Fuse Issue 22

LO R E T TO M OV E M E N T GO D ON T H E M OV E I N M A N C H ES T ER L E T T E R TO MY S T U D E N T SEL F

“Where then is my hope – who can see any hope for me?”

(Job 17:15)

Job is lamenting his lot in life and who can blame him? His life has become more than a Greek tragedy, he is living out a chaotic drama of death and destruction.

Hope is in short supply and his friends’ counsel is yet to hit the spot. Out of his personal anguish I can imagine Job bellowing out ‘where then is my hope – who can see any hope for me?’

Shouted with such passion, these words continue to reverberate around the world today, chiming with lives of quiet desperation and longing. Hope in our world is scarce. However, hope for those in Christ is abundant. God’s hope is plentiful and we participate in the mission of God by declaring and embodying this living hope.

We see hope. We see hope after Brexit, we see hope across Europe, we see hope that confounds fear, we see hope that changes lives, we see hope that restores, hope that heals, hope that comforts, hope that resurrects, hope for millions of students. We see lots and lots and lots of hope.

This issue of Fuse tells stories of hope across the church and the student world.

Enjoy!

CONTENTS

HELLO...

FEATURES & INTERVIEWS 04 News 08 Loretto Movement 14 God on the Move in Manchester 18 Letter to My Student Self 22 Student Linkup Story 24 Student Worker Story 26 Church Profile: St Paul’s, Weston 30 Fusion in Europe 32 Dry Bones Are Waking in France 34 Student Mission Story 36 Student Mission Awards 38 Helping the Church Find its Style 43 About Fusion 44 Fusion Resources 48 Where Are They Now? 50 Fusion Giving

Design: Creative Hope Studio www.creativehopestudio.com For advertising opportunities please contact: Editor: Caroline Harmon E: caroline.harmon@fusionmovement.org Fusion UK is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales No. 3679369 and a registered charity No. 1073572 18 The Office Village | North Road Loughborough | LE11 1QJ

Rich Wilson Team Leader Fusion @richwilson01

Printed on 120 Cocoon 100% recycled, FSC® certified paper, totally chlorine free. Printed with vegetable inks.

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INSIGHT NEWS NEWS

CAST FUSION LAUNCHES POD to be in the know

Want with what’s happening on the ground in universities, amongst students and in local churches? We’re talking campus, faith, life, and sharing our best stories. Subscribe to the loveyouruni podcast now to join the student mission conversation with Miriam Swaffield and Luke Smith.

drinking or operating you don’t listen whilst eating, Small print: It is advised that sequences related con be held responsible for any heavy machinery. We cannot hter. to unforeseen outbursts of laug t

fusionmovement.org/podcas

NEW FUSION TEAM MEMBERS

We’re excited to be joined by three new team members.

Ella Phillips is our new Student Mission Developer, based in Bath. Viki Tailor will also be a Stud ent Mission Developer and is based in Sheffield. Last, but certa inly not least, Paul Eaton joins us a Student Work Develope r and he will be based in Exeter.

Think you might be called to work with students and the church? Check out: fusionmovement.org/called

NEW WEBSITE ADDRESS

website address that As our movement grows, we’ve got a new r than just UK focused: rathe l, globa reflects the fact we’re becoming fusionmovement.org

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FAVOURITE TWEET Laura @LauraMcintosh24 p app would never have Genuinely so grateful for the @Student_Linku found the church I’m at now without it

NEW DISCIPLESHIP RESOURCE What are you praying for that is impo ssible without God? Who are you discipling? Which non-Christian friends are you intentionally spending time with? Are you getting enough sleep?

When was the last time someone aske d you tough questions? We think it’s important that every student is being provoked through discipleship questions.

That’s why we’ve come up with 52 ques tions, and printed them onto a deck of cards. Get yours:

u yo do r at fo Wh o to rt? g fo com

fusionmovement.org/resources

W h im at yo p is co u ac th ns r m t o e um e f pt dia io n?

ALMOST 22,000 STUDENTS LINKED TO CHURCH

d 21,986 students find a church As we went to print, Student Linkup had helpe of these students have been in the near their uni since it started. The majority are linking up around the world.

UK, but now increasing numbers of students hes in Thailand and Germany churc g findin Recently, we’ve heard of students amongst others. studentlinkup.org

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NEWS

WAITING, DATING, MATING COURSE SUCCESS More than 50 students, many not-yetChristian, have attended an exciting new relationship course run by Open Heaven Church in Loughborough.

Waiting, Dating, Mating runs over five sessions and explores topics including singleness, the ‘Friend Zone’, defining a relationship, good communication, porn, ‘sexpectations’ and relationship goals. It helps students to consider how to apply their values to their relationships.

The course has been made possible through the church’s own good relationship with Loughborough Student Union as Joe McSharry, a member of Open Heaven’s leadership team and creator of the course, explained: ‘We’ve run Club Mission with the Union for a while, so we have regular contact. I had an idea that we have quite a bit of experience around relationships through our work with

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students in church, and I wanted students who aren’t Christians to benefit from this. God gave me the whole course contents in about half an hour; it all came into place very quickly. That enabled me to meet up with the Events Manager at LSU and make a really clear proposal of what the course would involve.’

His reaction was really positive: ‘He said “I know it’s different to Alpha, but this could be the new Alpha!” He sees it as something that could be really popular, just like Alpha.’

