Fuse Issue 13: Student Identity

www.fusion.uk.com P A S S I O N A T E

A B O U T

S T U D E N T

M I S S I O N

I S S U E

Miriam Swaffield

A Movement for Change Amy Davies

Is Uni Worth ÂŁ9K a Year?

Roger Bretherton

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Student Identity

n in s lso t day i h W den Ric stu his

features and interviews 04 Is Uni Worth £9K a Year?

Roger Bretherton

08 Interview: Phil Morton 10 Movement for Change

There are around seven million people who can claim the identity ‘student’ in the UK. Unsurprisingly student culture varies hugely from place to place and whilst there are some common traits, it has become incredibly diverse. This has massive implications for mission and how we engage with students and the cultures they are part of. Like Paul in Athens we need to work a little harder at appreciating what is going on around us in order to present the message of a loving God into a culture of many gods (see Acts 17v16-33).

The current generation of students has access to more information than any other in history and colleges and universities remain lands of exploration and opportunity where identities are being formed and generated. This edition of fuse lifts the lid on some of the current trends and changes in the student world as well as catching up with some current and former students.

Amy Davies

14 Interview: Claude Williams 15 Interview: Tom O’Dair 16 What Students Want

CUE

20 Interview: News Wilson 22 Interview: Celia Bowring

fusion 24 About Fusion 26 studentlinkup.org 28 loveyouruni.org 32 Church Connection 36 Student Work 39 Church Networks & Key Partners 46 Church Connection Directory 54 90 Challenge

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Roger Bretherton, a lecturer at the University of Lincoln, attempts to plumb the depths of student identity in a world of nine grand tuition fees.

Every year when I meet my tutorial group for the first time I ask them three questions: what’s your name, why are you studying psychology, and why here… I mean, why Lincoln of all places?

Now admittedly, they’ve never met me before. I’m just some jacketwearing geek who’s going to mark their end of year essays. They don’t know each other either. And we meet in a tiny room with limited air-circulation that still carries the faint aroma of the previous group, who, judging by the smell, appear to have spent the last hour doing strenuous lunges. It’s not what you’d call a warm huddle, or an easy place to share and care. So maybe I’m expecting too much, but I’m always disappointed by the answers.

The long and the short of it is that most students don’t really know why they’re at university. The mature students usually have a better idea, but on the whole most students rock up at university fresh off an educational conveyer belt that started when they were three and delivered them at eighteen dazed and confused at the gates of Oxford, or Manchester, or Bolton, or Glasgow, or...yes, occasionally even Lincoln.

They may not know why they’re there but in some vague way (like syrup

of figs) they know it will do them good and there might even be a job waiting for them at the end of it.

But every now and then I meet a student who surprises me. Someone who arrives at university with an electrifying sense of purpose. And while most of their fellow students are still getting over fresher’s flu, they’ve assembled a crack force of elite activists and are well on their way to changing the world.

They do all kinds of stuff. One of them started campaigning for the rights of young people with mental illness; another launched support groups for first time mothers who spoke no English; someone else learned to code software to help kids with dyspraxia; another one used her degree to highlight the trauma of orphans in Malawi. It almost doesn’t matter what the cause is, they throw themselves into it with everything they have.

Our student days are a time when we define ourselves.

I call them intentional students.

Instead of seeing university as just a bigger school, where the teachers have doctorates and don’t work as hard, they recognise it for the opportunity that it is.

They realise they have millions of

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pounds worth of expertise and resource right at their fingertips, if only they can summon the nous and the nerve to do something with it.

A few of these exceptional students are Christians - they do what they do because they follow a God who does likewise. But most of them aren’t - God knows why they do what they do. The point is that they know who they are and what they can give and why they’re there. They have no time to conform to the pathetic student stereotype of drunken laziness.

They’re too busy changing the world for that.

Last month I was on open day duty, basically hanging around a psychology pop-up stand in the university atrium, eating university-logo sweets and answering occasional questions from potential students. At the end of the day, a man came up to me with his daughter and asked the inevitable question. Given that sending his daughter to uni was going to cost him nine grand a year was it worth it?

I’ve had this one a lot, so my answer is getting pointed: it depends. Why does she want to come? If she comes to uni, works hard, plays hard, makes good friends, and finds out what she’s passionate about - it’ll be the best nine grand per annum you’ve ever spent. But... (pause for dramatic effect) if she comes just to go out, sleep in and skip class, it’ll be the longest, most expensive hangover you’ve ever paid for.

I looked at the dad. He looked at his daughter. She looked at the floor.

Our student days are a time when we define ourselves. Will we do this by conforming to the world, or by seeking to change it? The choice is ours.

Roger Bretherton Roger Bretherton has lectured psychology at the University of Lincoln since 2007. When he first arrived it was 109 in the university league tables, it’s now 53.

He takes personal credit for most of that improvement!

His first book, The God Lab, is a guide to the beatitudes for the spiritually curious

Follow him on twitter @thegodlab

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For this issue of Fuse we interviewed current and former students about the impact of their university days on their identity and their faith. We hope they inspire you in your own student days.

Phil Morton studied Mechanical Engineering at Sheffield University from 2000-2004.

He became a Christian whilst he was a student.

How did you become a Christian?

One of the guys on my corridor happened to be the leader of the Hall CU. He started asking me what I thought Christianity was. Initially I dismissed it, but it irked me that I didn’t quite get where he was coming from. He gave me a copy of Mark’s gospel. As soon as I started reading it I came out with questions. He also kept inviting me to things: Discover Christianity, Alpha – I went on all of them. For a long time my

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agenda was to understand Christianity then come up with a good justification as to why I didn’t need to buy into it.

It took me about a year and a half until I’d explored every question I had and then I just put the bible back on the shelf, content that it was valid as a historical text but no more, much to the disappointment and frustration of my Christian friends.

Later they invited me on a weekend away. They didn’t tell me it was their church weekend! Towards the end the student worker asked if he could pray for me and I couldn’t think of anything bad that was going to come out of that so I agreed. He prayed for me to know Jesus in my life.

I got back to Sheffield and said ‘okay God if you’re for real as this book says and you want a relationship with me then

come and show me’. I gave him two weeks. Within about two days I knew exactly what my decision was going to be.

I just felt a real change of spirit deep in my heart, an enjoyment and excitement within me that wasn’t particularly because anything materially around me had changed. I was still stubborn enough to wait for the two weeks to end before telling anybody!

What happened next?

I think one of the things that I feared the most when I thought about what the bible meant was the impact on the things that I thought were part of my identity. In particular, on a night out I used to drink way too much and get myself into all sorts of predicaments that I made jokes out of the next day. I didn’t drop all those things immediately; there was a much more gradual

Interview

I gave God two weeks.

Within about two days I knew exactly what my decision was going to be.

process of God showing me who I am, who he created me to be and that I don’t need those things. I’ve been teetotal for the last five years.

Having studied the bible from a very academic perspective it was great to go back and read it as truth. I also enjoyed my circle of Christian friends. There was a peace about them and they were very open and accepting of everybody. It was lovely to be a part of that for the rest of my time as a student.

What impact do you think higher tuition fees will have on student life and identity?

I work in manufacturing and we’re already seeing interest in apprenticeships from those who have the academic qualifications to go

to university. They will still do a degree but over a longer period of time and around their work.

That’s great for some people, but for me it was really helpful to have the time and space that being at university affords you.

I did an engineering degree, which is perceived to be a lot of work but in contrast to having a

full time job I had plenty of free time to really explore things and study the bible. I also had the opportunity to live around people that I just wouldn’t have had exposure to back home working for a local firm. When you choose to go to university you don’t fully understand upfront what you’ll get from it.

Movement for Change Amy Davies

The first time I attended the National Union of Students’ (NUS’) annual conference I was blown away by the energy of the event created by the eclectic mix of over 1000 delegates representing the UK’s universities and colleges.

These students were passionately making their case to fellow delegates about the direction in which to take the student movement, choosing the issues that should be the focus of action for the year ahead and electing student leaders to take forward the mandate.

As a Christian student I was inspired and challenged by the potential of the student body to influence society and the role I could play in being an active part of the movement.

Students are part of an incredibly diverse body of people, a vibrant mix of worlds in an environment that encourages both the collision and creation of thought.

Describing the student identity today is almost impossible because of the multiple layers of diversity, of nationality, sub-cultures, areas of study, age, economic background and belief, to name a few. Often these worlds collide in the Students’ Union, which provides an opportunity for individuals to form groups around similar interests and a space where these groups may mix, and even work, together.

Whilst the diversity of NUS’ conference was striking, it was the ways in which the delegates connected and interacted with each other that made the event powerful. Through social

media and live streaming, delegates were connecting on multiple levels, engaging with discussion on the conference floor and online, often at the same time. This transformed what could have been the shouting of the few into a lively debate of the many.

That Facebook and Twitter have taken off in such a massive way among university students reveals much about contemporary student identity. Continual interaction with peers and with current trends and having multiple platforms to connect through is an important part of the student experience. NUS and Students’ Unions have harnessed social media to organise a diverse body into movements for social change, most recently keeping going the debate on further and higher education funding and its impact on students and wider society.

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As Christians we may struggle to combine our faith with the diverse yet hyper connected student world I’ve just described. It’s easy to go through your years of study in an insular bubble connecting only with those from similar backgrounds, such as other Christians, and perhaps venturing out occasionally to share your worldview with others and invite them in. For others it may be just as easy to be swept along, your voice getting lost in the many, struggling to find a foothold amongst the views swirling around you.

I started to take an active role in shaping the environment I was in

There is another way. My time at University became a richer experience when I started to take an active role in shaping the environment I was in, working with a diverse range of students united under common goals, yet remaining grounded in my Christian convictions through the church I was part of.

If you arrive at university already a Christian then your experience of being part of a church means that you’ll already understand what it’s like to be deeply connected to a diverse range of people and how that creates something both beautiful, as it reflects the image of God, and powerful, as it changes lives through his Spirit.

The student movement globally has had a large part to play in fighting for civil and human rights, holding governments to account and standing up for the voiceless. That same movement now has to get to grips with tackling new challenges ahead such as the impact of the rise in fees and increase in digital-based learning. As Christians we should be, and often are, at the forefront of these movements for change. In connecting ourselves with other shapers and in influencing the discussion on the direction of the student movement, Christians will not only make a difference in the lives of others; we will also discover that our experience during our time of study will become richer as we delve deeper into discovering what it truly means to be salt that penetrates the world in which we live.

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Amy Davies Amy Davies studied at Strathclyde University in Scotland where she was Deputy President of the Students’ Association (that’s the Student Union for those south of the border!) for one year. Welsh-born and Zambianraised she now lives in London. Amy is passionate about social justice and international development.

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Interview

Make big pots of tea and use Student Linkup – it’s priceless.

Tom O’Dair is a fresher studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of York.

Have you had many opportunities during your first year to share your faith with your friends?

It was amazing at the start, the first week people couldn’t believe that I was a Christian and that I actually believed in God. They were asking me lots of questions and four people asked if they could come to church with me – I didn’t even need to invite them!

I think the student lifestyle can be quite extreme and when you’re seen to be quite different it really stands out. It’s really difficult to have a night out without talking about God. With my close friends it’s getting to

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the point where they accept that I have a faith. One of my best friends has been coming along to church. We did an Alpha course last term and some friends came to that.

What advice would you offer to cash-strapped students about giving?

Giving to church is a really big issue for students because you don’t have that much money anyway, and it’s the first time (what you do have) isn’t your parents’. You get your student loan - your first few thousand pounds that are yours - and you have to think about engaging in giving properly for the first time. How much am I gonna give? What am I spending money on?

