You’ve probably already heard of the ‘Club Mission’ concept. Around the country, a number of churches have begun a ‘street pastors meets student night out’ initiative. One of the first churches to pioneer the idea was Open Heaven in Loughborough. “If you haven’t been, Loughborough Student Union building is basically a massive nightclub” says Paul, who has headed up the Club Mission team for the last year. “It hosts a number of big gigs every year as well as huge student nights multiple times during the week. The vision of Club Mission is to help students who are on nights out in the student union in any way they can, embodying Jesus’ love. It’s become an official part of the student union, working alongside the security staff. We’ve also been given a room to chat to people, another one to pray in as well as having a mobile prayer team walking around the venue.”

One of the most memorable stories to emerge from Club Mission in Loughborough over the last 12 months featured a larger than life character and a particularly ‘innovative’ choice of clothing. One evening, a guy came bounding into the room dressed in head -to-toe black lycra with a green flash plastered to his side. Turns out, he was impersonating a character from the ‘Cool Runnings’ Jamaican bobsleigh squad. This team member looked like he had something to get off his spandex clad chest; “What makes you think you’ve got the right to be here preaching at people!?” he boomed. Some guys from the Club Mission team offered him a seat and started having a conversation, explaining that we we’re not about preaching, we just wanted to care for people and show them God’s love. Sure enough, Mr. Bobsleigh looked across to see a guy sitting in the corner chundering into a bucket and a girl who’d lost all her friends sat at the other side of the room talking with volunteers from the team. “Wow” the guy says “that’s great, what a great idea, you guys are brilliant”.

Now to top off a year of chatting, consoling and clearing up, the Club Mission team was nominated by members of Loughborough Student Union and has won the ‘Loughborough University Team Of The Year’ award ahead. It just goes to show, Jesus love transforms people and changes opinions. It’s a radically different approach to life and people are attracted to it. Be encouraged that many universities are becoming increasingly open and intrigued by authentic, relevant and passionate followers of Jesus who want to embody Jesus’ love in the student world.