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Now that the initial “Thank God that’s over!” feeling has subsided, I’m in a better position to reflect on what’s happened to Christis over the year. On the whole I’m very encouraged that we’ve managed to attract another generation of people willing to keep the flame going, but even more I’m pleased that there has been such positive thought given as to how Christis can change for the better, to make it a more challenging and useful read.
There is no reason to suppose that Christis is
going to peter out, and every reason to suppose that its going
to get better. I couldn’t have asked for more!
I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it. I’m the new Christis beanbag and I think I like it!
Yes, despite death threats and no-confidence votes, Christis’ very first female Beanbag is still persevering.
Since taking over the driving seat of this veritable racing car of a magazine the fun just hasn’t stopped. It is my task to oversee the running of the meetings, which I like to think of as productively unorganised and to generally continue the New Look Christis which my illustrious predecessor Paul began. This poses little challenge, as the previous Readian government ensured that everything ran smoothly and is still doing so.
Although only being the ninth Christis leader, I am still following in the footsteps of some very great men whose reputations are something of a legend within the society. It is therefore in terms of the traditions which I’m expected to uphold, that I find my challenge. I’d like to think that I can continue in the Spirit of Christis Past without ignoring what God may want from us in the future. I pray for a maturity to know what directions God is leading us in, strength to stand up for the principles I live my life by and a huge sense of humour so as not to take this job too seriously.
At first I was quite daunted at the task of being Christians in Sport leader. Throughout the year there have been inevitable ups and downs, hurdles to jump (ho ho) and potholes to avoid. As a group we met every week to support each other in our sports teams, perhaps if things go wrong, or if we’re facing pressures and also very importantly, to pray for various friends in our teams.
Working with Danny has been a knockout. He’s helped us
to achieve our goals, without him I’d probably have just
hit the post! It’s been a ball! I’d like to wish
Kate all the best as the new captain! A-hoy!
I found leading CIS a challenge, from which I really learnt to trust in God, and find guidance and support from him. God taught me to depend upon him, and to always aim to bring glory to his name, no matter how I felt things were going. It helped me realise how important it was to be a witness in my teams and to rely on God to help me in this as I played. Although difficult at times, especially trying to keep people motivated, I was grateful for the experience and the opportunity to serve God.
Being the new president of Christians in Sport has so far been very good for me as it is ensuring that I pray for my team mates regularly. Having regular contact with other sporting people who are trying to lead a Christian life is a great encouragement. Being an extremely busy person I feel that delegation is an integral part of leading this sort of group! Therefore the event which we are hopefully putting on at the end of this term is being organised by all of us. The main part of my job involves praying for the group and leading the weekly meetings.
I hope that the group will grow in number, but the priority
is to see other sporting people saved. It is only through God
that we will see this happen and so our focus is on prayer.
This is very challenging as finding time to set aside to pray
can be difficult. It is a great encouragement to talk to people
who are going through the same pressures. My personal prayer is
that I will continue to be a witness to my team mates even when
the pressure to perform well is high.
Last year was a time when I grew immensely in my relationship with God, and a time when I learned to seek his will probably more than I had ever done before. Looking back, there are probably some things I’d have done differently, but being able to say that now is a testimony that God taught me plenty last year. I pray that he’ll use Mike and Katya this year to do even greater things, and teach them even more than he taught me.
Both of us view the year ahead as a challenge, but a great and exciting opportunity. We know that God really wants to use Christians on campus in more fresh ways, and it is a privilege to work with Christians full of God’s love — having an impact on campus. We are not the “spiritual heads” of the CU, and we do not like the title “President”; rather we co-ordinate what is going on in the CU — and try to ensure that God is at the centre of it all.
Hopefully we are both approachable and are always willing to listen to new ideas and other issues, but let’s all get out of our comfy lives and make a difference here at York Uni, whilst we have such amazing opportunities. To find out more about what we’re doing contact your CU college rep, or contact us via the Student Centre or at socs25@york.ac.uk.
I started the year with slight trepidation but since then we have made some brilliant steps forward and are hopefully on our way to getting even better . The introduction of things such as the Saturday video evenings, Sunday lunch in More House and the weekly prayer meeting on a Monday have contributed to the year being a huge success along with a vast increase in members.
It was also good to see that the week of Prayer for
Christian Unity this year was also a great success. I have had
an excellent year had so much experience, made many friends and
we have hopefully moved Cassoc into more than just a drinking
society although it still has some of the best parties to found
anywhere. I wish the next lot the best of luck.
When I joined Cassoc at the beginning of this student year, I was pleasantly surprised by the community feeling that emanates from the society.
I believe that this feeling is of major importance. The ease with which a new member can become involved and feel a part of Cassoc is essential.
Being President of Cassoc gives me the ideal platform to make sure that our society continues in this vein. Cassoc should be open to all, Catholics as well as non-Catholics.
Christian unity on campus requires all the various Christian societies on campus to work together. Prejudice and ignorance is good for no-one. With the co-operation of other society leaders, we can enhance the feeling of community among Christians on campus.
After having chaired MethAng for a year now the first thing I noticed was how quickly a year has gone — I seem to have done a lot of meetings, committee, Meth-Ang and Christian Leaders but, paradoxically it all seems to have gone by very quickly.
The biggest plus to being Chair for me was definitely the people — chairing is a good excuse for meeting and talking to loads of them and being able to spend time with lots of friendly MethAng-ites was brilliant. I was really happy that the MethAng library got introduced during my year and that the committee did so much really important work.
The down side was logging on to my terminal and finding about eight messages all entitled “Aaaaargh!” We did have quite a lot of near disasters — speakers cancelling at the last minute (or not turning up at all) and then not having rooms to put them in — sometimes we all got to feel that the only thing we needed to turn us into the crew from Challenge Anneka was those particularly attractive blue track-suits! But we pulled through and occasionally gave the impression that things were running smoothly, so all OK in the end!
I have really enjoyed being part of the wider Christian Community and meeting with other religious groups to discuss the proposed Quiet Place — if I could wish for one thing now I have finished chairing it would be that the Quiet Place became an actuality.
But then I think I’d probably try to cheat and wish for a second thing which is that all goes well for my successor, Angela, already taking the Chair with style!
Chair? Well after many years (nearly four weeks), people can now mention that word within my presence without me jumping under the nearest table. My life has been enlarged, made a more interesting place. I now know how to introduce speakers, order drinks. And not forget hot purple squash. Or cold purple. Or opening devotions. The blank look of terror on my face when Cathy handed me the hallowed blue box holding all the Meth-Ang paraphernalia has now been replaced by, well, a knowing look of terror. Of course, my job has been made considerably easier by all the other wonderful new committee members (please print this bit or they will continue to keep me captive in an isolated island in the middle of a sea of Duck Excrement …). The new committee — new version, improved recipe, higher price. Same as the old but a little bit different really. What’s going to happen this year? Well, if I say enough nice things about the committee in Christis, then they have promised to release me from forcible incarceration in the middle of a smelly lake so that Meth-Ang can spread the gospel of cheese, onion, ham, mushroom, tomato, baked beans, mayonnaise, ketchup and curry powder toasties (accept no imitations) and investigate the theological significance of playing silly games. Oh, and also the intoxicating mix of open, relevant discussion on a broad range of issues relating to Christian faith. Mondays, 19:30. Do join us — everyone most welcome, cuddly toys especially welcome — except maybe Dean’s beard (Cathy told me to say that).
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Last modified: 25th November 2005