There has been lots of positive feedback: ‘We had one person who came to uni and had a break up really early on, and the course helped them to handle it well. Others said it was like the Sex and Relationship Education they’d never got in school.’

Looking ahead, what does Joe think comes next? ‘I’d love to develop a discipleship-focused course.

Something where we can have our bibles open and be Christ-centred.

At the minute we’re helping people to make their own value-based decisions. I’d love to do something that starts by asking “What do healthy relationships look like through the lens of Jesus?”’

Joe would be happy to talk to anyone who is interested in running a similar course about how Open Heaven has done it. You can get in touch with him via the Fusion office. facebook.com/WDMcourse

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In 1987 three Austrian Catholic students started meeting to pray together. 30 years later the Loretto Movement runs more than 40 prayer groups and each year, at Pentecost, organises a prayer festival in Salzburg Cathedral for 7000 young people. Fusion’s Rosie Fraser caught up with Maxi Oettingen to find out more.

How did the Loretto Movement begin?

A friend of mine went on a pilgrimage and he really encountered God and felt like many more people needed to experience him. He started a prayer group with three people. They began to pray together with the Rosary prayer because he was brought up traditionally and that was the only prayer he knew. They prayed this prayer and people joined them. The people that joined had no religious experience

E T T O EMENT

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or understanding, they just had a great time praying together! Then the second and third prayer groups started and it just began to flourish.

We started small and God breathed on us.

What does the Loretto Movement look like now?

We run 40 prayer groups, both in Austria and elsewhere. They are structured around worship, talks and adoration. It’s very simple and non-liturgical, which is probably

not something you expect from the Catholic church! It’s loud worship, and we have women and men sharing what God is doing.

We also have a house called H.O.M.E Mission Base in Salzburg. This is a place of teaching, knowledge transfer and formation of the heart. From this building we run a Discipleship Training School for students; have a ‘House of Prayer where we lavishly worship God and run 24/7 prayer; run Hope City for people who are ill, homeless, lonely

or in poverty; and run LaCantina, a restaurant where people pay as much or as little as they can for their food.

How did you get involved?

I encountered God for the first time when I was 11. When I was about 17 I had a bit of a crisis and dealt with a lot of inner conflict where basically I didn’t trust that if I did my life with God that it would be better than on my own and I didn’t trust that God meant well for me. I had the idea that life was complicated and

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difficult. So I moved away from him but then I bumped into God again and realised that he does mean well for me and he loves me. I heard about a Loretto prayer group which I joined when I went to university. I met my wife through Loretto. I then began volunteering and just got more and more involved.

What is God doing at the moment?

There is cool stuff happening all the time. There’s one Muslim guy that comes in and out of a prayer group in Vienna. He’s done Alpha already and about five weeks ago I asked him, ‘Do you want to become a Christian’ and he said, ‘Yes of course’ which was amazing!

There’s another group in Salzburg, one of the students there gave a gift

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to another student. The one who received the gift said, ‘Thanks so much for the gift, I especially loved all the gold glitter on everything,’ and the student who gave the gift said, ‘There was no glitter. I have no idea where that came from!’

In 2011 we had the feeling that we wanted to make extra prayer groups that meet once a week and have rooms ready for these groups.

So we built them. Then, a bit later, water came bursting out of the wall.

It was a mistake on the part of the construction guys, but we took it as a sign from God that we were doing the right thing. It was as if he was saying, ‘the water of God will be spread in this city’.

What would you say to church leaders who want to start working with students?

Just do it! If you give the young people space and try to show them God it’s not that difficult. You just have to be there, be stable, be a bit like a father to them and it works - they see God; they will see their father.

Maxi Oettingen works for the Loretto Movement. He and is wife have three children. He has a PhD in Philosophy and previously worked in advertising and for think tanks.

L O R E T T O .

A T H O M E - S A L Z B U R G . C O M

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Here at Fusion we keep hearing of amazing things happening in Manchester. Pioneer evangelism, church plants and lots of work with students. We caught up with three people involved in some of the work that’s going on.

Nick & Becky Duffy and their two children are involved in going door-to-door to pray for people and share the gospel.

In Romans 15 Paul talks about there being no place left for him to work in a particular region. What would that look like in Greater Manchester? If all 2.7 million people heard the gospel?

And when people accept the gospel can we not be too quick to snatch them out of their world and into our Christian culture? Can we make the sacrifice involved in entering their world see where God takes that?

Ultimately, we want to see churches planted where people are at and that includes students.

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We saw God move powerfully in the life of Ian*, finding him by going door-to-door with a student team looking for open people of peace as Jesus instructed in Luke 10. On opening the door, Ian said he was an atheist, though he was willing to be prayed for. After praying for him, we shared the gospel using a simple picture. He was so impacted that he wanted to meet up again. We met Ian and his housemates over the next five weeks discussing Jesus.

Four weeks on and Ian surrendered his life to Jesus. We immediately taught him to pray for people and share the Gospel, and generally help him make disciples too. A week later

and he had shared with the checkout lady in Lidl, his uni mates after a lecture, and even his counsellor who asked him what had happened for them to downgrade his medication!

He has since got baptised and really is a brand new creation. *Ian not his real name

duffysonmission.wordpress.com

Gareth & Lizzie Robinson are Team Leaders at St Philip’s, a new church plant.

