The Student Workers' Weekend 2009

On Friday 6 February, after waking up to a deluge of snow, over 80 Student Workers from Newfrontiers churches made their way gingerly across the country for the Student Workers’ Weekend at Center Parcs in Suffolk. Andy Marshall (Living Hope Church Bath), shares his thoughts on the weekend.

‘We are a relatively new church of two years with about 60 members. During this time we have been blessed with many students becoming a part of our church from the two universities in Bath.

To date, much of our student work has been focussed on serving those who are already a part of the church; providing a welcoming environment so that students feel a part of us. In this context the weekend was a well-timed challenge; really envisioning, equipping and much fun!

The weekend was hosted by Tom Shaw and Liam Thatcher and was a great mixture of worship, teaching and fellowship. Tom’s main question for the weekend was this; ‘Are we building student works that are simply about catching and keeping good Christian students? Or are we building student works that are red hot for mission and growing through student converts?’ We felt that we have excelled at the first part, but in terms of the second we have a long way to go!

Tom talked about loving our university campuses with our head, heart, mouth, feet and knees. We then broke into smaller groups to discuss some of the main challenges facing those involved in student work. Many areas were covered, but for Living Hope Church Bath we felt God speak to us specifically about discipleship. We feel this is key to our student work. Encouraging a culture of discipleship and imitating leaders who are more mature in their faith will lead to students growing in intimacy with God, giftings and character. This in turn will equip students to love their campuses and be red hot for mission, seeing many saved and added to the church.

We were challenged that we need non-students to catch a vision to lead and disciple students, and for students with leadership potential to be equipped to disciple others.         

A further highlight of the weekend was to be specifically prayed for on the Saturday evening along with three other small or new churches. We received a number of encouraging prophecies, two of which were similar to previous prophecies brought for our church.

We would highly recommend the weekend and are sure that whatever stage your student work may be at, you would benefit from attending in future years!

Andy Marshall,
Living Hope Church Bath