Blog

How do you feel when you hear that word ‘invitation’? When it comes to sharing our faith it may be something that creates one of two reactions in you. It may fill you with excitement at the chance to share and reach out. Or it may fill you with dread: the potential for rejection, the cold response from a friend...

Alpha is a practical introduction to the Christian faith, aimed particularly at non-churchgoers and new Christians. Student Alpha has been tailored especially for university students – it’s a seven-week course that contains the same material as the Alpha course, except that it’s been ‘squeezed’ (into seven weeks), ‘squashed’ (into 30-minute talks) and ‘spiced’ (with multimedia ingredients). Over the last 10 years...

Eating spaghetti bolognese reminds me of leadership.  It’s messy.  Try as you might to slurp discreetly it is just impossible to eat spag bol with elegance.  It is not ‘first date’ food!  With leadership, it’s the frequent tangle with status, celebrity, elitism, hierarchy and control that makes the mess.  Simply avoiding it often seems like the safest option.  But then we’d be...

How can Christians make a real difference in our society?   This is a live question for Catalyst, where we feature articles not only about CARE, but also about other ministries that are bringing about change.  And now, here’s an opportunity for anyone under 30 to share their own views on this question and see their work in print. You might be...

Ever get sick of your own voice?  Chat to any of my friends and they’ll tell you I can talk for Britain but sometimes even I get fed up with my own voice.  I can waffle on and on putting the world to rights.  Yet there is a point where I either have to start living out some of my ideas...

Sometimes I wonder if I was born in the wrong generation.  They started talking about ‘the good life’ on the Leadership Programme and I immediately thought of that 1970s sitcom starring Felicity Kendal and found myself pondering vegetable patches and dungarees.  Not very Gen Y.  Surely Kayne West and his 2008 Grammy Award winning rap song ‘Good Life’ should have...

I like to think of myself as a runner but if I’m really honest I’m more of a plodder.  Sprinting is not my forte.  What I am good at is putting one foot in front of the other, stubbornly and determinedly. I will keep going. When it comes to my faith though, I’ve more frequently resembled an erratic sprinting enthusiast. I don’t...

Trust is a bit like the eggs in a chocolate sponge cake.  You can put in all the ingredients but you need the eggs to bind it all together and make the cake actually rise.  Ok, so maybe not the most profound analogy but you see what I’m getting at: without trust in God as your foundation any attempt to live...

Can you… Offer great customer service, help people to pray, give First Aid, talk to people, entertain kids, skate, BMX, set stuff up, pack stuff down, use fancy sound equipment, play sport, teach others to play sport, make good coffee, show people where to go, usher people in, usher people out, look after a village full of tents, welcome people, or...

(1) Save the World, (2) Look Glamorous (but humble) whilst Doing So, (3) Earn Enough to Pay the Bills.  So ran my list as I pondered what to do after university.  It sounded simple.  The only problem was figuring out how to go about it. Then along came my friend Kate who told me she’d come across the Leadership Programme.  ‘Looks...

Is it just me or does the Christian call to ‘be in the world but not of it’ often seem to teeter dangerously close to fostering a sort of split-personality approach to life?  We want to be relevant without losing our distinctiveness; we want to be distinctive without being culturally inconsequential; we want to uphold purity without retreating to withdrawal. ...

Discussions and challenges to bring life and faith together, to help you see God in everything you do. The Whole lyfe zone is about making the invisible presence of God visible in everyday life. God manifests himself in his creation, even in the midst of mundane activities, whenever and whenever we invite him.     Jesus is the fullest expression of incarnation – becoming...

Discovering ways to share and be the Good News of Jesus Christ The Word lyfe zone focuses on three areas – being immersed in the Word of God, sharing faith and getting to know Jesus better.     God’s great message to humanity is that all can be redeemed and restored to its intended design. This is the message embodied in Jesus himself, rooted...

Discussions and challenges to help you see people as Jesus does, seeking justice and peace In a competitive consumerist world, where what you have seems to matter more than who you are, where social networking replaces face-to-face relationships and where few of us even meet our neighbours – let alone know them.     The Just lyfe expresses themes of justice, compassion and peace...

Miriam Swaffield, third year student from G2, part of St. Michael Le Belfrey Church in York gives us the low down on the amazing Student Alpha course they ran this term! Read on and be inspired...       “Unashamedly messy”. I think that’s how I’d describe our first attempt at a church-wide Student Alpha. Turns out it’s a very different ball-game putting...

Discussions and challenges to help you draw on the Holy Spirit for strength and encouragement The Spirit lyfe zone focuses on the power of God’s Spirit moving in and through us. It is a life immersed in, empowered by, and under the direction of God.   Just as a car requires fuel to run, and our bodies require food for survival, so our...

