Blog

I stood on York St John University campus, smilingly inviting students to take part in a worldview survey - ‘we are doing a survey all over the UK to get a picture of students’ worldviews - their perspectives on themselves and their beliefs...it gets a bit intense’...in an hour I only got one ‘no thank you’ and the conversations were...

"I hate robbery and wrongdoing." (Isaiah 61:8) As I stood once more in the children’s clothes section in that popular-brand supermarket I felt an all-too-familiar tug. That jumper. So cute. Mustard, navy, sweet designs, from their ‘boys’ range, of course, because, what can I say, dinosaurs are more fun. The tug was there because the list had started in my head...

Sometimes we have a retreat day as a term comes to an end to reflect on what God has done and seek his wisdom for the term ahead. Sometimes we find ourselves in February, five weeks into the new term, working off what comes our way! It’s easy, if you’re in that second camp, to feel like you’ve missed the...

‘We’re not going anywhere’ - merely a depressing fact of lockdown, or a rallying call for us as student workers in this season?  Student workers are here - demonstrating to students the presence, reliability and steadfastness of Christ amidst the storm. God still loves students and we’re not giving up on them, we’re not losing hope, we’re not going anywhere -...

What are you expecting from your students' Christmas break?  Advent is traditionally a time of waiting, of anticipation, and whilst frantic on the present-buying, plan-making side, we may also find ourselves slipping, spiritually, into a slowness, a leaning-back. This is a really important part of our faith rhythms - sabbath, being, stillness - but it’s not the only way to wait. The...

What are you expecting from your students' Christmas break?  Advent is traditionally a time of waiting, of anticipation, and whilst frantic on the present-buying, plan-making side, we may also find ourselves slipping, spiritually, into a slowness, a leaning-back. This is a really important part of our faith rhythms - sabbath, being, stillness - but it’s not the only way to wait. The...

Has there been a time when staying connected has been more important? “Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened...” Luke 24:13-14 As the disciples walked along the road to Emmaus (walking outside as a pair, how appropriate!) they were discussing the...

“Having been a student worker for 7 years and in student mission for 10 years now, opportunities to connect with others with the same calling has been vital to keeping me going, to keeping up hope and sometimes to just knowing what to do! It can feel lonely cracking on in student mission, but having others who really get it...

Last summer marked ten years since I graduated from university. The adage of uni being a time of significant formation has been undeniably true in my life. So much of who I have become and am becoming is connected by a thread to that season. However, as I reflect on this, what is increasingly clear to me is how that time...

We at Fusion love to host spaces where student workers can connect with each other, share what's working and challenge one another to remain both sharp and creative in their approach.  Student Ministry is a diverse field with relatively few workers. Those on the ground employ a mixture of tried and tested best practice and creative, innovative ideas to welcome, disciple...

Now is an exciting time to join the Fusion team and we are looking for a variety of people to help serve and shape this movement.  Four new Job Specs live below! For 21 years Fusion has been serving the local church in student mission. We are passionate about seeing students come alive in faith, explore honest discipleship to new depths, step out...

One of the best things about working with students is that they are a generation who have faith for change and a sense of their part in it.  The noticeable growth zero-waste lifestyles, amongst others, are (whether you adhere to them or not) signs of a generation who are aware and engaged in the impact of their consumer and lifestyle choices. Disposable plastic...

Did you know they use a piece of white plastic pipe from B&Q rather than an actual scroll for your graduation photo? I was outraged when I found out. I was also damp, because it was raining, and rapidly losing my patience with the photographer who was encroaching on my personal space again to adjust my ‘slightly wonky’ glasses for the...

Our keynote speakers this year bring with them a wealth of experience, insight and wisdom. We're excited to learn with and through them as we gather to seek God for the campuses of our nations.  We believe that there is an Uprising gathering momentum, students calling out to Jesus to see their campuses transformed, come and join us in September to seek,...

As student workers, we know the difference it makes when a young person has been prepared well for university life. How easily, though, can we forget to do the same for them as they prepare to graduate? Libby Granges, student worker at City Church Aberdeen, shares her top tips, ‘how to’s and experience of running a preparation for graduation evening... We decided...

This March, we will be looking at Student Discipleship at both our London and Sheffield Resonate Days. We're privileged to welcome church leaders, national speakers, student work practitioners and those working to disciple young people to share their insights and help us hear from God for our student ministries. Do join us on the 1st March to hear from these great speakers...

It has been a season of firsts: Malia Bouattia: first female Muslim president of the National Union of Students; Sadiq Khan: first Muslim mayor of London. Both have come under fire in their positions of leadership, which have often been linked with their Muslim faith. So what can we learn from these examples of people of faith and how that impacts leadership...

A few weeks have passed since 333 Escape and Pray-ers arrived in university locations across Europe to pray, but that doesn't mean its over.  The prayers prayed, conversations had and encouragements given continue to bear fruit in the lives of those we met.  Our experiences, as pilgrims - the things we saw God do, the words he spoke to us, the...