You do have other things you can give. You have time. Lots of people at university just want friends and they’ll appreciate your time. At York, there’s a lot of homeless people who are engaging in our church, so I’ve started meeting up with some of these people

who really don’t have anything and giving them my time. I’d recommend giving regularly to specific causes even if it’s just a little bit, even 50 pence. Then you’ve begun a discipline that you can carry through the rest of your life.

What advice would you give to people who will be freshers this year?

Meet as many people as you can. Leave your door open and make big pots of tea, ‘cause people like that. Talk to people about Jesus, even when you don’t know them that well. Try and be quite courageous. Get to church in the first week. People don’t go in the first week and then they think ‘oh I’ll go next week’ and then the first term has gone by and they haven’t been. Use Student Linkup*. I got to York and Christians had already emailed me and then in the first week people texted me to go to different churches.

That was just priceless. *www.studentlinkup.org

Interview

Be yourself from the very beginning.

Claud Williams is a finalist studying Sport Management at Loughborough University. He has been an entrepreneur since he was in Sixth Form.

Aside from your degree you run some businesses.

I’m the cofounder of a business called Cosmic Inc which is a parent company for a few projects. We run two photography companies and we’re in the process of opening a studio in my university town of Loughborough. We’re also planning a social enterprise which will launch next year.

That’s the business side. I’ve also got involved in university politics. I’m part of the Student Entrepeneur Society, I’ve been

the chair of the Afro Caribbean Society, and I was recently a candidate in the Executive Elections. Sometimes it’s like my degree is the ‘other’ thing I do at university!

Higher Tuition Fees are about to kick in. Is business your way of funding university?

No because I’ve actually invested even more into the business than I’ve made from them so far. So if anything it’s had a negative impact, but it’s an investment for the future. It could be a way for someone to fund their time at university, but if I’d stopped investing in the first year I might have earned a few hundred pounds, if I keep investing then in a few years I could make thousands of pounds. University is a great place to start a business.

You’ve got a massive captive audience they’re all the same age, same interest, very easy to access. You also have a lot of additional help you can access through your university.

What advice would you offer to those about to go to Uni? Be yourself from the very beginning. Don’t feel that you need to be a certain way to fit in or that you have to conform to what everyone else is doing. People will accept you and respect you for not participating in certain things if you don’t want to.

Be honest about it. The times people run into problems are when they try to do one thing in Fresher’s Week and a few weeks later they think ‘that’s not what I want to be doing’, but people have already begun to expect you to behave that way. If you try to be honest about what you believe and be honest with yourself about who you are and what you represent, then you’ll be much better off. I guess I would say: remember Who you belong to.

For more about Claud visit: photography.claudwilliams.co.uk.

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What Christian Students Want Rob Warner, Kristin Aune, Sonya Sharma and Matthew Guest

the churchgoing habit dies hard once students leave home.

Christianity and the University Experience (CUE) is a three year project set up to examine the interface between student’s faith and their time at university.

Now in its third year, the project’s staff have surveyed just over 4,500 undergraduates, both Christian and not, about their beliefs, values and religious practices, and conducted face-to-face interviews with 90 students at five universities.

The results provide a fascinating snapshot of the lives of Christian students today.

Church Going Habits Of students who self-identified as Christians 72% attended church regularly before coming to university and nearly 70% continue to attend regularly outside of term time. During term time it’s a different story. Whether it’s down to family or friends, the churchgoing habit dies hard once students leave home; just 27% attend church at least weekly whilst at university.

Many explained that this was not because churchgoing was a phase they were growing out of, but rather that term-time was busy and demanding, and they felt they were on a break from church. Some could not find a church near their university that worked for them. Others, whether speaking about university or pre-university experience, described a particular church where they really felt at home. These claims ranged across the board from High Anglicans to Pentecostals. It seems that many students are not interested in churchgoing as a duty, and experience a sense of alienation or distance from the institutional church in general. However, many who do not currently attend in term-time hope to get back involved after graduation, finding once again a church to be at home.

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Prayer is more widely practised amongst Christian students than bible reading.

Evangelism There was a time when university was a hot-bed of conversion and de-conversion.

Earnest late night conversations were the prelude to significant numbers of students taking up or abandoning their faith. Orthodox Christian beliefs faced intellectual challenges in universities, while Christian Union missions and the less in-your-face approach of chaplaincy events sought to attract undergraduates to the plausibility, opportunities, or necessity of faith.

In striking contrast today’s undergraduates see university as a rather benign environment in which it is easier to express a Christian identity than elsewhere in modern Britain. Only 12% of those reached by CUE considered they had become less religious whilst at university, and 10% more religious.

Undergraduate faith identities appear pre-formed and relatively static with most conversions pre-dating university years. Since many Christian students attend church less frequently during term time, it is clear that

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many do not consider church attendance the key measure of their faith identity.

Students who are members of Christian Unions typically still emphasise the important of annual missions and personal witness. Yet 75% of Christian students have no close friends with a different religious affiliation. Amongst those Christians who do not identify with a Christian Union (89%) this emphasis on evangelism is off-putting. For these students other faith positions should be respected, and all should be tolerated, with no attempt to proselytize.

Habits and Opinions CUE has found that most undergraduates prefer to call themselves ‘Christian’ rather than identify with a denominational label, with the exception of Roman Catholics.

They are migrating towards a liberal consensus in contemporary ethical debates. 47% of all Christians have no problem with same sex relationships and 58% want no further restriction on abortion in the UK. 40% of Christians regularly volunteer, but hardly any are active in political campaigns.

Prayer is more widely practised amongst Christian students than bible reading. However, the 27% of Christians who do attend church at least weekly during term time are more likely to read the Bible and remain keen on evangelism.

CUE Project Christianity and the University Experience (CUE) is a project of the Religion and Society Programme, a major funder of research into religion in the UK. The Programme recognised that many aspects of religion are under-researched, and that patterns of religious affiliation and practice are evolving significantly. CUE is now in its third year, and the research team comprises Drs Matthew Guest and Sonya Sharma (Durham University), Dr Kristin Aune (University of Derby) and Professor Robert Warner (University of Chester).

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At Uni I began to take myself as seriously as God takes me.

Ness Wilson studied Human Biology at Loughborough University between 19901993. She leads Open Heaven Church in Loughborough, which she helped start in 1994, and which meets in Loughborough Students Union.

How did your student days shape who you are today?

It was mainly the people that I met. When I turned up to uni all the second and third year Christians had been praying specifically for 10 fired-up Christian freshers and in that first term there was a move of God. Quite a few friends became Christians and that ended up massively

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shaping who I am. My dreams of how God might possibly be able to use me magnified as a group of us responded to a prophetic word about church planting. I started to imagine things that initially seemed impossible. I began to take myself as seriously as God took me.

Do you have any specific stories of what God did?

Early on my dad had a heart attack and I immediately turned to my Christian friends, who I’d only known for four weeks, for support and for prayer. One of them drove me all the way home. The day I got back my friend Jo said she wanted to become a Christian because she’d never seen the kind of love she’d seen amongst Christians and she wanted to be a part of it.

We saw quite a lot of healings. One guy who was a rugby player had an eye injury; it was bruised and bloody. We prayed and all the

Interview

discolouring immediately went and his eye was totally healed. My hall of residence was 22 storeys high. Before I turned up there had been a number of suicides involving people throwing themselves off the top. We had a real conviction to go to the top and pray, which we did, and there have now been no suicides for 22 years.

What was hard about your time at University?

Realising pretty quickly that there were more temptations than I’d ever faced before having had a sheltered upbringing in a Christian family. I made some mistakes early on, particularly around boys, and then realised that I needed accountability like I’d never

opportunities to share your faith are going to be more than they ever been before, and probably more than they will ever be again.

needed it before! I met with a couple of friends every Monday morning and we would look each other in the eyes and ask each other specific questions like ‘what did you get up to on Friday evening’ and that really helped me begin to be consistent in what I was saying I believed and how I was actually living.

What advice would you give to someone who’s about to be a fresher?

More than any other time in your life you’re going be surrounded by people who don’t yet know Jesus and you’re probably going be the first real Christian they’ve met. You’ll be eating, studying, hanging out 24 hours a day and you have the most incredible opportunities to make a lifelong impact on people. The

Pray before you get to university about the people God is going to place around you. Ask specifically: who are the people who are already on a spiritual journey and open and receptive.

Maybe they’ve been praying already or searching for God in some way. Recognise that their friendship with you is going be a significant step in them finding their own relationship with Jesus.

Make as many friends as possible in the first couple of weeks. Get to every party, every special event, stay up for the ‘2am anointing’ when everyone has had too much to drink and wants to talk about the meaning of life. Enjoy the fact that people will be intrigued and they will be curious about your faith; don’t keep it hidden.

Be prepared. I had books to give away so that when people were asking questions I could give them some more material to read and think about.

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Interview

One term, one person every week came to know Jesus or odd. One term, one person every week came to know Jesus. We did a lot of praying and sometimes went busking, singing gospel songs on Waterloo station and combining the raising of money for persecuted Christians with talking with unsuspecting travellers. We didn’t exactly get arrested but they did keep moving us on! But although our CU was incredibly important we loved going to church as well. Being with people of different ages and backgrounds helped us not become too insular. And I fell in love with the associate minister there, and that was very good indeed!

Celia Bowring studied to be a teacher at Roehampton, South London in the early 1970s. Today she is Operations Director and Prayer Coordinator at CARE. You became a Christian at university.

How did that happen?

I was determined to have nothing to do with anything remotely religious. Funnily enough the very first people I met were Christians who were so kind to me and didn’t seem to mind me arguing about what I considered were their old fashioned irrelevant beliefs. Then I read a book called ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’ which had such a profound effect that I decided to go to church and find out what believing in Jesus was really about. I heard the gospel for the first time in my life and knew it was the truth. That night I made the decision to trust in Jesus Christ.

How do you think university life has changed since you were a student?

You did feel very different as a Christian and stood out more than today. It was not the same lifestyle as now, there were fewer drugs readily available and as we could only afford a half of beer on a Saturday night there wasn’t much drunkenness! We had grants not loans, so debt wasn’t really an issue. I think there were more lectures and more essays to write!

What advice would you give to a Christian who is just starting university?

Find friends who will strengthen you.

Join a local church. Believe God will do extraordinary things in and through you.

What impact did your faith have on your time at uni?

It was life-changing. A group of us grew very close because we had such a deep desire to see God at work. We wanted to share our faith and prove that being a Christian wasn’t boring

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Celia and friends on their way to the Festival of Light in 1971, at which CARE was launched

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[What] 7 million students, 46,000 churches – unleashing the potential [How] Fusion connects student to church and church to student. Not just one or two but serving thousands of churches in reaching and discipling millions of students.

We are convinced that local church needs to be at the heart of student mission and students at the heart of local church.

[Why] Fusion is committed to catalysing a relentless student movement that sees thousands respond to Jesus and prioritise their lives and ambitions around God’s Kingdom agenda.

Fusion’s values underpin all that we do and outline how our mission is outworked. We are committed to being: Biblical, Relational, Missional, Catalytic and Inclusive Register your church with Fusion:

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The Fusion team have been taking part in The 90 Challenge to raise money for Student Linkup.

So what have they being doing?

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Attempting to play 90 holes of golf in a single day - Rich Wilson.

I N F O R M A T I O N

Our core purposes 1.Serving Churches

•

Testimonies of what God is doing amongst students across the UK.

Catalysing and helping to build local churchbased student work and student mission

•

Inspiration and catalysing creativity in student mission.

“Fusion gave me the foundation to stand strong in my faith through their preparation for Uni seminar at Soul Survivor.

Now I’m leading an Alpha course at my new church!”

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Fusion believes God’s mission is best carried out through the local church so we are committed to serving local churches: • • • •

Helping churches prepare school leavers for uni.

Equipping churches to connect with new students.

Providing resources, inspiration and connections to equip, reach and disciple students.

Promoting growth and good practise in student mission.

