UCCF to help fund Quinta's 'largest' building project

Each year in early September, UCCF hosts its annual conference for student leaders, Forum. The conference has run in essence for over a hundred years, bringing Christian Union leaders together to enjoy fellowship, be encouraged in their faith, share ideas and be equipped to share the gospel at their universities.

Hosting a thousand student leaders at Forum requires a major outlay each year. The Quinta Christian Centre has partnered with UCCF for many years to host the conference with the main arena situated on the site near Weston Rhyn, Shropshire. The main arena gives every student there the opportunity to worship and hear from God’s Word as one body of Christians each year – I know I found it an emotional and memorable experience when I first stepped into the marquee as a student for the evening meeting.

Hiring and erecting a large marquee comes at an increasing cost each year, so, after several years of planning, we’re delighted to announce that planning permission was granted earlier this year for a new purpose-built 30m x 15m "barn" to be constructed on the site, for use by both UCCF and other guests to the Quinta site at other points in the year. [See en article here.]

Ground will be broken shortly after Forum this year, in October, and should see completion by next summer. With UCCF as a major contributor to the costs, by 2032 the project will have paid for itself as five years’ worth of marquee hiring costs will have been offset.

Other updates from UCCF

Plans are currently well underway for this year’s Forum and we have been encouraged by the response from Regional Forums earlier this year. In March, nine smaller Forums for new CU committee members ran with a total of 844 students in attendance.

A student from the North West region who was about to begin in secretary role in her CU said, "I feel a lot more equipped to carry out my role, [when before] I had felt very much unprepared and sometimes wondered about my decision to sign up for CU leadership".

A few students who came were quite new to faith and these weekends also served as a time for them to grow in their knowledge of Scripture, as well as their love for the Lord (which was true for all students, regardless of the maturity of their faith).

After students in Canterbury were unable to join Forum South East in person due to a meningitis outbreak in the city, UCCF hosted a training day for them a month later. "The day itself was really great, nice to come together alongside Kent CU’s committee because we do several events with them over the year", shared a student from Canterbury Christ Church CU. "[The day] helped us focus on making prayer more intentional and in thinking about how to outreach to campus - maybe starting up a regular outreach juice bar."

We’re so thankful for the number of student leaders who came to our Regional Forums and pray especially for those who weren’t able to be there, that they would come to Forum this year and be inspired to be bold in evangelism.

With over 800 already signed up for Forum this summer, please do join us in prayer that this year will be hugely impactful.

Pray too for the upcoming construction of the barn and join us in thanks for God’s faithfulness in this project that should sustain Forum financially for years to come.