In August 2016 we planted a resource church, primarily for young adults, right in the city centre in an existing church building with an existing congregation. It’s a partnership between the Church of England and New Wine. A resource church is a centralised place of worship and mission. We have been given

resources to start something that has the capacity to grow and have a significant impact on the area around us. We’re a centre of gravity to draw people in, but also to send people out for mission.

We’re right next door to Salford University and we are thrilled that students from all of the universities are coming to worship with us. One of our students had never been to church in his life, but in his first week at university he met with students from the CU. He came along to St Philips, felt like it was home to him, started Alpha the next week, and has been on a faith journey and is now in relationship with Jesus. We’re really encouraged by his story and hope this is a sign of what God is going to do more of.

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MANCHESTER ARTICLE

Ralph Pedley is involved in Campus Awakening.

Campus Awakening was born in Manchester out of the local church and is all about equipping and sending students on mission. We’re helping students know who they are in Christ and to embrace God’s mission as a lifestyle. Built around our identity as Christ’s ambassadors, we connect students into “Embassies” (small groups) focused around shared areas of university experience, such as sports or the arts. Through practical equipping, and above all, a value for the presence of God we’re seeing students step out in faith.

We had a law student whose

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coursemates want her to pray for them because of the peace she carries in times of stress. The leader of the Medical Embassy found himself praying for a man on placement and seeing his heart restart after serious cardiac arrest! It’s been amazing to connect with churches around the UK and Europe who share our heart and it has been so encouraging to see a number of these begin to host a Campus Awakening Hub in their local area this year. Much of what we are building is long-term; we want to see the kingdom of God bring transformation in every sphere of society. We feel like we’re in the opening chapters of a very exciting story! campusawakening.co.uk

Letter to My Student Self

We asked some graduates to write a letter to their student self, offering some advice. Here are extracts from the best. You can read them in full, as well as many more, on our website: fusionmovement.org

D E A R O N LY J U S T U N D E R G R A D - M E , Welcome to a fleeting event that will profoundly impact the rest of your life. You think you know yourself? Perhaps you do, but that’s going to change when, at the beginning of your second term, Jesus of Nazareth walks into your life and you have to make an intentional decision whether he stays or not‌

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DEAR ALFIE Your life has a purpose Alfie and the more that you can remember that the better these years will be. A lot of things are going to try and distract you from this purpose; drink, girls, YouTube, money, computer games, politics, drama in halls and a whole bunch of other things. Some of these things will be sin but some of them you will be able to justify biblically - that’s not the point. The point is not to take your eyes off the prize. …Tell your flatmates about Jesus, tell your course mates about Jesus… Years from now you will long for such an amazingly open mission field as the one you have just walked into.

DEAR GEMMA How are you doing today? Did you leave your room yet, or are you avoiding that shared kitchen again? I know. The bed is warm and this room is safe; even if someone knocks on the door, you can just pretend you’re asleep, or that you’ve gone out. I know. Longing to be heard, but too exhausted to explain and fed up of superficial conversations: it’s easier to just stay here, right?

But let me tell you something…

Gemma, you love people. You love company! Trust me. Go and get that cup of tea you’ve been putting off for hours; when you find someone in the kitchen, don’t just greet them awkwardly with an obligatory smile. Ask them about their day, offer them a biscuit, tell them about the book you’ve been reading, whatever! Trust me. There’s not one time I did this and regretted it!

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DEAR CAITLIN … Breathe deep. It’s not going to be quite what you’ve imagined, but you’re going to do great…Remember that you have a Good Leader in Jesus… When you feel like your grid for what is expected of you has completely disappeared, look to Him. His boundary lines will be spacious - and provide the optimum conditions for you to flourish.

Ask Him about that guy you like who isn’t a Christian. Tell Him when your degree isn’t what you thought it would be. Worship Him when insomnia kicks in and you feel like you’re losing yourself...

DEAR HARRY Get caught up.

Embodied or without.

I do not know, God knows.

Fail emphatically - wade out.

Better to feel strong than be strong.

Come alive again.

His grace is sufficient, Power perfected in weakness.

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DEAR B I L LY …If you fall morally or spiritually, learn to confess and accept forgiveness. There is nothing worse than a Christian who once ran well but has chosen to side-line themselves because of perceived unforgiveable sins. So just get over yourself and get back to serving God.

DEAR ANDREW The start of the year is largely a big game; a game of people working out what groups they belong to, what roles they take, how they want to come across, what they stand for and who on earth they really are. Don’t play this game.

Relax and be really kind… Try not to get frustrated with others who you think are narrow minded, or harsh in their views – arguments never really build friendship. But being kind? There’s something that makes a difference. You will be surrounded by people who are sad, unsure, worried, nervous, stressed, fearful, proud, angry and many other things, but kindness always helps and builds, it doesn’t tear down or destroy.

DEAR JOY …Ask Him outright if He is able to find friends for you. Don’t just assume He will only give you loser, frumpy friends. Check out the Christian groups, don’t just assume there won’t be any “cool” people there. Take a risk that way, ask God to show you who He is to you!

DEAR MIRIAM Dad will tell you ‘don’t go for a first, get a 2.1 and carry on doing all the stuff you love outside of your degree’ and he is right. What starts during your student years ends up shaping your destiny, your job, where you live, everything.

