One of the features of John’s Gospel is a series of vivid personal encounters with Jesus: The woman at the well, Nicodemus coming by night, the man healed of blindness. In each case, an encounter with Jesus is disruptive and life-changing. And John is writing his Gospel to “pay it forward”—writing so that “you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (20:31).
Imagine with us for a moment that happening across Australia. Imagine in 2024 thousands of people in our country encountering Jesus. Imagine hundreds of them them being disrupted by him, changed by him, finding life in him. Actually, instead of just imagining it, how about we work and pray together to see it happen?
The Mission
In 2024 the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is prayerfully embarking on a national mission; the theme is “Meet Jesus” and the focus is John’s Gospel. The AFES will, of course, be focused on proclaiming Christ on university campuses. But they have invited churches, Christian organisations, and individuals to join them, where possible, by using the same Gospel (John), the same strategy (reading John with others) and the same branding (Meet Jesus). TGCA is one of the many partners who will be enthusiastically partnering with AFES in an effort to raise the evangelistic temperature across every city in our country.
The Strategy
The tactics are simple:
- Pray for two unbelieving friends for two minutes every day with your leaders and members.
- Proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus to all and sundry.
- Use the Meet Jesus branding, merchandise and other promotional resources provided by AFES for your own evangelistic ministries to help create a groundswell across the country.
- Invite non-Christians to read the Gospel of John, aided by the various “Uncover” resources.
- Where feasible, join a Meet Jesus event in your region. At this stage there are plans for inter-church events in Perth, Brisbane, Townsville, Toowoomba, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Launceston.
So far over sixty local churches across Australia are formally partnering with this mission. Organisations such as TGCA, Queensland Theological College, Reformed Theological College, Moore College, and City Bible Forum are joining with AFES to work for thousands of Australians to meet Jesus.
Join Us!
Will you join us in praying that God would pour out his Spirit on the people of our country? Pray for the Meet Jesus National Mission and those organising and speaking at its various events. Pray for the universities of Australia, that they would be places of deep responsiveness to Jesus.
Will you come on mission with us? This can be as simple as praying for two people you know who don’t know Jesus, for two minutes a day. Let’s see what God does. The strategy isn’t (as Kath and Kim would say) rocket surgery. It’s simple. Hopefully it will also lead to you inviting someone to a Meet Jesus event, or to read the Gospel of John with you. Let’s do this thing!
- For more information download our AFES info-pack for churches.
- If your church or Ministry would like to join us, please fill in our expression of interest webform, and we will be in touch as soon as possible
