Guest Post: Festive

As readers of my blog will know, I've been involved in the past in CU's at University, and also at school. I'm also passionate about connecting groups and people together with the same Gospel focus. Today's guest post is from 'Festive', so I'll let that explain what they are about. Suffice to say, if you are interesting in youthwork, student-work, schools and Christian witness, these guys should be on your radar and on your prayer lists!

Where do you spend most of your time? Where do 16 – 19 year olds spend most of theirs? Recently the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity challenged the church to think about this is their project ‘Life on the Frontline’.

The facts and figures vary from year to year, but according to the most recent data, in England alone, almost 1.5 million (84%) 16-18 year olds choose to stay on in education after the age of 16 (Association of Colleges, 2012) - that is 2.4% of the UK’s population.  So it follows that if we are to influence another generation for Christ, the Gospel needs to be heard in these places.  However, when it comes to sustained Christian input, Further Education Colleges and Sixth Forms are often overlooked, leading them to become the ‘Cinderella Sector’ for the Church.

Historically, the Technical Colleges Christian Fellowship, later part of Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF), pioneered and established good work within the sector. But this century saw the huge expansion of the Universities, and with it UCCF’s decision to focus their resources on this core part of their ministry.  Similarly, Scripture Union has a thriving ministry working with children and young people in education, but again this is such a huge field of operation that they have struggled to maintain work with those in the 16-19-year-old age bracket, who are in that unique transition between youth and adulthood. 

Enter Festive!

For a moment however, let’s just think about the Further Education and Sixth Form environment with its own specific challenges, distinct from schools on the one hand and universities on the other:  

·       There is often a high turnover of students, courses are for a term or one or two years and often part time or with placements.

·       Students generally live at home and often travel in and out of college on specially organised transport, arriving at 9am. and leaving at 5pm.

·       Lunchtimes are often non-existent, ‘on a rolling timetable’ which makes securing a regular room for a CU meeting very difficult. 

·       Colleges have strict equality and diversity policies; they operate on a multi-faith or secular ethos. Any approaches by those within the college to run a Christian group or churches and Christian workers wanting to support such a group have to know how to operate under these circumstances.

God always has his Ambassadors; here they are a few young students, studying anything from politics to hairdressing, and members of staff including chaplains. They dream of meeting together for support, building each other up in Christ and making Jesus known in their College or Sixth Form.

The pressing need to support these Ambassadors weighed heavy on the hearts of a group of friends back in 2006 and they began to pray and take advice.  In August 2007, Festive (the Further Education and Sixth Form InitiaTIVE) was launched, with the aim of being a Ministry that would focus exclusively on Christian support for Colleges and Sixth Forms.  Both UCCF and SU welcomed this development and have provided valuable partnership to Festive as it has established itself.

 Now, five and a half years on, Festive continues to actively pursue its purpose to strengthen Christian faith and witness in FE Colleges and Sixth Forms in the UK, with a vision of seeing a vibrant Christian presence in an increasing number of places of education. Festive started with a vision and a question: how do you reach young people where they study right across the nation today?

1. At Festive, we firmly believe that FE and Sixth Form students are indeed on the ‘front line of opportunity’ in engaging with the very people that the Gospel needs to impact if we are to see Christ’s Kingdom grow in this generation.  It has therefore been our main task to equip young students and those working with them, with everything they need to run and lead a College or Sixth Form Christian Union. Even if a group cannot be started we stand with individuals and encourage them in their faith.

2. Our main method of doing this is to give everything FREE; after all these students have little income. So we work through our website: www.festive.org.uk  It has pages of practical resource downloads designed for starting, running and leading a College or Sixth Form CU, lunch-time user friendly guides for Bible studies, evangelism ideas and tracts, and a page of upcoming events. Above all it offers prayer support and we are continually blessed by being asked to pray and then hearing how God answers. We encourage students and staff to contact us directly via email for advice and guidance about their situations. Through this we’re finding that we are able to support many Christian Unions throughout the UK.

3. We cannot do this alone. We do not aim to recruit lots of workers but to encourage something we have called ‘Love Your Local College’. Every person in the UK has a local College or Sixth Form, and so every church potentially has someone studying or working there. Each church or person could begin by praying for that College or Sixth Form and some will even be able to become more involved.  Supporting or starting a Christian group at a college near them or joining the chaplaincy team are two ways in which people can help.

It can be really hard to be a Christian at College or Sixth Form, both in practical and spiritual terms, but Festive has seen many students’ faith be strengthened in the face of adversity.  College and Sixth Form CU's are generally 3 – 6 in number but can run events for 100 or more students. As we read in 1 Corinthians 1 v 26 - 29, God chooses to use the weak and foolish things of this world, not the outwardly impressive things.  He uses the small in number, the fisherman, the stutterers, the lame, the broken in spirit, the poor, the lone Christian FE student – this is a constant source of encouragement to both the Festive team and the people we support.

We are thankful and encouraged that since September 2012 we have been able to support students and chaplains in over 80 Sixth Forms and Colleges in the UK.  Praise God for the doors He has opened and we pray that through this, we would see His Word spread!  Colleges and Sixth Forms have a duty to provide spiritual support for their students who want it and you can help!  Working in FE you are faced with daunting and testing challenges, but you also get to see our wonderful Saviour at work in young and under-equipped believers, for and to His glory.  The potential in this area is huge and it is our prayer that many will grow in vision and passion for this vital work in the days ahead. 

If you or your church could help in supporting an FE student or CU, please contact us via info@festive.org.uk to find out how you could get involved in your local area.

Points for Prayer

·       Give thanks to God for the many opportunities Festive has had with students, sixth forms, colleges and chaplains over the last five years.

·       Give thanks for the financial, practical and prayerful support we have received over the last five years, without which we would not have been able to do the work.

·       Pray for Christian students in Further Education, that they may ‘shine like stars’ as they witness to their friends and peers.

·       Pray for upcoming evangelistic Easter events being held in Colleges and Sixth Forms all over the UK.

·       Pray that more and more students would hear the Gospel message and that their eyes and hearts would be opened to Christ.

If you’d like to hear more about the work of Festive and how you can support us in prayer, do sign up for Festive News and Festive Prayer – our bimonthly publications that keep you up to date with the latest news and prayer needs in the sector.

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