On a sunny winter day in Katoomba, the smiling likeness of Jesus’s face took shape in colourful chalk on the pavement. Above the words “MEET JESUS” had been written in block letters. Many of the EU Health students were practising their skills ahead of the Semester 2 campus mission the EU was holding this year. A few short weeks later, teams of students were not only chalking but setting up A-frames and flyering the campus to invite them to special public meetings with guest speakers Glen Scrivener (an evangelist based in the UK) and Polly Butterworth (chaplain at Abbotsleigh).

Mission events started in Week 3 with the Mark Drama held over 2 nights. Over 450 attended this dramatic performance of Mark’s Gospel. One 17-year-old guest, who had only recently become a Christian, said he was struck not only by the story of the gospel – the power of Jesus to heal and the nature of his death for us – but also by the genuine friendliness of the Christian community he experienced on the night he attended. Many others brought friends and family along and were able to have gospel conversations.

In Weeks 4 and 5 we held different evangelistic talks every day. (You can watch them on the sydneyunieu YouTube channel). These weeks saw some of the biggest Public Meeting weeks of the last decade, with 551 attendees in week 4 and 536 attendees in week 5. Guests were given welcome packs including a copy of John’s Gospel and were invited to fill in response cards after each talk. Each day saw a number of guests tick the boxes saying “I’d like to read the Bible” and/or “I’d like to become a Christian”. Two non-Christian education students who came with different EU friends are now reading John’s Gospel with the friends who brought them. Richard and Vanessa, who came with EU friends in the Health faculty, both became Christians since coming to a Meet Jesus Public Meeting. A student in the Science and Vet faculty had been attending small group in Semester 1, but realised that he probably became a true believer during the mission weeks.

The mission weeks had a significant impact both on the campus and on the EU community. The campus was awash with Meet Jesus T-shirts and the EU had a very visible presence, helped by setting up a daily stall during the mission, sending every small group on walk-up for one week, and giving out hundreds of free lunches after each Public Meeting. The publicity helped the EU connect with a number of Christians who previously had been unaware of or unconnected with the EU.

EUers also felt energised as each faculty served in different ways in a united mission. Many of the students shared encouraging stories in group chats, rejoicing that they had the opportunity to explain the gospel to someone or to bring a friend along to hear the Christian message. Many students stepped out of their comfort zone as they did walk-up for the first time.

No fruit of this mission would be possible without God being at work, and in recognition of our dependence upon him we held daily prayer meetings in the lead up to and during the mission. As the mission weeks commenced, 100 EUers even gathered for a dawn meeting to sing and pray for the mission. We are full of thanks for God’s answers to those prayers.

Please keep praying, especially for those who professed faith in Christ and those who are still investigating Jesus, and pray that the Lord might bring a revival of faith at Sydney Uni and beyond.

– Brian Leung, EU Senior Staff