Blog

This tale comes to you from Granada in the South of Spain, where my husband and I are serving with students in our local church and where we base ourselves while working to build Fusion as a local-church based student mission movement across Spain. We’ve been in Spain for nearly four years now, and they’ve been years of lots of learning...

A YEAR AND A HALF AGO MY HUSBAND OLLI AND I MOVED TO SPAIN. We did so not for the sun or tapas, but because we felt that God was inviting us to play a part in his story there.  part 1: read here We expected to see radical hospitality, to be welcomed into people’s homes and find a different story to the...

A year and a half ago my husband Olli and I moved to Spain. We did so not for the sun or tapas, but because we felt that God was inviting us to play a part in his story there. We are both passionate about God’s church and student mission, and we are aware that God is wanting to do big...

"Their descendants will be known among the nations and their offspring among the peoples..." (Isaiah 61:9) We are caught up in a story; a big God-dream.  It’s a story that began with a simple man, one to whom God made a big promise. He said, “Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.” ...

Mission. A funny old word. To some, an awkward uncle; something you feel you should have a relationship with, but you’re not really sure how to approach it. To others, a fun, unruly friend; a companion on the journey of faith that you’re a little bit scared of but also don’t know where you’d be without it.  When Jesus calls Simon...

I was talking to a student leader recently, called Esther, who had a mini-revelation about mission through discovering her Mission Style. She said it made mission more small-scale for her.  Sounds like a bit of a non-event, right? Like the opposite of a revelation, almost. Any yet...  Small-scale mission, like messy church; sounds kind of fun, exciting, one to get involved with. It...

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” [Matt 28:19-20] “Therefore go…” With this sentence, Jesus didn’t give us an instruction manual. He didn’t say we each need to stand on street corners and shout...

Luca Colacino is a second year student at the University of Manchester. Originally from Italy, he is Catholic, is passionate about Jesus and always seems to be smiling from ear to ear. Here is his journey of the last few weeks & what he is praying for you... I was flying back to Germany on Monday before they shut the borders down....

Ralph Pedley heads up Campus Awakening UK, a ministry that equips students to live out who they are in Jesus and bring transformation to their campuses. We've been chatting to him about what his prayer is for students in this time... "I was talking with Laura, my wife, last night and she asked me how I was feeling. Initially I didn’t quite know how...

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master,...

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all. Ephesians 4:5-6 Ralph Pedley tells the story of 'One Name on Campus' and unity building between churches in Manchester... Recently we had the opportunity to be part of a unity event in Manchester called ‘One Name on Campus’. Over a hundred...

"What if it could change someone's life forever?" "What if God really is on the move with students, and all we have to do is join in?" Each Wednesday since the start of term, a group of student workers, CU leaders and students have been going out onto Manchester uni campus with these faith-filled questions in mind. Here's Rufaro's story from some of those...

In the last few weeks, Jodie & the students at Vineyard Bath have been out on campus, sharing the gospel and praying with countless people. They’ve seen a number of them say yes to following Jesus, some have come to small groups and even tried out church! Here's their story... Since becoming a Christian a few years ago at university, I have been incredibly passionate about sharing...

Our God is Greater... Than we all think. My name is Nahum Matthews, I’m from Ulverston in Cumbria. I’m currently studying at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), and I’m learning that God wants to do SO MUCH MORE than I ever expect. I’ve been a Christian pretty much all my life but I’ve only recently realized at uni that I...

“I had a dream...” This isn’t my attempt at a Martin Luther King Jr speech, it’s the start of how Serving Score, a uni club outreach night was born. During my first two years of university, I wasn’t Christian and the only things I worshipped was football and Score, the uni’s sports night out. Whilst on placement in third year, I had a radical encounter...

Ben Thomas is a 3rd year student at the uni of Birmingham. He’s passionate about Jesus and he loves American Football. This is his journey of trying to bring the two together and seeing God move… “I had just finished my second year playing on the American Football team at University, and it had been a difficult two years juggling both my...

As a student mission movement, rooted in the local church, we are sensing God calling us further. For a while now we have heard loud and clear the call to holiness. As we pray for the kingdom of God to come in the student world as it is in heaven, we cannot ignore that we are the vehicles through which God has...

"I studied theology at university and I loved the biblical teaching, context and debate! Towards the end of my degree, I felt God challenging me with my next step: how could I translate this knowledge, passion and growing faith into practice to impact communities across the UK? A theologian called Frederick Buechner once wrote, "The place God calls you to is the...

