Thirteen years ago, my ‘gap year’ brought me to Tasmania. Now by God’s providence, wisdom and humour I find myself living and ministering to the university community (with the University Fellowship of Christians) in Hobart, along with my wife and two children.
There are close to 14,000 students on campus in Hobart but the University Fellowship has historically represented about 0.5% of that number. Our ministry is one of evangelism and training leaders. It is an exciting but arduous and slow mission field. Or at least it has been until this year…
The plan
An audacious plan was created when an opportunity was presented to us through the Tasmania Christian Fund – a philanthropic trust created by generous Christian brothers and sisters.
Our plan was to apply to use grant funds to hit the campuses during 0 Week (the first week of the academic year) with a radio and Facebook ad campaign and setting up contacting tables at multiple locations, with the goal of having 700 surveys filled out by students. The follow up would be free pizza parties, an invitation to our Citywide Gathering and a coffee with a student or staff member. We had no idea what would happen… but we got the grant.
The mission
My first job was to put together a radio advertisement that balanced the desire to inform students about our ministry and create interest. In the end we held out the purpose and meaning offered by Jesus and invited students to explore what he says for our lives. You can find our radio ad alongside our sermons on our website (ufcutas.org).
Next, our Facebook page – a bit of an experiment to be honest. But one that paid off. We found Facebook advertisements and ‘boosts’ enabled us to extend our reach to students who otherwise might not have come into contact with us. We posted our events, paid to promote them and watched the ‘reach’ extend to over 1,500 people.
Our contacting tables were the central contact points of our mission. Students who filled out our super-quick survey got a free KeepCup and coffee voucher, no strings attached. By midday on day one we had 400 surveys completed, with nearly 200 people expressing interest in finding out more. At one table I manned we had a line of 15-20 eager students. By the end of 0 Week we had 1,100 surveys.
To our surprise 380 people (about one in three) ticked ‘Yes’ or ‘Maybe’ to being contacted by us. The responses provided in the survey also proved fascinating as did the follow up conversations we had. It seems there might be a shift in the culture (at least here) to being more open and interested.
The follow up
I met for coffee with and was stood up by a number of students. But around 20% of those we connected with wanted to meet, have started coming to our various meetings or have joined our Christianity 1A (introduction to Christianity) course – two recently confessed Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Even though the 0 Week mission ended some months ago the effect and momentum of the mission has continued. At each main gathering newcomers now represent almost 20% of our number. We’ve had around ten new students joining our weekly campus fellowship groups and people continue to connect with us via Facebook after finding us through our promotions.
