Weeks 4-5 of semester 2 have seen the EU run a heightened season of evangelism on campus, with a mission focussed around the theme of ‘Finding Hope Again’. Each faculty was tasked with running its own public meetings during the week, and encouraging students to create their own ‘gospel opportunities’ to invite their friends along to.

Praise God with us for the many students at USyd who have come along to EU events for the first time this week and had the chance to hear the gospel boldly proclaimed. Praise God too for the students of the EU who have grown in their confidence in sharing Jesus with their friends. Below are some students who have shared about how their gospel opportunity went, and how we as supporters can continue to be prayerful.

Liana

I ran a gospel opportunity called “ping pong and pancakes” where we gave people free pancakes if they shared where they found hope, and the winner in ping pong got to ask the loser any question. Firstly, I was so encouraged by how many EUers came to help out – to hold a sign, flip pancakes, play ping pong or just talk to anyone who came over. It was so much fun to be a part of and just be acting boldly in my faith with friends. We also had a few really solid conversations, with some really thoughtful answers from people and one bible given away! Praise God for the work he has done to make his name known these past two weeks. Pray that the Holy Spirit would empower more EUers to live out their faith actively and intentionally during their time at uni and beyond.

Matt

Over the past two weeks, I have seen something of the EU which has been difficult to do for the past two years – and that is have an immense and public presence on campus. Being able to see pockets of God’s people pop up day by day was really encouraging, and more so that our presence could be a reflection of God’s own presence on campus and not just our own. Specifically I have seen a cohort of Primary Education students host weekly brunches and invite their peers and friends to develop friendships and chat about things like faith. When I saw it on the first week, there had to have been 30 people there! It really was amazing and a great witness to the loving and welcoming community that we are called to create as Christians.

Brianna

Last week, I had the joy of catching up with some of my friends from honours and sharing with them the reason I hope in Jesus. I was certainly nervous going into it – as politics students, some of my friends are strongly opinionated about religion and other current issues. As we had dinner together (Thai, of course) I was worried about how I’d bring the topic up, and whether I’d ruin the evening by starting an argument. I remember praying silently as we waited for our food, “God, help me to speak boldly here!”

Thanks be to God – He answered my prayer. The topic came up naturally, and we had a lovely conversation about what it means to trust in Jesus. I think I had the privilege of being the first person to explain to some of these friends that God doesn’t hate LGBTQI+ people. My friends listened with respect and interest, asked good questions, and even said that they wanted to do something similar again in the future. Running this gospel opportunity was a strong reminder that God answers prayer richly, and that people are more open to hearing about Jesus than we might think. Please pray for good follow up and more conversations like this!

Ryan

I’m Ryan, a second year science student, and alongside some first and second year science lads (and eventual merger with health peeps) I helped run a handball gospel opportunity! Across the two hours we probably had 20-30 non Christians come along and join in! I definitely found that we had to be super intentional with any J-talking, because we had a small window due to the nature of fast turnover in handball. It took a while to make the most of those opportunities, but praise God, we managed to grab a few contacts and invite people along to our PMs. If you could pray in particular for one of our Muslim cousins, who one of the science lads had a great chat with. Our Muslim cousin is now reading parts of the gospel himself and is keen to discover more about Christianity!