The EU wants to make the most of every opportunity to serve students at Sydney Uni so that they in turn will serve God’s church across the world for the rest of their lives. The variability of students’ amount of contact hours has changed the patterns of in-person participation in campus life, and for EU, it’s forced the question how we make the most of what can be a quite limited time on campus for students.

In light of this, one of our goals in 2023 is to more thoroughly integrate the opportunities for training across regular EU activities, as well as in new initiatives. Rather than training being a separate and distinct thing, perhaps even at risk of being compartmentalised or passed by, it is being woven through more of what we do, so more students may benefit from it and be sent out from the EU equipped for service.

Small Groups & Training

The EU has had specialised small group Bible studies for students in first year for a long time. This year, the material for those small groups will help first years be better equipped for a firm and clear understanding of the basics of the gospel; get ready for this new stage of ‘adulting’, understanding how God’s character and his work in his world shapes the way we manage our daily lives and responsibilities; be able to share their personal testimony; have a framework for sharing Jesus with others in conversation; and start thinking about Christian leadership.

We are also trying specialised small groups for students in their second year. Through these small groups, students will run through 4 study series that introduce them to reading the whole bible through a biblical-theology lens; equip them to share Jesus with people from different backgrounds (with immediate opportunities to live this out through the EU’s ministry to muslim students – CousMin – and our ministry to international students – euFOCUS); feel confident to read the Bible 1-2-1 with others; and explore what it looks like to lead others in service of Jesus. 

This training, anchored in study of God’s word, was previously available through Equip courses which had significantly smaller participation than our small group ministry – only 25-30% – and now will be open to the majority of our EU community as they meet weekly in small groups.

Targeted Evangelism Training

In addition to the small group material that will ground students in the core basics of sharing Jesus with different people and in different modes, more in-depth and specialised training continues to be available for those who want to grow more or have a real passion for evangelism.

euFOCUS invites all students to come and be a part of their weekly community gathering and public meeting, Come Home Dinner, for a first hand experience of caring for and sharing Jesus with international students. CousMin is running its weekly AMP sessions – small groups sharing in anecdotes, mentoring, and prayer for those reaching out to muslim friends and peers. The EU’s E-team encourages students to grow in their general thinking about evangelism through regular ‘Clocktower Chats’ seminars on topics relating to evangelism, as well as growing through doing, offering support for participating in ‘walk-up evangelism’ across campus multiple times a week.

Leadership Development

A new initiative for 2023 is the weekly Leadership Sessions – an optional hour for all student leaders, or EUers who are keen to think more deeply about Christian leadership. It’s not just a download of information, but a community gathering where students can learn and ask questions together, and senior staff teach and train from God’s word. 

We have a range of different topics for 2023, including: recruiting teams to magnify our ministry impact; understanding the cultural dynamic of honour and shame and how it shapes our ministry; women and men serving in ministry together; tackling current ethical issues; thinking through apologetics to aid our evangelism; and leading in the EU with our three objects and in deep prayer. As we’ve kicked off Leadership Sessions for semester 1, we’ve already had about 75 people coming along. We keep praying it will be a significant time of deepening understanding about leadership from God’s word.

Please pray that God will bless these initiatives as we continue to pursue the Grads’ Fund vision to flood God’s church with lay and vocational leaders.

– Laura Southam, EU Senior Staff