Have you just been part of the Escape and Pray adventure?  Have you stepped out in faith, met some strangers, prayed for a European city and seen God do amazing things?   improvise : Student Work Conference 2016 is the perfect place to come and share your story and meet others who joined this adventure at their own European destinations.   Come write your stories...

When I was young I read 'I dared to call him Father' - it was a short book, I read it in one sitting and it had a transformative effect.   Over the years I've bought many copies to give to friends and I buy one whenever I see it in a charity shop.  Reading Bilquis Sheikh's story began in me a desire...

It is a joy to announce that Miriam will be opening our Conference this year.  From speaking to thousands on the potential of student mission to her commitment to one to one mentoring on a local church level, Miriam's heart for students and church runs through every fibre of her being.  Miriam will be opening improvise : Student Work Conference 2016 - helping us...

ONLY ONE WEEK TO BOOK BEFORE PRICES GO UP!  BOOK NOW FROM JUST £40! We are privileged to welcome Pete Wynter to our roster of speakers for improvise : Student Work Conference 2016. Pete has over a decade's experience leading amongst young people and young adults in a local and national context.  He pioneered OneLife, challenging and equipping churches in taking young leaders seriously and investing...

ONLY ONE WEEK TO BOOK BEFORE PRICES GO UP!  BOOK NOW FROM JUST £40! It is with great pleasure that we announce that Roger Ellis will be joining us for improvise : Student Work Conference 2016.  Roger is one of the founding members of Fusion and led the team for many years.  He is an entrepreneurial leader and this has involved in him...

ONLY ONE WEEK TO BOOK BEFORE PRICES GO UP!  BOOK NOW FROM JUST £40! What does it look like to lead Student Work well today?   As well as excellent keynotes and provocative seminars, we'll be exploring this question through a series of interactive activities at improvise : Student Work Conference 2016 Come and explore themes of rest and retreat, releasing leadership, provision and...

University is, like all stages of life, an opportunity for you to step out, step up and thrive in God.  The landscape of university offers countless opportunities to make friendships, engage in leadership and serve those around you.  Here we've identified 7 Spheres of Student Life - areas of influence and opportunity where we could be called to live out...

ONLY ONE WEEK TO BOOK BEFORE PRICES GO UP!  BOOK NOW FROM JUST £40! We are honoured to announce that N.T Wright will be filming exclusive content for improvise: Student Work Conference 2016.  Our theme has been inspired by some of Tom's writing around the need to be rooted in Scripture and out of that story of God improvise and pioneer each new...

Student stories: Rebekah Binns and Emily Norwood The Eden Network is a group of missionaries who set up teams in the poorest 10% of areas in the UK, to become part of the community and let the Good News be known by sharing their lives with their neighbours and friends. Just like Jesus, they choose to ‘move into the neighbourhood’ (John 1:14,...

Student Worker Stories : Rob Fraser-Binns In a round about way this is one of the main questions I ask all new freshers when they start their time at university. Many of the standard answers that I receive in response include: “To get my degree” “To be a nurse” “To be a teacher” Most answers are all about the future, thinking about what is coming after their...

Student worker stories:  Emma Higgins “Each one of us is called to live up to our calling and to be who God calls us to be” says Paula Gooder. The question “what is God calling me to?” was often asked by students sat opposite me in a coffee shop. During my time working with students at a church in Edinburgh I...

Living in halls can be great. Living in halls can be lonely. You are surrounded by strangers you didn’t choose to live with and you’re far away from home. For many students, university holidays mean travelling home to familiar surroundings, a break from cheesy pasta and a comfortable bed. Others choose to stay behind. Whether its to pump out extra hours...

many churches are asking how we can help students to live well, stay healthy and lead sustainably in such a fast paced and often over-worked culture.  As statistics soar, mental heath and wellbeing are becoming increasingly discussed topics. Biblical exhortations to ‘remember the Sabbath’, to come to the God who ‘leads us by still waters’ and to ‘be still and know that I...

Each year the halls next to St John’s church host a welcome BBQ.  Burgers are flipped and students wander down for some free food and, the halls hopes, some new student bonding time.  Unfortunately though, the students have seemed rather more interested in the former than the latter - collecting their burgers and heading back to their rooms to eat...

We love this from Chasing Zero - an amazing opportunity, an exciting possibility...could this be you? I hate wet socks. You know that feeling of dread…when you walk into the bathroom and stomp right through a puddle your housemate kindly left just for you! We all have little things that wind us up, but is getting angry necessarily a bad thing?  I...

So I found myself sat in this Starbucks in Beirut.  I was with a Muslim family from Syria who had just come out of Aleppo the day before. There were four of them, a Mum and Dad and their two grown up children. Both of the parents used to work at a university, the daughter had just finished her degree and...

At the Fusion Resonate Day on 3rd December we considered a challenging exercise.  It caused us to ask ourselves how we fare on challenging students to live out lives of faith amidst student culture and how well we support them in that context.  We considered that both of these elements were necessary to see students shine brightly for Christ on...