Wherever your church is located, we believe it can contribute something to this vision. You can connect your church into this mission opportunity.

‘I am totally convinced by Fusion’s model of student ministry that is church-based, empowering, & relational.

We want to connect with any students who move into our area & for our young people to connect with churches when they go to uni. I see in the lives of the Fusion staff, a genuine love for God, passion for his kingdom and an abundance of life & joy.’ – Rev. Richard Pennystan, St Chad’s in Romiley

2.Working with Students Facilitating mission, evangelism and discipleship Fusion work with students in local churches in the lead up to and during their time at university providing: •

Access to resources to prepare, connect, equip, inspire and disciple students.

3.Developing Student Workers Fusion works to train, coach and network student workers from local churches around the country: • • • • •

Student Work training encourages church-based student workers.

Providing a forum where student workers from differing streams and locations can interact and share information.

Offering training and networking three times a year through Student Work Equipping Days.

Delivering an annual Student Work Conference.

Access to a range of resources and student work consultations.

“Thanks for all your hard work on the Student Work Equipping day. God revealed so much to me personally and about my student group, and many others I spoke to said the same. Talk about equipping us, I ended up re-thinking my student weekend because of the day – thanks!”

Dan Leathers, Student Worker, St Alkmund’s Derby

Cycling 90 miles from Loughborough to the edge of the Peak District and back! – Matt Fisher

Whatever your experience of church and God up to this point...

...there is more to

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discover.

‘Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us’ – Ephesians 3v20

I always felt that this verse was for new Christians. It was for people who didn’t yet know all the stories, hadn’t yet seen everything that church was. I had been in church since I was a kid and I thought I’d got it. I knew God was big and I’d experienced everything there was to experience in terms of church. He was unlikely to be bigger than what I could imagine because in my imagination he was massive and if there was more it was probably more of the same.

Don’t be an idiot like me.

It’s easy to believe that if you want something new at university you have to look elsewhere because, frankly, you’ve experienced God and church already.

Paul says in the Bible that he was, “in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless” (Philippians 3:5-6).

He knew scripture off by heart, was the most passionate guy around and he never misbehaved. He had done it all but he missed the biggest thing and his life was a shadow of what it was about to become. He knew the scriptures about the Messiah, but he didn’t recognise Jesus. He was willing to kill for God, but he didn’t know what God

wanted him to do with his passion. He followed all the rules, but his experience of God’s freedom and vision for his life was still massively limited. He met Jesus on the road to Damascus and his life was turned upside down (for the full story see Acts 9).

Trust me, there’s more. Whatever your experience of church and God up to this point – good, bad, boring, painful, releasing, inspiring or non-existent - there is more to discover. This is not the end.

When you get to university take risks, try new things. If you do these things with God, as a part of church, you will be blown away by the realities you discover. Don’t wait to find a church – sign up to Student Linkup online and get cracking. Find two or three churches you like the look of on our website, visit them when you get there, choose one, and then get stuck in.

Don’t be an idiot like me, go in expecting God to surprise you and commit to giving him a chance to do so. If you do that not only will you have a university experience which is more than you can ask for or imagine, but there’s a chance your mates will too.

I’d love to hear your stories as they happen!

PIPPA WINTERBURN STUDENT LINKUP DEVELOPER

pippa@fusion.uk.com 07885 761 894 @this_is_pip

90 hours on campus - sleeping on student floors and doing spontaneous loveyouruni mission. - Pippa Winterburn

When we take on the branding of “student”, what happens to our identity? When we leave all we have known at home, school and church do we also leave behind our sense of self?

Miriam Swaffield explores the effect of our university days on our identity.

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I’ve seen a few first-days of University, not least my own. I’ve watched the nervous school leavers cross the threshold of their halls of residence and enter the World of Student.

I’ve witnessed friends wave goodbye to their families as one person and a week later be someone their mums wouldn’t recognise. I’ve been on the nights out when it’s a waiting game to see which housemate will be the first to drop their sober intentions and end up unconscious on the kitchen floor or not coming home at all. I’ve watched ‘freedom’ break out and seen long term relationships break up, and I have found new shades to my character and how I respond to the world I encounter.

Identity is the biggest thing up for grabs at Fresher’s week.

Fresh Meat

TV series on Channel 4

Yet all the time, the question hanging in the air of misty clubs and unclean kitchens remains “who are you?” to every person you meet and with every glance in the mirror as you crawl into bed at 4am.

up for attack. When Jesus was first tempted by the devil during his forty days in the desert, the first thing Satan targeted was his identity, “IF you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” (check out Matthew 4).

Identity Up for Grabs

In the same way, who we are in Jesus - created, loved, saved followers of Christ and co-heirs of the Kingdom of God - grounds our identity solidly in our reason for existence - God alone. It is therefore no surprise that when thousands of us who were brought up as Christians turn up to university without any of the security of home church, youth group

Identity is the biggest thing up for grabs at Fresher’s week. Not the freebies at the welcome fairs, not the new connections you make on the dance floor, not the society memberships, but identity. Identity is also at the heart of our faith and so the biggest thing

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and parents, it is our personal ownership of our faith, our identity in Christ, that becomes exposed and therefore targeted.

Are You Fresh Meat?

If we begin university unprepared it can be like walking a goat, fresh meat, into the centre of a lion’s den and leaving it there, hoping the animal will still be in one piece when term ends. Channel Four is running its second series of ‘Fresh Meat’ this autumn, a comedy that documents “the hilarious, and often painful, truths of being a student.” Although the characters and situations are exaggerated stereotypes and it’s not the most wholesome viewing, I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t show anything I haven’t seen before in university life.

Whether you’re ‘JP’ who has a chip on his shoulder for not getting into Oxbridge, and an over-inflated ego from his privileged background, or ‘Kingsley’ who has been waiting for university to finally experience as much of everything as he can, the characters are searching for who they are. You might be like ‘Oregan’ who changed her name and reinvented herself to try and be cool upon her arrival, or ‘Josie’ who stumbles between being sensible and studious to outrageous and irresponsible. Perhaps you’re deliberately different like ‘Vod’ who arms herself against showing any true emotion, or you’re ‘Howard’ who hasn’t found his place socially with anyone. They’re all searching for the best-fit life, scrambling to comprise their identity from the pick and mix lifestyle they’re immersed in.

The search for identity is one that every student faces. Despite living like the next night out will make our lives complete, or the next relationship, the next good exam result, the next job offer... we all know there’s got to be more to life than these pursuits. They can’t be the reason for it all.

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The only way a student can enter university and not look like fresh meat in the lion’s den is by knowing that their identity is secure in Jesus.

Yes we will be shaped, refined and affected by our time as students, but we do not need to be defined by anything other than our faith and relationship with God. And being a follower of Jesus, living-out the radical life we are called to, actually ends up shaping our friends’ experience of uni, informing their identity, and pointing them towards the reason for their existence too.

we do not need to be defined by anything other than our faith and relationship with God. MIRIAM SWAFFIELD STUDENT MISSION DEVELOPER

miriam@fusion.uk.com 07843 142 315 @miriamswaff

Dressing up as an elephant for 90 hours (seven days of waking time). - Miriam Swaffield

Check out our

Resources online!

F U S I O N

University: The Big Challenge 360° preparation for uni life Price: £4.97 This resource for parents and youth workers is full of reassuring, encouraging and practical advice for parents and youth workers for how we prepare and send the young adults we know to university.

The Stuff of Life Price: £5.97 The Stuff of Life is the sort of stuff that affects all of us to a greater or lesser extent. It’s stuff that already impacts our relationships and outlook on life, stuff that, Facing challenges, if not faced, can diminish living life well a lot of our freedom and enjoyment of day-to-day living.

This book is primarily aimed at students and 20-somethings but will also be of enormous benefit to parents in understanding the pressures their children face, youth workers in suggesting pathways and help for common ‘stuff,’ and teenagers in helping them better understand themselves and their friends.

R E S O U R C E S Student Linkup

TRAINER PACK Price: £19.97 The Student Linkup trainer pack is packed full of resources to help you provide the best possible preparation for school leavers heading off to university. It includes a comprehensive range of resources - University: The Big Challenge, Studentscape and the Trainer Pack DVD, so anyone can deliver fantastic preparation for uni, whatever their own level of experience of university life.

Student Linkup SCHOOL LEAVER PACK Price: £9.97 Perfect for anyone heading to university, the School Leaver Pack includes The Student Alphabet, Studentscape and a DVD. It offers a head start, an insight into what to expect and encouragement to help new students make the most of university. It works well on its own, makes a perfect gift from a parent or youth leader and can also be used alongside a mentor who has a Student Linkup Trainer Pack.

All these resources and more are available at www.fusion.uk.com/ resources

Grounded Identity

Students sometimes struggle to know their true identity in God. Luke Smith believes it’s the church’s job to help them work it out.

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C H U R C H

C O N N E C T I O N

Identity

fuels our activity All churches have problems. the truth in love to this student generation we need the spiritual gift of discernment In fact, we have loads of to help us know what to say to who. them! But the truth is God A Quick Guide to thinks your church is better Identity Issues than you think it is. He loves the church more than you do. Big-head It’s his precious bride after all and in order for the church to be the bringer of hope that it is designed to be, it needs clarity on its true identity. And that, as is the case for all of us, is shaped by how God sees us.

Identity defines who we are and fuels our activity. Many students in the UK have an unhealthy sense of identity and this leads to unhealthy activity. A student friend of mine used to believe that he was worthless because he was abused as a child; this led him to abuse his body and mind with drink and drugs. Another student I know believed she had to be successful at everything she did to earn approval; this led to her hating herself as she never felt good enough to be loved.

Both of these students had their identity calibrated incorrectly and it is the job of the church to help them to fix that. Yet to speak

A student may come to university with an enormous ego, believing the world revolves around them. They have come from a privileged background and have had all that they could want in life so far.

In order to help them root their identity in Jesus Christ, the church can help them see that they are a member of Christ’s body (1 Cor 12:27). As Paul counsels the church in Rome, we would be wise to say to students like this, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” (Romans 12:3)

Low Expectations By contrast, some students will arrive in your town with a sense that they are insignificant, a failure, unimpressive and worthless. The church can remind them that they have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit. (John 15:16)

I am playing 90 golf holes in a day. Exhausting but worth it! - Luke Smith

What are the students that you know going through? How is their identity?

Fear Factor Another student may be heavy laden with fear.

Fear of failure, fear of being mocked, fear of other people. They need encouraging that they “have not been given a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

Fresh Start Many students have done things and had experiences that are not of God. Even after accepting God’s forgiveness it can be hard for them to let go. They will find it helpful to know that they are “a new creation in Christ; old things have passed away and all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

it’s time to meet up with a student for coffee and start to talk about how they view themselves.

Let’s encourage our students to persevere while, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:2) At Fusion we’re working hard to equip churches all over the UK to deal with the tough realities that students face today.

Register your church with Fusion: www.fusion.uk.com/churches

LUKE SMITH CHURCH RELATIONS MANAGER

What are the students that you know going through? How is their identity? Is it determined by how God sees them, as precious and loved, and do they know they have a valuable contribution to make in your church? Perhaps

C H U R C H

luke@fusion.uk.com 07912 361 450 @Luke20Smith

C O N N E C T I O N

Interview with Sky Cady All Saints Weston, Bath

Why has your church recently connected to Fusion?

We connected because we send young people off to university every year and we also welcome students who come to study in Bath. Fusion help us prepare our young people for university life and they help us connect to a whole load of freshers.

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How does Fusion help you?

I hope to make it to the Student Work Training that Fusion run for churches. We’ve already initiated a brand new student ministry that was motivated through students connecting with our church through studentlinkup. org. Because of their passion for students and communicating the relevant gospel to this generation I’ve invited the Fusion team to speak at our young adult’s service.

Check out our

Resources online!