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INSIGHT NEWS LINKUP STORY STUDENT

REUBEN RUCKMAN

is in his first year studying Architecture at Liverpool John Moores. He joined Liverpool One Church after visiting Fusion’s stand at Soul Survivor festival and downloading the Student Linkup app.

When I downloaded the app I thought it would be a good back-up if I couldn’t find a church. But when I got to uni and wanted to try a church I immediately went on the app and found the church nearest to me. I decided to go there and commit to it for six weeks to see how it was.

After a week I was hooked; I loved it straight away. To be honest, I was torn between going to the one that was closest to me and the one that offered free food every week!

My eczema got better after people in my church prayed for me. I find it really comforting that people in my midweek group are praying for

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me. We meet fortnightly to explain what’s going on in our situations and pray for each other, then a prayer list gets sent round at the end of each meeting. During the week I pray for things that aren’t a big deal for me, but if that gets answered then it’s a big deal for the person who asked. At any time in the week when you feel like there’s hard stuff going on, you know that there are 12 other people praying for you.

I have eczema and it flared up particularly badly. I simply asked for prayer that it would get better. A week later they asked me how I was doing; I hadn’t even thought about it,

but it was much more under control.

I hadn’t been praying myself but others had. People remind you of what you’ve been praying for which is good because it reminds you to thank God for what He’s done.

flatmates, which is something I prayed for, for a long time before I got here. It’s made saying that I’m a Christian and being a Christian so much more natural. It’s easier when there are two of you.

I had been hoping and praying that there would be another Christian in my flat. And there is! We were able to talk about trying to find a church and praying for people. It drops into everyday conversation around

I would tell people who are getting ready to head off to university not to panic because panic won’t change anything. I hadn’t done much cooking before I came to uni and I was quite nervous about that, but when it becomes necessary you find a way.

I did burn six rashers of bacon so badly I couldn’t eat them, but I’ve also invented a meal I’ve called Cheesagysaus. It involves beans, sausages, spaghetti and cheese, and sometimes tomatoes. It wouldn’t pass any sort of health standard but it’s the tastiest thing I’ve cooked!

OFF TO UNI? DOWNLOAD THE STUDENT LINKUP APP OR VISIT: STUDENTLINKUP.ORG 23

STUDENT WORKER INTERVIEW WITH KATIE DOWDS Katy Dowds is a Student Intern and a Pastor at Lighthouse, a fresh expression church at St George’s Church, Leeds. She told Fuse about her experiences of helping students to engage with the homeless.

I first got involved with this work as a student. My small group would go out on the streets with food and hot chocolate for the homeless and point people to Lighthouse. The idea was to do stuff together that we wouldn’t have the guts to do on our own.

Community between us was built quickly when we were doing mission together rather than just going to church services.

Lighthouse is a fresh expression of church for those who have been bruised and battered by the storms of life. We planted the church in a homeless shelter that is based in the crypt at St George’s. Our Sunday service attracts 60-80 people in summer and up to 100 in winter.

Highlights have included seeing some of our homeless people pray for students who are about to go out on the street and serve food to other homeless people. They had just “graduated” from a course on prayer 24

and put their learning into action straightaway!

One Christian student brought eight of her follow art students to the Lighthouse for a project they were doing on community. They listened to some amazing testimonies from the homeless people about their experience of community within Lighthouse, then stayed for the bible study, prayer time and worship. It was a wonderful evangelistic move from the student.

Engaging students in work with the homeless can be challenging.

One of our Lighthouse guys is highly alcohol dependent and has severe mental health issues. He started coming to our 18-30’s services. One week during the general chat time just before the service I noticed that he got up and walked out. Later he told me: ‘those people in that service, they say that I’m their family but they treat me like a leper.’ No one had

tried to talk with him. I know that the people who were sat around him love him, but they fear saying the wrong thing so they say nothing at all. It’s hard to work out how to relate to people who are so different from you.

When I first started inviting students to the Lighthouse I realised that I needed to walk there with them and give them a pep talk on the way. I explain that they might not feel like they’re achieving much in the first few weeks and I give them ideas of questions to ask the homeless guys to start a conversation.

That said, the potential in the student

community is incredible. If you can give them a taste of what it’s like to come alongside the broken and hurting whilst they’re still students then who knows what they will do with that once they graduate.

I’m part of the Fusion Student Learning Communities. It’s allowed us to get out of our context and think intentionally about what we’re about. We realised that we’re not great at what the training calls ‘Deep Life’ – things like praying and resting in God. So we started a termly half night of prayer.

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CHURCH PROFILE

ST PAULS, WESTON In each edition of Fuse we profile one of the 1800+ Fusion Connection Churches. Adrian Wolton is Curate and Rachel Wilshere the Student Worker, at St Pauls, Weston-super-Mare where they have worked with an impressive one third of the students who live in the town.

Tell us a bit about your student work.

Adrian: 150 students actually live in Weston, and we have a connection with about 50-80 of those, so we’re hitting good proportions. Yet it was pretty much non-existent until a couple of years ago. I was praying about what to do and bumped into Pippa from the Fusion Team at a summer festival. She prayed for me for vision for students and from that point on I thought, well I’ve got to get on with it now! So I got in touch with the uni and booked a space at Freshers Fair, then I handed out loads of doughnuts and invited as many students as I could find to a roast dinner. That roast dinner tradition has continued! We

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had 30 or 40 at the first meal and now we’re getting more and more students engaging with us through the dinners.

