Uni is such a great place for achieving so many things: meeting new people (some of whom will become long-time friends), kickstarting or further developing your career, figuring out who you are and what you believe, as well as discovering new ideas about the world from other people and how to interact with them. You may find that uni is a place to affirm what you had already intended to do with your life. Or alternatively, you may find that it causes a big change in some of your future ambitions.
If you’re only just starting out and are heading to uni this year, these are all challenges you will encounter. You may find when you get there that there is something unique and special about having a friendship with another fellow student. If you’re a Christian, then it is also nice to have friendships with other Christians. But it is doubly amazing to be able to meet and spend time with people who share the joys and ‘tribulations’ of life, who also experience it both as a student and as a follower of Jesus. It provides a place where you can often meet other people who are also doing your course, with whom you can study with and share edifying commonality.
For example, last year when I was studying Data Capture Technologies, I started doing study with a friend Kris who I encountered during online learning due to COVID. At first, our interactions were just study-related. But we soon discovered in a certain conversation that both of us were Christians, and Kris ended up joining one of the student clubs on campus that I was a part of.
When I first went to uni back in the olden days of a previous decade (2014! I know, I’m not a millennial), I was already luckily placed: since I had contacts and family friends who were either involved, or at least connected with people who were involved, in groups on uni campuses that ran clubs and events for people interested in learning more about Jesus.
And perhaps partly because I have a disability, I’m already used to having to find my own way of reaching out to people for various reasons anyway. But it is also true that some people can be a bit shy, or unsure as to how to go about making connections and meeting others.
But if you haven’t done so yet, I would really encourage you to find a Christian group on your campus. I am currently a member of the Christian Union that is on the Deakin University Melbourne Burwood campus.
There’s a really unique opportunity for evangelism at university — but you need to first take your seat, writes Sherwin Titus.
I have a confession to make: I’m not much of an evangelist. Sure, I’ve shared the gospel with people, but I’m always second-guessing myself, I’m always replaying conversations that I’ve had – and wishing I did things differently. I’m generally wishing that God would work through other people: smarter people, better communicators, those who are more convincing, more extroverted, less awkward, those who are more influential.
In the Old Testament, when the prophet Isaiah hears God’s desire that people come to know him, he says “Here am I! Send me!” Earlier on, when the prophet Moses encounters God and hears of God’s plans to rescue a nation through him, he says “Here am I – send my brother!” No points for guessing who I relate to more!
Yet if you call yourself a follower of Jesus (as I do!), God’s great mission of reconciling the world to himself necessarily includes you and me. We are God’s ambassadors, and he is making his appeal through us. We are called to live no longer for ourselves, but for the One who died and rose again. And — what’s more — we are called to be his messengers.
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ … and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19, emphasis mine).
I want to encourage and equip you to be the best possible ‘minister of reconciliation’ that you can be. It is my prayer that you would share the genuinely good news of Jesus visibly, vocally, and valiantly during the days that you spend as a student – and by God’s grace, all the days of your life.
You have a seat at the table
As I come to the end of my time as a student, I can’t help but think back to the conversation that shaped my approach to ‘doing uni’ as a Christian. A few months before I started my degree, I spoke to an older and wiser Christian believer about what evangelism in this new context would look like, sharing my fears and anxieties surrounding witnessing well. He responded with these words:
“Uni is a place designed especially for people to share and swap ideas. It’s a time when people are being formed and shaped, in terms of what they believe, and so are generally open to hearing new ideas, viewpoints, and opinions. As a Christian, you have as much a right to a ‘seat at the table’ as anyone else – and your Christian beliefs have just as much a right to be shared and heard, as anyone else’s beliefs. Don’t be afraid – just share! That’s what you and I are called to do: be messengers.”
This perspective changed everything for me. It took all the pressure off – and profoundly reshaped the way that I thought about evangelism. We are simply called to be messengers – and trust that God can, and will, (and will!) work through us, for his glorious purposes.
Compel them to come
In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable about the great feast that God will hold at the end of the age. He tells this parable to answer an important question: Who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God? His answer: anyone and everyone who accepts God’s gracious invitation to attend.
