At the end of June, we closed the academic year by hosting Wide Awake, the annual Fusion gathering. In Loughborough, 100 students and student workers gathered to pray and dream for a move of God in this nation. We spent time in worship, seeking God. We also heard amazing talks, which raised our faith, asking what it would look like to be people who are wide awake to the glory of the Lord, awake to the possibility of healings and miracles, awake to creating places of hospitality on University campuses and being awake to the power of prayer. There were stories from students who talked about how they had taken risks and been bold to share their faith with others resulting in seeing their friends come to know Jesus. Wide Awake was not just a time to call the church to wake up, it was a moment of seeing what a wide awake generation could look like and responding in prayer to see more.
There were so many moments that stood out for me personally and it would be hard to truly describe what they were like in a blog or by trying to capture it on an instagram reel. But there was hunger in the room. I keep seeing a room full of students dancing in worship and praying for the Spirit to move in their friends' lives. I remember everyone coming to kneel before the cross, asking God to give them a greater heart to know him and seeing students weep as God ministered to the room. I remember how we saw testimonies during the conference as one student prayed for a friend to reply to his messages who had had an initial interest in faith and then went off the grid, and then and there his friend replied. I remember in the final session, unprompted, students started gathering in huddles praying for one another and commissioning each other to be sent back into their university context. There was so much hunger in the room.
At Fusion, we believe we are beginning to see the first fruits of an awakening. We think God is going to do something great in this. This coming year we will be travelling all across the England and Wales to connect with churches and encourage and equip students and student workers in mission. If you want to connect, feel free to reach out! We’d love to hear from you.
