Every September, thousands of brand new students arrive in university towns and cities with big questions about who they are, where they belong and what they believe. Many are excited. Many are also quietly wondering if anyone will notice them...
Over two weeks, churches across the country stood at 21 Try Church stands, offering students something different from the usual freebies: a real conversation, a name they'd remember and a personal invitation to try church for themselves.
What we heard again and again is that students are open. They're looking for a place to be known, welcomed and at home.
BEATRICE'S STORY
At Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, a student stopped at the Try Church stand and mentioned that he had a bad knee. Someone from the local Church asked if he'd like prayer, and he said yes.
After the first prayer, it felt a little better. When they offered to pray again, he asked, "Is that even biblical?" They explained, and prayed a second time. He was completely healed, and you could see in his eyes that faith had become real.
He didn't leave. He stayed at the stand, told people what had happened to him, and even prayed for another student with a bad knee. Stories like this are just a glimpse of what God is doing through his church. Here are a few more highlights of what churches saw:
- In Reading, a student began to cry when the local church asked what she believed about life after death. She shared that she was struggling with depression. They prayed with her and pointed her to local churches near her. She walked away with happy tears and weight off her shoulders. She'd been seen.
- In Leicester Andreas* grew up Orthodox but had never heard that salvation was a gift he could receive. The local church prayed for him, and he gave his life to Jesus right there at the freshers' fair.
- In Bristol Hannah* stopped at the stand having grown up in Iran with no context of Christianity. Once she heard what church was, she followed the church on Instagram and said she'd start coming along. Someone had simply made room for her.
Students are arriving with questions, and the local church is uniquely placed to be their home, with a welcome, a family and friends of every age. Students need the church, and the church needs them.
Would you join us in praying for students like Andreas and Hannah? Pray that as the Church, we would keep showing up, welcoming and embracing every student who walks through the door, and that each one would find hope in Jesus and a home in a church family.
This is just the beginning.
*names changed to protect identity
