Invitations are powerful; they communicate that we value the individual in front of us to be part of what we are experiencing. Over the past few years, we have seen the growing confidence of Christian students inviting their friends to come to church, join Alpha, or just to join them in reading the bible together. These invitations are leading to transformational encounters in the lives of those coming.
Simon Wright from St Philips Chapel Street in Manchester shares what has been happening with them this past year.
“In January, we ran an Alpha course at our church. The students were faithfully inviting course-mates, flatmates and going onto the uni campuses to evangelise and invite students there too. For the first three weeks of the course, we didn’t see any students come along, but the students diligently prayed and trusted that God would bring people to future sessions. Encouraged by what God was doing in the wider church, seeing a flourishing Alpha group happening next to us, we pressed in. We would pray for students by name whom we had met and invited, remembering different conversations and invitations that had been shared in the weeks leading up, whilst evangelising on campus.
In week four, we saw our first couple of guests. This changed the atmosphere in the group; it raised faith. Seeing those students start to return week on week, along with others, it was exciting to see what God was doing. We got to journey alongside them as they wrestled with questions of life and faith, and saw them start to connect more with the community in the pub after sessions.
On Easter Sunday, we celebrated as five students were baptised, two of these had been guests on Alpha, and another had helped lead the group. We’ve seen this year that God loves the faithfulness and obedience of His people, and He blesses it. It’s been wonderful to welcome these new students, and exciting to look towards September and pray for more.”
There is such power in persistent prayers joined with boldness in invitation that leads to powerful encounters with Jesus in the lives of students on campus.
