iWelcome and Freshers' week

I should really have posted this last week. Never mind...

International students come to Oxford a week earlier than British ones, and so our iWelcome programme is a great opportunity to serve them and present them with the gospel. A team of thirty have, for the last week, been meeting students at the bus station, helping them with anything, getting to know them and inviting them to evening events. I await to hear a bit more about how it has gone, but it has been reported to be going "really well". Please pray that these people will be able to keep in touch with their contacts and maybe start up some evangelistic bible studies with interested people.

Freshers' week starts on Monday. Most of the OICCU's programme runs in colleges as this is where people settle and make friends. It is common for the college group to put on an event such as a free lunch and a talk, and many go round knocking on doors and introducing themselves to people. Please pray that all conversations over the next week would be fruitful, and that Christians would make a real effort to get to know people and make the most of the opportunities this week brings. It is the time when people are most 'open' to new things, and willing to consider the claims of Christ.

Ultimately, we pray that many non-Christians will hear the gospel this week, and that Christians will quickly settle in, find a church, avoid all the temptations to conform to worldliness, but make close friendships.

The OICCU is running a banquet at the end of the week for freshers - please pray that this is well-attended and that everyone has a good evening. Krish Kandiah, a tutor at Wycliffe Hall, is going to be giving a talk, pray that he would be faithful to God's word.

Relay

My brother is about to start on UCCF's Relay programme - a ten month discipleship and training scheme based in York. Matt will be partnering with the Christian Union at York, getting involved in their various events (main meetings, Bible study groups, evangelistic and discipleship courses and our annual mission week to name but a few), serving either in a leadership capacity (at Christianity Explored, for example) or in more practical ways, such as organising outreach events. Matt will also be available to meet up one-to-one with male students for Bible studies and discipleship opportunities.

The year is entirely self-financed - UCCF estimate his expenses will be £600 per month, so £6000 in total.

I'm intending to do some fundraising in the next few months - in the meantime if you're interested in supporting Matt in any way (whether by prayer or finance or both), please comment on this post and I'll send you some details.

The long vacation

The summer is (naturally) a quite time in the OICCU's public affairs. An Oxford student has no less than 15 weeks summer holiday. However I would like to think it is a very busy time in other respects. There are countless students engaged in overseas Christian mission, summer camps, beach missions and local church activities. In our last central meeting, we had a wonderful Powerpoint presentation in which a red dot appeared on a world map for each student travelling to that area. Please pray for us all as we give ourselves to God's service, that He would use us to accomplish his works. Pray that our trust would be firmly in Jesus, and that we'd all seek to share Him in whatever we're doing.

I'll post some details about what we're planning for next term in September..once it has been finalised. In short we've decided to meet together more often, and are keen on developing an evanglism plan that will lead us into the Mission in February. Pray for wisdom and boldness as we make these decisions.

In the meantime, I leave you with the OICCU Summer prayer diary. The challenge to keep praying is there for us all, I invite the reader to join with us.

Sunday - Freshers. Ask that God would strengthen those who are Christians as they leave their home fellowships to come up and that they would catch the vision of OICCU. For those who are not yet Christians that God would be at work in their hearts and minds so that they will be keen to learn more of Him.

Monday - Events. Remember the events happening in college during Freshers’ Week and the Freshers’ Dinner. Pray for financial provision for these events.

Tuesday - Mission Teams. Pray for all our members serving God on teams at home and around the world in particular please pray for the OICCU team heading to the Philippines.

Wednesday - Central Meetings. Please pray that God would use the new organisation of Central Meetings on Wednesdays to His greater glory through making us more effective as a united witnessing community.

Thursday - Weekly Events. Please remember the organisation of the weekly events. Especially pray for God’s provision in the organisation of Big Issues.

Friday - Each other. Pray that God would be keeping us close to Himself this summer and that in His will we will return to Oxford safely and also fired up to serve Him in Oxford.

Saturday - The Mission. Pray God’s blessing on the planning and organisation of the Mission. It may seem a long way off but we need to seek God’s will and blessing as we look forward to it.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Eph 3:20-21)

Malaysia beckons!

Just a quick advertisement: I'm off to Malaysia in two weeks with a mission team from St Ebbe's Church, Oxford. Details and prayer points can be found here. We'll no doubt be spending time with these goons. (This is Mark Wilson and Chris Flint who have just moved from Ebbe's to SMACC - see blog)

Trinity Term 2006

Once again, I apologize for not updating this blog in a while. The end of term was a tremendously busy time - I had Part A Finals and there were various other things going on. Needless to say God was in absolute control and I know many in the OICCU have really felt sustained and strengthened this last term, and I joyfully count myself among them.