If you have accepted God’s great invitation, you will be a guest at God’s great feast. Once you are a guest with a seat at the table, God calls you to be a servant and a messenger. Once you have come in, you are sent out to carry God’s gracious invitation to those who are yet to accept it – and those who are yet to even hear that there is a feast that they are invited to.
Those who are brought into the household of God are those who are also sent out into the world to bring more people in. Jesus puts it like this: “Compel them to come in” (Luke 14:23). Jesus’ point is clear: let them see how urgent and how necessary this invitation is. But how?
Make Christianity attractive
The Christian blueprint for evangelism is grounded in making the message of Jesus attractive. That is the point that Simon Peter, one of Jesus’ closest followers and a key leader in the early church, makes when he writes to a group of Christians who are trying to live for Jesus under extraordinary pressure:
“But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (1 Peter 3:14-16)
Peter is implicitly asking us a question: Do you believe that the Christian gospel is the greatest news you have ever heard, or will hear? If your answer to this question is a resounding ‘yes’ then Peter expects that you will live as if the gospel is the greatest news you have ever heard, or will ever hear.
What Peter is calling Christians to do is this: believe in your heart of hearts that this is the best news ever – and let it profoundly, radically, and visibly, shape and transform all of your life. Live lives that are so different, so distinctive, and so attractive that people will ask you questions. Peter expects our lives to be lived differently. And he expects that people will notice – and ask, “Why?” And when people ask, Peter expects us to give people the reason why we think what we think, say what we say, do what we do, and live the way we live.
In other words, make Christianity attractive in the way that you live your life as a Christian and the way that you love and serve, in response to how Jesus has loved and served you. Make people wish that the message was true – because they want what you have. And show them that it is, by leading them to the person at the heart of it all: Jesus Christ.
University’s greatest opportunity
Uni is an extraordinary time of life: it presents such invaluable opportunities to learn more about the world (I’m not just talking about what you’ll hear in lectures!), to figure out your convictions and your worldview, to make connections, and to push yourself out of your comfort zone. For us as Christians, the greatest opportunities that uni presents are these: to grow in your own convictions – and to share those convictions with others.
The God who has called us to himself, commissions us to be ‘ministers of reconciliation,’ and the Bible calls us his ‘ambassadors.’ As an International Studies student, I know a thing or two about ambassadors (at least, after four years at uni, you’d hope I would). Being an ambassador means two things. Firstly, ambassadors are legally authorised representatives of their home country. They are legitimate agents who are invested with the right to speak on behalf of their nation and conduct its affairs.
To say that we are ‘God’s ambassadors’ is to say that we are the legitimate and authorised representatives of the kingdom of God – an honour! — and that it is through us that God conducts his affairs.
Secondly, ambassadors are servants. The core of what it means to be an ambassador is to serve. God’s ambassador takes his or her cue from Jesus: the ultimate ambassador, the ultimate servant, who came to be the servant of all. This Jesus now calls and commissions to go, to serve, and to bear his invitation.
I pray that you would be a faithful ambassador of Christ – a servant – all your days as a student, and all your days beyond. May the lamplight of your life burn ever brightly for him.
“Love so amazing, so divine, demands our soul, our life, our all!”
Arts student Abby Donaldson didn’t join her uni Christian group straight away. But she’s glad she did in the end.
I entered uni with thoughts of faith on the periphery. Even after growing up in a church and being part of a youth group, I had a pretty hazy understanding of faith in practice.
Stepping onto the campus, the idea of feeling the presence of God was a distant one, especially when university life began to get busier and busier. Then, halfway through my first year, a mutual friend introduced me to someone involved in the Christian group on our campus. As a result of joining, the past two years have been the most formative for my faith in my whole life. Here are six things I have learnt.
1. Faithful Christians will grow your faith
As you meet more Christians, the overwhelming sea of faces at your uni will inevitably feel more familiar and way less daunting. There’s always someone to grab coffee with, but even better than that, becoming friends with faithful Christians at my university has been life-giving. I’ve watched friends diligently study the word, pray, and live out the gospel, inspiring me to do the same.
2. Prioritise a personal relationship with God
C.S. Lewis said “if there is a God, you are, in a sense, alone with Him.”
Becoming more involved with a Christian group has shown me that nothing, not academic achievements, impressive jobs or relationships, will satisfy us apart from a personal relationship with God.
