If you’re reading this – you did it. You made it to Uni!
Your head must be spinning after a few wild months! With lockdown, the A-Level grade drama and the constant uncertainty we’ve found ourselves in, I wonder if you ever thought this day would come.
There are moments in life which have the potential to propel us into a wide-open future. Moments of opportunity, discovery, exploration. God-ordained invitations to step into a new season and a new story that God is writing in your life.
University is one of those moments.
Amongst the lectures, the new friends, the socially-distanced socialising; amongst your hopes and dreams and fears and anxieties – Jesus stands waiting for you at University.
I believe the next few years of your life will be the best years of your life; and I want to submit to you right now, that the single most significant decision you will make during your time at Uni, will be to find a church that you can call home.
In the Vineyard Movement, we love students. We have churches in University cities and towns all across the UK and Ireland, churches that are passionate about seeing students thrive and expand into the life-bringers and city-shapers they’re called to be. Churches that invest in, and champion the emerging generation.
I arrived at Uni almost exactly 11 years ago and my life and world were utterly turned upside down. Not by my lectures, or the campus facilities, or the incredible friends I made – but it was transformed by meeting Jesus for myself at Uni at my local church. It was transformed by finding an unbelievable Vineyard community that helped me discover my destiny. It was transformed by that church home introducing to me the Jesus-life of knowing God, and making disciples and extending the Kingdom while at Uni.
Let me ask you a question – What if University was more than studies? What if Uni was about more than getting a degree and being set up for a career? What if Uni was more than clubs and parties and ‘the Uni experience?’
What if Uni was a unique opportunity to discover God in a new way? To discover a church that you can call home? To discover that thing that you were born for?!
Mark Twain famously said:
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”
For me – I discovered my why at Hull Vineyard, while at University. With my heart rooted in my local church and my story lived out on campus, those three years at University were filled with Kingdom electricity. Opportunities to share my faith in miraculous ways, opportunities to grow and go deeper in God, opportunities to lead in the church and make a difference.
This September as you step into the brilliant world of University life – let me encourage you to make a choice to find and join a church.
As you settle into a new city, a new community, a new church – I have no doubt that you’ll walk right into the remarkable plans and purposes God has got for you over the next few years at Uni.
Whoever you are, whatever your story so far – God wants to use you at University. This is your time; this is your turn. You were born for such a moment as this.
If you’re heading to University this September we’d love to point you towards our Church Finder to find and connect with your nearest Vineyard church. We believe this will help the transition of moving homes so much easier!