I basically then ran out of time to do all that needed doing. We needed a Student Worker. Someone who was young, had recently been a student, and was passionate about student work: and that’s Rachel.

Rachel: I started in September just after I graduated from Winchester University and I hit the ground running with Freshers Week. We’ve been continuing with meals and starting small groups on Wednesday night, just hanging out at our houses with pudding and games. Our first term was basically designed to get

to know the students better, and we found that so helpful.

and it was like her whole being just changed!

For the Spring term our main focus is Alpha and bridging the gap between the students knowing us and knowing Jesus and talking about him a bit more. Even last week 17 students signed up for Alpha!

Adrian: I’ve seen changes in people over a couple of days after telling them about Jesus but this was over the space of a few minutes. But it is worth saying that people could see what we’ve done in Weston and be blown away by it, but it really has cost us too. We’ve sacrificed. It’s cost the church a lot in money, time and resources. There wasn’t an easy win, deep authentic relationships are the only way that the nut will crack.

Do you have any particularly good God stories?

Rachel: Channy is a great example of why we’re doing what we’re doing.

She came along to everything we were running. We loved her energy and we built up a relationship with her. She is a brilliant leader who makes people feel safe and comfortable. In September, after knowing them for about three weeks, we took our students camping and Adrian shared his testimony around the campfire. You could see Channy’s face literally change, she just got it straight away

What challenges have you faced?

Rachel: The Weston student isn’t your average student. They are often the ones who aren’t naturally academic. They’re studying something they love and are amazing at what they do, but they

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haven’t always got much confidence in who they are. Most of our students have some sort of mental health issue or low self-esteem. The biggest challenge is how we as a church are addressing those issues and how we are discipling these students one-on-one and showing them Jesus. My prayer is that they would realise their potential in all of their lives.

Any advice for churches thinking about starting a student ministry?

Adrian: Go and have a conversation with Fusion. Fusion have been

hugely foundational in how I reach students. Then have the guts to step out of your comfort zones and run with your passion and what God has given you. If you’re seeing the need for student ministry in your town or your location then I would argue that’s God putting that vision in your heart so get up and go and do something about it!

Does your church work with students or would you like to? Sign up as a Fusion Connection Church and you’ll get access to a list of students coming to study in your area, plus Student Work Training to help you reach each generation for Jesus. fusionmovement.org/churches

TLG AD?

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Less is more for #EscapeAndPray 2017 as it returns for a third year with fewer places and more preparation for the mission. Alan Taylor explains.

#EscapeAndPray 2016 involved 100 teams of 2-4 people going to cities in Europe for 48 hours to pray for revival on campuses and bless the city. Teams had no idea where they were going on arrival at the airport.

They kept it simple, based on Luke 10; a rucksack and some challenges, just 20 Euros in cash. It was about seeking first the Kingdom and trusting all their needs being met as they did that.

Europe’s universities are waiting for these new kind of missionaries rooted enough to face the insecurity of uncertainty and confident enough to be led by the Spirit to new ground.

So what’s with #EscapeAndPray 2017?

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Well, we want to underline the spirit of #EscapeAndPray.

We’re a blessing not a burden We’re pilgrims not tourists We’re on mission not a city break Think the apostle Paul in Athens, the missionary stories of Acts, the team dynamics with Barnabus and Paul.

We’re alert and anticipating all kinds of possibilities on mission and we want to prepare for them.

How do we deal with team tension?

How are we going to face misunderstanding and rejection?

Are we determined to follow God’s whispers?

#EscapeAndPray is an unmapped adventure that captures the missionary spirit we need to see in Europe’s students.

We’re learning to follow Jesus in the mission and trust him for our provision of accommodation, food and everything else. It’s not about ‘where will we stay?’ it’s about ‘where is Jesus leading us?’ We’re trusting God to look after us as we seek the Kingdom.

We want to be focused on praying our best prayers, connecting with God’s people and improvising as the Spirit collides with the Word in our hearts. #EscapeAndPray is sowing into the move of the Spirit that’s stirring the church to work with students in a far more purposeful way. As Fusion we feel compelled to jump in the flow of His Spirit among church and students in Europe. We’re ready

to encourage, resource and even, from time to time, instigate some faith adventures with this student movement in mind! We’re providing training and calling people to see with spiritual eyes what is rising up in Europe.

In time we believe thousands of churches with a passion for student mission will emerge and act like a net to bring in a great catch among the 30 million students in Europe.

Will you join us as we set our sails to be blown by God’s Spirit to Europe’s students?

Find out how you can pray and partner with this vision: alan.taylor@fusionmovement.org Follow developments on Fusion in Europe and the #EscapeAndPray adventure fusionmovement.org/blog

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CALLED TO JOIN

DRY BONES ARE WAKING IN FRANCE Jo Blair, Fusion Student Mission Developer, recently spent some time in Lille where she met Christian students and churches that are taking the gospel message into universities.

Then he said to me, ‘Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, “Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord!

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again!...”’

