BE BRIGHT
Living for Christ at university
By Dr Andrew King
Day One. 128 pages. £6.00
ISBN 978 1 846 253 935
You know that person – that boy or girl who has been coming to your church and attends the teenage youth group that you help out with. But now that they are heading off to university this autumn you can’t help being worried about them.
Have they really understood the gospel? Will they prioritise making Christian friends? Will they spend all their student loan in the first four weeks and be eating plain pasta for the rest of term? Is there a book I can give them that can help?
Yes! In this short book written for new students and those thinking of going to university, Dr Andrew King, pastor and ex-university lecturer and researcher, rightly desires that new students, rather than just getting through their university days are instead ‘bright’ for Christ and biblically equipped to live wise and holy lives during their formative years at university. Both the teenager who isn’t sure if they are a Christian and the one who has been leading their school CU will find useful things in here to learn and reread.
Clarity, substance and humour
The book is impressive for just how much the author is able to include and his clear style and humour prevents the material from becoming cluttered or too intense. Doctrinal areas covered, all of which are solidly evangelical, include: laying out the essential elements of a Christian world view, the place of the Bible in decision making and the central-ity of Jesus as God’s greatest gift, i.e. that he is not just the means of salvation but the goal of salvation.
Alongside this he includes important practical guidelines such as joining both the CU and a church, letting people know you are a Christian early and getting organised with your time and money.
Some of the areas that I was especially pleased to see included were tools for thinking about how to unite with Christians one might disagree with (something that Christian students often struggle with in a CU context), and not allowing social or economic barriers to develop as a result of one’s university experience.
If the message from this book was taken on-board by the student-to-be, then humanly speaking a great deal of heartache and backsliding could be prevented and he or she really would shine ‘bright’ for Christ at university.
