I drove down to Exeter to speak at the university Christian Union in what was a very busy week for them! On the Monday evening they held their carol service, which drew over a thousand people and featured a local pastor preaching. It was fantastic. Then, the very next night, they hosted an outreach event on campus with me. I think there was some concern about whether people would come out two nights in a row—but they did. More than 200 people attended on the Tuesday.
I spoke on the topic of suffering, asking the question, “If God is good, why is the world such a mess?” Given that it was Christmas, I tied the talk into the Christmas theme, because Christmas is really about God stepping into the problem of suffering—not just saying something about it, but doing something about it. So the talk was slightly Christmassy, while still covering the usual ground I explore on this subject.
What particularly encouraged me was the Q&A session, which they ran digitally using Slido. You could see the questions coming in live, and there were no genuinely hostile ones. People clearly wanted to push back or probe things I had said, but no one stood up to declare that Christianity was all rubbish. Many of the questions focused on why Christianity should be the answer to suffering rather than one of the other religions. Others were more existential—questions about where God is in the midst of personal suffering or the suffering people see around them.
Afterwards, I stayed for about an hour talking with people, and I quickly lost track of how many conversations I had. There were several atheists, some atheists with agnostic leanings, some agnostics with atheist leanings, and quite a few people who described themselves as spiritual but not religious. At least one Muslim had come along with a friend, which was particularly interesting because I had touched on the differences between Islam and Christianity when it comes to the problem of suffering.
What struck me most was the openness. The conversations were genuinely good, and I was really encouraged by them. It was also heartening to see how well the CU is engaging with their classmates and reaching out on campus. They’re a very missional, very lively CU—and that was deeply encouraging to see.
