Year-long mission lifts off for 2024

A national student mission in Australia is getting underway after more than 2,000 undergraduates attended a special conference in preparation.

The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is the largest student campus ministry in Australia. At the end of 2023 over 2,000 students (across Australia and many parts of the world) were transformed by, trained in, and sent with the gospel of Jesus at the AFES National Training Event.

Phillip Jensen and Richard Chin, the leader of AFES, spoke on the theme of ‘The Christ we Proclaim’. The conference was given a sharper focus by the launch of their National Mission for 2024.

The idea is that the National Mission will last all year with the theme of ‘Meet Jesus’, using the Uncover version of John’s Gospel. AFES, which has over 60 campus groups in Australia’s universities and colleges is hoping to reach the 1.6 million university students currently studying in Australia. They are seeking to do so in conjunction with local churches and other interdenominational Christian bodies such as the Gospel Coalition, Moore College, Queensland Theological College, Reformed Theological College, City Bible Forum and others.

The emphasis will be on prayer and proclaiming Christ by encouraging people to read the Gospel of John, and arranging local joint events in the towns and cities of this vast land. The AFES team organising this will provide support through resources and ‘Meet Jesus’ branding. You can learn more on their website – https://meetjesus.au/

AFES is ably led by Richard Chin and is a significant force in the Australian church. The Australian church is, like the nation, at a crossroads. It could follow the route away from Christianity currently being ploughed by the UK, most of Europe and the US. Or it could be a stronger part of the Asian church on the Pacific Rim – which some suspect will become the centre of world Christianity in the current century. The Australian church already benefits from considerable Asian interaction, not least with the number of ABCs (Australian-Born Chinese) as well as Koreans, Malaysians, Indonesians and others.

Pray for this mission. At a time when Australian society is both increasingly more hostile and more open to the gospel – this could be an open door which would enable the transformation of both church and society. May many thousands be brought to a living faith in Christ.