(Ezekiel 37:4-5)

The wind is cold in the North of France in winter and as you walk through the streets people’s faces can seem even colder. The landscape is dry, concrete; students scurrying to lessons and straight back home.

My first impression was that it’s not an easy place to be a student, much

less a Christian student as France is a very secular country.

Yet as I chatted to Pacôme and Adelaïde, students in Lille who live in a Christian community house, I heard a hope filled story: ‘I love it.

It’s amazing,’ explained

STUDENTS! WE REALLY WANT TO WORK WITH STUDENTS! 32

Pacome. ‘God is giving me a heart for my uni and for all the students around me. I’ve recently started a prayer group… to pray specifically for our unis. We want to reach our uni with the love of God that they just don’t know! We’re not sure how to go about doing this - maybe giving away treats and things on campus to start - but we know that showing God’s love is the next step before we even start to talk about Jesus with them… God is doing something new in our generation.’

This is a trace of the reality of what God is doing in France. This is a glimmer of the awakening I am believing for; hundreds of students like Pacome rising up across the nation and across Europe.

It also isn’t easy for churches to engage with university students.

Many have been daunted at the thought of huge secular institutions where there seems to be no welcome for them. Yet as I got talking to Charlène and Giles, in a church a 30-minute metro ride from the centre of Lille, this daunted,

fearful perspective was not their story: ‘Students! We really want to work with students! God has been talking to us about this recently.

We’re trying to work out where to start... We’re doing a week of street-evangelism with our church this week to try and meet as many students as possible and build relationships. We are hoping God will grow it and guide us from there!’

You may not see it on the surface, or expect it as you walk the streets, but do not let the dry bones fool you. Life is bubbling up under the surface, the beginnings of a movement. Students are rising up and churches are being stirred. Join with us in speaking a prophetic message to the bones of the dry university landscape that we see in France. We celebrate the signs of life we already see in this awakening army, and we continue to proclaim God’s life over what is dead.

GOD HAS BEEN TALKING TO US ABOUT THIS 33

INSIGHT NEWS MISSION STORY STUDENT

Alice Goble is in her third year studying Acting at Rose Bruford College in Sidcup. Two weeks before Fuse spoke to her, two of her friends gave their life to God whilst on an Alpha course.

When I got to Rose Bruford I was thrown in with lots of people who don’t have the same beliefs in me.

Having grown up in church, I loved being out of the church building and with people who needed to know God’s love, so I spent a lot of time investing in my course mates. I started inviting them to a church in Sidcup. It was weird; it was uncomfortable at times and there were moments when the Pastor would speak about things and I would think ‘please word that differently!’ I’ve had to accept that the Word can be offensive to those who don’t believe.

I’ve had lots of questions thrown at me about how I live my life; why

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I don’t take drugs or have sex, for example. You can feel like you’re in the firing line. I think it’s really important to let people ask the awkward questions, the ones that Christians deem inappropriate. Guard your heart and have boundaries, but if you’re comfortable talking about the things they’re asking about then you can help them understand more of the Kingdom of God. I took some friends to Alpha and we all found it hard. My friends found it overwhelming and they got frustrated by things that were said. I spent a long time battling with that; I thought it would be easy once I got them along. I felt God say to me ‘brick-by-brick, baby steps. I’m

planting a seed, don’t underestimate how much it will grow, it will just take time to build its roots.’ So I kept standing firm in my faith, kept asking people along.

Away from Alpha I spent 13 hour days with these friends in a rehearsal environment. They’ve seen me at my worst when I’ve made mistakes, but they’ve also seen that I get my hope not from acting or fancy headshots, but from Jesus.

Recently I thought I’d give it one more try. I took four girls to Alpha and they loved it! They’re starting to read the bible and pray. One of them texted me to say she was in the toilet praying for confidence, then she went

into an audition and felt a real peace.

Two weeks ago, two of them gave their lives to God. I can’t say it’s suddenly all blue skies. One of them is a bit overwhelmed, not in a bad way but she comes from an atheist family and she finds it hard to talk about this new belief. My prayer is that God will start growing those roots. I’ve had a few friends come to Alpha and say ’my parents don’t know I’m here, if they did they’d kill me.’ They’ve been brought up to think faith is all wrong, and it’s so wonderfully rewarding to see them sitting there thinking it might be right.

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IT’S TIME TO PARTY Fusion is launching the first ever Student Mission Awards in February 2018 with a big party. Miriam Swaffield, Fusion’s Student Mission Leader, explains how you can get involved.

Where was Jesus when he ended up performing his first miracle, basically because his mum asked him to? He was at a party. A wedding celebration that lasted days, with crowds of people, banquet tables of food and not enough wine to keep spirits up apparently. Cue water into the finest wine of the whole event and a strong start to public ministry.

God is a God of celebration. The life of Jesus is marked by dinner parties (some people accuse him of being a bit too boozy). The parables of Jesus glitter with stories of wedding banquets and community house parties thrown to celebrate something (a sheep, a coin, a person) being found. Fast forward to the book of Revelation and you’ll realise we are all currently in the process of

…GET 15TH FEBRUARY 2018 IN YOUR DIARY 36

RSVP-ing to a huge eternal party and we are also charged with inviting more guests to join us.