Firebrands is the name of our Fusion conference this year. But Firebrands, for us, is far more than a conference, it's a call. We sense that God is calling us as a generation to be firebrands. So what exactly is a firebrand? The student mission team will unpack this question with you in a series of vlogs.This first vlog looks at the first...

I'm spending the first half of my year abroad serving Every Nation Church who are working with students in Marseille, France. I’ve been working here for just over a month now, and I can already see that in reality, despite all of the dark sides of the City, there are LOADS of people in France who are hungry for God’s truth. For...

Why celebrate? Why not? Is more the question… As children of God, twice His - created by God and then bought back by Him - we have more to celebrate than anyone.  The God we get to know and worship is all about extravagant parties for all the right reasons. Where there is life, freedom and people coming back to Him, there is...

Ever wondered what loveyouruni is really all about? Here it is plain and simple - a movement we'd love you to be part of. The heart of loveyouruni is that students are global missionaries sent to their campuses, lecture theatres, sports teams, nightclubs, libraries and coffee shops. They are commissioned by God to be disciples who make disciples, sharing the love of...

Ever been fishing on your uni campus? Probably not, that would be weird. But that's what God is calling us to do this year.   When Jesus first called some local guys to follow him back in the day, He sent them back out fishing after a long night of not catching anything. The nets came back so full they had to get...

THE STUDENT MISSION AWARDS ARE COMING IN FEBRUARY 2018. WHAT STORIES OF MISSION HAVE YOU GOT TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD? COULD THE escape and pray AWARD BE YOURS? Between 9-19th June, over 40 teams of students embarked upon #escapeandpray - 48 hours in a European university city to pray their best prayers for students, churches, and anyone they met. Here’s the catch- they...

As we explore #thetruthis, there is still an impossible truth to consider.  Can God really break through in mental health? Is healing and freedom actually possible? Are we ever beyond help?  The truth is that nothing is impossible for God.  We are never too broken or too bad a case for Him to save and heal us. The truth is that nothing can separate us from God's...

I once read a quote that said, ‘Names don't label you, they shape who you are’ This is dangerously true. We are all aware of it in some form. These labels can also spiral us into despair and confusion, they can make us hate ourselves or feel worthless. They feed the worries already in our minds. We walk around collecting names and...

Truth is important. What we believe to be true defines who we are, how we see the world around us, and how we interact with that world. Truth is important because it gets twisted and muddled in our society. Truth is important because we know that mental health messes with what we believe to be true and can what we were made...

What we believe to be true shapes how we see ourselves, our struggles and the world around us. Holding onto the truths God speaks over us is becoming increasingly difficult in our image-based, comparison-focused and pleasure-fuelled society.  Holding onto truth also becomes harder and harder in the battle of mental health, as fear, anxiety or depression can begin to distort things in our minds. The...

Truth is important because it is so easy to lose sight of in the tumult of anxiety, the chaos of the world and the noise of our own minds.  Today is for remembering the truth that God is with you.  Hear Alyssa’s story of her struggles with anxiety, how this has helped her and the ways she’s been able to see breakthrough. Pray...

It's #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek and we want to share some stories of where students have seen breakthrough in their journey with mental health.  We have found that hearing and holding onto the truth of God can be really powerful for seeing this breakthrough. Holding on to truth So this series is all about what #thetruthis and how we can hold onto it through the storms mental health.   Let's...

Prayer is powerful. When we pray we join forces with God. Yes, God is at work. Yes, God can move on our campus’ without us because He can do anything.  But God has also chosen to partner with us. He is always listening, looking for places where we’re inviting Him in and asking Him to act, so that He can build his kingdom with us. That's why he...

The Student Mission Awards are coming in February 2018. What student mission stories have you got to share? Could the 'Social Action' award be yours? “When you put on a banquet… invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.” [Jesus, about A.D...

The Student Mission Awards are coming in February 2018. What student mission stories have you got to share? Could the Mission Styles 'Let Me Experience' award be yours? Some people love the deep end. They’d rather dive off the cliff to find out if it’s possible and how cold the water is than to hear from someone else or simply not try....

