Postgraduate
ministry
In the last few decades, the number of postgraduate students
in the UK has grown dramatically, from a few thousand in the
early 1960's to almost 400,000 today. About 30% are international.
This growth, which is only expected to accelerate, brings
many exciting opportunities to develop a more focused witness
to the postgraduate community.
Postgraduates are the academics of the future. Influencing
them now will, in the long term, strategically affect universities
worldwide. Moreover postgraduates in particular need to integrate
their fields of learning with their faith. In addition, many
Christian international graduates find it difficult to integrate
into local British churches within the short period they are
here, and therefore find their faith weakening and their witness
becoming much less effective.
Aim
With the encouragement of UCCF, Friends International has
begun a pilot project to develop ministry to postgraduate
students in the UK by:
• Working in partnership with churches, existing Christian
postgraduate groups, UCCF and subject groups (e.g. Christians
in Science)
• Pioneering new models of outreach to postgraduate
students
• Helping organise activities/conferences on a national
scale for postgraduate students and those interested in ministering
to them
• Developing and providing resources and material for
postgraduates and those working with them
Who?
Nigerian-born Remi Tobler studied as an international student
in Cambridge. She has spent the last 13 years working for
Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) in Canada among
students, five of them specifically with post-graduate students.
She has recently moved to Cambridge with her husband who is
involved in postdoctoral research at the University. This
project is supported by several patrons:
-
Dr Michael Schluter
-
Peter Lewis
-
Dr Vinoth Ramachandra
-
Peter May
-
Richard Cunningham
-
Lindsay Brown
-
Michael Ramsden
The future...
We seek to develop this ministry nationally by:
• Developing relationships with existing postgraduate
student groups in Cambridge, Norwich, Nottingham and Oxford
in order to encourage and expand the various ministries in
those areas
• Seeking to extend relationships to new ministry centres
• Identifying some key academics and churches in these
university cities - looking for opportunities to raise the
profile of postgraduate student ministry in them and developing
an understanding of this ministry among churches and individuals
• Working with Friends international staff to identify
their priority needs in terms of training and resources relevant
to this ministry
• Becoming familiar with pre-existing resources appropriate
for postgraduate student ministry and making these available
to all involved
• Aiming, where appropriate, to create new materials
and resources relevant to developing this ministry
For more information, please contact Remi
Tobler.
For further information about national postgraduate ministry,
please visit the postgraduate
network website. |