F U S I O N

R E S O U R C E S

Student Alphabet an A-Z of Student Life.

Price: ÂŁ4.97

The Student Alphabet travels quickly from A to Z on everything you need to know about starting university.

Its light hearted and practical approach shares hundreds of tips, comments, stories and advice. It covers everything from Alcohol to Lectures to Zzz highlighting 90 other topics along the way. Every new student and parent will benefit from this practical, humorous and challenging collection of insights.

Price: ÂŁ4.97

Studentscape

Studentscape has been written with the 18-25 age group in mind and is a values-based approach to discipleship. It has been specifically written for those in or going into higher and further education and is an essential resource for every young person who intends going onto college or university.

All these resources and more are available at www.fusion.uk.com/ resources

All student workers face a number of challenges that require purposeful strategy and a huge amount of prayer to overcome!

1. Finding and connecting with students This is crucial, both for building your own student work and from a kingdom perspective – we want to get as many students as possible to connect with a church as soon as possible so that they can be loved, equipped and released to make a difference in their university community. Over the summer Fusion’s staff connect with hundreds of students who have been part of churches at home.

We make their contact details available to churches so that you can get in touch and begin to build relationship with them before they arrive at uni. Yet there is still a lot of skill and hard work involved for churches to strategically connect with freshers.

2. Releasing student leadership Often the potential of students is underestimated.

It can seem easier to simply welcome them into your church community, feed them lots of food and give them a safe place to hide away from the

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S T U D E N T craziness of student life. Releasing them into leadership can be a risk and requires time but it is so worth it! Sociologists and psychologists believe that Generation Y are craving development opportunities.

On a spiritual level I believe we are battling the spirit of consumerism that is rife in Gen Y. Ask yourself: what potential does God see in your students?

3. Boldness in student mission There are thousands of un-churched students to connect with who arrive at uni unsure of themselves and in need of God’s love. Universities are a unique place, needing specific models of mission. It is also a unique time for the individuals. It might be the only time in their lives that the students in our churches live, eat, work and play with non-Christians. If we don’t inspire and release them to do mission we are missing a MASSIVE opportunity.

We need to get students engaging with their student community in a way that brings in the kingdom of God and sees students come to know Jesus. This takes a lot of focus, envisioning, equipping, releasing, story telling – I could go on!

It is something we cannot afford to stop talking about and bringing in as part of our church culture.

4. Commitment Current culture is so focused on the individual rather than the community that sometimes students need convincing that their contribution

W O R K

to the wider community is crucial. If commitment is an issue amongst your students start speaking into their lives their potential and the difference they can make. Let’s help students keep a balance between church community and friendships with those that don’t know Jesus yet. By keeping an eye on our priorities we can give our students freedom to live the lives God is calling them to.

5. Transition into work Graduates are leaving university and entering an uncertain job market.

They need help and support in that transition. Like the transition from school to university, this is a lifestage when faith is under pressure and many don’t make it. Churches are beginning to run careers days and offer coaching and mentoring for students to help them prepare both spiritually and practically for life after university. Let’s prioritise time for this in our student work calender!

I believe all these things are on God’s heart so let’s keep laying them at his feet and asking for his creative strategies and breakthroughs.

HANNAH BOWRING STUDENT WORK DEVELOPER

hannah@fusion.uk.com 07812 567 248 @hannah_bowring

Serving 90 cups of loose leaf tea at a monster tea party. - Hannah Bowring

student

w ork

Interview with Liz and Alex Liz and Alex are Student Workers at St Peters Church in Brighton Why do you work with students?

Alex: I wasn’t a Christian when I went to university, and I didn’t meet a single one while I was there. Now I think it’s amazing that students can live all out for God in such a tough environment. I would love to see students in Brighton living free from all of their baggage and living life to the full.

Liz: I think it’s such a significant stage of life; first time away from home, working out things for yourself without the fall back of your parents.

I really admire students who stand firm in their faith in the midst of this new life and love to be able to support and encourage them, providing them with a safe and happy community to belong to. I also think it’s a fantastic time for students who aren’t Christian to explore their thoughts about faith, and so providing a fun, non-threatening, friendly environment in which they can do this is important.

What is the vision of St Peter’s student work?

We want to see students in Brighton getting closer to God while they’re at uni. We reckon if that’s happening then they’ll be inviting their friends to church, they’ll want to help homeless people in Brighton and they’ll want to get up early on Sundays to help

38

with kids work. We also want to provide a safe place where they can chat about life, where they can meet with other like-minded students to encourage one another and continue to develop as they approach the world of work. Most importantly we want to see them growing in their relationship with Jesus and in their faith and spiritual gifts.

What evangelism are your students involved in?

Many of them are involved with CU, charity stuff and social action. What’s more amazing is the way that the St Peter’s students are loving their housemates, looking after them when they’ve drunk too much, answering their questions when they ask about faith and holding firm to their faith when they are challenged.

What do you value about your connection with Fusion?

We love knowing there is always someone on the end of the phone who has good ideas or has seen something working well elsewhere. We also had Miriam come and do an amazing talk at our student night.

She spoke about telling our mates about Jesus – the next night our church Alpha course was full of students’ mates.

Over 90km of gruelling trekking, canoeing and cycling through the unforgiving Scottish highlands in under 48 hours.- Tom

FUSION’S RELATIONSHIPS

Church Networks Fusions serves a number of church networks, strengthening their work amongst young adults and helping them become increasingly effective in sending, receiving and reaching students.

Elim has been serving cities, towns and villages across the UK for almost 100 years. Our 550 local churches often vary both in style and size and are united by a desire to reach the lost and make effective disciple makers. Many of our churches, particularly those in university cities, have worked over many years to welcome and resource students. We are working closely with Fusion to develop this further.

Mark Pugh Mark.Pugh@serious4god.co.uk www.elim.org.uk www.serious4god.co.uk @elimpentecostal

The Ground Level Network is an apostolic movement networked together through regional and relational connections. It exists to support and care for local churches / ministries and also seeks to have a growing influence for good in the nation, affecting society in any way that it can, to be prophetic, to model Word and Spirit, relationship and kingdom. Ground Level also hosts the ONE event (formerly Grapevine).

Pioneer is a network of networks, church hubs and ministries committed to church planting, leadership development, training and the support of innovative caring projects.

We are committed to nonreligious Christianity, building missional church and working in partnership wherever we can.

We host a variety of gatherings throughout the year - our Annual Leaders Conference, Summer School of Theology and the National Churches Forum - to encourage and support leaders.

New Wine is a growing network of, currently, well over 1,000 local churches working together with one vision: to see the nation changed. God is at work in the world touching hearts and transforming lives – and he’s invited us to be part of it. Come and join us and be part of a movement to see this nation changed!

Carl Belcher

Pioneer

New wine

carl@groundlevel.org.uk

admin@pioneer.org.uk

01522 542166

@PioneerNetwork

www.groundlevel.org.uk

023 8038 5242

info@new-wine.org www.new-wine.org.uk

www.pioneer.org.uk

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FUSION’S RELATIONSHIPS

Key Partners

Key Partners Through the key partner programme Fusion is acting as a doorway to other ministries working with, supporting, serving and resourcing students.

Our hope is that areas of specialism that been honed and developed over many years can be much more readily accessible to students. We believe this will lead to greater joined up thinking and action that will better serve God’s purposes in this nation and the nations.

Our Easter event takes place at two Butlins resorts, attracting around 25,000 people for a week of Bible teaching, worship, fellowship as well as a dedicated 18-25s programme called Function. We also run Youthwork the conference – a weekend event designed to encourage, equip and bless hundreds of youth workers from across the UK.

Rebecca Bowater

Our heart is to help young people capture first a vision of Jesus, then to equip, train, empower and release them into his ministry in their every day lives. We do this in many different ways including: conferences, retreats, resources, local church-based events, training events, discipleship courses and mentoring programs. Momentum is our conference for students and twenty-somethings. Come along for relevant teaching, intimate worship, ministry and a whole lot of fun!

Laura McKinney

info@springharvest.org

Laura.mckinney@soulsurvivor.com

@springharvest

@MomentumGB

www.springharvest.org

facebook.com/uksoulsurvivor www.soulsurvivor.com

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CARE’s vision is to see a society that has a greater respect for the sanctity and value of human life from fertilisation to its natural end. CARE impacts the political world and has concern for the vulnerable and needy.

The Leadership Programme, launched in 1993 and now counting over 220 alumni, equips graduates to think seriously about the co-existence of faith and culture by combining the study of Christian thought with practical experience in parliamentary and third sector placements.

Anna Campbell

Compassion supports some of the world’s most vulnerable children and, through individual sponsors, helps them break the cycle of poverty, giving them hope for the future. Compassion works through local churches in 26 developing countries to release children from physical, economic, social and spiritual poverty.

We are a network of young people and students who believe the world doesn’t have to be the way it is. We’re not content to tiptoe through life. We want to shout out against injustice, challenging the systems that keep people poor. We want to run towards a new world.

A better world. To be love in action. Together we can be the generation that ends poverty.

Together we are Collective.

KATE SHARMA info@compassionuk.org

Chris Mead

leadership.programme@care.org.uk

@compassionuk

collective@christian-aid.org

@careorguk

facebook.com/compassionuk

@theCAcollective

www.care.org.uk

www.compassionuk.org

christianaidcollective.org

Student Alpha is a seven week course introducing people to the Christian faith. Over the last ten years Student Alpha has proved to be one of the most effective tools for university students and young adults to explore the Christian faith, with over 600 courses now running worldwide. Its simple format has seen courses run everywhere from churches and halls, to McDonalds restaurants, curry houses and night clubs! It contains the same material as ‘classic’ Alpha, except that it’s been ‘squeezed’ (into seven weeks), ‘squashed’ (into thirty minute talks) and ‘spiced’ (with multi-media ingredients).

JAMIE HAITH

Tearfund are passionate about seeing the world changed through a generation who have the guts to become the kind of people that change the world.

We are excited about developing habits, regular patterns in our lives that change us and the world, as we live out Jesus’ values of generosity, advocacy, contentment and connection.

We call this Rhythms.

CVM equip the local church to introduce every man in the UK to Jesus Christ. The UK church is haemorrhaging men and a lot of churches have no idea what to do to halt the exodus of Christians, let alone introduce men to Jesus. We have proven strategies to reach outside the church walls and some cracking ideas to gear local churches up for men. CVM is a rapidly growing Band of Brothers across the UK. CVM has made a public declaration to put its shoulders to the plough.

Dot Tyler

ALEX WILLMOTT

jamie.haith@htb.org.uk

dot.tyler@tearfund.org

alex.willmott@cvmen.org.uk

@studentalpha

@TearfundEmgen

@CVMen

facebook.com/studentalpha

www.tearfund.org/rhythms

www.cvmen.org.uk

www.student.alpha.org

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We want to encourage Christian students to think seriously about how their faith and work can fit together after university

KEY PARTNER FEATURE

You’re about to graduate.

After all that hard work, and perhaps a few last-minute deadlines, you’ve done it!

But suddenly the thought hits you... what’s next? Your confidence nosedives, and your ambition to change the world begins to falter as you consider taking your first step.

How do you avoid this crisis of identity and purpose at the end of studenthood?

Should you approach life after university with more pragmatism and resign yourself to failed expectations?

At CARE, we think that you should do exactly the opposite. We want to encourage Christian students to think seriously about how their faith and work can fit together after university.

Our year-long Leadership Programme helps new graduates with an interest in politics and social justice do exactly that. We think through the big issues together in classes every Friday whilst trying to put it all into practise the rest of the week in voluntary internships. The Programme works in collaboration with parliamentarians, charities, theologians and Christian leaders who bring a fresh perspective on what it means to live and work ‘Christianly’ today. For the past twenty years, we have been equipping talented, missional Christians to enter the

working world ready and able to serve. In the words of a participant from the last year: ‘I would recommend the Leadership Programme to anyone wanting to be challenged and equipped as an effective world-changer. It was the perfect step after university, solidifying the foundations of my faith in the context of a challenging work placement, with the support of like-minded Christian peers.’

