New Leaders' Training

This time of the year is when CU leaders around the country hand over to new teams of students. Here in Oxford this is happening on several levels.

Firstly the new OICCU exec have is now sorted out (apart from one person who is still deciding). We (or at least some of us!) are going to Watford this weekend for a training conference with some other CUs in the area (like Brunel, Brookes, High Wycombe, Cambridge). Please pray that this would be a great time of team-bonding, and hearing God speak to us through his word (we're looking through 2 Corinthians - Andy Robinson is speaking).

Secondly, it falls to us to organise training for the new team of college leaders, many of whom haven't been finalised yet. We do not give this training ourselves (thankfully) but the UCCF staffworkers kindly do it all. Please pray for them, and us, to communicate the vision clearly, and to encourage the new leaders to be focussing on evangelism. The first training session is on Tuesday 7th March, and then there will be a separate training getaway which we have decided to call 'Vision'. More on that later...

Mission over!

Praise God for a wonderful week. Roger Carswell spoke very well both at the Banquet and at the evening talks. Lots of people at the various events; heard of about 2 or 3 people becoming Christians, which is a great thing to be thankful for. The lunchtime talks also were very thoughtfully delivered, and provoked some interesting questions.

There is a followup course called Discover, which is actually a series of courses run by the different churches. These include Christianity Explored, Alpha and so on. Please pray for these; for clear gospel presentations and a chance to ask questions.

Mission week

The main events of the mission are well underway. Today, Nick Cuthbert started a series of lunchtime talks looking at 'Making Sense of Life' including Relationships, Identity and the Future. He spoke very well, and the event was well attended. This evening is probably the main event of the mission: the banquet. This will be a three-course meal with a talk by Roger Carswell. Please pray that he would speak clearly and for plenty of non-Christians to hear the Gospel.

On Monday there was a debate at the Oxford Union entitled 'Can we rid the mind of God'. The speakers were Dr. Susan Blackmore (one of Richard Dawkins' people) and Alistair McGrath, a theology tutor at Oxford. The debate was very interesting and provoked some thoughtful arguments and questions. Yesterday there was a Comedy evening; I was not there but am told it was very good.

Please pray for the events later in the week; Jazz event and Lion King tomorrow, and Gospel talks on Friday and Saturday.

College Guests

One thing I haven't mentioned is that Oxford have welcomes 60 evangelists this week, in the form of "College Guests". This means that two (male and female) stay in each of the 30 colleges and do things like speak at events, go to dinner etc, having hopefully lots of conversations.

Our two at Worcester are Hannah and Richard. Hannah has arrived, but Richard will not be here until tomorrow evening, which is a shame since he was meant to arrive today. Pray for trust that God is in control, and that He will use both of them this week.

First week of the Mission

Praise God for a great start to the Love Actually Mission. Awareness is high, most people have a copy of John's gospel, and it now comes to the core week of events. Do look at http://www.loveactually.info for the full list.

Things to thank God for are the Launch Party, Gospel Drama, Quiz Night, Politics Event and Fair Trade Event which all went very well, with lots of people attenting and faithful Gospel talks. Please pray for the same for this week's events.

John Stott was here this evening, speaking at the CU Central event - and predicatably he was very good. He spoke on 'Your Mind Matters', how the proper use of our minds glorifies God, helps in discipleship and strengthens our witness.