Last weekend I had the privilege of visiting Bath University Christian Union at their House Party just outside of Cardiff, Wales. We had a fantastic time, with talks from Simon Edwards and myself, engaging with apologetics and evangelism training before their Mission Week
Apologetics Training
Christian university students are often faced with tough questions about their faith. These questions may come from friends but also they may be questions that they face personally. Apologetics is what we call the discipline of tackling these questions, of removing the obstacles that prevent people from coming to faith and at the same time strengthening the faith of the believer.
Simon Edwards and myself – both graduates of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics – were given the opportunity to address some of the tricky questions through a variety of talks, including:
- Jesus and Science: Where does the tension really exist in this debate?
- The Cross: The central message of Christianity
- Jesus in a Broken World: Dealing the the challenge of suffering
Q&A
In addition to the main talks we had a couple of seminars, one of which was given to a general question time. There were many, many good questions that just go to show what people are really thinking. Questions on Hell, Homosexuality and the Bible, Biblical Ethics (Old Testament, Canaanites etc.), Free Will, Suffering and many more were a representative sample of the many questions students face all the time.
People have questions and dealing with them sensitively and with understanding goes a long way towards helping them see Jesus as the true hope for this world.
Uncover
The other seminar was spent highlighting the fantastic Bible Study resource, Uncover. This resource, from Rebecca Manley Pippert is a great tool for engaging unbelievers and new believers in Bible Study. Woven together through media, great content, and packaged in an accessible way, Uncover is proving as useful as it is easy to use.
Leading a demo Bible study with the students from Bath, we saw just how easy it is, through asking questions, to dig into the text in a rich way. The ease of which Uncover can be used saw many students getting excited to pick it up and start using it with their friends.
I left the weekend encouraged and excited to see a group of students praying and planning to see Jesus proclaimed as Lord in their university and the wider city of Bath. I look forward to hearing the stories that come out of this year!