Whether or not the Leadership Programme appeals to you, I would encourage you to apply its principles to the spheres of life and work that form your calling: •

When you are looking at different opportunities, think about how each one could set the tone of your life.

•

Look for openings that will enable you to give as much as you want to get: volunteer, get active in issues that excite you;

•

See work as a means of serving the Lord and the world; build community wherever you go.

The world may not exactly be your ‘oyster’ in today’s economy, but this doesn’t mean that we are lacking pearls to pursue.

For more information about the Leadership Programme: www.care.org.uk/leadershipprogramme.

Anna Campbell Leadership.programme@care.org.uk @careorguk www.care.org.uk/leadershipprogramme

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ENDING

KEY PARTNER FEATURE

This world we live in - the one we see out of our bedroom windows or on our TV screens - that isn’t the world as it was meant to be.

Our global society is a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, carbon-smudged and toner-burned, bearing little or no resemblance to the original template.

But because the world’s resources have been hoarded and squandered by a tiny percentage of the world’s population. By us. And this is where my faith cuts into me like a knife or, perhaps more appropriately, a spur. Because I believe in a creator God with a plan for this world. I believe he has charged us, every one of us, as Christians, with the stewardship and protection of the world and I believe the best way to live our faith through action is to scream ourselves ragged in opposition to the apathy we face.

I believe in a creator God with a plan for this world.

We inhabit a planet torn apart by war and inter-religious hatred. A planet stitched back together with red tape, afflicted by self-serving nest feathering passed off as policy. We’ve stumbled through the looking glass and into the hinterlands of the mirror world beyond.

The crazy thing is we’ve begun to accept this off-kilter existence as the norm! We’ve started to believe that’s just the way the world works.

Now I can trot out the global poverty statistics as blithely as the next person. Nearly half the world’s population lives on less than US$2 a day; 1.2 billion people live in abject poverty; 50,000 people die from poverty-related causes every day; every three seconds a child dies from a treatable disease. But what does it say about a society so anaesthetised to the realities that we hear these horrific statistics and do not feel the slightest prick of shame or responsibility?

I mean, let’s really consider one of those sentences for a moment. Every three seconds a child dies from a treatable illness. That’s 20 children every minute of every hour of every day with absolutely no end to this scandal in sight.

People are dying and that should be enough for us to act. They’re not dying by accident or because they’re unlucky. Their death is a direct result of the way we choose to live our lives in developed countries. Not tsunami or fire or war.

The Christian Aid Collective believes we need to engage with these issues now - prayerfully, openly, dynamically – as Christians and human beings. Because it’s an abomination that people starve, die and rot in a world God created with enough resources to easily provide for its citizens.

Everyone deserves the right to live and contribute to the richness of our shared existence. And, like it or not, we are the lynch pins, with the power to bring about real change in the world. We have to be ready to make our voices heard. And we want you to join us.

Chris Mead works for Christian Aid. The Christian Aid Collective is a movement for change made up of young people and students who believe that we can be the generation that sees an end to poverty.

Chris Mead youth@christianaid.org.uk @TheCAcollective www.christianaidcollective.org

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C H U R C H Aa Aberdeen Aberdeen Vineyard Church

C O N N E C T I O N

D I R E C T O R Y

Bedford Brickhill Baptist Church

Hope City Church Birmingham

www.aberdeenmethodist.org.uk

Christ Church

www.jesus.org.uk/ja/local_birmingham.shtml

www.aberdeenvineyard.org.uk

Crown Terrace Methodist Church

www.brickhillbaptistchurch.org

www.hopecitychurch.tv

Jesus Fellowship Church Kings Christian Centre

Gerrard Street Baptist Church

www.christchurchbedford.org.uk

www.gerrardstreet.com

King’s Arms Church

www.kingschristiancentre.com

Abingdon Christ Church

www.kingsarms.org

Potton Vineyard Church

www.riverside-church.org.uk

www.cca.uk.net

www.pottonvineyard.org.uk

Alsager Alsager Community Church

Belfast (NI) Belfast City Vineyard Church

Ascot Ascot Baptist Church

City Church Belfast

www.alsagercc.co.uk

www.ascotbaptistchurch.org

Bb Bangor Assemblies of God (Bangor) Pentecostal Church www.aogbangor.org.uk

Bangor Community Church www.bangorcc.com

Hope Church Bangor

www.hopechurchbangor.org

Barnsley Hope House Barnsley

www.hopehousechurch.org.uk

Bath All Saints Weston

www.belfastcityvineyard.com www.citychurchbelfast.org

Fellowship Church Belfast www.thisiscfc.com

Riverside Church Birmingham St John’s Harbourne

www.stjohns-church.co.uk

Vineyard Network Church

www.vineyardnetworkchurch.com

Zion Christian Centre www.zionnetwork.org

Blackburn Global Lancs

Fisherwick Presbyterian Church Belfast

www.globallancs.com

South Belfast Elim

www.stgabriels-blackburn.co.uk

The Church of the Resurrection, Belfast

BlackPool Christchurch with All Saints

www.fisherwick.net

www.southbelfastelim.org www.thehubblefast.org

The Dock Belfast www.the-dock.org

The Abundant Life Church www.alm.org.uk/belfast

Willowfield Parish Church www.willowfieldchurch.co.uk

St Gabriel’s

www.b4me.com/ccas

BOLTON Christian Way of Life Bolton Kings Church www.kingsbolton.co.uk

Deane Church Bolton

BERKHAMSTED Kings Road Church Berkhamsted

www.deanechurch.org

Bath City Church

Northchurch Baptist Church www.northchurch.com

Liberty Christian Centre

www.bathcitychurch.org.uk

Elim Pentecostal Church

Beverley Beverley Community Church

St Lukes Church Bolton

www.allsaintsonline.org.uk

Bath Abbey

www.bathabbey.org

www.bathelim.org.uk

www.kingsroadchurch.org

Farnworth Baptist Church www.farnworthbaptist.org.uk www.libertycc.co.uk

www.stlukesbolton.org.uk

Beverley Methodist Church

Boston Holy Trinity

Hay Hill Baptist Church

Birmingham Bethany Pentecostal Church

Bournemouth St Andrews

Holy Trinity Combe Down

www.bethanypentecostal.com

St Luke’s Church

St Michaels Church

www.calcc.org.uk

St Michael’s Twerton

www.christ-church-selly-park.org.uk

St Swithin’s Walcott

www.christianlifecentre.com

Fathers House

www.fathershousebath.org

Freedom Bath and Bristol

www.freedombathandbristol.com www.hayhill.org www.htcd.org

www.stlukebath.org.uk www.stmichaelsbath.org.uk www.stmichaelstwerton.com www.walcotchurch.org.uk

46

www.beverleycommunitychurch.org www.bmcy.org.uk

www.Holytrinityboston.org

www.standrewskinson.org

Birmingham Christian Centre

Bournemouth Vineyard Church

www.birminghamcc.co.uk

www.bournemouthvineyard.com

California Christian Centre

Bowdon St Mary’s

Christ Church Birmingham Christian Life Centre

Church of God of Prophecy

www.bowdonchurch.org

Bracknell Kerith Community Church www.kerith.co.uk

www.cogop.org.uk

This list is current as of Tuesday 12th June 2012. For the most recent list go to www.fusion.uk.com/churches/find-a-church.

To edit your website address, and other church details, please go to your church dashboard

Bradford Abundant Life Church

St Mark’s Baptist Church

Life Church Cardiff

Victoria Methodist Church

www.vic-methodist-bristol.org.uk

Woodville Baptist Church

Bradford Aire Valley Church Plant

Westbury-on-Trym Baptist Church www.westburybaptist.org.uk

St Mark’s Cardiff

Buttershaw Baptist Church

Woodlands Church Bristol

St John’s Great Horton

www.woodlandschurch.net

Carlisle Eden Community Church

www.stmarkseaston.com

www.alm.org.uk

www.bradfordav.org.uk

www.buttershawbaptist.org.uk www.stjohnsgh.org.uk

Bromley Bromley Baptist Church

Bridlington Christ Church

www.bromleybaptist.com

Bromley Town Church

www.christchurchbridlington.com

www.bromleytownchurch.com

Brighton Church of Christ the King

Southborough Lane Baptist Church www.slbc.org.uk

www.cck.org.uk

St Augustines Church

Church on the Rock

www.st-augustines.org.uk

www.cotr.co.uk

Bury St Edmunds West Suffolk Vineyard

CityCoast Church Brighton www.citycoastchurch.co.uk

www.westsuffolkvineyard.co.uk

City Gate Church

www.citygatechurch.org.uk

Holland Road Baptist Church www.hrbc.org.uk

Cc Cambridge Cambridge Community Church

St Peter’s

www.cthree.org

www.lifecardiff.org

www.woodybap.org.uk

www.stmarks-cardiff.co.uk

www.ecchurch.co.uk

Elim Community Church www.elimcarlisle.org

Carmarthen Bethel Christian Centre

www.bethelchristiancentre.co.uk

Towy Community Church www.towychurch.co.uk

Chelmsford Central Baptist Church

www.centralbaptistchurch.org.uk

Chelmsford Community Church

www.chelmsfordcommunitychurch.co.uk

CGC Chelmsford

www.cgcchelmsford.com

Cambridge Vineyard Church

Elim Christian Centre

Bristol BCF Aardvark

City Life Church Cambridge

Cheltenham Cheltenham Bridge

BCF Resound

www.faithlifechurch.org.uk

Bristol Community Church

www.htcambridge.org.uk

Bristol Vineyard

www.kingsgateuk.com

Christ Church Clifton

www.stbs.org.uk

City Church

www.zionbc.org.uk

East Street Baptist Church

Canterbury Canterbury Vineyard

www.stpetersbrighton.org

www.bcfnet.com www.bcfnet.com

www.bristolcommunitychurch.org www.bristolvineyard.com www.christchurchclifton.org.uk www.citychurch.org.uk www.bedminsterchurches.net/index/Other_Church

