“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.”
More often than not, Christians are sent to university packed in cotton wool and kitted out with all sorts of advice designed merely to stop them backsliding. In fact, you may even thing that that’s what this booklet is all about. However, God does not just want us to survive during our university years, but to thrive. He has big plans for you and the impact you can make for him on your friends, campuses and cities – you’re here for more than just a degree! The mission opportunities available to you will probably never be greater than during the three or four years of your stay at univeristy. You will have access to so many different groups of people and will be surrounded by many who are desperately seeking meaning for their lives and are probably more open to God than at any other period. What’s more, many of the people you see in your halls, lectures, sports teams, societies are going to be the decision makers of tomorrow; how exciting would it be to see them making decisions for God?
“For we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved“
Hebrews 10:39
Now is not the time to shrink back and fear for our faith amid the increasingly secular culture around us. No, now is the time to be completely unashamed of the gospel with a renewed confidence, expectant that God will use us to reach others in these vast new fields of opportunity. There are 5 million students in the country – a hundred thousand of whom reside in Manchester – who need to hear the saving message of the gospel. God’s word in timeless and unchanging but we need to be constantly considering how we can communicate its truth through our words and actions in a manner that is both faithful to its meaning and relevant to its audience. That means having an active faith, and one that isn’t afraid to take light into the darkest places where it is need most. God can do mighty things through you during your time at uni; you just have to be prepared to let him.
And do you know what? We have a strong and mighty God who promises to always protect us. Although it’s unlikely we’ll find ourselves in the same scenarios as a King David or a Jeremiah at an English university, how much more effective will we be for Jesus if we approach our own ‘battles’ with the same knowledge that they had that God will give us all we need to be successful – he’s our strength and our shield, we just have to trust him:
“It is God who arms me with strength
and makes my way perfect.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;
he enables me to stand on the heights.
He trains my hands for battle;
my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”
““Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.”