"Every Thursday we go out onto campus on a mission- we’ve taken inspiration from Mission Styles and encouraged our students to go and practice their unique style. We keep in our minds that, 'Our prayer is to see a harvest, Our mission is to plant the seeds' This has become our tag line for Campus Mission. We’ve been doing a wide range of...

The Student Mission Awards are coming in February 2018. What student mission stories have you got to share? Could the Mission Styles 'Convince me' award be yours? How do we know that Jesus actually existed? Is there evidence that He came back to life? Is Jesus a scientist? Do we have to chose between God and science? Are ‘experiences’ of God real...

Picture the scene: You’re walking through the streets of your city, it’s the middle of the day. You walk past the shops and coffee shops, you can hear the bustling; snippets of people’s conversations, polite sales exchanges, pigeons scrapping, a busker in the background. The air is fresh, mixed with the occasional waft of coffee and food cooking, and a few strange...

THE STUDENT MISSION AWARDS ARE COMING IN FEBRUARY 2018. WHAT STORIES OF MISSION HAVE YOU GOT TO SHARE WITH THE WORLD? COULD THE SHOW ME AWARD BE YOURS? Uni life can throw a number of different problems at us; whether it’s losing friends, losing sleep, losing your phone, forgetting to pay your rent or having no food in the cupboards. Many...

IF YOU COULD WRITE A LETTER TO YOURSELF AS YOU STARTED UNI, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY? Dear Only Just Undergrad-Me, Welcome to Uni (though that’s not what we called it), welcome to a fleeting event that will profoundly impact the rest of your life. This is not just a continuation of school. It’ll take you just a couple of assignments to convince...

IF YOU COULD WRITE A LETTER TO YOURSELF AS YOU STARTED UNI, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY? Dear Young Self, You have such high expectations of this journey through Uni (we used to call it 'Varsity').  You are going to bump your head on some of those high expectations.  Such as, with so many eligible men around, you will easily find a boyfriend....

If you could write a letter to yourself as you started uni, what would you say? Dear Lucy, As you start uni and jump into working hard on your degree, stop and reconsider your priorities. Yes, ensuring you come out at the end with a good degree is important, but what's equally as valuable whilst being at uni, or arguably more, is...

If you could write a letter to yourself as you started uni, what would you say? Dear Tom, Well done. You’re here. All the hard work and the studying has paid off and you’ve made it. You’ve made it to uni, you’ve made it to independence and you’ve made it to freedom. Freedom is a wonderful thing. Be careful how you use...

If you could write a letter to yourself as you started uni, what would you say? Dear Emily, So here you are. About to move out of home and start this new chapter of growing up as you move to the land of the Angel of the North for university. Let me tell you from the start that it takes time to...

En français Pacôme is a 2nd year law student in Lille, France. He loves sport and also has a specific love for Italy. This is his story of how God has been giving Him a heart to see His uni turn back to God. God is on the move in France! In August 2016 I was praying with my friend at his...

English Pacôme est un étudiant en droit en deuxième année à Lille 2. Il aime beaucoup le sport et il a aussi une passion spécifique pour l’Italie ! Il nous parle de sa vision pour voir sa fac transformée par l’amour de Dieu. Dieu est à l’œuvre en France ! En Août 2016 j'étais chez un ami pour prier avec lui et après ce...

Fast-forward 3 weeks from now… It’s Christmas eve, 11am rolls around and you begin to regain consciousness to the new day. All comfy and warm in your own home bed, it slowly dawns on you… Christmas is tomorrow! All the Christmas build up is nearly over. All those beginning weeks of holidays, all the friends you wanted to see, presents you...

The start of uni can go one of two ways: to some it is all an exciting world of wonders, whilst to others it feels more like a manic minefield to endure. When I started uni, I was ready to take hold of every opportunity in front of me. But with most consisting of costumes, party tickets and hangover lunches,...

I’m a 'Talk with me' person. I’m relational. I love to listen to people, hear their stories and figure them out. I discover more of Jesus through people’s characters, their testimonies and points of view. A big part of my journey with Jesus has been talking things through in prayer with Jesus himself. That’s why I love seeing in the bible stories...

My mission style is ‘Show me’. I am Mrs Practical. And yes you can feel free to call me that. Anything that needs sorting or fixing or arranging - I’m your gal. I like knowing what needs to be done and seeing what I can do about it. In conversations, I often write or draw the outcome of what has just been discussed,...