Ebenezer Evangelical Church www.ebe.org.uk

Edge Church International www.edgechurch.co.uk

Elim @ Bristol City Church www.elimbristol.org

Freedom Church Bristol www.freedomchurch.co.uk

Highgrove Church

www.cambridgevineyard.org.uk www.citylifechurch.net

Faith Life Church Holy Trinity

KingsGate Community Church St Barnabas Cambridge Zion Baptist Church

www.canterburyvineyard.com

www.elim.org

www.thebridgecheltenham.co.uk

Glenfall Church

www.glenfall.org.uk

Godfirst

www.godfirst.org.uk

St Paul’s Cheltenham

www.stpaulscheltenham.com

Trinity Church

www.trinitycheltenham.com

Chepstow Chepstow Baptist Church www.chepstowbaptist.org.uk

Dayspring Community Church

Chesham Ley Hill Methodist Church

New Life Pentecostal Church

Chester All Saints Hoole

www.dayspringcanterbury.org.uk www.newlifecanterbury.org

St Andrews Canterbury

www.sstandrewscanterbury.org

St Mary’s Bredin Canterbury www.smb.org.uk

www.allsaintshoole.org

Christ Church Chester

www.christchurchchester.com

Hoole Baptist Church

Hope Community Church Bristol

Cardiff All Nations Church Cardiff www.allnationschurch.org.uk

www.thecommunitychurches.org.uk

Ivy Church

Albany Rd Baptist Church

Pip and Jay

Freedom Cardiff

Chesterfield Acorn Christian Ministries

www.pipnjay.org.uk

www.freedombathandbristol.co.uk

RCCG, Garden of the Lord

Freedom Church Cardiff

www.gardenofthelord.org.uk

www.freedomchurch.co.uk

Severn Vineyard Church

Cardiff Vineyard

www.severnvineyard.org

www.cardiffvineyard.org

Simple Church

City Temple

www.simplechurch.co.uk

www.citytemple.info

St John the Baptist Frenchay

The Gap Church

www.chichesterfamilychurch.com

St Michaels Stoke Gifford

Glenwood Church

www.revelation.org.uk

www.highgrove.org.uk

www.hopechapel.co.uk www.ivychurch.net

www.frenchaychurch.org.uk

www.st-michaels-church.org.uk

www.albanyroadbaptist.org.uk

www.thegapcardiff.co.uk

www.hbc.org.uk

The Community Church Chester

www.acm-uk.org/

Christian Life Church Chesterfield www.lifechurch.org.uk

Zion Church

www.lifeworthliving.co.uk

Chichester Chichester Family Church Revelation Church

www.glenwoodchurch.org

47

Chorleywood St Andrew’s Chorleywood www.st-andrews.org.uk/youth

Clitheroe St James Church, Clitheroe Coleraine Causewaycoast Vineyard

Derby Vineyard

www.derbyvineyard.com

The Rock Elim

Haven Christian Centre

www.rockelim.com

St Nicholas Church

Egham Harvest New Anglican Church

www.stnicholasallestree.org.uk

Jubilee Church

www.harvestimechurch.net

www.causewaycoastvineyard.com

St Alkmunds

www.fowm.org

COLCHESTER Colchester Area Community Church

St Barnabas

www.holytrinitysunningdale.co.uk

Trinity Baptist Church Derby

www.hopechristiancentre.org.uk

www.colchesterareacommunitychurch.org.uk

Kingsland Church Lexden www.kingsland.org.uk/lexden

St Johns Church

www.stjohnscolchester.org.uk

Conwy i61 Church www.i61.org

Cork (ire) Dungarvan Christian Fellowship

www.jubilee.org.uk

www.alkmunds.org.uk www.stbd.org.uk www.feedyoursoul.org.uk

Doncaster All Saints, Woodlands & Highfields Dublin (IRE) Cornerstone Church www.cornerstonechurch.ie

Destiny Church

www.destinychurch.ie

Every Nation Church

Harvestime Church Holy Trinity

Hope Christian Centre Staines Morning Star Christian Fellowship www.mscf.co.uk

Jubilee Church www.jubileelife.org

Runnymede Christian Fellowship www.e-runnymede.co.uk

St John’s Egham

www.stjohnsegham.com/

The Journey

www.thejourney.org.uk

www.dungarvanchurch.org

www.everynation.ie

Grace Christian Fellowship

Dundee Gate Church International

www.united-church-of-egham.org.uk

www.graceireland.com

Coventry Christian Life Ministries

www.gatechurch.co.uk

United Church of Egham Epsom Generation Church

The Steeple Church

www.generation.org.uk

www.clmchurch.co.uk

www.thesteeplechurch.org.uk

Coventry Cathedral

Durham Bethshan

www.cccexeter.org

www.coventrycathedral.org.uk

Coventry Vineyard

www.coventryvineyard.org.uk

Elim Pentecostal Church www.elim-coventry.org.uk

Jesus Fellowship Church

www.jesus.org.uk/ja/local_coventry.shtml

Jubilee Church Coventry

www.jubileechurchcoventry.org

www.bethshanchurch.net

Kings Church Durham www.kcd.org.uk

St Nicholas

www.stnics.org.uk

Ee Eastbourne Eastbourne Family Church

Kings Church

www.elimeastbourne.org.uk

Walsgrave Baptist Church

www.churchinthecommunity.co.uk

Westwood Church

www.kingschurch.eu

www.kingschurchcoventry.org www.walsgraveaptists.org.uk

www.westwoodchurch.co.uk

Crawley Crawley Baptist Church

www.crawleybaptistchurch.org.uk

Crewe New Life Community Church www.newlifecentre.co.uk

West Street Baptist Church

www.weststreetchristianfellowship.org.uk/

Croydon Emmanuel South Croydon

Community Church Kings Church

Living Stones Community Church Eastbourne www.livingstoneschurch.co.uk

www.enc.uk.net

Exeter Vineyard

www.exetervineyard.co.uk

Isca Church

www.iscachurch.org.uk

Night Church

www.bishopcc.org.uk

St Andrews Exwick Exeter Unlimited Exeter unlimitedchurch.wordpress.com

Ff Falmouth Oasis Church Penryn Farnham Farnham Vineyard

www.stjm.org.uk

Edinburgh All Nations Christian Fellowship www.ancf.org.uk

Barclay Viewforth

www.barclayviewforth.org.uk

Charlotte Chapel Edinburgh

www.3cint.co.uk

www.cbcequip.org

Community Church Edinburgh

www.farnhamvineyard.org.uk

Gg Gillingham Ebenezer Community Ministries www.ebenezer-ecm.co.uk

Beulah Christian Fellowship www.inn.org.uk/beulah.html

St Mark’s Gillingham

www.stmarkschurchgillingham.co.uk/

The Voice

www.voice-uk.org.uk

Destiny Church

Glasgow Destiny Church Glasgow

Morningside Baptist Church

Glasgow Elim Church

St Paul’s and St George’s

Glasgow Westend Vineyard

www.cce.uk.net

www.epcdartford.com/launch/

www.destinyedinburgh.com

Derby

www.mbc.org.uk

www.communitychurchderby.org

Exeter Network Church

St John the Evangelist

Cullompton St Andrews

Community Church Derby

www.exeterlife.org

www.oasiscornwall.com

www.victoriabaptist.org.uk

Capital City Church International

Dd Dartford Emmanuel Dartford

City Life Church Exeter

Victoria Baptist

www.emmanuelcroydon.org.uk

www.standrewscullompton.com

Exeter City Community Church

www.pandgchurch.org.uk

www.destiny-church.com www.glasgowelim.org.uk www.gwvineyard.co.uk

Register your church for Fusion’s Church Connection at www.fusion.uk.com/churches.

High Wycombe Kings Church High Wycombe

Kirkintilloch Baptist Church www.Kirkiebaptist.com

Queens Park Baptist Church

Lancaster Baptist Church

www.lancasterbaptistchurch.org.uk

Lancaster Free Methodist Church

www.kchw.co.uk

www.qpbc.org

www.lfmc.co.uk

Gledholt Methodist Church www.gledholtmethodist.co.uk

New North Road Baptist Church

www.st.tees.org.uk

One Church Gloucester

North Thames Vineyard

LEAMINGTON SPA Christ Church

Kendal Road Baptist Church

St Brinus and St John

St Catherine’s Gloucester

Union Baptist Church

www.stcatharine.org.uk

www.unionbaptist.org

Grantham New Life Grantham

Hitchin Christ Church

www.newlifegrantham.org

www.christchurchhitchin.org.uk

Grimsby City Church Grimsby

Huddersfield Community Church

Blenheim Baptist Church

Gledholt Methodist Church

www.bridgestreetchurch.org

www.nnrbc.org

www.gcchurch.co.uk

www.nelcitychurch.org.uk

www.community-church.co.uk

Guildford Guildford Baptist Church

www.gledholtmethodist.co.uk

www.guildfordbaptist.org

www.guildfordboilerroom.com www.gcconline.org.uk

RCCG Winners’ Place Guildford www.rccgwinnersplace.org.uk

St John’s Church Woodbridge www.stjohnswoodbridge.org.uk

Leeds Abundant Life Church Leeds www.alm.org.uk

www.blenheim.org.uk

Bridge Street Church Leeds

Huddersfield Christian Fellowship

Gateway Church Leeds

Huntingdon Fenstanton Parish Church

Hope City Leeds

www.hopecitychurch.tv

Leeds Central Salvation Army Mosaic Leeds

www.cottroad.org.uk

Westborough Church Guildford

www.notdull.org

Jubilee Church

Hull Community Church www.community-house.co.uk

www.freshwaterscf.org.uk

Hull Vineyard

Halifax All Saints

www.hullvineyard.com

Ii

www.allsaintshalifax.org.uk

The King’s Church

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe Christian Fellowship Church www.cfchurch.co.uk/

www.thekingscentre.org.uk

Hastings Christ Church Blacklands & St. Andrew www.blacklands-parish.co.uk

Elim Church Centre Hastings www.elimchurchcentre.org.uk

Sonrise Church Hastings www.sonrisechurch.co.uk

Kk Kendal St Thomas Church

Kibworth Beauchamp St Wilfreds

www.bishopshatfieldparish.co.uk

Springs Christian Fellowship

www.stwilfs.freeserve.co.uk

www.stjohnsyeadon.org

The Oak Church

www.theoakchurch.co.uk

The Wharfedale Vineyard www.wharfedale-vineyard.org

Leicester Church of the Martyrs www.martyrs.org.uk

City Church Leicester

Hope Hamilton Church

www.scargillmovement.org

St John’s Hatfield

St Johns Yeadon

St John the Baptist Church Ipswich

www.proclaimers.com

Kettlewell Scargill House Skipton

www.stgeorgesleeds.org.uk

www.citychurchleicester.org

www.saintthomaskendal.net

www.spbc.org.uk

Ipswich Proclaimers Ipswich www.stjohsipswich.org.uk

South Parade Baptist Church St Georges

www.staidans.org.uk

Hh Harlow Freshwaters Christian Fellowship

www.salvationarmy.org.uk/leeds www.mosaic-church.org.uk

St Aidan’s Hull

www.westborough-urc.co.uk

www.gatewayleeds.net

Hull City Life Church

St Saviours

www.st-saviours.org.uk

www.citychurchleeds.net/

www.fenstantonparishchurch.org.uk

Cottingham Road Baptist Church

www.stjohnstoke.com

www.freedomchurch.co.uk

www.stpl.org.uk

Christ Church Upper Armley City Church Leeds

www.citylifehull.co.uk

Hereford Freedom Church Hereford

St Paul’s Leamington Spa

Huddersfield Salvation Army

St Johns Stoke

www.springscf.org.uk

www.stmarysleamington.com

www.huddersfieldchristianfellowship.com

Guildford Community Church

www.kcchatfield.org.uk

St Mary’s Church

www.salvationarmy.org.uk/huddersfield

Guildford Boiler Room

Kings Community Church

www.christchurch.org.uk

www.banjos.org.uk

www.krbc.org.uk

www.hope4hatfield.org

www.norththamesvineyard.org.uk

www.onechurchgloucester.com

Hatfield Evangelical Baptist Church

St Thomas Church Lancaster

Gloucester Gloucester Community Church

Ll Lancaster Christians Alive Lancaster www.christians-alive.org.uk

Father’s House

www.fathers-house.co.uk

Holy Trinity Leicester

www.holytrinityleicester.org www.hopehamiltonchurch.org.uk

Leicester Christian Fellowship

www.leicesterchristianfellowship.co.uk

Leicester City Vineyard

www.leicestercityvineyard.org.uk

Oadby Baptist Church www.oadby-baptist.org.uk

Presence

www.presence-church.com

Trinity Life Church Leicester www.trinitylifechurch.org.uk

Lichfield St John’s Community Church

www.stjohnscommunitychurch.org.uk

Lincoln Grace Church

www.gracechurchlincoln.org

49

New Life Christian Fellowship

Fulham United Reformed Church

South West London Vineyard

Threshold Church Nettleham

Gateway Church Leyton

Shoreditch Tabernacle

Lewes King’s Church Lewes

Greenwich Vineyard Church

St Alban’s Fulham

www.kingschurchlewes.co.uk

King’s Church Harrow

St Barnabas Kensington

Liverpool Devonshire Road Christian Fellowship

Hillsong London

St Cuthberts North Wembley

Hope City Church

His Church Kingston-upon-Thames

St Cuthberts Wood Green

Frontline

Holy Trinity Brompton

St Dionis Fulham

Grace Family Church

Holy Trinity Swiss Cottage

St Gabriel’s Church

Jesus Fellowship

Hoxton Vineyard

St Georges Holborn

Jubilee Church Liverpool

Ichthus Forest Hill

St James’s Church, New Barnet

Mossley Hill Church

Ichthus New Life Greenwich

St James the Less Pimlico

South Liverpool Vineyard

Jesus Fellowship Church

St John’s Hampton Wick

St Andrews Clubmoor Liverpool

Kensington Temple

St Luke’s Kentish Town

St James in the City

Kings Church Kingston

St James Campus Congregation

Kings Cross Church (KXC)