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the...

Over the last two years 30 churches have taken part in a Learning Community process that has helped them reflect on, discuss, pray through, challenge and develop their student works. We’d love to share with you three of the exercises we've used with those churches.  This is an opportunity to gather your team, or to sit alone, and ask God what...

Stop for a minute as it all begins…I’ve only visited two locations so far this year but we’ve already discussed at both how easy it is to get into a rhythm of day to day organisation and before you know it you’re at Christmas.  I want to encourage you to stop.  Just for a minute, if that’s all you can spare,...

Starting with a bang! St Thomas and St Maurice is a small parish church on the doorstep of York St John University. Last week they had over 40 students show up to their student hangover breakfast, causing them to run to the shop for extra supplies! After years of having just a handful of students Al, the vicar, is eager to make...

Ian, a student worker in Norwich, shares his freshers week brainwave and the message they’ll be sharing with those arriving this September… With the arrival of freshers fast approaching the team and I started to consider the message we wanted to share with those about to arrive in our city.  Whilst browsing through the internet we stumbled across a brilliant quote from Mark...

I recently heard a compelling presentation by Rich Wilson of recent research into student time and university experience.  The research showed that with work pressure and part-time jobs students have less and less social time on their hands (look out for a white paper on student time coming soon).  How are we responding to this new challenge as a church? Students...

Some work all hours to make some cash, others spend all their cash travelling the world, many get home, sit on the sofa and think ‘what now’…for the next 12 weeks… Yet travelling the world isn't the only way to have a summer of impact, experience and discovery.  Working isn't the only benefit to a summer off campus.  This is an opportunity to explore...

Today I Skyped with a new student worker, Simon, about preparing for next (academic) year. It was great to explore starting from scratch but I realised, as we spoke, that what we discussed is healthy for any student worker to consider in preparation for doing next year well...  With whom will you...share your experience Local church student work is still a reasonably new endeavour and some can...

Its easy to plan lots of exciting, exhausting events for freshers week and get to the end wondering if they were the right ones to do.   Here are 2 questions to ask yourself and your team to help you think through what you’re planning for freshers week 2014. (For a basic checklist of freshers week prep see here) Remember, ultimately, its all...

Students have an amazing ability to harness creativity, hope, passion and hard work and make amazing ideas become a living reality.  Students and their friends from across different churches in Bristol are combining a passion and an idea to create Bristol biggest ever charity ball, happening next week!  ‘Our purpose is to work towards the eradication of slavery wherever it is found,...

Churches across the UK are starting to prepare for Freshers Week 2014! We thought it might be helpful to have a handy checklist as you get prepared for this exciting season.  These are the very basics and a few extra ideas - look out next week for 2 fundamental questions as you prepare for Freshers week.    The Basics Is your website up to...

For finalists without a job lined up for September this can be a horrible time of year. Well-meaning friends and family members up and down the country will all be asking the same dreaded question “So what are your plans for next year?”  If you’re in this camp it’s easy to feel like a failure. The more that other people’s plans fall...

This summer we’ll be looking at preparing for freshers week and their first term in our Student Work Local gatherings. These gatherings are for church student workers and their teams so get inviting - all are welcome. The Student Work Locals below are subject to change, please contact Pippa for up to date information.  London: Thursday 24th April, 2 - 4pm, St...

Exam season is looming - many students, whether first years or finalists, are starting to hollow out their hibernating spot amongst the clothes, laptops, books and pot noodle debris from which they’ll not emerge until exam season ends.  This can be a frustrating time. As a student worker you’ve built great relationships and seen great stuff happen and now comes the...

What gifts has God given you, given to your church, right now, to bless it, grow it in unity and maturity and knowledge of Jesus?  More specifically, who are those gifts?  Once you have them, how do you encourage a prophet to go for it? How do we spot evangelists if they prefer to be outside church meetings?  Should students teach...

I’m in need of backing off just now. Do you know how it feels to crack on with work and you’re loving it and its going well but you feel like there are things you’re doing which you’re just pressing on with and you just need to stop.  For a second. That creative idea you’ve had has been shelved for a while,...

Since the start of January I’ve visited churches in Durham and Sunderland, York, Cambridge, Newcastle and Kampala (Uganda).  Meeting with 32 different churches in this time has blown my mind.  The diversity of tradition, vision and experience has been fascinating.  In the UK I support local churches in fulfilling their callings amongst students.  In Uganda my friends Rachel, Edith and their team...

How can I ensure that the faith of the young people I work with lasts? As a youth worker, this is a question that I am faced with all the time and yet there never seems to be a quick fix answer. I’m sure most of you reading this can think of young people who have walked away from their faith....

Next week I’m going to Uganda to visit an AIDs charity for ten days.  I’m not that nervous, perhaps not as nervous as I should be. Three years ago I co-led a trip to Cambodia where 13 of us served a local charity for ten days.  We saw heartbreaking things, many of the students we took were challenged to their core...