When facing the challenges that arose in this new season at Uni, I realised I could find all I needed by turning to the Bible. An inward-looking tendency whilst at uni led me to this verse, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honour” (Romans 12:10). Of course, this process of learning how we are called to love others can only occur when we know how deeply God first loved us.
3. Meet with Jesus at uni
In the rush of lectures and tutorials, joining a small group once a week meant that I could take one hour out of a busy day to sit with other Christians, study the word, and meet with God. Taking just one hour to share in fellowship is a great way to inject some perspective into your week and reflect with others.
4. Confront the tough questions
Accountability has been one of the most formative aspects of joining a Christian group. I realised pretty quickly that avoiding the process of personally grappling with the truths of the Bible wasn’t going to cut it if the goal was radical pursuit of God. In small groups, passages were read and discussed, and followed up with questions that tested me, humbled me, and changed my mind on quite a few occasions.
5. Delight in the good questions
There are certain questions that family members or friends may pose that you feel unprepared to answer in the moment. Some questions are really good. Becoming involved with a campus group allowed my understanding of God to deepen, and when you know your God, you want to learn more about Him. Gaining a clearer understanding of faith and a greater ability to answer the tough questions in turn led to much more fruitful conversations with non-Christian friends and family.
6. God is at work on campus
And it’s so encouraging! Uni has changed from somewhere I originally struggled to find God, to somewhere I was able to see Him working every day. In talks, bible studies, shared testimonies, and the countless other ways our God works, it is clear that the spirit of the living God is transforming the lives of students on our campuses, and that is no small thing.
Whether you’re just starting out or halfway through your degree, it’s never too late to connect with a Christian group on campus. Find your people, deepen your faith, and discover how God is at work at your uni.
Starting university is exciting, but can be a little overwhelming. You’re stepping into a world of independence, new ideas, and new experiences. Beyond that though, uni is also a time when many students start asking deeper questions:
- Who am I really?
- What do I believe?
- What’s worth living for?
These aren’t questions that your degree will wrestle with, but life-shaping ones, and uni is the perfect place to explore them.
Freedom to Think, Space to Grow
At uni, you’ll meet people from all walks of life. You’ll hear new perspectives, be challenged by different worldviews, and maybe even question things you’ve always taken for granted. That’s not a bad thing but an opportunity.
As Christians, we believe that asking big questions is part of growing in wisdom. The Bible doesn’t shy away from hard questions – in fact, Jesus often responded to questions with more questions, inviting people to think deeply and personally.
You’re Not Alone in the Search
AFES campus groups exist to help students explore life’s big questions in community. Whether you’re a committed Christian or just curious, you’ll find a space to ask, wrestle, and discover.
At campuses all across Australia, student groups run regular Bible studies, public talks, and one-on-one meetups where you can dig into questions like:
- Is there truth in a world of opinions?
- Can faith and science coexist?
- What does the Bible say about identity, purpose, and hope?
Start Asking Now
You don’t have to wait until classes begin. Reach out to your local AFES group, follow us on socials, or join a pre-uni Bible study. Uni is a season of discovery—and we’d love to walk with you as you ask the big questions that matter most.
Here are some Qs that get asked a lot.
Mostly, yes! Each group has its own way of doing things, but AFES groups are generally affiliated with their campus Student Union or Guild as an official group.
You’re very welcome to come – regardless of your experience of church (or if you have no experience of church!). AFES groups are a place to make friends and discover more about Jesus.
AFES groups compliment – not replace – church. They’re a community to walk alongside you in your faith during your uni years. They’re a great place to invite classmates who might not feel comfortable entering a church service to explore Christianity. AFES groups will grow your love for God, biblical understanding and missional heart in a unique and unmissable way whole you’re at uni!
AFES stands for the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students. We’re a movement of student groups from across the country, associated with IFES (the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students).
That’s okay! We understand the pressures on uni students – exams, assignments, work, and more – but making time to invest in your faith is also important. Most groups run several events a week, on different days and times – some in the day, some in the evening.
Totally valid question. There’s an increased awareness of questionable sects operating on university campuses. At AFES, we’re never okay with manipulating or coercing people. Our groups strive for transparency: we openly name our beliefs, affiliations and leaders, and clubs are usually affiliated with the Student Associations.
