October is for Freshers

It's October again, which means that soon new fresh faced freshers will be flodding Reading University and others around the country. Although locations and trends may change, truth and the neccesity of living and speaking for Jesus doesn't, so, it's with a hopeful heart i repost my 'advice for Christian freshers' that i originally wrote this time last year:

Get involved in a local church
The church is the hope of the world, the church is where you’ll meet God’s people, learn from His Word and reach out to those in the community around you. It’s easy to hide in a student bubble for three years…but this is where you’ll be spending the majority of your next three years, go get stuck in! Join a cell group, serve on a Sunday morning, be generous in your giving.

Find your Christian Union
CUs are student lead mission teams there to reach out the students on campus. They are supported by staff to support and envision you about doing on campus mission. They are a great place to get equipped and strengthened to live and speak for Jesus on Campus

Don’t hide in a Christian ghetto
As important and true as the above are, you won’t meet many non Christians at church or CU. So make sure you make the time to spend with them. Get to know the guys on your corridor, you’ll be living with them for a year and they’re the most likely people you’ll be living with in your second and third year as well. Get involved in a club or society. Be a Christian in all areas of your life.

Work hard
God is glorified by excellence amongst His people. So do your degree to the glory of God. It’s sometimes easy as a student (perhaps especially at Reading!) to end up seeing your degree as just something you do in your spare time. But don’t less this happen. Your degree is primarily why you’re here, so do it well and do it for God. Get to know people on the same course as you.

Eat well, sleep well
This will help you to study and live more effectively. Your body belongs to God, treat it well. The next few weeks could be the busiest and most emotionally exhausting of your life, so rest well, eat well and live with a clear head.

Think about 2012
It’s easy as a student to think in one year blocks…the world doesn’t work this, so think about what you’ll do when you finish. Makes God’ will and being settled in a good church paramount in your thoughts, don’t spend your life chasing a bigger paycheck, spend it pursuing the glory of Christ.

Young, Restless, Reformed

It's easy as a young 23 year old Calvinist to think that the whole world is changing. That the students i meet with have bookshelves full of Piper, Packer and Carson. That the books i read, published by crossway and endorsed by at least one of the T4G quartet are widely known and loved.

It's easy to think that people love the Bible, that they enjoy the Doctrines of Grace like they enjoy fresh air. That the Bible is changing my generation into a radically Reformed, Christ centered and mission mobilised people, who are ready to fully play their part in the great commission.

And then you read something like this from Mo, that reminds you that all is not the way it seems sometimes. The saddest thing about this article for me is that after being shocked and gutted the first time i read, i went back to it, and realised how unsuprising it was in many ways. If you've never heard Mo teach, let me say, he is as good and as engaging a preacher as i've heard. I just think the reaction of those he talks about is symptomatic of a 'Bible bad, feelings good' generation. I'm moved to ask what exactly these guys were worshipping in their singing time. Not exactly 'logic on fire' by the sounds of it.

Then Challies posted this fascinating article about new Calvinism and it's width, or lack thereof. The firgures are staggering. I can't get over the fact that The Purpose Driven Life has sold around 100 times more copies than Desiring God. That figure probably tells us all we need to know.

So what do we do in the light of these discouragments? We open our Bibles, and we preach on, we preach on.

Fresh publicity

I wrote last week sometime about the new book 'Fresh' by Krish Kandiah. Here are what some people have said about it:

“As fresh as its title, this is a brilliant introduction to student life, in accessible, daily bite-size chunks of Christian wisdom.
Down to earth and thoroughly realistic, its focus is 100% Biblical and its tone positive and up-beat, full of practical tips and encouragement.

Every Christian student needs to read it!”

David Jackman (Proclamation Trust)

"After years as a student followed by more in ministry to students I am now a parent of one - so, from every angle I can tell you this is a vital book for all Christians going to uni. Buy the coffee mugs and railcard if you like - but whatever you buy, get this book"

Nick Pollard (Damaris Trust)

It'll be launched in March 2008.

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!

coffee plus Bible

i love students! here's what ine said over a coffee and Isaiah 10 this afternoon:

'i'd be appalled at a God who didn't hate sin'.

Brilliant, the Word is doing it's work!

hello Christian freshers (learning from my mistakes)

In a weeks time it'll be Freshers' week in Reading, here's some advice for Christians going to university for the first time. Some of it is things i've done, some of i've learnt from not doing. It's not an exhaustive list, but it's some things to think about at least:


Get involved in a local church
The church is the hope of the world, the church is where you’ll meet God’s people, learn from His Word and reach out to those in the community around you. It’s easy to hide in a student bubble for three years…but this is where you’ll be spending the majority of your next three years, go get stuck in! Join a cell group, serve on a Sunday morning, be generous in your giving.

Find your Christian Union
CUs are student lead mission teams there to reach out the students on campus. They are supported by staff to support and envision you about doing on campus mission. They are a great place to get equipped and strengthened to live and speak for Jesus on Campus

Don’t hide in a Christian ghetto
As important and true as the above are, you won’t meet many non Christians at church or CU. So make sure you make the time to spend with them. Get to know the guys on your corridor, you’ll be living with them for a year and they’re the most likely people you’ll be living with in your second and third year as well. Get involved in a club or society. Be a Christian in all areas of your life.

Work hard
God is glorified by excellence amongst His people. So do your degree to the glory of God. It’s sometimes easy as a student (perhaps especially at Reading!) to end up seeing your degree as just something you do in your spare time. But don’t less this happen. Your degree is primarily why you’re here, so do it well and do it for God. Get to know people on the same course as you.

Eat well, sleep well
This will help you to study and live more effectively. Your body belongs to God, treat it well. The next few weeks could be the busiest and most emotionally exhausting of your life, so rest well, eat well and live with a clear head.

Think about 2011
It’s easy as a student to think in one year blocks…the world doesn’t work this, so think about what you’ll do when you finish. Makes God’ will and being settled in a good church paramount in your thoughts, don’t spend your life chasing a bigger paycheck, spend it pursuing the glory of Christ.