Anna Mason is the student worker at Exeter Network Church (ENC) and she has blogged for us on why she takes Student Linkup seriously.
Reality Sucks Sometimes!
The statistic, 73% of Christians who go off to university never make it to a church, is shocking! I used to try to lessen the blow in my mind by assuming most those 73% probably weren’t really committed before uni and were just cruising in their faith.
But recently, I caught up with a group of young people who went off to University, all of whom were strong and committed to Jesus. Young people whose faith I was convinced would thrive because they were the “on fire” ones. Their faith was well thought through, they were deeply passionate and had seen God do so much. But university was the turning point for them; only one is still seriously pursuing Jesus. One of six! It is heartbreaking!
I find I have no more excuses. We have to face the reality and the reality sucks!
In September and October new freshers will be arriving in towns and cities all over the UK. It could be your church they stumble into with their funny accents or weird clothes, quietly slipping in or moving in a large loud pack, intimidating to approach or easy to miss. This is your opportunity to be the answer to someone else’s prayer! Because someone somewhere just like you, a church leader, a parent, a youth worker or a friend has been praying over them and longing for them to find a church community that will look out for them and love them.
I came to university and barely knew what it meant to follow Jesus but I stumbled in to church that transformed my world by demonstrating and living out the Kingdom of God. My life radically changed and I have never been the same since. We have the opportunity to stand with people who are at a crossroads, deciding between the narrow path or the wide road, and show them how flipping glorious Jesus is.
If you know anyone who is going to university soon, get them to register for free with Student Linkup and they will be contacted by churches in their university town. This really matters.
I wish someone had been there to standby those five young people. The current reality sucks, let's make sure the future reality is different.