As the Christmas break draws to a close here are ten questions for students before heading back into the fray! The first term was a foundations term. First years find their feet, middle years settle into a routine, final years look towards exams and the next step.  Wherever you’re at, your last term would have been a turning point.  Its the same...

When I tell people I have a list of challenging personal questions about my faith and lifestyle that a friend asks me regularly, the responses vary from ‘that’s cult-y’ to ‘what a good idea’.  Honestly, I’ve swung back and forth in my opinion of discipleship questions over the years.   Last Monday morning, though, as I read Matthew 23, it reminded me...

Leadership is a popular buzzword in the current Western Evangelical Christian community.  Its all about leadership and, encouragingly, increasingly about young leadership.  In churches throughout the UK students are pioneering, preaching and sitting on church leadership teams.  Elsewhere, churches are even scheming to church plant with students! This is an exciting season.  When we talk of ‘leadership’ though, its most often...

In the last few weeks I have heard a report which has left me shocked and appalled.  I have the privilege of supporting, encouraging and connecting student workers across the UK.*  In face to face meetings and over the phone we share the joys and sorrows of this pioneering and potent ministry. Within the last few weeks, a student worker has shared...

When you get an email that starts with ‘grace and peace in abundance to you’ you know you’re hearing from a legend.   A week later I was sat across from an enthusiastic pastor who church planted to the north ten months ago and now leads a community of around 50 adults and 30-40 children.  It still counts itself a small...

Five minutes ago I came off the phone to a new student worker.  Having just taken on the role they wanted to chat through what that might look like.  I was reminded of the freshness, potential and gravity of church based student work.  It was a brilliant start to my new job role.   Freshness As with everything in the student world,...

We are humbled to have discovered that our Trainer Pack has been shortlisted for the Youth Work Resource of the Year by the Christian Youth Work Awards! (You can vote for it to win here - voting closes 20th Sept) As well as being a great encouragement to the team it is also an exciting moment for us as it demonstrates a call...

Why not take half an hour to sit by yourself or with a friend and ask these questions as you look towards heading on to university life in a few months' time. What do you think the best thing about going to university will be? What do you think the worst thing about going to university will be? What’s important to you? What will...

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising 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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end...

Rubbish, it’s June.  However, do not write off the young people of this year.  There IS still time to help those one or two students who are leaving you this year head off well.  Here are four easy things you still have time for, to help your young people head into university life well... Prepare them Take them for a pint/coffee and discuss...

Joe Winstone started university in October 2012, here’s his Student Linkup experience: I'll always remember this first encounter with Student Linkup for how God used it to put me at peace about my university choice. With results day looming, university was all I could think about; I'd find myself constantly questioning whether I would get in, or whether this was even the right decision for me...

It feels unlikely that there’s stuff I don’t know about Jesus.  If you asked me outright then of course its true that there's lots more to know but having grown up in a Christian home, been to a CofE school and worked for a church its hard to believe that that's true sometimes.  I wonder where your young people are at? ...

The word leadership can be a scary one. The act of leadership can be a scary thing. At Onelife, a common phrase is one you have also probably heard thrown around a lot; ‘leadership is influence’. We are all influencers and therefore we are all leaders (whether you like it or not).  I influence people. Being only nineteen, it would be easy...

What started as a passion based in logic and personal experience is increasingly becoming one fuelled by your voices - the voices of youth workers across the UK. This term, I have been travelling the country (not unusually), running workshops for youth workers (for the first time ever) and I’m loving them and I really really want to meet more youth...

Recently a friend of mine at Uni expressed her interest in joining Ladies Rugby. She’s second year and isn’t part of any other clubs or societies. I encouraged and built her up to go for it. When we were sat in the SU she asked a couple of the Ladies Rugby girls if and how she could join. She’s now...

“We’re forever asking God to bless us, but how about finding out what Gods doing and bless that instead?” I heard a talk recently by a guy who posed this question. Safe to say, it raised a few eyebrows. But it got me thinking, what would our lives, and ultimately the world look like if we did intentionally and actively start...

If you have Facebook or Instagram, this is for you... Nothing in me wanted to watch The Social Network.  It did not seem like a fun night in.  However, as I sat, submitting to my husband's insistence that I would be converted, I was indeed taken in - fascinated, challenged and excited by the great dialogue and deep themes that ran...

As anyone who follows me on Twitter will know, I spend a fair amount of time on trains and in cars.   I love travelling (thankfully) and meeting people from all over the UK who all share the same passion - to see young people welcomed, valued, encouraged, challenged and introduced to Jesus. This term I'm especially excited (not an unusual emotion...

Ramone Charles tells us about how he and his youth work volunteers supported their young people through the transition to university - humbling and exciting stuff: You’ve just had a gathering for your young people who’ve returned from University, what inspired that? After using Fusion’s Trainer Pack we had a very successful send off to our friends who were going away to...

