One year ago Claire Osborne walked into the Quinta Centre a confident graduate. She was looking forward to a year on the UCCF Relay programme 'meeting students for coffee and loving people'. All her illusions were soon to be shattered. The reality was that she was to be stretched and challenged more than she could ever have imagined.
'Relay' began as a response to UCCF's desire to put more people on the ground to work among students and to invest in and develop student leaders. It is now an established one-year training and discipleship training programme that has placed almost 400 recent graduates with Christian Unions across the country.
The year kicks off in September with the first of three training conferences, an event that Claire recalls: 'I walked through the door and suddenly felt like a shrivelled balloon. What was I doing? I felt so daunted by the prospect of having so much responsibility.' But she was not alone: 'I soon met others who also felt the size of a pea! Over the week it was like I had never heard the gospel before. We heard more and more about grace. The conference kept reflecting where I was at: when I felt I couldn't go on, I would be reminded that God makes us perfect in our weakness; and when I felt great, I would be reminded of how sinful I am.'
