Postgraduate Ministry in a Year of Uncertainty

by EU Graduates Fund

As students adjusted to online learning in March, university administrators faced a different challenge: how to keep universities afloat? As Australia’s third largest industry, tertiary education was particularly vulnerable to the economic ramifications of COVID-19. The last nine months in Australian universities has been a story of budget cuts, retrenchments, and redundancies (or at the very least, the fear of job losses).

How have postgraduate students and university staff navigated these uncertainties? A few members of the EU Postgrads & Staff (EPS) faculty shared how EU has supported them in 2020:

“EPS has been a really wonderful community to me especially during weeks spent working from home. When everything else in life was chaotic and unpredictable, I have really enjoyed being able to look forward to morning prayer events to start off my day sitting under God with fellow EPS people.”
– Alison, first year postgrad student

“In a year with few constants, EPS was one I’m so grateful for. The EPS community has countered the isolation of researching from home with rich fellowship, support and prayer. It continues to provide a great forum for discussing and deepening the links between personal faith and research practice.”
– Katrina, postgrad student

“Two aspects of EPS were highlighted to me in the chaos of this year. I have found it to be pastorally attuned to the pressures I felt during postgraduate study and just as intellectually formative as other aspects of my PhD program. I’m so thankful to God for his work through EPS during this chaotic year.”
– Sam, final year postgrad student

“We’ve been able to start a postgrads bible study group specifically for those in psychology. Being part of the group has been one of the highlights of my uni year, having regular prayer support (from people who understand the stress of the discipline), encouragement in personal evangelism, and really thought-provoking discussions for areas that are complex for Christians in a highly secularised discipline.”
– Emily, final year postgrad student

“There has been a fair bit of negative talk due to the University’s loss of revenue, increased workloads and job cuts. EPS has been a great source of encouragement to focus my sights on God and be meet with other Christians.”
– Jon, lecturer

 

Matt Moffitt
Senior Staff Worker
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