Mission – that churchy buzz word that sounds a little military to the unaccustomed ear, almost intimidating to those who have heard it in church over and over and all sorts of vague yet exciting to the budding evangelist. Mission is exciting. It is joining God in His mission as he calls His children back to Himself. This is why we...

This is the phrase that's been invading my prayers and my low moments and my sweetest experiences recently; it doesn’t get any better than this. This is a phrase that is true no matter what our circumstances. Whether it's a mundane, lonely day or your wedding day, whether you wake up on a hospital bed or mid-adventure the other side of the world -...

Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, In our time make them known. [Habakkuk 3] When the angel opens the seventh seal - the prayers of God’s people - there is silence in heaven… Jesus implores us to pray with faith, ‘Will not God do justice to his chosen ones,...

Unsure as our future may be, I am encouraged as I pray for our country and for Europe, that I am not alone... I see a young generation with passion, a generation who want to see the world change for the better, who want to play their part in that change. I see a generation who love Europe, who appreciate the diversity held within...

As we touched back down at Manchester airport last week after an amazing Amsterdam #escapeandpray adventure, me and my team couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Ah, sweet pounds and polite Englishmen. Finally, we can buy ourselves a coffee if we want one, we can look at people as simple passers-by rather than potential key-parts of our adventure, working...

What’s going on in your heart today? Have there been any glimpses of light, moments of peace? Or did it all rush past you in a bit of a blur? Have you seen heaven break through today? Maybe we need to dig a little deeper…  We hear over and over that ‘life is for having fun’, ‘you only live once’ and that we'll regret...

If you were a parent, what would be the highlight of your week? Would it be your greatest joy to see your child eat all their greens, or to treat them to a hot chocolate and spend time with them doing their favourite things?  Would conversations be a highlight when they’re talking with long clever words or when they are excitedly recounting story after story about their day and their...

The glamorous and hopeful line we have all heard countless times before… seeing is believing. Sadly, this catchy line has withered and crushed many a faithful person’s faith. This is the story of those of us waiting to be sure, waiting for it to hit us in the face, waiting for a vision from heaven or the audible voice of God. We look...

A day of dreaming, story-telling and sharing vision; Issy tells the story of her trip to our first Fusion France gathering in January! Naomi, Steph and I visited Lyon to attend a conference with student workers from churches across France, to share with each other our vision of student churches. The day was headed up by Fusion, who have recently felt God...

Did you know? In the 2011 Census, 2.7 million people identified themselves as Muslims; by 2020 there will be an estimated 5.5 million.[i] No doubt you are aware of the current atmosphere of fear towards Muslims and Islam, particularly in light of ISIS, Paris attacks and unrest in the Middle East. Sadly this is not new and has bound the West for...

'You're far more holy than me!' Says my Mum to me one day, in an off-hand way. Now this struck me. My Mum is a Christian missionary-turned-church-leader and has been full-time serving the church and training leaders for years. I’m a fresh-outta-uni graduate, I picked the degree that looked most fun, still enjoy going out, making spontaneous decisions and live most days with...

This term has been an exciting one at St Luke’s as we step into a new season of outreach and mission. We are blessed to be located very close to two of Newcastle University’s biggest student halls.  As a student leader I felt strongly this term that we need to make more of this opportunity; to show students living there...

November rolls round, fireworks spark off everywhere, bonfires gather and warm us and Christmas lights start to appear. Celebration is in the air. But what are we celebrating? What do we actually have to celebrate? As you remember, remember this 5th November, and throughout this season of wintery celebrations: what are you celebrating? We are invited by our extravagant God, and even instructed...

Escape and Pray concept: go to a European City for 48 hours, bless the City, the people, the students and the churches as much as possible. Pray for them, serve them, give away what you’ve got, encourage them, and show them they are part of a much bigger picture of what God’s doing in Europe and all around us. Brilliant, right? But what if...

When God asks Moses to tell the Israelites and the Pharaoh His plan for their freedom, Moses voices the doubts many of us have when it comes to talking about God, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, ‘God? Appear to him? Hardly!’” So God said, “What’s that in your hand?” “A staff.” “Throw it on the...

Setting off for uni can feel like venturing out into the wild, whether it’s for the first time or the third. The big wide unknown. The wild of uni can be bursting with new adventures, or teeming with strange new creatures. It can be a jungle of temptations, or even a scary, lonely mountain-climb... How do you prepare for that? What on earth do you pack to walk into...