Your Gift This Christmas
Good news of great joy among Gen Z
Praise God! A generation of worried and curious students is finding joy.
Your support for campus ministry is driving the kind of transformation that happened on the night Jesus was born. When shepherds were told about good news of great joy for all people, their terror turned to curiosity (let’s go… and see). It was an openness that led to Jesus and left them glorifying and praising God (Luke 2).
Among an anxious yet spiritually open “Gen Z”, curiosity around Jesus is rising and dark worries are turning to deep worship.
Today, will you share your gospel joy and gladly seize this moment?
Will you help further God’s transformative work in the world’s universities?
Offering Good News to the Curious
This year, students and staff in the IFES movement in Moldova were surprised by the spiritual openness they witnessed during their Serios? Events Week.
In a context where evangelism is usually seen as religious propaganda, they were delighted to see genuine curiosity.
One student even hung around long after an event had finished so that he could ask more questions. Read more here.
Across Europe, IFES movements are reporting a growing openness:
There seem to be more non-Christians at our activities! (GBU France)
The group in Hasselt was one of our smallest… but it’s now grown to about 25 students. (Ichtus Belgium)
God is working… We’ve seen students turn from witchcraft after encounters with Christ. (CUI Ireland)
One Europewide IFES initiative that’s empowering students, staff, and academics to publicly share the gospel in universities is FEUER. In November, over 200 delegates from across the continent had four days of training, sharing, and fellowship together.
We had a fantastic time! But the real impact is not what happened at the conference but what will happen with many university ‘events weeks’ taking place all over Europe in the year ahead.
MICHAEL OTS, FEUER FIELD DIRECTOR
Will you gladly seize this opportunity to offer good news to a curious generation?
Your gift could help students attend training events that help them share the gospel.
Sharing Good News with the Worried
At this year’s training for student leaders in Eurasia, it was striking how many testimonies included prior thoughts of mental health and harm. One student shared:
I had many traumas and a corrupted view of life. I wanted to hurt my loved ones. I felt that only death would bring me peace.
Praise God that they found hope in Christ through student ministry.
But countless others struggle with dark thoughts.
One student in Kenya recently shared how lives are being lost on campus because support is lacking.
In Latin America, the IFES regional team has been collaborating with Fuller Seminary’s Centro Latino in a Mental Health Diploma program.
This year, 19 staff workers from across the region gained new insights.
“I’ve become truly aware of the immense need that exists – anxiety, depression, emotional exhaustion, and various forms of pain. And I’ve come to understand that every small step toward emotional healing is a foretaste of the total restoration we’ll experience when Christ returns.”
HENDI (STAFF WORKER IN COMPA MEXICO)
Among “Gen Z” on campuses worldwide, dark thoughts threaten lives and curious souls are longing for peace – now is the time to act.
£10
per month could help equip student leaders to offer pastoral care and connect their peers with trained counsellors.
£30
per month could help students offer Gospel hope to their peers by enabling them to attend IFES regional training events.
£125
per month could help staff workers receive training to witness with Jesus-like compassion.
Today, will you share your conviction that the birth of Jesus is “good news of great joy” with a new generation? Will you make the most of their openness and turn worry into worship?
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.“
LUKE 2.10-11