Serving in mission on a university campus
3 Mar 2020
Adrian* is from a wealthy Bengali M’lim family. His father sent him to Sydney from Bangladesh to study business at university. Despite his family’s wealth, student life in Australia wasn’t easy for Adrian who was struggling with addictions to alcohol and cigarettes. One day while out with friends, Adrian was mugged and suffered a serious head injury in the attack. He began questioning his faith and God’s existence and so he prayed asking God if you are there, send someone to show me the truth.
A few months later Adrian was filling in for a work colleague who was sick when he met some of the members of the AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) student group I work with. I was introduced to Adrian and over the next few months I shared the good news of Jesus with him. Adrian is yet to commit his life to Jesus, but he recently sent me a message saying; “That little moment when I believed with you that God exists, I still can’t forget it. It was a long wait but worth it…That little moment is what I call happiness, from which I was deprived so long. Thanks for everything.”
This is the kind of opportunity that exists for those willing to serve in mission on a university campus. Each year thousands of students come from all over the world to study on campuses around Australia. University students are at a stage in life when they are working out who they are, what they believe and what they are going to do with their lives. Many of these students will be the future leaders of organisations that shape the societies of our world and so sharing the gospel of Jesus with university students is very strategic for making disciples who will reach the nations for Christ.
I became a Christian at university and so I have a heart to see university students come to know Christ. But you don’t need to have become a Christian at university or even to have gone to university to be an effective minister of the gospel on campus. God goes ahead of us preparing the hearts of people like Adrian to hear the good news, we simply need to be obedient to the command to make disciples of all nations and be present on campus to faithfully proclaim Jesus to all those who are willing to hear. If you have a heart to see young people from the nations come to know Jesus, then consider mission work on campus (and please pray for Adrian that he would put his trust in Jesus!).
-Cameron, a Pioneers worker serving university students.
Is God calling you to join the mission field? Get in touch.
*Name changed for privacy.