Across the nation students are picking up the Bible, walking into Churches and are having dreams and visions of Jesus. Students right now are so hungry and so ready to know more, see more, learn more and experience more of who Jesus is and what he means for their lives. At Fusion we are hearing and seeing stories like this one from Matthew, a student in Liverpool who knew about Jesus growing up but during his time at university felt like there was something more for him.
“I grew up as a Christian, being baptised as a Catholic, going to Christian schools and learning stories from the Bible. It was more of a cultural Christianity, and I never really took it to heart. I studied theology for A level, but again I didn’t think that deeply into it, so when I went to university, I had no faith to guide me and dived straight into the university culture. I joined a sports society and went into accommodation where I was going out a lot and ended up drinking excessively, taking drugs and falling into lust. This went on for two years and I just thought that it was fun and what people did at university until the end of second year where I started to feel empty and like this way of life was getting me nowhere. It started off with a few Christian posts coming up on my phone and without thinking that it would go anywhere I decided that I would read the small bible that they had given us in school as it would be in the back of the cupboard somewhere. This was fairly out of the blue, but I just thought that if there was a God, I was far from him at that time.
So, when I moved back home over summer, I decided that I was going to make the effort to read it and one night whilst reading it an overwhelming sense of peace came over me that I now believe was God's love. I kept reading and looking into Christianity online, watching people like Cliffe Knechtle and podcasts like The George Janko Show, and started to realise that it was about a relationship with God and for the first time I felt like I understood the meaning behind the Gospel which completely changed my perspective of life. Then through prayer and growing closer to God my desires began to change with God doing things through me that I never could have done by willpower alone such as quitting drinking and delivering me from a nicotine addiction. Penny lane Church has been such a great help for me in growing in faith with a great student community and on the 1st December last year I renewed my Baptism vows! This journey has completely changed my life, and I am much more content and at peace. I’m still not perfect and never will be but I am very happy that I have a relationship with God and can keep growing in it!”
This is just one example of a student who was living out their life at university who needed just a small nudge through Christian content on social media to have a go at picking up their Bible and reading it, the results of which have changed his life. How might you engage with social media to reach the students in your city?