Most things in life work in rhythms - starting, continuing, ending.  School life may seem long at the time, but it has a start and an end, with a few in between.  A career was historically expected to be a life-long endeavour, but with an unreliable economy and a generation eager to be on their toes and forever moving, this is...

The first Christmas was far from calm and bright.  It was the rush, sleeplessness and trepidation of a first child being born.  It was the busyness of visitors arriving unexpected and over-excited.  It was weariness and joy and hope and exhaustion!  Sound familiar? The first Christmas was not so very unlike our Christmas season now.  For Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, Wise Men and...

The 15 or so hours I have spent in the car in the last week have been an absolute delight, because right now there's some music out there that is delighting my soul. As I travel the country my desire to see young people thrive beyond their teenage years grows. As I meet youth workers who are investing passion, wisdom, heart...

Is discipleship really always a personal, inward-looking thing? I’ve been reading a brilliant book about giving (yes I’m cool!) which outlines two different types of financial exchange: The transfer of money to another individual or organisation in order that they give you something back - this is trading.   Giving someone money so that they can, in turn, give something to a third...

While much of the world (within and outside of church walls and for a variety of reasons) weeps over women bishops and with so many saying they are ashamed of their church, I want to tell you a story that will hopefully challenge you to pride in the church rather than embarrassment. It has been believed, via a blog that hit...

Justin Welby received some pretty big news last week - he’s going to be the new Archbishop of Canterbury - in his words, an ‘astonishing and exciting’ opportunity.  He has until March to tie up any loose ends in Durham and move on to his next position.  I wonder what he will say to the clergy and others he leads...

“Just met two wonderful women on the train. One chatted to me the whole way about her son at uni, my work, and life; the other I didn't even make eye contact with once, she sat on the other side of the train looking out the window, then as she walked past me to leave, she pushed a tenner into...

Yesterday I watched 100 young people explore what it would look like to lead in the seven spheres of society.  Some were as young as 13, but they were asking ‘could I work in the media, in government, in education, in business?’   The individuals running the youth conference knew what it was to be a building block.  They knew that...

I like to dream. I also like to be in control.  These are both a blessing and a curse to my leadership.  I get excited by new things which have the potential to launch our community into an exciting place.  Therefore, when people come to me with new ideas I’m unlikely to shoot them down straight away and insist that the old...

The church does not hold the monopoly on adventure, joy or fulfilling, healthy friendships.  If we’re honest, I think we can become absorbed in the ideal that the church would run the best football team, the best Brownies group, the best orchestra and the best youth hang out in town, and that kids would fill their entire week with church activities. ...

Six weeks ago I got married.   Four months before that I got engaged. My new husband stood up behind the table on that day and, addressing the gathered crowd, announced “when Pip and I said we were going to plan a wedding in three and a half months, I think what we actually meant was that you were going to plan...

As we swoop all too swiftly into October I can’t quite believe that half term is a matter of weeks away already.  For those of you who were well prepared maybe September has gone without a hitch, maybe you’re sailing though to half term.  For most of us I’m guessing that’s not the case.  However well prepared I feel I...

Now is the time.   Freshers are arriving in universities across the UK, making their new life, new friendships and new choices as they explore their new home in your town or city.   Now is the time to pray, to seek them out, to contact them, to welcome them and to help them navigate this amazing adventure they are starting out...

'Here are your new friends!'  I could have written this morning, in the emails introducing Student Linkups from each UK university to each other.  That might have been awkwardly obvious though.  It’s been a little emotional sending the introduction emails off and seeing the ‘reply all’ responses come back – individuals feeling in the dark for others who they can connect...

All Fusion Connection Churches have access to a list of school leavers coming to their town to study via the Student Linkup service.   This list is live and details are added to it as school leavers Linkup. Student Linkup connects school leavers with churches in their university towns.  It gives churches the opportunity to make the first move in connecting with...

All Fusion Connection Churches have access to a list of school leavers coming to their town to study via the Student Linkup service.  This list is live and details are added to it as people Linkup. It is vital that this list is used appropriately, with respect for the individuals who have passed on their contact information. Student Linkup is a service...

"[He] is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine." This, for me, is a profound verse for today - results day.  This is not just a verse for those who open that envelope and experience a rush of great victory.  This is very much a promise for those who get hit by that deep, gut-wrenching sense of...

Today is as much your day as tomorrow. When Jesus was baptised he was making a statement of dedication.  This was the symbol of re-birth, the symbol of commitment.  From this point on Jesus stepped into challenge, miraculous goings on, hardship and new, deep friendships.  This is widely acknowledged as the start of Jesus’ amazing ministry, and is a turning point...

I can’t think of anything profound to say this morning.   I’m sat here at my computer, praying and searching my brain for something profound to share with you, but I'm genuinely drawing a blank. I could just not write but as I realise there’s nothing profound to be said I can’t help but think that this must, so often, be a...

80 more down, 1,300 to go. We've only been at the New Wine LSE festival for 3 days and already we've connected 80 school leavers to churches in their uni towns. We already also have over 600 linked up by youthworkers, schools workers and online. Our aim is to connect 2,500 by the end of the summer. Imagine that - 2,500...

