Preparing for the Influx

It’s the end of the summer. The newspapers are awash with articles on ‘surviving Freshers’ Week’ and ‘Gok Wan’s top tips for dressing for University.’

For many, Freshers’ Week is a hive of activity; a time for excess and getting your hands on as much free stuff as physically possible. As Christians we have a choice; hide for a week, only to emerge once things have calmed down, or get out there and make a difference!

The truth is that Freshers’ Week is an incredible opportunity for student work, and it’s one we can’t afford to miss. The sudden influx of hundreds, if not thousands, of new students into your city is the perfect impetus for getting out there, gathering Christians to your church, and preaching the gospel.

We want to challenge you with a few ideas and strategies being used across the country:

Gathering

In order to make an impact on the campus, you need a lot of people. It’s therefore vital that students return early to be involved in Freshers’ Week.

• If you’re a student, consider returning to your church before your course restarts to be involved in evangelistic initiatives. The greater the workforce, the bigger the impact.

• If you’re a student worker, make sure you keep in touch and envision students for the term ahead? Use every available medium to encourage them; email, text, facebook.

• Many churches gather their students for a prayer meeting to brief them before Freshers’ Week. This is a brilliant opportunity for vision-casting and commissioning.

• Students may want to come back early, but find themselves unable to due to accommodation problems. Perhaps families in the church would consider putting them up for a week so they can get involved?

For the student team at The City Church Canterbury, mobilising students is a key part of their strategy: “Encouraging our students to return early and get stuck in is vital to impacting our campuses. This year we have called our Freshers’ Week strategy ‘Mission: Unavoidable’ and have created a promo video which we have sent to our students. We have issued the challenge to get 100 students on the campuses for 100 hours, making the church unavoidable. We are therefore encouraging people to return for a prayer meeting before Freshers’ Week where we will brief them, pray for them and send them out.” To check out the video click here and click Mission: Unavoidable on the right-hand menu.

Attacking the Campus

You’ve gathered the workforce, but now what do you do? The keys to making the most of Freshers’ Week are visibility and availability. Make sure you have a strong presence and make yourselves known.

• Many churches produce flyers advertising themselves and their Alpha courses. There are plenty of creative ways of doing this. Gateway Church Leeds are printing their literature on labels for baked bean cans, whilst Kings’ Community Church, Norwich have designed their programme to resemble a menu and are giving out their welcome packs inside silver take away boxes.

• Look for ways you can partner with the Student Unions to serve the freshers. Many churches find that helping students with their bags as they move in can create great conversation opportunities.

• If your church has hoodies or t-shirts, make sure everyone wears them. It will get the name and logo of your church in people’s minds from the outset and will help Christians to locate a church quickly.

• Most Christian Unions run church fairs where you can advertise yourselves. Take literature and smiley people and use it as an opportunity to encourage students to visit on a Sunday.

• Simply being on campus makes such a difference. Go for a drink in the bars. Kick a football around; guys will soon gather and conversations will flow. If you run events off-campus, why not consider transferring them to the campus for a one off?

King’s Community Church, Norwich is doing just that: ‘This year we are running an outreach event on campus in the middle of Freshers’ Week. For the past five years we have successfully run an event called Catalyst in a pub. Christians and non-Christians are invited to come and enjoy a drink together. There is then a short apologetics talk and the opportunity to ask questions. This year we are changing the location and running ‘Catalyst on Campus’ as a way of reaching people with the gospel as soon as they arrive.’

The Welcome

It doesn’t stop at the campus. The way you welcome people to your church events will make an enormous difference. Make it as easy as possible for people to visit you, and once they do, welcome them well.

• Many churches run bus services from the campuses to their meeting place. Make sure they’re clearly advertised, reliable and have enough space. Some churches allocate a lively lad to play the tour-guide and advertise forthcoming events on the journey!

• Food always goes down well. Many churches feed students in members' homes after the Sunday service, whilst others gather everyone together for a mass meal in the church building. Whichever you go for, it is vital that you use this time well. Make sure you go out of your way to interact with people. Invite families. A lot of students love to see that there are older people in the church to look up to.

• Use a range of techniques to follow up student visitors. Not everyone will respond well to the same method of communication; so use email, facebook, text and phone. Just make sure not to overload them!

• Whatever your strategy, make sure it isn’t just a temporary thing. Build welcoming into the DNA of your church, otherwise you’ll find that people who visit later in the term will find you unwelcoming as you’ve expended all your energy in the first few weeks.

So, whether you are a student worker still putting finishing touches to your strategy for the new term, or a student still considering whether or not to go back to your city early, can I encourage you to make the most of Freshers’ Week. And let us know what fruit you see. students@newfrontierstogether.org