St Stephen’s

Kingsgate Church Richmond

Wavertree Christian Fellowship

Kingston University Chaplaincy

www.newlifelincoln.org.uk

www.thresholdchurch.co.uk

www.hopecitychurch.tv www.frontline.org.uk www.gfc-liverpool.org www.jesus.org.uk

www.jubileechurchliverpool.org www.mossleyhillchurch.org.uk www.southliverpoolvineyard.com www.standrewsclubmoor.org.uk www.stjamesinthecity.org.uk www.stjamesinthecity.org.uk www.st-stephens.org.uk

www.fulhamurc.org.uk

www.gatewaychurch.org.uk

www.greenwichvineyard.org.uk www.kingsharrow.org

www.hillsong.co.uk/young_adults www.hischurchlondon.org www.htb.org.uk/students www.htsc.org

www.hoxtonvineyard.org.uk www.ichthusforesthill.com www.ichthus.org.uk www.jesus.org.uk www.youth.kt.org

www.kingschurch.com www.kxc.org.uk www.lci.org.uk

www.wavertreechristianfellowship.org.uk

www.kingston.ac.uk/chaplaincy

London All Saints Peckham

www.latymer.org.uk

www.allsaintspeckham.org

Antioch Community Church www.antioch.org.uk

Ascension Balam Hill

www.ascensionbalhamhill.org.uk

Bless Community Church, Ealing www.blesscc.org

Brockley Community Church www.brockleycc.org

Catch the Fire London www.ctflondon.com

Chase Family Church

www.chasefamilychurch.com

Chiswick Christian Centre www.chiswick.cc

Chinese Church in London www.ccil.org.uk/so/

Christ Church Cockfosters www.cockfosters.org.uk

Christ Church Spitalfields www.ccspitalfields.org

Church of Christ the King Plumstead www.ccklondon.org

Latymer Christian Fellowship London Community Church www.londonchurch.org

London City Life Church www.londoncitylife.co.uk

Lumen United Reformed Church www.lumenurc.org.uk

Mill Hill East Church ww.mhechurch.co.uk

Molesey Community Church www.mccrefresh.com

New Life Church (North London) www.newlife-london.org.uk

New River Church Islington www.newriverchurch.net

Northwest Church London www.northwestchurch.co.uk

Oak Tree Acton www.oaktree.org.uk

Oasischurch Waterloo www.oasischurch.info

Quaystone Church London www.quaystone.org

Queens Road Church Wimbledon www.qrc.org.uk

City Gates Church Soho

Restore (Peckham)

Every Nation

Holy Trinity Richmond

www.citygateschurch.net www.everynation.org.uk

Equippers Church City www.equipperscity.co.uk

Equippers Church West www.equipperswest.co.uk

www.restore-peckham.org www.thamesidechurch.co.uk

House of Prayer London River of Life ICC Riverside Vineyard www.riverchurch.org.uk

www.swlv.org.uk

www.shoreditchbaptist.com www.stalbansfulham.org www.stbk.org.uk

www.stcuths.org

www.stcuthbertschurch.org.uk www.stdionis.org.uk

www.st-gabriels.org

www.stgeorgesholborn.org www.stjamesnewbarnet.com www.sjtl.org

www.stjohnshamptonwick.org www.slkt.org.uk

St Marks Battersea Rise

www.stmarks-battersea.org.uk/

St Mary’s Bryanston Square www.stmaryslondon.com

St Marks Forest Gate

www.stmarksforestgate.org.uk

St Marks Kensal Rise www.saintms.co.uk

St Mary’s Upper Street Islington www.stmarysislington.org

St Michaels Chester Square www.stmichaelschurch.org.uk

St Michaels Southfield

www.stmichaelssouthfield.org

St Pauls Hammersmith www.sph.org

St Peters Harrow

www.stpetersharrow.co.uk

St Paul’s Ealing

www.stpaulsealing.com

St Paul’s Kingston Hill

www.stpaulskingston.org.uk

St Paul’s Shadwell

www.stpaulsshadwell.org

St Simon’s Shepherd’s Bush www.stsimons.co.uk

St Stephens East Twickenham www.st-stephen.org.uk

The Community Church Putney www.thecommunitychurch.uk.com

The Good Shepherd Mission www.goodshepherdmission.org.uk

The Kings Cross Baptist Church www.thekingscrossbaptistchurch.com

The Space London The Well Camberwell www.thewellcc.org.uk

Tollington Parish www.tollingtonparish.org.uk

Tower Hamlets Community Church www.thcc.org.uk

Register your church for Fusion’s Church Connection at www.fusion.uk.com/churches.

Victoria Park Baptist Church

St Elizabeth Greater Manchester

Westbourne Grove Church

St James and Emmanuel

Westminster Community Church

St Mary Magdalene and Sale West Community Church

www.vpbc.org.uk

stelizabethshorwich.co.uk

www.westbournegrovechurch.org

www.stjamesandemmanuel.org

www.westminsterchurch.org.uk

Loughborough Emmanuel Church Loughborough www.easm.co.uk/emmanuel

www.stmarysaom.org

St Pauls Kersal and St Andrews www.stpaulsparish.org.uk

Vinelife

Elim Loughborough

www.elimchurchloughborough.org.uk

Kings Church Loughborough www.kingschurch.co.uk

www.vinelife.co.uk

Marlow River Church Marlow

Open Heaven

www.riverchurch.org.uk

Junction 24

Melton Mowbray Melton Vineyard

www.openheaven.org www.junction24.com

Luton City Life Church Luton www.loveluton.org

www.hopechurch.co.uk

Stopsley Baptist Church www.stopsley.net

Mm Maidenhead River Church

www.riverchurch.org.uk

St. Peter’s Maidenhead www.real-life.org.uk

Maidstone Loose Baptist Church www.loosebaptistchurch.org.uk

Malvern The Source

www.thesource.uk.com

Manchester Altrincham Baptist Church www.altrinchambaptist.org

All Saints Marple, Stockport www.marpleparish.co.uk

!Audacious Church

www.audaciouschurch.com

Didsbury Community Church Christ Central www.christcentral.org.uk

Elmwood Church Manchester www.elmwood.org.uk

Hope Church Manchester www.the-hope.org.uk

Ivy Manchester

www.ivymanchester.org

Kings Church Manchester www.makingjesusfamous.org

Langworthy Community Church

www.langworthycommunitychurch.com

Lighthouse Christian Centre www.lighthousecc.co.uk

Manchester International Alliance

www.manchesterinternationalalliance.com

Oasis church

www.oasistrust.org/salfordcentralchurch/

Life Church

www.smcf.org.uk

St Chads Romiley

www.stchadsromiley.co.uk

www.bethelnewport.co.uk

Kings Church Newport www.kings-church.org.uk

Newquay Christian Centre www.nccdream.com

The Lab

www.thelabnewport.org

Northampton Broadmead Baptist Church www.broadmead.org.uk

Central Vineyard Church www.centralvineyard.co.uk

Kingdom Life Church Northampton www.klc.org.uk

www.meltonvineyard.org

New Pastures Church

Merthyr Merthyr Elim Church

St Giles

www.methyrelimchurch.co.uk

Hope Church Luton

Newport, Wales Bethel Community Church

Middlesborough Middlesborough Community Church www.middlesboroughcommunitychurch.org

One Life Church Teesside Tees www.onelifechurch.org.uk

Community Church www.tvcchurch.org.uk

Tees Valley Community Church www.tvcchurch.org.uk

MOIRA (NI) St John’s Moira

www.moiraparish.org.uk

Nn Newcastle Under Lyme Newcastle Baptist Church www.newcastlebaptist.org.uk

Silverdale Elim Church

www.elimchurchsilverdale.org.uk

Newcastle upon Tyne Bethshan www.bethshanchurch.net

City Church Newcastle www.city-church.co.uk

Destiny Church

www.destinynewcastle.com

Diocese of Newcastle

www.newcastle.anglican.org

www.newpastureschurch.com www.stgilesnorthampton.org.uk

Storehouse Church

www.storehousechurch.co.uk

NORWICH City Church Norwich www.citychurch.co.uk

Eternity Norwich

www.eccnorwich.org.uk

Gateway Vineyard Norwich

www.gatewayvineyardnorwich.org.uk

Norwich Vineyard

www.norwichvineyard.co.uk

Stoke Holy Cross

www.stokeholycrosschurch.org

Surrey Chapel

www.surreychapel.org.uk

Proclaimers

www.proclaimers.com

Nottingham Beeston Oasis Christian Centre www.beestonoasis.org.uk

Charis Life Church www.charislife.org.uk

Christian Centre

www.christian-centre.org

Eagle’s Nest Church www.eaglesnest.org.uk

Everyday Champions Church Nottingham

Elim Church

www.outreachchurch.co.uk

Heaton Road Baptist Church

www.godsvineyardchurch.org

Hope City Church Newcastle

www.gracechurchnottingham.org

Jesmond Methodist Church

www.lifeatthecentre.com

Newcastle CLC

www.outreachchurch.co.uk

Silverdale Elim Church

www.saviours.org.uk

St Luke’s (New Wine on Tyne)

www.standrewsnottm.org.uk

Tyneside Vineyard

www.stgilesparish.com

www.yourchurch.info www.heatonbaptist.org

www.hopecitychurch.tv

www.jmc-newcastle.org.uk www.mynclc.co.uk

www.elimchurchsilberdale.org.uk www.stlukesnewcastle.co.uk www.tynesidevineyard.org.uk

Newquay Blaze Church

www.blazechurch.org.uk

Gods Vineyard Ministry Nottingham Grace Church Nottingham Life @ The Centre Outreach Church Saviours

St Andrew’s Nottingham St Giles West Bridgeford St Nicholas Nottingham www.stnics.org

