In Depth:  Lindsay Brown

The gospel of Jesus Christ is unique, wonderful, powerful and true. It is the greatest message in the history of the world. That is why we’ve met together. What will be the legacy of this Congress? Only God knows - we don’t, at this stage. But I can tell you our four-fold vision and hope.

Firstly, for a ringing re-affirmation of the uniqueness of Christ and the truth of the biblical gospel, and a crystal clear statement on the mission of the Church — all rooted in Scripture. We cannot engage in mission unless we know what we believe. The historic missionary conference of Edinburgh 1910 set in motion great missionary endeavour. But it had a flaw — the organisers sidelined doctrine. So they aimed to launch a missionary movement without biblical consensus. That’s folly. We need to have clarity, especially on four things: (i) the exclusive claims of Christ; (ii) the meaning of Christ’s death; (iii) the necessity of conversion; (iv) the lostness of humankind. The Cape Town Commitment seeks to give this clarity.

Last month, Lindsay Brown focussed on UCCF's influence in Britain; in this second article, he looks at UCCF's contribution to the church worldwide.

Under God, UCCF has been one of the greatest influences in the history of mission in the 20th century - a fact of which few British evangelicals are aware. In this article, I have space only to trace its impact on the growth of evangelical student ministry around the world. It was one of the ten founding members of the IFES, which now brings together over 300,000 students in 150 countries. UCCF continues to play a significant part in developing student ministry in many nations. The link between a strong student ministry and faithful church teaching hardly needs to be spelled out.

UCCF celebrated 75 years of student ministry this year. In a two-part article, Lindsay Brown reflects on its contribution to the church. This month he looks at the UK.

I served on UCCF staff nearly 25 years ago and, as I write, I cast my mind back further, to my own student days in the early-mid 70s. I carry a deep sense of gratitude to God for the Inter-Varsity Fellowship, now UCCF.