I’d love the Christian community to be known for throwing the best parties in society, given we have a bit of insight into what true joy is and how much God is good news to the world. With that in mind… …Get 15th February 2018 in your Diary At Fusion we want to celebrate more of the things that heaven is celebrating. Heaven celebrates as students come to know Jesus, as churches are bold and creative in mission, as we seek to get out there and find the lost sheep of the student world. This is why we are launching the first ever Student Mission Awards, complete with a big evening of stories and celebration, on 15th February 2018 in London.

We have a whole bunch of categories that you can submit your student mission story to, for a public and panel vote. This is your opportunity to share what Jesus is doing with people who might not otherwise have heard the good news.

We have categories for every Mission Style (see page 33) and

special entries for for things like Freshers Week, international students and digital mission. We’ve even got an award with funding attached to it for the most exciting idea to share Jesus with students that investment can help kick start!

All the info, awards, application process and stories from entrants can be found on our website and loveyouruni social media. Get applying, but also get experimenting with student mission. You’ve got plenty of time to try new ideas and then submit them as stories to be celebrated afterwards.

We aren’t interested in declaring some kinds of evangelism or missional activity as better than others, or thinking we can award people and somehow create levels of success when it comes to local church student work. We want to celebrate what we want to replicate, so we are going to encourage your experiments, boldness, sharing stories and ways of introducing people to Jesus on campus. And we’re going to have a right good party doing it!

Find out more at fusionmovement.org /awards

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HELPING THE CHURCH FIND ITS STYLE! Fusion recently officially launched Mission Styles, an online test and resource designed to equip the whole church to be confident in sharing their faith just as they are, regardless of personality type. It lets you know which one of four styles of mission you most easily identify with. Adam Mitchell-Baker explains how it’s being used by one church in Durham.

We ran a teaching workshop on Mission Styles with King’s Church Durham during Durham Freshers’ Week 2016. The students there found the workshop helpful for highlighting areas of their student ministry that perhaps needed closer evaluation in order to cater to people of all the Mission Styles.

Students compared their individual styles, as well as comparing their 38

styles as a student group, using the group function on the Mission Styles website and King’s sought to highlight what the obvious trends were for their Mission Styles results.

One of their students noticed that their church, and people from Durham University more generally, tend to engage best with the Convince Me and Talk With Me styles

of evangelism, but this meant their missional activity often neglected the Show Me and Let Me Experience Mission Styles. As a result, the whole church put on a special service called a Guest Sunday, where people were encouraged to invite friends and people who wouldn’t normally attend church or church events.

The service was themed around the idea of “Taste and See”, and King’s sought to present a really immersive experience of Jesus for people of atypical Mission Styles to engage with.

This is a great story of innovation and reflection to help the church sharpen its missional activity and is a perfect example of Mission Styles in action. We have seen almost 3000 people discover their Mission Styles and members of the Fusion team have delivered teaching workshops all across the country, from Southampton to the Scottish Highlands! The real joy has been in seeing how people have used the resource to tailor their missional activity, either as individuals or as a group.

The service presented multiple ways in which churches in Durham are engaging with people and it required the church to take a highly practical and experiential approach to viewing how they do mission.

This was in opposition to the more analytical and relational manner that King’s usually employs.

So now it’s over to you:

On the Sunday, guests were invited to join in with different initiatives that fulfilled the biblical ideas of loving your neighbour and social justice, and there was a clear platform provided for them to relate to the more practical aspects of Jesus’ character.

How is your church engaging with Mission Styles?

How has this story inspired you to start a new activity to reach a new group of people?

missionstyles

.org

If you’ve got any stories to share about how you’ve used Mission Styles we would love to hear it – drop us an email at: hello@fusionmovement.org

missionstyles.org

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1ST - 2ND SEPTEMBER R I V E R S I D E C E N T R E , D E R BY

fusionmovement.org/swc

ABOUT FUSION VISION

The vision of Fusion is to champion and catalyse church based student movements that see the student world reached and transformed by the gospel.

‘Finding a church when I got to uni is honestly the best thing I did. I got involved in what God is doing, made some amazing friends. I now lead a small group in my church and get to journey alongside Christians. I have seen lives changed, discovered God’s plan for me and have a home in a church which supports me and pushes me towards Jesus - all because I decided on my first week of uni to find a church.’

Jenny, Student Nottingam

FUSION OUTWORK THIS VISION THROUGH: Equipping Students: Preparing & inspiring students for a life of mission & discipleship at university.

Serving Churches: Connecting students into the heart of local church and encouraging churches to be at the heart of student mission.

Developing Student Workers: Training, resourcing and strengthening all those in church based student ministry.

So far this term we’ve seen six students become Christians!

We met one student, an “environmental spiritualist”, who told us he wanted nothing to do with the church, before almost immediately asking one of our students all about her faith.

When he started coming along to church and met Jesus, he said he felt incredibly loved and accepted.

Nick, Student Worker Sidcup

fusionmovement.org 43

FUSIONRESOURCES The Student Linkup Box ÂŁ10

Everything you need for starting university in one box University is full of opportunities, people and learning. Your school years have prepared you for so much, but what about everything else? The Student Linkup Box will give you all the important advice, as well as time and space to reflect, pray and plan for your next life stage at university.

The box contains four resources: The Student Linkup Sessions, Studentscape, Student Alphabet & Fuse magazine.