51

St Stephens with St Pauls The Rock West Bridgford

Portsmouth

Thomas Helwys Baptist Church

www.langstonechurch.com

Sheffield Antioch Community Church

www.trinitysouthsea.org.uk

Langstone Church Portsmouth

www.the-rock.org.uk

www.thomashelwysnottingham.org.uk

Trent Vineyard

www.trentvineyard.org

www.antiochsheffield.org.uk

Cemetery Road Baptist Church www.crbchurch.org.uk

Rr Preston Preston Vineyard

City Life Christian Church www.citylifecc.com

www.prestonvineyard.org

City:Base Sheffield

Ribble Valley Church

Oo Ormskirk Ormskirk Christian Fellowship www.ocf.org.uk

Orpington Fullness of Christ Ministries

www.ribblevalleychurch.net

www.citybase.org

Radcliffe St Andrews

www.stmarkssheffield.co.uk

The Eccles

www.standrewsradcliffe.org.uk

www.fullnessofchristministries.co.uk

www.the-eccles.com

Reading Abbey Baptist Church Reading

Ossett Trinity Church Ossett

www.abbeybaptistchurch.org.uk

www.trinityossett.org.uk

All Nations Christian Centre

Oxford Oxford Vineyard

LifeSpring Church Reading

www.allnationselim.org

www.lifespringchurch.org.uk

www.ovc.uk.com

Oxfordshire Community Church oxford.occ.org.uk

Greyfriars Church

www.connectgreyfriars.org.uk

Harvest International Church

Jesus Fellowship Oxford

www.harvestinternational.org.uk

Reading Vineyard Church

www.jesus.org.uk/oxford

www.networkvineyard.org.uk

St Aldates Oxford

St Laurence

www.staldates.org.uk

www.highwaychurch.co.uk

Peterborough KingsGate Community Church www.kingsgateuk.com

Plymouth City Church Plymouth

www.citychurchplymouth.org.uk

Mutley Baptist Church www.mutleybaptist.co.uk

Pontypridd Coedpenmaen Baptist Church www.coedpenmaenbaptist.co.uk

www.citygatesalisbury.com

Salford CCM: Salford

Scarborough Ebenezer Baptist

www.family-church.org.uk

Kings Church

www.ebenezerbaptistchurchscarborough.org.uk

Portsmouth Vineyard

www.stmartinandstjohn.org

St Martin’s

www.kingschurchportsmouth.co.uk www.portsmouthvineyard.org

Trinity Methodist Church

www.sttomsstudents.co.uk

www.newgen.org.uk

www.salfordchurch.org

Family Church

St Thomas’ Philadelphia

www.averyhill.info

St. Clements Salford

www.myclc.org.uk

www.churchforstudents.com

Royston Royston Community Church

www.ccm.org.uk

Portsmouth City Life Church

St Thomas Crookes

www.rotherham.ec

Salisbury City Gate Salisbury

www.vinechurchpoole.com

www.ststephenschurch.org.uk

Sidcup Avery Hill Christian Fellowship

www.stmarysaom.org

Vine Christian Fellowship

St Stephens Church

www.stthomashanwood.org.uk

Ss Sale St Mary Magdalene and Sale West Community Church

www.smlpoole.org.uk

www.stjohnpark.org.uk

Rotherham Rotherham Evangelical Church

www.Cnbparishes.org.uk

Poole St Mary’s Longfleet

St John’s Park

www.regerationchurch.co.uk

Rugby Christ Church

www.waterfrontchurch.org.uk

www.kingscentreonline.com

Shrewsbury St Thomas Hanwood

www.holytrinityripon.org

St Andrews Waterfront Church

Kings Centre Christian Church

Romford re:generation Methodist Church

Plymouth Methodist Central Hall www.plymouthvineyard.org.uk

www.jesus.org.uk/sheffield/

www.stpetes.org.uk

RIPON Holy Trinity

Plymouth Vineyard

Jesus Fellowship Church

www.thamesidechurch.co.uk

www.tlc-royston.org.uk

www.plymouthcentralhall.co.uk

www.hopecitychurch.tv

Shipley St Peters

Plymouth Christian centre

www.plymouthchristiancentre.org

Hope City Church

Thameside Church Reading

www.saintlaurencereading.com

Pp Penryn Highway Church

St Mark’s, Broomhill & Broomhall

New Generation Church Slough River Church Slough www.riverchurch.org.uk

SOLIHULL Solihull Renewal Christian Centre www.renewalcc.com/

Southampton Central Baptist Church

www.southamptoncbc.org.uk

City Life Church www.citylife.org.uk

Highfield Church Southampton www.highfield.org.uk

Kings Community Church www.kcc.uk.net

Life Church

www.lifesouthampton.org

New Community Church www.newcommunity.org.uk

Riverside Family Church www.scfchurch.net

St. Mark’s

www.stmarkssoton.co.uk

Southport Calvary Church Southampton www.calvarysoton.co.uk

Victory Gospel Church Southampton www.victory.uk.net

Register your church for Fusion’s Church Connection at www.fusion.uk.com/churches.

Shoreline Church

Parklands Evangelical Church

Winchester Vineyard

Stanford-leHope

24-7 Prayer Stanford

Woodlands Church

Wirral Wirral Christian Centre

www.shorelinechurch.org.uk

www.24-7prayer.com

www.parklandschurch.org.uk www.woodlands.cc

Tt Tadley Taste

St Albans St Albans Vineyard

www.tasteyouth.co.uk

Network Church

www.totnesunitedfree.org.uk

www.thevineyardchurch.co.uk www.networkchurch.org

St Mark’s Colney Heath www.stmarks.info

St Pauls St Albans

www.stpauls-stalbans.org

ST HELENS St Marks Haydock

www.stmarkshaydock.org

Stoke on Trent Breathe City Church

www.breathecitychurch.com

Christchurch

www.Christchurch-alsager.org.uk

Longton Elim

www.longton-elim.org.uk

Stockton-on-Tees Destiny Church Teeside

www.wirralchristiancentre.com

Totnes Totnes United Free Church Tonbridge Tonbridge Baptist Church Thetford Fountain of Life

Church 18-30 Lifespring Church Wolverhampton

TROWBRIDGE St Thomas Trowbridge

www.lifespring.uk.com

St Jude’s Wolverhampton

www.stthomastrowbridge.org.uk

www.stjudeschurch.org.uk

Truro Grace Church

Vintage Faith Wolverhampton www.vintagefaith.co.uk/

www.gracetruro.org

Worcester All Saints Worcester

Uu Ulverston Ulverston Parish Church

www.allsaintsworcester.org.uk

www.ulverstonparishchurch.org.uk

Norton Baptist Church

Majesty Christian Centre Uxbridge

The Vine Teesside

The Crown Church Uxbridge

www.nortonbaptistchurch.org.uk www.onlinevine.org.uk

Stokesley Stokesley Parish Church

www.stokesleyparishchurch.org.uk

Stretton St Lawrence Church

www.crown-church.org

Ww Wakefield Destiny Christian Church www.Destinychurch.co.uk

Walsall The Rock Church

www.strettonparish.org.uk

Sunderland Bethany City Church

www.stmatthewswalsall.co.uk

www.bethanycitychurch.org

Bethshan

www.bethshanchurch.net

Elim Sunderland

www.vineyardchurch.org

Swansea Cornerstone Church

www.cornerstonechurch.co.uk

Elim Swansea (The City Temple)

Worcester Vineyard

www.worcestervineyardchurch.org.uk

Yy York Calvary Chapel

www.calvarychapelyork.com

Christ the Light Church Huntington www.christthelight.org.uk

Clifton Parish Church www.cliftonparish.org.uk www.yorkelim.com www.g2york.org www.gatewaychurch.co.uk

Global York

www.globalyork.com

The Ark

www.the-ark.net

www.openhousewarwick.org.uk

York Vineyard

Watford Soul Survivor Watford

York City Church

www.soulsurvivorwatford.co.uk

Wells Wells Vineyard

www.wellsvineyard.com

Wimborne The Warehouse

Lifepoint Church

Winchester Winchester Family Church

www.lindenchurch.org.uk

www.worcesterbaptistchurch.org.uk

Gateway Church

www.elimswansea.org.uk

Linden Christian Centre

Worcester Baptist Church

Walton-on-Thames Walton Baptist Church

www.warehousewimborne.co.uk

www.lifepoint.org.uk

www.stpetersbaptist.org.uk/spbc/

G2 York

www.walsallcommunitychurch.org

WARWICK OpenHouse Warwick

SUTTON Vineyard Church Sutton

St Peters Baptist Church Worcester

Elim Pentecostal Church

St Benets

www.monkwearmouthsa.org.uk

www.elimresonate.co.uk

Walsall Community Church

www.waltonbc.org

Sunderland Monkwearmouth Salvation Army

Resonate Worcester

St Matthews Walsall

www.elimsunderland.org.uk www.stbenetsparish.org.uk

www.majestycc.com

www.therockchurch.co.uk

Wokingham Sindlesham Baptist Church

www.allnations.org.uk

www.folchurch.co.uk

www.hillypark.org.uk

www.wokingvineyard.org

Wolverhampton All Nations Christian Centre Wolverhampton

www.tbc-online.org.uk

Hebron Church

www.hebronstockton.org.uk

Woking Woking Vineyard

www.sindleshambaptistchurch.com

Uxbridge Hillingdon Park Baptist Church

www.thedestinychurch.co.uk

www.winvin.org.uk

www.winfam.org

www.yorkvineyard.com www.yorkcitychurch.org.uk

York Community Church

www.yorkcommunitychurch.co.uk

St Andrews and All Saints. www.huntingtonparish.org.uk

St Oswalds Church

www.st-oswalds-fulford.org.uk

St Michael le Belfrey www.thebelfrey.org

St Pauls

www.stpaulsyork.org.uk

St Thomas with Maurice York www.stthomaswithstmaurice.org.uk/

53

The 90 Challenge Over 90 days this summer Fusion will prepare and connect 2500 students to churches when they move away to study through Student Linkup. Over the last decade tens of thousands have benefitted from this initiative. Students have found great friends and churches, parents have been reassured, churches have grown.

Student Linkup is a positive response to the latest research that shows ‘73% of Christian students don’t connect with a church at uni’.

•

Paul is attempting a ‘Man vs Food’ style challenge and eating 90 sausages in one day

•

Ali, a youth worker, is so stirred by this cause he is giving up his beloved coffee for 90 days.

We salute you all!

A tremendous amount of physical time and emotional energy goes into preparing students for the university experience. So much is at stake in this transitional and uncertain time.

The 90 Challenge is a fun way of supporting thousands of new students and encouraging them to Linkup. The challenge is very simple:

We hope you are inspired because we want to invite you to invest in the next generation of students through taking the 90 Challenge.

There are loads of ideas on the Fusion site, it is quick and easy to register your interest and we’ll send you some info to cheer you on. The Fusion Team and many others are also taking the 90 Challenge and you can find out more about what they are up to at: www.fusion.uk.com/90.

Will you do a 90 Challenge to sponsor one day of Student Linkup?

If you can’t take part in a challenge, you can still make a donation using the form opposite or visit www.fusion.uk.com/give.

Student Linkup lasts for 90 days and it costs £200 a day to implement. All we are asking is that you use some of your time to do something fun to raise £200. Here are a few challenges that students, parents and leaders are doing this summer: •

Vince is kayaking 90km down the river Thames from Henley to Vauxhall Bridge.

•

Elisabeth is going poetry mad and tweeting out 90 Haiku.

Please help us give Christian students the very best preparation for their university days.

Rich Wilson National Team Leader, Fusion

90 days of www.fusion.uk.com/90

Giving Form Contact Information

Standing Order

Please complete in BLOCK CAPITALS Title and Name

To the Manager Bank

Address

Address

Postcode Postcode

Dear Sirs, Please set up a Standing Order payable to Fusion Barclays Bank, East Street, Chichester, Account No: 00047198 Bank Sort Code Number: 20-20-62

Email

For the amount of

£

Phone Number

.

One off gift Please accept my gift of

£200

£100

£10

£

To be paid on the 1st or the 15th of the month and thereafter on a monthly basis until further notice.

Name of Account Holder(s):

Account Number:

£20

To give via credit or debit card please go online to www.fusion.uk.com/give

Sort Code:

Signed:

/

Gift aid If you are a UK tax payer, paying income tax or capital gains tax, you can make your gifts worth 25% more at no extra cost to you.

I am a UK tax payer and want Fusion to claim back the tax on all donations I have made in the past four tax years and on all future gifts.

Signature

Date: /

Please return forms to:

FUSION UK 18 The Office Village, North Road, Loughborough, LE11 1QJ. Fusion UK is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales No. 36799369 and a registered charity no. 1073572.

73% of Christian students don’t connect to church at uni*

9 90

Please help us finance 90 days of Student Linkup Through a one off gift £200 is what each day of Student Linkup costs. £100 will run a Student Linkup Event. £20 resources a youth worker to prepare their students. £10 will enable one student to go through Linkup. *According to research conducted in 2011 by Christianity and University Experience, 73% of students don’t connect to church or any Christian group at university.

90 days of www.fusion.uk.com/90