Rowan’s Welcome

According to a survey we conducted at EU’s Annual Conference last year, a third of EU students spend 2 hours or less per week involved in EU activities. This is lower than the past because of the University’s significant decision a year ago to henceforth put the majority of lectures online and not offer them in-person.

The challenge the EU wrestled with in light of this information was how to use the reduced time on campus to maximise kingdom good. This has led to several new initiatives for 2023.

Please pray that the Lord might bless these efforts to grow his people and kingdom.

• New small group bible study content. Opening the Bible together is core to the EU’s ministry. However, we are rewriting all of the small group material, for both first and second year students, to ground all students in their first two years on campus in a solid understanding of the gospel, the bible, evangelism, leadership, Christian living and cross-cultural ministry. Writing this new content is a major project for the EU senior staff this year.
• Second year small groups. For many years the EU has had specialised small groups for first year students. This year we are trialing specialised small groups for second year students as well. This will enable tailored small group content for those in their second year at uni.
• Reworked Public Meeting program. Instead of featuring one biblical ‘book of the year’ which occupied half of the year’s Public Meeting spots, we are covering three of the former ‘books of the year’ in a single year, along with an expanded Christian Living series. The hope is that this will give students in their time at Uni a more comprehensive overview of key biblical books and core Christian living issues. Of course, there will still be evangelistic weeks in both semesters!
• New weekly ‘Leadership Sessions’. To deepen students’ understanding of theology, ministry and ethics, we will be holding a weekly ‘Leadership Session’ with input from the EU Senior Staff. We are hoping this will be a key extra gathering and input point for keen EU students.