A day is like a thousand years and three years is like a day. The words of 2 Peter 3:8, giving us God’s perspective on time, have always seemed a poetic mystery to me.  Yet seeing photos of some of my best friends graduate yesterday I get it.  Three years feels like five minutes, and yet at the same time, three...

‘No, not many’ was the dismissive phrase offered when I asked the church leader on the phone if they had any final year youth heading to university this year.  For the hundredth time, my heart sank.  ‘Not many’, he said.  ‘Not enough that you’d be interested’, he meant. When I chance upon a youth worker or church leader who is a parent...

Consider me available. These were the words the young adults pastor spoke as he welcomed a group of nervous sixth formers to their first University Challenge session at a London church last night. 'I'm your point guy if you need to be in touch, if you get into trouble at uni, if you need to talk through something – nothing will shock...

When was the last time your entire life rhythm was turned upside down?   When you started primary school?  When you graduated?  When you had a baby?  When you left your city job to become a pig farmer?  There are very few times in life when the day-to-day pattern of life completely shifts.  These shifts, it is widely acknowledged, can be...

Jonah was sent to Ninevah, Daniel wrestled with the cultural challenges of Babylon, Ruth arrived in Bethlehem an alien.  Time and again God calls his people into strange lands, and for me, June marks such a journey.  I’m off to spend 90 hours on campus. No more will I lie upon a comfy (ish) sprung mattress – no, I shall be on...

‘Oh, yeah, I could do that!’ This was the surprised response of a second year student as she sat in my office this afternoon.  She is enthusiastic, creative and mildly obsessive about all things Royal.  I had just suggested she organise a Jubilee celebration for our church community this summer.  To me it seemed like the most obvious thing in the...

How to run your Prep for Uni day… 5 simple steps...    1)      Pick your date         - The first week in July is ideal as it's post-exams, pre-holidays           - Remember, mid-week is now an option as they’ll no longer be in school/college   2)      Get your resources           - You’ll need a Trainer Pack (which includes...

Hands scrambled, empty chairs were upturned and excited whispers spread like wildfire. I had been kind of surprised when only about 60% of the sixth form assembly put up their hands up to indicate they would agree with the statement “I hope I find a £5 note today”.  Apparently 40% just weren’t bothered.  The atmosphere changed, though, when I told them...

My week at Spring Harvest was something of an eye opener.   Parents and grandparents alike reacted with fresh eyes when told about the pathway we create to connect young people with local churches and other Christians before they've even left home for uni. Parent after parent looked at us with hungry, grateful eyes and I was reminded again how simple,...

We love youth workers.  We love their dedication, their vision and their creativity.   We love that they are committed to working in a challenging environment with world shapers and future leaders - scrap that, with leaders. This year Fusion has begun a mission to partner with as many youth workers as we can.   For years we've connected with student workers and...

Alice was nervous.   Only a few hours to go before her flight, and then she'd be off... She'd prayed about it, she'd dreamed about it, she was more certain it was right than anything she'd ever decided upon.  Her heart broke when she thought of those families, those individuals in so much need, in need of help, in need of...

Simple...or profound? (or both!) Jonah was a runaway, a grump, selfish, resentful and cowardly.  Yet Jonah was set a high bar, a high bar that remained - Jonah is a story of high call, high faith. It’s so easy to have low hopes for our school leavers’ uni lives – that they’ll still like God in four years and find Christian friends...

Announcing:  The Student Linkup North East Tour in association with Urban Saints, Fusion and local churches. Urban Saints and Fusion are teaming up to launch a Student Linkup North East tour in the second week of July!  Churches from across North East England will host preparation for uni events to see local young people ready to hit the ground running as confident men...

On 13th March Fusion will be offering a free Student Linkup workshop to youth workers in London. 73% of Christian young people don't engage with church at university*.  What can we do?  How can we get them ready to go? This workshop will explore how to prepare young people well  for university and help them find new church homes when they arrive. "I...

A youth worker recently asked me about re-engaging students who are back for holidays. Now as an aside we have a resource (Studentscape) you can use for that, but, I told him, the key may be less what you do then and more what you do now before they leave. This is not only important for helping young people reconnect when...

Speaking to youth workers in Norwich this week really crystallized some key themes in relation to preparing young people for uni.  Three steps now seem impressed in my mind...  Challenge number 1:  Leave them to it.  Stop texting them, reminding them to turn up. Stop telling their parents when they need to be there. Stop making sure they do the things they say they'll...

“Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” (Job 2:3) There’s a strange dichotomy when it comes to my parents’ compliments.  On the one...

Get it in. Before the end of January, can you put a date in your diary to prepare your school leavers for uni?  They’re going in eight months time, school will be done in only four!  It will whizz by and before you know it your chance to prepare them will be gone. Can I recommend three vital things: Diary in one day...

