#tscf

Day 1 - This Stage Called Fate

Nathaniel Crowle was living peacefully until his grandfather was accused of being affiliated with the enemy of the world, Kalzagan. With his past revealed and fate sealed, he decides to end this thread of fate for good by playing the role of villain he was given.

(A/N below)

This year, Christian Fellowship at Victoria has been meeting every week and sharing food and fellowship. We’ve talked about what it means to follow God as a Christian at University, and now we’re going through the book of Ephesians.

We went to a camp with the Palmerston North OCF just after Easter, which was really inspirational and fun—it’s really special to meet students from other universities who are thinking about the same things that we are. I also really enjoyed the drive to Palmerston North and back, because it was an excellent opportunity to get to know some people better, and talk about a whole lot of different things (shoutout to Ben, Andrew, Sam, and Miya, who put up with my talking).

One of my favourite things this year has been praying for each other and wider issues in the world, which we do at the end of each Bible study. It’s a time when we are invited to be really brave and vulnerable and share pieces of ourselves with other in the group, and I really appreciate the sense of wholeness it gives me each week.

AUTCF has maintained an active presence on all three Auckland campuses—City, North and South. Over the first semester we held weekly Bible studies, studying the books of Psalms and Luke to discover more about who God is. We also hosted other fun events.

Earlier this year we met Mel, a law student from South campus, at the Launch event. She discovered TSCF via YouTube, when she went looking for videos of John Stackhouse speaking. He had visited New Zealand in 2015 and spoke at the Summit conference, so after finding those talks, Mel contacted TSCF to see if a group existed on her campus.

The Palmy Overseas Christian Fellowship crew started the year off with a little get-together called Launch, to catch up with old friends and meet new people. The first event of the semester was Takeoff, a night of dinner, games, and meeting more new people. Throughout the semester Friday meetings started with dinner, followed by games and worship, and ending with Bible studies in the book of John.

KYCF stands for Korean Young Adults Christian Fellowship. We are tertiary Korean students from all over Auckland. Our purpose is to spread the gospel to Koreans on campus, as our meetings are held in Korean.

Every Thursday we meet for worship, a sermon, and small group sharing. We invite people and try to reveal God through the love that we share within our community. Most of our members are Christians who wish to worship God on the campus and meet fellow Christians who share the same goal.

Our members are really tight. Every Thursday and Friday after the meetings, we go out to eat together or hang out. On Fridays, student leaders meet, and other members have discipleship training.

We also run camps and events throughout the year. Our biggest event of the year was our annual camp in April. About 60 people came together at Chosen Valley.

Auckland OCF

Our vision for the year is “Grounded to Glorify.” We want people to have a better understanding of the gospel so that they learn more about God’s character and are equipped to glorify him with their lives as they serve others. Our vision verse is Mark 12:30-31: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. … Love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” To see people discover more about God through his Word, we began last semester with a series on the Gospel.

We want people to understand the basics and roots of Christianity, so we ran a series on Christian Living, focusing on various aspects of our Christian walk such as why the Bible is reliable, how and why we should pray, and glorifying God in the workplace. God is so good. We have been encouraged as people become more interested in exploring what the Bible says and learn how to apply it to their lives.

The team, from left, included Riven, Caesar, Chris, Kate, Michael, Becky, Christina and Annelise.

Bula vinaka.

In December I was part a TSCF Fiji cultural trip along with other university students and Lincoln-based staff Chris and Kate. We partnered with TSCF’s sister organization Pacific Students for Christ, who did an awesome job of planning and organizing our two-week stay in Suva.

In the first week we split up and were billeted with Fijian families. I was blown away by the hospitality of my hosts, who were joyful and generous. I joined the engineering campus’ Christian Fellowship executive meeting as they planned for that week’s fellowship, and saw how similar this was to the meetings I am part of at Lincoln University Christian Fellowship. On Sunday I was invited to my host family’s church. It was difficult to understand the sermon and singing as it was in Fijian, but I saw their passion for God’s word.

During the second week we all came back together and stayed at a campground next to an orphanage, St Christopher’s Home for Children, along with several Fijian students. We helped run evening Bible studies for the children at the orphanage, and built and painted fences around the property. I also went to a men’s prison with an Australian man who runs a week-long course for inmates focusing on dealing with trauma. Lastly we went to Homes of Hope, which offers a place to stay for teenage mothers and women who are at risk of sexual abuse.

One moment that left a lasting impact was hearing the children sing at the orphanage. That first night they had prepared a few worship songs to sing with us. Those 20-30 children were louder and more passionate than many churches filled with hundreds of people, mics and speakers. Tears came to my eyes after I got over the initial shock of the pure joy that these kids sang with. I wasn’t the only member of the team with tears in their eyes. I aspire to having such sincere joy in my worship to God.

TSCF has long supported PSFC’s work, and I enjoyed being able to see how this support is helping change lives. By hosting a team from Fiji at SPARC 2016 and sending our own team to Fiji, we are building a strong relationship between the organisations and growing young men and women in Christ across the Pacific. I long to see the work of PSFC continue to be supported, so that when the next team goes they will be able to witness how God has used our faithfulness to grow his kingdom.

As the second trimester at Wellington TSCF came to an end, we had an eventful year to be thankful for. We are so thankful for Max, Mei, and Kim and their devotion to this group, for further involvement from our members, and God’s everlasting goodness.

We had so many great events to end the year with such as the Mark Drama, which is a re-enactment of the life of Jesus, and Breathe, a combined worship night for members of the university to relax at the end of the trimester and prepare for exam season.

We also had a celebration at the Botanical Gardens, seeing off the year with a fail-safe combination of games, good talks, food, and glowworm viewing that lasted into the night.

It has been great to see how the group continues to grow in friendship, fellowship, and very importantly in their passion for God, His gospel, and His mission. We are looking forward to the plans God has for us next year.