In terms of what's been happening, I know these events were months ago, but it's never too late to thank God for them.

The BBQ in 5th week was a wonderful day. Despite the Saturday and the Monday surrounding it both being wet and miserable, our good God provided glorious sunshine and wind that helpfully dried the ground. Indeed it was so hot that you could see our prayers answered in a few burnt faces...including mine. Never pray for good weather and forget the suncream! More importantly, many came to hear Andy Robinson challenge us to have a bigger view of Jesus, and we pray on that the Spirit will be working in the hearts of those non-Christians.

The rowing and Da-Vinci events went well too. In summary, this term in the life of the OICCU has been really good. It has been a privelidge to lead and work alongside a mission team, increasingly committed to prayer and increasingly enthusiastic about the Great Commission. It hasn't all been plain sailing...I'm told Christian leadership never is, and some decisions you have to make are difficult in the extreme. But it's a great joy to "give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord", knowing that "our labour in the Lord is not in vain". With this perspective, the most mundane of tasks can be great fun and worthwhile.

5th week opportunities

Hello. Please pray for 3 big opportunities this week:

1) Da Vinci Code - students are talking about this in their masses and there is an urgent need for Christians to be setting forth the truth plainly. As part of our Big Issues talks on a Friday lunchtime, we have Richard Brewster speaking on "What they didn't want you to know" this Friday at 1pm. Please pray for lots of non-Christians to be there and for the gospel to be explained clearly.

2) Rowing - this week is Eights - the intercollegiate rowing tournament. Lots of people head down to the river this coming Saturday to watch, and some of us will be doing some questionnaires and giving out doughnuts. Please pray for good weather and good conversations that are full of grace and seasoned with salt. Pray for boldness and courage, and for more Christians to sign up.

3) Barbeque - this Sunday is our annual BBQ. Please pray for good weather and enough volunteers to make everything happen. Andy Robinson from Woodstock Road Baptist is giving a talk - please include him in your prayers too.

Thanks for prayers for the pub quiz - it went very well!

Updates

Very sorry for lack of updates over the last few weeks. Things have been very busy. Let me fill you in on a few things to be thankful for and a few prayer points:

- Prayer meetings are still really encouraging, still being well attended and are happening in Oxford colleges too. Pray for a continued reliance on God in our evangelism and daily lives.

- Friday lunchtime Big Issues talks have been great so far this term, with the gospel explained clearly and faithfully. Please pray that more non-Christians would come to these, it's great that Christians are coming to help them answer their friends questions, but it would be even better if all of us would be bold and invite our friends along.

- College groups have started well. Give thanks for a series of evangelism training seminars that happened last Wednesday, and pray for a Contagious Christian course that our UCCF staffworker is running over the next few weeks. The course will help people to communicate their faith in a style that fits them.

- Please pray for our pub quiz, Friday 19th May. Tim Guest is giving a short talk. Pray for tickets to continue to sell.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Vision conference and prayer meeting

Thank you for your prayers. God has been doing amazing things in the OICCU recently and here are the big two:

Firstly, the Vision conference went really well. Julian Hardyman did some excellent talks on Jeremiah, there were some thought-provoking seminars, and it was a great time to meet together, get to know one another and praise God together. It was a delight to see so many people excited and enthusiastic about the coming year, and I thank God for them.

Secondly, this morning we had our first prayer meeting of term. OICCU prayer meetings have normally been quite badly attended - last term the average was about 12 per meeting with some meetings having as little as 4. So you can imagine our reaction when 70 people showed up at 8am this morning! It was a wonderfully encouraging time to commit this week and term to the Lord, but the glory must go to Him and please pray that we wouldn't be tempted to think that this has anything to do with us! I would value your prayers for the new reps, as they lead their CUs for the first time this week - for faithful bible study leading, and a clear vision for the year ahead.

Word Alive

I've just returned from Spring Harvest Word Alive in Skegness. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a 5-day Christian festival, bringing together God's people from all kinds of different churches. Kent Hughes (author of Disclipines of a Godly Man) did the main Bible readings, and evening speakers included Richard Cunningham, Vaughan Roberts, Roger Carswell and Nigel Benyon. There was a student programme and it was wonderfully encouraging to look around and see 2000+ students praising God and listening to his Word!

I would ask you to pray for a similar scene in Oxford this year; students gathering in their masses and standing together in the gospel, encouraging each other, supporting each other in prayer and a "we're all in it together" feeling. We are united as brothers and sisters in Christ, but pray that this unity would work itself out in reality.

Please also pray for practicalities: we are currently seeking venues for our central meetings and houseparty and are receiving some "No" answers. Pray that we would trust in God's provision for these, and that He would make somewhere available.