away. They had hired an Anglican Christian retreat centre in beautiful countryside about ten miles from Scarborough – and invited me to join them for the weekend as the speaker. It’s one of the smaller CU’s that we work with, and they managed to get twenty of their students along for the houseparty.
Steve reports on his conversations with non-Christian students on the campus at Stirling University, working there with the Christian Union.
One of the things we most love at Solas is our partnerships with churches and CU groups in mission. Sometimes this is helping to share the gospel directly by speaking to non-Christian audiences on campuses, at other times it is about helping to equip groups like these students to reach out to others with the gospel.
As the university mission season comes to an end, I spoke to Andy Bannister and Steve Osmond about their experiences on campuses from Canterbury to Glasgow, and many in between. We talked about mission today, working with students, UCCF, Christianity and Islam and more. Andy reflected on the changing nature of mission in the UK over the years. Steve talked about doing his first ever mission on a campus here. It’s an encouraging conversation and gives some insight into the kind of work that Solas does.
Are you involved with your Christian Union at university? The Solas team have spoken on dozens of university campuses across the UK, as well as further afield in Europe, the USA and Canada. Whether it’s helping a Christian Union or…
“that was incredibly compelling, I hadn’t realised that the evidence for the story at the heart of Christianity is so powerful!”
“Nick, aren’t you afraid of the consequences of what you are doing?” and I said to her, “No, because I fear God and that means I care more about what God thinks than about what the vice-Chancellor or anyone else thinks! It’s my job to do what’s right and the consequences are with God, and if I get sacked, He’ll have to find me another job!” My colleague looked at me, paused and said, “That must be very liberating”.
Andy reports back after a great day spent with students at Glasgow University, considering questions of faith and science – wonderfully hosted at the student union by Glasgow University Christian Union.
Working alongside Susie Ford and Rachel Sloan, Andy Bannister spolke for the Christian Union events week. The environment, justice, feminism, sufferring, evidence for faith and more came up in the Q&A! Hear the full story of an exciting week in the video!
Some of the best one-to-one conversations I had with people came about because of that talk, particularly with one girl who was deeply offended by the way I had answered a particular question about heaven, hell, and justice. In the course of the conversation her whole countenance changed from one of anger to respectful listening. I think she felt that she had been listened to, and her points really heard – but equally she was willing to go away and think about things more herself too. She went away from our conversation with book recommendation, for something that would help her develop her thinking in this area.
It was great to be with our friends at Stirling University CU for their annual houseparty – this year looking at the surprising and constatntly relevant book of Jonah.
As we walked our way through the story, asking these questions, giving voice to the things we didn’t understand or found bizarre in the text, I began to have to say less and less as the students visibly and audibly began to be inspired and, consequently, invest in owning the study for themselves because the message had begun to come alive with interest, relevance and power for them.