Would you shake Jesus and shout in his face ‘don’t you care that I’m going to die?’ On the day the disciples and Jesus hit a massive storm the disciples didn’t even ask Jesus for help.  (In Mark)  When storms start to flood their boat, they just wake him up from his nap and have a go at him for not...

Day 1 It's not that often you can look back a year and realise that everything has changed since then.  That will be where you school leavers will be at a year from now. Everything will change.  Between now and then, dinner time, where they live, who they live with, their friends, their eating habits, their passions will be different.  They will be different....

O Come O Come Emmanuel has got to be the Christmas song.   It has so much of that longing, that need and that helpless yearning which is the most enticing and most lost part of Christmas. The Israelites were waiting for a saviour, they had been waiting for a long time. They were desperate for him, and were aware he was...

Is youth group enough? I read a provocative blog by Matthew DePrez today about the difference between multi-generational and inter-generational churches. He challenged us to consider whether our church has inter-relational generations or those that just move around the same room with no interaction.  For student churches its an age old question – how do we connect students with the wider family?...

The beginning of the end… She's coming home.  Three weeks to go.  But dinner has a time schedule again...she wants you to buy humus...she keeps calling uni ‘home’!!  Awkward.  She is back for Christmas but now your lifestyle patterns (and even personalities) have suddenly become very alien to each other. It’s the beginning of the end of how it was.    If dropping off young...

Which young person mentors you? I read a fascinating article this week about reverse mentoring.  Big American businesses are pairing up younger mentors with CEOs and other execs and are seeing brilliant things.  The execs are grasping technology - twitter, Facebook, phone apps - and implementing better working conditions for employees. Amongst the mentors they're seeing greater retention, greater morale and...

The revision pressure for mocks will soon start mounting. How do we help our young people stay committed to loving God and loving their mates amidst the pressure? Starting with the latter, check out these 2 stories:  A final year university student was woken at 5am by a call from a panicking friend. The two students were part-way through their 48 hour...

I want to know, as a youth worker, what would your young people’s Love Your… be?  Students have their own little bubble world – community, learning, work, psuedo-family, accomodation, social centre all in one place.  For young people that’s not quite the same, so what would their Love Yours be and what would that look like? Here are some stories to...

What is an adventure? It's something new.   It's something out of your comfort zone.  It's something unpredictable, unexpected, exciting, and maybe even a little dangerous. When they leave home for university, school leavers are looking for adventure.  They're not interested in the mediocre, the safe, the normal.  For many, pursuing their relationship with God is assumed to fit into the latter...

Are any of your young people going to uni next year?  Would you value some training on how to prepare them really well?  Do you fancy a bit of free support and help? Here are three pretty awesome statements for you: 1) Fusion are offering some one-off training at their next Equipping Day in Loughborough (Dec 7th).  Its aimed at youth workers...

Last week I heard a powerful description of Gen Y (the generation including those currently in their last few years of school).  James Lawrence said that, broadly speaking, Gen Y value choice over commitment.  How heartbreaking. Yet he’s so right. I’m sure you’re already recounting individuals or situations where that description rings through. I believe this generation is afraid of commitment –...

So it all begins again.  Your year 13s have flown the nest, and now your wide eyed 16 and 17 year olds are about to embark on their last year of school life. This evening I felt led to the story of Gideon as I thought about what to share with you youthworkers. It’s a story (like so many in the Bible) where...

There are so many students but still you find yourself trying to entice them into your church with goody bags of free stuff so awesome it pretty much just falls short of a new car.  I met some freshers the other day, tempting them with the promise of free coffee, and asked them how their week had been.  Answer: we got...

Are you a fresher? If so this one's for you... This baby is cute - don't deny it, I bet half you you clicked through to this blog on the strength of that baby's cute face. There has been a recent baby boom at my church and one thing that bowls me over is the adoration that these parents have for...

As a tall guy in his early thirties strolled into church last Sunday, I grinned – always good to have new people along, and he had a student-age girl with him too – great, new friends! My excitement only increased when I discovered that this guy was a youthworker and the young woman was a soon-to-be-fresher at York Uni, who he’d...

“If we don’t get on our knees soon, we are going to lose a whole generation…not on my watch!”  These were the rousing words of Jonathan Oloyede at last Saturday’s 1000 leaders’ gathering at Wembley Stadium in London.   Now I grew up in Brent, the borough of London where Wembley was located, so it was a bit of a homecoming for me...

Any student worker knows the difference it makes when a fresher turns up ready to hit the ground running.  Every youth worker knows the tug of fear mixed with hope and anticipation when a young person leaves their last youth gathering before heading off to university.  That is why the York Fusion office is buzzing that we're all heading down to...

This week I'm going for a more chilled out approach and sending you through some top tips for freshers week... Saturday (Day 1): Doorstop - Get yourself a doorstop and plug your door open.  This way new people can come and say hi.  Its surprising how many people sit in their rooms with their doors shut waiting for someone to come and knock! Sunday...

