Shalom Camp 2012

It is amazing how on special days such as Camp, the weather happens to be just right. We had expected rains that Friday afternoon; it turned out to be bright and sunny. We were headed for Shalom, more like home now for many of the Student U old-timers. The red van, trailer faithfully following behind; jubilant songs done in quick succession, an occasional silence, and 87 km’s later, Shalom it is!

Shalom 2012 was an amazing and refreshing encounter with the Sovereign God. Much like our semester theme, The Sovereignty of God – taken from studies in the Book of Job, our Camp made for an appropriate complement. Friday kicked off with the traditional mid-night supper and a hilarious game of Actionary. Saturday morning’s devotion was a group devotion, and Willard started us off by sharing on our theme, drawing from Psalm 33, and closing with what camp should be all about. Students spent some time in quiet retreat, meditating on this and praying for each other.

It was especially encouraging to see how transformative our Talks throughout Camp were; hearing students pouring out their hearts to the Lord in song, discussion and prayer was all the more confirmation of this. Camp Talks were sectioned into four: Sovereign God – What Sovereignty is, how God is Sovereign, and the question on the Presence of Evil. On this Talk, Gift drew parallels from Daniel 4: 34-35 on a seemingly sovereign king, Nebuchadnezzar, and how the Sovereign King humbled him. Lennon delivered our second talk on Suffering and Comfort in light of God’s sovereignty. He dwelt on the “Why?” of Suffering and “What our Comfort Should be in times of Suffering,” drawing from Paul’s example in 2 Corinthians 11. Willard concluded the sessions with talks from Job 1: 8-11, Questioning God, and God: The Object of our Worship, and how we ought to live in view of this reality seen evidently in Job’s conviction.

Canoeing was a major highlight on our activities list. I must add that it is almost impossible not to see God’s might especially in moments as these: on the waters stretching beyond the eye’s reach. What a marvel of His creation indeed! Games such as Mafia, Commissioner , and Angels and Mortals made for great interaction and fellowship. As if this was not enough, moments by the big bonfire just had us all longing for more, and more, and more of God’s presence, together, far from the bustle of City life. But even there too, God is at work. Having been equipped by His Spirit through Bible reading and sharing, through song and dance, through games and all other activities, through even the most minute details at Camp, we left Shalom challenged to live for this Glorious King, re-assured that even in our sufferings we have the comfort of a hope and glory that no suffering can be compared to.

To Him be all honour and praise

By Simbarashe Manyureni

Orientation Week

We started off the new 2012-2013 academic year with our usual Orientation Week mission on campus from the 24th to the 28th of September. As the first years were having their campus orientation and returning students were registering we took the opportunity to reach out to the students, sharing the gospel with them and inviting them to join our fellowship. Armed with flyers, information brochures and questionnaires, we had one-on-one chats with up to 200 students throughout the week. Most of the students we approached were receptive but, we did get a couple of cold shoulders.

The week activities culminated in our Welcome Event held at the City Presbyterian Church. We were looking forward to a good turnout based on our interactions during the week but much to our disappointment not a single 1st year student came. This was however compensated by some new returning students who joined us. We have since been following up on the contacts we collected through the questionnaires and attendance is building up for the Friday Bible studies code named “Vital Connections”.

Welcome Event Part 2.

If you can’t bring the 1st year students to the Welcome Event you will have to bring the Welcome Event to the students! This is exactly what we did when we organised a follow up event on Friday the 12th of October at a student residence in Selbourne Park that houses about 60 students. We first made a visit on Wednesday evening, briefly introducing ourselves and the ministry and then explaining what will be rocking on Friday evening and inviting them to the event.

Come Friday we had a good turnout. The event started off on a social note with the staff and committee chatting informally with the students. This was followed by a formal presentation of Student U made by Willard Mudzimiri as he outlined the core values of Student U, our ministry focus and activities. This followed by more sosh time over sandwiches before knocking. Looking ahead we have great expectations for this new academic year.

By Gift Gana

Introducing Student U

The start of the 2012 to 2013 academic year at NUST came about with the name change and rebranding of our ministry. From the University Christian Students Fellowship, UCSF, we have now become Student UCSF. More simply called Student U. Beyond the name change, we have also adopted a new logo. Both the new name and logo have been adopted from the Student Y in Cape Town, South Africa, with their permission through the relationship we share with them. For Student U, the similarities we now share with Student Y feel so natural as the founding documents and ministry model that UCSF was established upon were adopted from Student Y. As the years have gone by, we continue to benefit much from Student Y’s many years of ministry experience as we interact with them.

The name change was inspired by the serious struggle that many seemed to have in saying out our abbreviation ‘UCSF’ correctly. From USFC, USF, UCF, you name it, many just could not get it right. It was mostly people new to our ministry who struggled with it but it also included some who had interacted with our ministry right from its inception. This we felt was such a handicap for our ministry especially considering that we desire our name to spread in our mission field so that many would know us by name and would consider joining us. In the new name we have sort to preserve our old identity as UCSF which most of our alumni would best identify with and also simplify it in its short form so that it is easy to catch.