C.U. Mission Report
Week 3 saw the culmination of over a year’s work and planning by the Christian Union in the form of the ‘Hungry Heart’ Mission, a week of events aimed at a) making Christianity a talking point on campus and b) introducing friends to Jesus. To help us in this, a team of “outsiders” were brought in, led by Dave Rowe, an Anglican evangelist.
Events during the week ranged from kitchen parties, “grill-a-Christian” panels at which Christians has questions about the Christian faith put to them, to the Main Meetings in the evenings, which included music performed by a guy called John Featherstone, drama and a talk by Dave Rowe. On average, about 160 people attended each meeting.
Another major event during the week was a Cabaret on the Tuesday evening. For a mere £2.50, students were able to enjoy a ‘candle-lit’ buffet meal whilst listening to live jazz music and then watch a very powerful mime presentation performed by Geoffrey Stevenson called “The Father’s Heart”. All in all it was a very good evening — people seemed to be impressed by its actual format and enjoyed themselves. Who says that Christians don’t know how to have a good time ?!!
By the end of the week, everyone was shattered — but also very excited as we’d seen God so evidently at work. We had achieved our aim of making Christianity a talking point on campus — it seemed that almost every student knew that the Mission was taking place. If you walked into any snack bar, conversations about God were going on. Also, by the end of the week, around twenty people had committed their lives to Christ and many others said that they would like to know more about the Christian faith.
It would be easy at this point to get a bit proud — a number of people had become Christians, lots of others has become interested in Christianity — didn’t we do well!! but of course we just can’t say that. One thing I became very aware of during the week was that without God we couldn’t have ‘achieved’ anything — it was through Him and the working of His Holy Spirit and not through our words and actions that people had committed thier lives to Christ; it was because of Him that the various events had actually taken place.
Right from the start of the planning and preparation for the Mission, we realised that PRAYER was to be the key to “success”. The promise we held on to was the one given by Jesus in John 14 vv. 13–14 — ”And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.” — and this promise was certainly kept!! We saw many answers to prayer, not only during the Week itself but also durnig the year or so of planning leading up to it.
One which sticks in my mind concerns money. At the beginning of last term we had about £700 in the Mission Account — we needed at least another £1500 by Christmas — so we prayed about it. By the end of that term, the account’s total stood at just over £2200!! (For those whose maths isn’t brilliant, that means that we received about £1500 during the term!) WOW!!
Indeed, “WOW!!” perhaps best sums up the Mission itself — it was a week during which we saw God do incredible things, not only in the lives of our non-Christian friends, but also in our own lives as we learnt more about God, His power, grace etc.
But things don’t stop now just because the Mission is over — or at least they shouldn’t. There is much follow-up work to be done with those people who want to know more about the Christian faith and there is also the nuturing of the new Christians. And of course, Christ’s command to us to “Go out and make disciples of all nations” doesn’t apply solely to Mission Week — ours should be an on-going, daily witness.
So really, the work has only just begun — but what an encouragement and motivator the Mission is to go out and do that work.