Going to university is full of tensions.   One of the biggest is leaving friends to move on.  Its not the first time you've made that move, but primary to secondary seems a long time ago and not everyone did the school to sixth form move.  Besides, its one thing moving schools, its another moving cities, or maybe even countries.   Friendship...

Waking up this morning I am greeted by a room of boxes stacked to the hilt.   I feel a little like Harry, Ron and Hermione in Bellatrix's vault, more and more stuff multiplying around me, never-ending piles of stuff accumulating as I pack my life into boxes for the big move. After three years in one place I'm about to move...

I was so encouraged the other week when I turned up to a G2 Students summer picnic and a voice called at me from across the circle-like rabble of faces 'Pippa! I have become a Christian!'.   The poor guy was a little taken aback at my enthusiasm and my ample hugs, but I couldn't help being both overjoyed and a little...

Over the last two days I’ve spent some time out with some great people having some space, talking, eating and reflecting.  I’ve come to realise, as a busy, pioneering people-person, I need reflection.  Some people find reflection very easy – they’re driven by it, or a least crave it.  Others, like me, need to make space for it, because stopping and being...

It's the summer, things are winding down and young people are off on summer adventures. September feels a long way off but by the time you kick back into gear after the holidays, you'll have less than a month left. Only 1 month to go and they'll all be gone. One month and those young people you've invested in for 7 years...

I remember my first ever mix tape, or rather, the first ever box of them. As I left for Spain, my best friend gave me a box of tapes which she'd copied and meticulously marked - everything from Kerrang, to The Calling, to 112, to Travis... yes, I had great taste!  That holiday, as I studied for my GCSEs in the...

Whatever you tell a fresher is true.   I know it sounds rather pretentious and a little dangerous but the truth is, culture doesn't just happen, you have to carve it out.  If we tell students that church is all about them, they will accept it.  If we tell them that its a place just to come and receive they will say...

Have you ever played those memory games where you cover over ten objects with a tea towel and then try and remember what was there?  I was always rubbish at those – I like looking ahead, my memory is shocking. But memory is a great gift – as humans we are able to remember, to think on, and to celebrate what has been....

Are the students in your church the example that you yearn to see the younger and older generation follow?  Are they the ones who set a high bar in terms of faithfulness, love of God and obedience to His amazing way?  Do you expect to see that?  Do you believe that’s possible? The apostle Paul writes to his mentee Timothy and encourages him...

The mission is still vast.  This year so far has been amazing for many and a struggle for many.  Irrespective of what its been for you, the mission is still vast.  So few students are connected with church and student culture continues to be filled with unengaged consumerists.  Hundreds of churches are stepping up and becoming part of the story of...

An article in the Daily Telegraph the other day laid an interesting proposal before the general public – the ‘Ten Steps to Happiness’.  These steps - giving, relating, exercising, appreciating, trying out, direction, resilience, emotion, acceptance and meaning – are supposedly those things which, if included in your lifestyle, lead to the happiness which so many in our culture lack.  So close, I...

Living in the centre of (Olde) York for the last three years I’ve become intimately acquainted with pigeons.  They like to nest in the passageway to my house.  They like to pepper my terrace with little gifts of aromatic whitewash.  My housemate loves them, but even she couldn’t tell you which ones come back, the regulars or the newbies.  They’re not that...

I, Eve Ridgeway, student worker, have been a Christian for nearly six years now – I have become fluent in ‘Christianese’.  I grew up in high traditional churches, so am familiar with the candles, and the idol that can be choral music, and while familiarity is good, I don’t want it to become complacency.  This has particularly hit me recently, as, praise...

What do a brothel, a graduate, a drug dealer and a family with a young baby have in common? ... check out recent graduate Owen Chamberlain's account of how to love your neighbour in the post-uni world... We read all the time in the Bible that we are meant to help our neighbours. However, if you’re anything like me, you get...

"A little while ago my daughter cut off her hair.  She's 8 and her hair was thick, long and beautiful. " Hence begins 'the first act', a blog by Michael O'Neill posted today on the 40days.org.uk website.  His blog is a rousing challenge to engage with Lent as a build up to the greatest act of generosity ever shown - the...

Do seraphs have dirty feet? Did the coal hurt his mouth? Man he got over himself quickly! These were some of the thoughts that crossed my mind as I read God's commissioning of Isaiah this weekend.  Upon seeing God in a vision Isaiah responds with:  5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and...

This weekend, as I gathered with students and student workers in St Andrews to pray I saw quite clearly a picture of light. In the darkness there were hundreds of lights that huddled together and then hundreds of lights that stood alone... Those  who huddled together were noticeable for their number, but only on the very outskirts of the group’s circumference was the darkness...

Sitting at Glasgow Queen Street station I'm buzzing.  Five days in Scotland has not been enough.  I've met probably the most diverse range of  people in one trip yet and it's given me a sturdy burning fire in my belly for the Church.  The church is not dead.  I have met men and women, students, teenagers, a nurse, a Frenchman, a...