United Kingdom: Longing for connection in lockdown
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is the power of Christian connection. Inspired by this idea, a group of students from UCCF Great Britain created a virtual choir for Christian Unions across the country. After more than 1000 students joined the Facebook group in a matter of days, it was clear that the project was fulfilling a deep need.
What began as 50 – 100 students singing together quickly developed into a huge operation. The students divided themselves into regional coordinators, recruited tech teams, and produced a demo track. International students and students from other IFES movements joined in, adding a verse sung in multiple languages. After one week of organization, one week of video submissions, and two weeks of editing, they uploaded the final video to YouTube. With 550 singers, 60 tech people, and 50 organizers, the project was a testament of student initiative and cooperation.
As the video circulated, the students found their non-Christian friends to be very responsive. One CU student from Essex said,
“I have sent the video to everyone! My non-Christian friends liked seeing what I was involved in and one friend even prayed after watching the video.”
Looking back on the experience, students involved say that the choir revealed a deep longing for connection. Hannah Wood, one of the student organizers, says that the choir shows the power of doing something together. She says:
“Throughout the whole process there was a real sense of togetherness, that although we may all be from different backgrounds and universities and even countries, we all want the name of Jesus to be proclaimed, and that one way to do that is by singing together.”
You can watch their video here.
This week let’s praise God for the community students share as Christians and pray for more student initiatives like this.
- Pray for the non-Christian friends who watched this video to be attracted to Christian community and ultimately Jesus.
- Pray that students would keep finding ways to connect with other Christians around their country and the world.
- Pray for university students who continue to deal with interrupted education due to COVID-19.