‘It is amazing see God work in front of my eyes.
‘I brought my friend to the Story mission week and, despite personal struggles with suffering, she was able to start believing in God.’
Encouraging stories like these are common among Christian Unions (CUs) throughout the Spring Term. Mission (or events) weeks catalyse hundreds of Christian students to reach thousands of unbelievers. Year round, these students are best placed to reach others in the universities, and mission weeks led by these same students provide one of the richest expressions of engaging mission.
Capturing the imagination
The ‘Story’-themed mission week is just one example of that. Originating with Durham CU, using storytelling as a concept for mission weeks has subsequently captured the imagination of many CUs.
The CUs’ aim is to give every student on campus the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus. As has been the case in universities for decades, gospel truths are set forth openly, Christ is offered at lunchtime and each evening, and we are thrilled to see some students profess faith. ‘We’re not doing anything drastically different,’ comments one of the Durham students responsible for organising the original week. ‘For Story, we simply took a step back as we planned and sought to discern how to take a step on from where we were.’
Story is about storytelling; students sharing their stories and, ultimately, exploring the gospel story. We know that testimony proves a wonderful way of rooting big gospel ideas in everyday life, and CUs have found that Story engages everyone, because everyone has a story. While some could see Christianity as an ideology that is ‘good for you but not for me’, life stories are universal: faith or no faith, everyone has one. In a culture of storytelling, CUs ask students to reflect on their own story: Am I satisfied? Do I need Jesus? Is this it?
The format for the week varies for each university, but typically each evening sees an extended interview with someone with an interesting story, sharing how Christ had transformed their own life. During Lancaster CU’s mission week, they heard from a solider, a former cabinet minister and a university lecturer, among others. These stories demonstrated the potency of the gospel to transform lives today, and invited students to imagine how this gospel message could impact them too.
Story Café
In all aspects, Story is intended to be personal. There is a real focus on individual CU members taking initiative and a desire to not let large events lead to guests feeling overwhelmed. Across the country, many students have been moved by the CUs’ commitments to listen to their stories. ‘Perhaps my most treasured part of the day was the complete acceptance I felt within the community,’ says one Durham student, ‘and with two Christians who sat with me and talked, for over two hours.’
When Durham CU were first thinking about Story, they recognised that to reach new people they must be willing to try new things, so the Story Café was created. Now replicated by many other CUs, the Story Café runs in the mission week venue for most of the day, offering an easy invitation and the opportunity to chat about deeper things.
Ryan, another Durham student, at Story last year said to himself: ‘I’m really going to give this thing a go. I’m going to investigate this properly. If it’s true and I don’t investigate it then I lose everything. If I decide it’s untrue, it’s a couple of hours of my life.’ He explained: ‘Story changed my life completely … on the final evening I decided to start living for Jesus.’
The result of Story has been truly catalytic in universities. Last year, 5,000 guests joined Durham CU across the week, with as many as 700 students in one evening. The National Student Association awarded Story ‘Event of Year’, an accolade to the scale of the week’s warmth and accessibility. We trust the Lord of the harvest to work as the gospel seed is sown… real success in weeks like this is in magnifying Christ and giving glory to God.