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The Stuff of Life

Living Mission

£5

The Stuff of Life is about the stuff that affects all of us. It’s the stuff that affects our relationships, values and outlooks. It’s stuff that, if not faced, can diminish a lot of freedom and enjoyment in day-to-day living.

Studentscape £5

An A-Z For Life After University

the graduate alphabet

Studentscape is an honest and reflective discipleship tool and bible study for any student new to or within the university culture. Using a value-based approach to discipleship, it will challenge and equip you for this life stage. It covers topics such as identity, work, friendships, money and cultural expectations.

Contributions from Liz Clark, George Critchley, James Featherby, Alexander Lee, Sarah-Jane Marshall and Anna Mathur.

Graduate Alphabet

£5 (also available on Kindle)

The Graduate Alphabet is a light-hearted, fresh and practical guide to life after graduation. It celebrates the many new opportunities in this life stage, and offers wisdom for its challenges too. It talks about adulthood, bosses, interviews, parents, responsibility, singleness and success.

HEARTBEAT

BREATH

MOVEMENT

£5 (also available on Kindle) This book invites you into the adventures of students who are intentionally living mission-shaped lives and sharing God with friends and communities.

Student Linkup Sessions £5

This is a discipleship tool for honestly preparing and reflecting for some of the biggest challenges in the university culture. Available as part of the Student Linkup Box

Loveyouruni Bundle £10

The loveyouruni bundle contains a trio of resources for current students for just £10 (£5 off). Living Mission, The Stuff of Life and The Graduate Alphabet.

Student Alphabet

£5 (also available on Kindle)

An A-Z for starting university The Student Alphabet travels quickly from A to Z with everything you need to know about starting university. It is light-hearted, practical and shares hundreds of tips, stories and advice throughout. It covers alcohol, budgeting, fresher’s week, halls, lectures and relationships.

All these resources and more are available online: fusionmovement.org

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BOOK A CLASSIFIED: caroline.harmon@fusionmovement.uk.com

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Colin Hewitt

Colin studied Computer Science at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh between 1997 and 2001. Today he still lives in the city and runs a company called Float which helps businesses keep on top of their cashflow. He is on the leadership team of Community Church Edinburgh.

As a student I felt like there was something important about committing to the place I was studying. After just one year I bought a flat here; that was like a stake in the ground that I was sticking around.

Fusion helped us build something lasting. I was part of a group that started cross church gatherings called Firestarter. We gathered to worship and pray. It was great to have the freedom to be where we felt God wanted us to be, but after a couple of years it felt like we wanted to see something that would be a bit more lasting. We came across Fusion and a bunch of us went to one of their conferences. As a result we set up a cell structure in our church that

48

grew from one cell to four or five in a couple of years. We learnt a lot about connecting with each other, challenging each other and building lasting relationships.

Today I run my own company, Float.

I want to build places of work that people enjoy coming to work in.

When we’re at uni we often have big ideas and dreams and it’s an exciting time to think outside the box. I watch people make the transition to work and it’s difficult. Their energy levels drop. I kept thinking, what would it be like if people were coming alive when they came into work? I thought about joining the church full time but I became excited by the thought of trying to achieve this in a business and employing

people who would also come alive at work.

The relationships that I formed in university were fundamental to what happened next. It set the bar for the kind community we wanted to build and be part of. We’re still seeing the fruit of that in Edinburgh.

People from that time who are still around comment to me on a regular basis that the quality of friendship we still have is amazing.

If you’re at uni now make the most of having time on your hands to have adventures. One Sunday I just got in my car and drove to meet with Jono West, who worked for Fusion at the time. I’d felt for a while like I should go and meet him so I

just did. Off the back of that I ended up working for Fusion full time for a year then part time for a further two.

Find a church in your first year and get into the rhythm of gathering on a regular basis in a small group or cell. After that it becomes much harder to do. When I see someone showing up every week it makes it much easier to integrate them and they’re someone I want to get to know because they’re going to be around.

Colin runs Float: floatapp.com

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SO FAR, OVER 22,000 CHRISTIAN STUDENTS HAVE BEEN LINKED TO NEARLY 2000 CHURCHES THROUGH STUDENT LINKUP. NOW, FUSION WANT TO INVITE ALL STUDENTS TO #TRYCHURCH STUDENTS: The best thing you could do at uni is join a local church; you will discover a home away from home, a community, interesting people from all walks of life. You will also discover that Jesus is real and is passionate about getting to know you. So would you #TryChurch at uni?

Churches: How are you welcoming all students to your city? Not just the Christian ones, all of them. Thousands of students arrive in your city each autumn to make it their home. Together, the church in the city can champion a welcome to the students of the city.

TO MAKE THIS A REALITY OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS FUSION WANT TO INVEST £300,000 IN STUDENT LINKUP. PLEASE JOIN US AS A REGULAR PARTNER, OR WITH A ONE-OFF DONATION. 50

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Fusion UK is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales No. 3679369 and a registered charity No. 1073572.

Donate online: fusionmovement.org/give

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EMILY’S STUDENT LINKUP STORY I USED THE STUDENT LINKUP APP TO FIND A CHURCH AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE FIRST ONE I TRIED. Now, some of my best friends at uni are the people I was put in contact with through the app.

Church and small group are the absolute highlights of my week.

I’m so grateful for that, and excited to see what God’s got planned for us all!

studentlinkup.org/app