In Depth:  Emma Carswell

The faded glory of the Winter Gardens in Blackpool was the setting for four days of impassioned debate at the National Union of Students (NUS) annual conference this spring.

Emotions were highly charged, opinions freely shared, ideas debated and speeches heckled. In an environment that encourages debate and freedom of speech, it is one of the few places where the Christian Union movement invites as much interest and opportunities as other student societies. This year they operated alongside such groups as the Union of Jewish Students, the Cuban Solidarity Campaign and the Federation of Student Islamic Societies, all keen to engage with the 1,200 or so delegates.

Reports from CUs across the country show that the spiritual investment of church leaders, student workers, Christian writers, supporters, missioners and 'unknown' individuals are paying off.

Over 40 missions took place in Christian Unions during the last term. Hundreds of students heard the good news of Jesus for the first time. Christian students clarified their understanding of the gospel and have a new enthusiasm for sharing it with others. Individual students around the country have 'turned from idols to serve the true and living God'.

The work honeymoon is over for most of my friends. Four years out of university, nine-to-five is more monotony than novelty, the pay cheque is never quite enough, and 'travelling' is limited to two-week vacations. Reality has hit. And they live for the weekend.

So last month I was surprised to find myself surrounded by a large group of bright, (mostly) young things, all of whom seemed passionate about their work. I heard the phrases, 'I love my job' and 'this is the best job in the world' uttered on more than a few occasions. I knew the prospect of fast-track career progression or large bonuses was not their motivation (their employer provides neither), but rather a burden to see students become disciples of Jesus Christ. I was at the UCCF staff conference.

The task of evangelism for most Christian Unions is quite daunting. At Newcastle University for example, the student population is in excess of 15,000, whereas the CU has around 100 regulars this year. It is impossible to expect each of them to sustain friendship with around 150 other students, yet they do want to share Christ with this number. Similar comparisons can be made in the 334 Higher Education institutions in this country.

Matt Walmsley, evangelism secretary for Newcastle University CU was determined to overcome these hurdles. Last summer he developed a growing concern for the crowds of new students beyond the immediate reach of the CU through friendship. He shared this burden with other leaders in the CU and together they came up with 'Firestarters', a programme designed to initiate a gospel conversation with every first year student. Matt said: 'My vision was for the CU to do this each autumn, so that three years down the line every student at Newcastle University had been given the opportunity to hear the gospel.'

You're in church. You get chatting to a student who has just finished their first term studying Theology. You ask if they are struggling being an evangelical in that environment and they say, 'Not really'. You know the position of some in the department at their university, so you ask the question again, 'Surely, you must be finding it tough?'. They casually reply, 'No'.

Discovering this to be the typical response of most Theology and RS students in the UK, has been one of the biggest surprises for Daniel Strange and David Gibson, who co-ordinate UCCF's work among this group. 'We both started the job expecting to work with students wanting help with loads of theological issues', explains David. 'But the reality is that we have great resources, but few students are interested.'

Literally millions of students in this country are being neglected in gospel work. Further Education (FE) Colleges have for too long been the forgotten frontier of student ministry. Many Christians hardly know these students exist, or are oblivious to the spiritual needs of the colleges on their doorsteps.

The facts speak for themselves: in the last academic year 2.35 million students were enrolled at FE colleges in England alone. Yet there are only 139 Christian Unions that UCCF know of, most of which have 2-5 members. Admittedly, many areas of Christian ministry are desperately lacking in resources, but at present there are only a handful of workers dedicated to FE colleges. As Steph Bushell, a student at Merton College, south London said recently: 'FE colleges are full of lost people as well'.

Moving a pile of clothes and a three-day old newspaper, I managed to find a space to sit down and survey the scene. Evidence of Freshers Week 2002 was all around me. Brightly coloured flyers of varying shapes and sizes were strewn across the floor. A free yo-yo advertising a university society, enough pens for a lifetime of lectures, mobile numbers scrawled on scraps of paper, and a T-shirt bearing the name of a sports club. The mess and accumulation of junk was impressive, particularly as it was only a week old.

But it captured the essence of Freshers Week. For thousands of young people this is their first taste of independence, and with it comes a bombardment of messages, an excessive social life, and an exposure to a unique community. For Christian students it may also be the first major test of their faith.

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.

1968. Pauline arrives at Southampton University to read History and Archaeology.

Her Christian contact so far has been limited to token church attendance at Easter and a local Crusader group during her teens. While not against spiritual things, she is looking forward to the independence of university, to new experiences, to living student life to the full. While unpacking, a member of the Christian Union invites her to a coffee evening in her halls of residence.

I recently heard quoted at a conference that a staggering 90% of students involved in Christian Unions leave the Christian faith after finishing university. I expect we have all heard a variation on this, even though research into such urban myths has proved they are unfounded, or even the exact opposite of the truth.

Still, the fact remains that some Christian graduates do walk out on Christ post-graduation. And the Parable of the Sower tells us to expect this. As graduates enter the workplace, wealth and worry hit the agenda and can knock them off track, or as Mark 4 puts it: 'the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful'. It's not exclusive to young graduates, but the transition from university to work is a particularly vulnerable time.

For a year of my degree I exchanged Irn Bru, ceilidhs, and a campus of 6,000 students for ice hockey, two feet of snow, and being one of 37,000 students at the University of Alberta. I also left behind a thriving Christian Union that packed in a good 200 each Friday night. In Canada, I didn't meet one Christian student.

This summer, thousands of students will be heading overseas on exchange schemes or as part of their degree. For the Christians who are leaving this can be a make-or-break experience. They often depart as unprepared missionaries, who struggle to find a church or Christian students they can meet with. Too many feel isolated and doubt their faith, or compromise their integrity.

A student's email to his CU captured the mood of this year's Word Alive: 'Since I've returned home I've not been able to stop sharing with fellow Christians what I have learned. Please do the same if you have not already - let's encourage each other.'

He continued: '...but let's not forget the lost. I have not yet had the opportunity to meet up with my non-Christian friends, and pray that my inability to keep quiet will be present when I do.' Like so many others, he left Skegness having been spiritually fed and armed for the year ahead.

When Rico met Roger

EN brings together British evangelists Rico Tice and Roger Carswell for a conversation about outreach to the lost and their new books

Roger: Rico, you are an Anglican clergyman by qualification, so why are you an evangelist and not a vicar?

Over 10,000 evangelists, pastors and preachers met in Amsterdam in early August for the largest international gathering of ministers ever held.

Ill health prevented Billy Graham from attending the conference that his organisation had hosted. At the last minute even plans for him to deliver the opening address by satellite had to be abandoned.