It was a great joy to go to Arbroath with the students from the Glasgow University Christian Union (GUCU), for their CU weekend houseparty. Somewhere between sixty and seventy students, I reckon, joined Matty from UCCF and I at the Windmill Centre there overlooking the town on Scotland’s east coast. It’s a lovely old building and ideal for these sorts of gatherings.
I was so impressed with the GUCU crowd. Not only were they a huge amount of fun, but they were also really serious about their faith, and zealous for the gospel. The times of sung worship were amazing. Before and after I spoke each time, they raised the roof with their singing which threatened to drown out the musicians!
I lead the Bible teaching over four sessions over four sessions, based on the New Testament book of James. The rest of the programme was packed full or times of prayer, discussions, worship, and loads of brilliant informal conversations in which the students picked my brains on issues of faith, the Bible, theology and evangelism. Their were also lots of fun times, which went on into the night – I suspect that some of them barely slept all weekend! On one particularly moving evening, some students shared testimony about how they had come to faith in Christ and what walking with Him means to them today. One young man spoke of the persecution he had endured in his home country where Christianity is a minority faith, and where following Jesus is hard. We were all challenged and encouraged to serve Jesus more faithfully by his words and example.
GUCU contains students from a broad range of churches, all united together with the aim of sharing the gospel on the campus. I heard students mention various of their churches, some of which I recognised like Glasgow Grace and The Tron, as well as several I didn’t including some independents, another from the New Frontiers group and an Anglican.
It was so good to be with these young, passionate, fun-filled students and to encourage them in their mission on the campus. Many things will live long in my memory, but I think the joy and enthusiasm of this crowd of students will be my abiding memory of my weekend preaching in Arbroath!
