Report on University Fellowship of Christians

Semester 1 President Chris Ives

Progress

The Uni Fellowship has kicked off the year extremely strongly during Mikey Lynch’s second year as campus director, with an emphasis on both telling the gospel message and helping Christians share their faith on campus.

Recruiting new members was made easy at the beginning of the year with our ‘Pre-season Conference’ in which there was opportunity to share the vision of the Uni Fellowship with new students as well as a chance for teaching and socialising amongst the group.

First Semester has been dominated by our ‘Making Love’ preaching series on relationships, the ‘Seriously’ talks addressing a range of theological topics, as well as a series of smaller public lectures at forums at the College Rd accommodation, School of Art and Menzies Centre.

Food giveaways on the various campuses (soups at College Rd, BBQ at Sandy Bay, pastries at Menzies Centre, hot chocolate and cookies at Conservatorium of Music) have been a great opportunity to do something generous for our fellow students.

The addition of three ministry apprentices on the staff team, with newest apprentice and past President Aaron Johnstone adding to the experience of the now second year apprentices Alan Reader and Amy Tivendale, all of whom have brought diverse skills and abilities and form an essential part of running the ministry.

The strength of the Uni Fellowship has also been reflected in the size of the 2011 committee of which there are now approximately 15 students meeting once a week for planning, teaching and praying with staff, as well as the various fellowship groups formed which are solely dedicated to praying for the UTAS campus and form an essential part of the Uni Fellowship.

Our public meetings have also been thriving showing strong attendance throughout semester at both our Tuesday Lunchtime meeting as well as our main meeting in our monthly Citywide gathering at the School of Fine Arts to allow for students from other faculties around Hobart to join in the vision of the Uni Fellowship as a whole.

Plans

Our main plans for the rest of semester consist of beginning our ‘Scripture under Scrutiny’ courses which are aimed at addressing our sceptical friends questions and interest in our Christian faith in a relaxed environment, and are set to begin after the Easter break.

Along with this we plan to run a day conference aimed at teaching as well as encouraging newer members to become actively involved in the Uni Fellowship vision and Christ’s mission on campus. Another integral part of the Uni Fellowship taking place in the mid-year break will be the Mid-year Conference held at Camp Clayton. This conference always creates a major buzz throughout the group and consists of a week of learning from the Bible and growing in our faith together.

Prayer will continue to dominate the actions of the Uni Fellowship both within our public meetings and the Fellowship groups as it forms the basis of all our actions and things we plan to do for the ministry in dependence upon our God.