If you’re a Christian on campus serious about your faith, you might’ve thought about joining a Christian club. This is a blatant sales pitch to say you should do just that.
You should join a group and a great club to join would be an AFES affiliated group—usually called a Christian Union (CU).
The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is an Australia-wide network of student groups that exist to “proclaim Jesus Christ at university to present everyone mature in him.”[1]
We believe no one comes to the Father except through Jesus (Jn 14:6). We believe that there is no other name given to us under heaven by which we can be saved (Acts 4:12). And we want the thousands of students on our Uni campuses who don’t, to know about Jesus.
Here are two things to keep in mind when considering your involvement with a Christian Club on campus:
1. Don’t be too Involved with Your Christian Club.
That might seem odd. But we could very easily spend all our time at CU events, hanging out with CU people. CU is running events and programs that are worth being a part of. And CUers are worth being friends with.
But if that’s all we ever do, then we won’t meet many non-Christians. And we won’t get to introduce many people to Jesus.
If we’re always rushing to leave tutorials on time; if we can’t talk to students in our lab because we need to hurry off to the weekly Bible talk; if tomorrow there’s a prayer meeting we attend before and after our lecture—how will we get to tell people in our classes about Jesus? How will they hear the gospel? How will they be saved?
So choose. Don’t do everything. Don’t join a triplet and a growth group and go to the weekly Bible talk and offer to lead a prayer meeting. Make an effort to spend time with non-Christians, and to make non-Christian friends. For the sake of the gospel, don’t be too involved with CU.
For the sake of the gospel, don’t be too involved with CU.
2. Be Involved with Your Christian Club.
The question then becomes, why CU at all?
Some Christians genuinely ask this. I remember my brother considering it. I did when I first came to CU. And I’ve had friends who have chosen not to come to CU; they don’t want to spend all their time in Christian bubbles. They want to meet non-Christians and introduce them to Jesus.
I respect that. That’s a very mature response. But I want to suggest another response and say that there is a way of being involved in CU that doesn’t hinder evangelism, but enables and supports and enhances it.
Early last year my brother and I went away for the weekend. We didn’t have any plans, so we decided to get up to watch the sunrise from the beach. It wasn’t something we’d done before, but we checked the time for the sunrise and set our alarms.
When we got to the beach the next morning, we realised we were facing the wrong direction. We couldn’t see the sunrise whatsoever. Determined, we returned to the same beach that evening thinking we’d at least see the sunset, but it was still to no avail. Both the sunrise and sunset were hidden behind the coastline.
We still had a good time at the beach, and the sky still looked beautiful, but we totally missed what we were after.
What we really needed was some help. Someone who could tell us that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Someone who’d been there before to tell us which beach would give us a good view.
It can be a bit like this when it comes to evangelism at university: sometimes we can have the best intentions, but really no clue. We might still see a pretty sky—we might have a good gospel opportunity (praise God)—but we’re just making it up as we go along.
That’s why Christian clubs on campus are so helpful.
Being part of CU helps us to together share the gospel. CU is designed to equip students to know Jesus and make him known. It exists as a training ground to enable everyone to know a disciple-making disciple of Christ.
CU is designed to equip students to know Jesus and make him known.
So, yes, don’t be too involved with CU. But be involved with CU.
Events and training help you learn how to share the gospel. There’ll be suggested Bible verses to memorise; opportunities to learn gospel explanations; and staff workers to respond to tricky questions, direct you to resources, and share their own experiences.
And, alongside the training, you’ll also become part of a community. You’ll do evangelism side-by-side with other brothers and sisters. You’ll pray for one another; reflect on conversations; brainstorm better responses. You’ll have a warm and friendly group of Christian friends to welcome your non-Christian friends and share the gospel with them.
We’ll get to work together. And Lord-willing see the glorious beauty of some sunrises and sunsets along the way.
If you (or a Uni student you know) share this desire for everyone on campus to know Jesus, then join CU.
To find out more about AFES affiliated Christian Clubs or to join one at your Uni, visit https://www.headingtouni.info/
[1] See AFES’ website for their mission and values