Hello Christian freshers' part 2

So that was your first term at uni... Glad to be home? I recently joked that at this time of year you could tell which student was in which year because of how they looked. Freshers: eager to get home, eat home cooked food, go to pubs they know the names of. Second years: looking forward to seeing family, but their life is more or less at uni now, so less excited overall. Third years: so busy they haven't even noticed it's Christmas yet...well some of them at least.

If you haven't settled into a church yet, i'd say two things: keep trying, but don't worry. Keep trying because you're going to be around in your uni town for the majority of the next two and a half years (probably) and you need support, stability and accountability while you're there. You need somewhere you feel at home to gather with brothers and sisters and worship the Lord together. You need people who are going to miss you if you're not around for a few weeks. So keep trying. Don't necessarily go to the church where all your friends are, but go somewhere that the Bible is taught, and where people look out for you. Truth and community, that's what you're after. Lots of other things, but those two need to be top of any list.

But don't worry. To an extent of course you're unsettled. You might have been at your home church for eighteen years before coming to Uni, so things are going to be weird going somewhere new. But keep trying, and make it a priority in the next term. The same truth and community advice applies. Church is important, and sometimes it can take a long time to find somewhere that you feel at home. This won't happen if you're still going somewhere different every week by March though. So make your choice soon.

If you're involved in your Christian Union, and if you're not you're missing out, keep in touch with your hall group and friends over Christmas. They'll be the people you look for when you go back, so stay accountable to them, don't fall off the radar over Christmas. In the same way don't ignore your friends or church at home and long to be back in halls. Make time for your family and friends and home church because thy are too valuable not to. Be committed to CU and in so doing be equally committed to your unsaved friends. Don't fall into the sacred/secular divide of saying 'i can't see my friends because i'm doing too much CU stuff'. You'll make me crazy.

In the second term you'll probably need to start sorting out somewhere to live for next year, which is pretty scary. Be strategic in your living choices. There might be a group of three or four other Christians that you want to live with but is that really the best choice for the glory of God. It's hard being the only Christian in a big house, but better to be there than not most of the time. So think hard about that. Try to live in single sex houses if you can. It's just better.

Rest well in the Lord over Christmas and come back ready and eager to make disciples of Jesus Christ in 2008!