Discussions and challenges on living with integrity, being the same person on the inside and outside The Real lyfe zone emphasizes the re-formation of our hearts so that we are able to respond appropriately to the challenges of life.     Holiness is about living from a pure heart so that we can function well in a dysfunctional world. Jesus was response-able – he...

Discovering ways to keep the heart and mind focused on God and find rest in him. In a busy, distracting, caffeine addicted world, we hunger for a deep life of prayer and greater intimacy with God. This zone constantly brings us back to what is most important – love. Love for God and love from God. This is the foundation of...

Open Doors Youth, in association with Preacher Boy Missions, have released a music single to raise awareness and support for the persecuted church. You can view the powerful music video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbeXKBmxiWg and it is available for download now at iTunes: http://bit.ly/9znWYk and Amazon: http://amzn.to/bMC2wN Please do support this vital cause today, and spread the word. "When one part suffers, all the parts suffer with...

lyfe is about hearing God, through the Bible, in the company of others. Connecting God, us and everyday life.     lyfe is a conversation between friends seeking a richer relationship with God. Making discoveries together through hearing and reflecting on the Bible. lyfe will introduce you to tried and tested challenges. Six challenge zones, which have helped people go deeper with God. lyfe is about you...

You are invited to join authorand speaker Tony Campolo and singer/songwriter Graham Kendrick as they share their passion for social justice. This is a fantastic opportunity to join one of the UK’s foremost worship leaders in concert and hear from one of the most inspiring Christian speakers of our time. The evening will be sure to leave you entertained, challenged...

I have been thinking about the link between justice and freedom recently, inspired by a piece that Switchfoot front man Jon Foreman wrote on John M Perkins. Perkins, a civil rights activist and Christian community leader, has poured out his life for peace, love, and equality. Even in the hands of oppression, he has chosen the path of love over violence,...

We as humans are designed for community, and communities flourish when everyone is working towards the same goals, with the same desire. What if this was what the church is like, really like? Every separate element being a part of one unified concept. Wow. This is what Paul was getting at when he wrote his letter to the Corinthian church: "The human body...

Help Needed Soul Survivor are looking for a special type of person to get involved in serving on team at the summer events! There are opportunities to serve on all sorts of teams from cafes and catering to stewarding and hosting the camping villages! There’s also specialist roles for experienced people to serve on the Welfare and First Aid teams.   Dates for...

world vision student ambassador programme what is a student ambassador? A Student Ambassador is a poverty conscious individual at University who wants to stand up against injustice and speak out against what they believe is wrong in the world.   They are prepared to give up their time and energy to raise awareness about poverty related issues and challenge the thinking of their friends...

New Blogsite and  Resources Available now, for the first time ever, there will be a free online resource for people running Student Alpha. We’re filming a Student Alpha course live at St Paul’s Onslow Square every Friday night for 8 weeks, and posting the talks on to our brand new blogsite: www.studentalpha.org Not only will we have top quality talks, specifically aimed...

  are you right for the leadership programme? start preparing now applications for the leadership programme must be submitted between september and december each year. download the brouchure or apply online   care are looking for individuals who:• have a degree, but the degree subject or class is not important• are passionate, interested and engaged christians• have a  christian worldview – not necessarily fully developed...

Sofa Sessions  Sofa Sessions will connect you with some of the biggest issues facing our world today. It will get you thinking, debating, and ultimately taking steps to change our world.     Look out for news of events taking place around the country in 2010 and visit www.christian-aid.org.uk/sofasessions for everything you need to run a session.   We currently have 8  sofa sessions on: Climate changeHow...

child sponsorship Compassion child sponsorship is a powerful and enduring way to tackle world poverty. Compassion seeks out some of the world’s most vulnerable children and through individual sponsors provides them with the means to break the cycle of poverty and create a bright future.   Working exclusively through local churches in developing countries, Compassion ensures there is financial integrity, long-term commitment and...

Discover a bigger  jesus  On campus there are great opportunities to be part of god’s multicultural mission – and to discover more of jesus, the global christ …your university campus could be the place to discover a bigger and more surprising jesus.       ‘Multicultural Britain’ is usually in the news because of problems or tensions - but all the richness our mix of...

Open Doors Vision Open Door’s vision is of a world in which every Christian who is persecuted is remembered and supported by other Christians. We seek to alleviate their suffering, and to help them extend God’s Kingdom in their part of the world. Open Doors work has extended to Asia, SE Asia, Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and the Middle East     Check...

Tearfund Summer Teams  Get signed up for a Transform trip and you could be heading to India, Uganda, Thailand or Rwanda for 4-6 weeks to help in classrooms, build houses or much more. It's an amazing way to use your time off and watch your own life get transformed in the process.       The provisional departure date is 1st July 2010, subject to...