Ship of Fools: UCCF, Christian Unions and experiences thereof

Thread: UCCF, Christian Unions and experiences thereof Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :

There is already a thread in Dead Horses discussing Bristol CU's controversial decision on women speakers so please avoid said deceased equine here.

What are others' experiences of Christian Unions at university? I attend the meetings of the one at my university (Northampton) but am not a paid member as I cannot in good faith sign their declaration of belief. Considering ditching the meetings and just showing up at the pub when some of them go there afterwards...

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

I went to Leeds CU in the 1970s.

Their main meeting was called 'Satfel' - fellowship held on Saturday evenings - probably to keep us our of pubs and clubs but if finished early enough for us to do that.

The meetings were preceded by a prayer meeting in a run down evangelical anglican church hall. I remember a huge light bulb falling out of is socket and crashing down on to the floor and someone praying, 'Lord we just thank you that nobody was hurt... that you guided that bulb to fell....'

Shame God didn't guide suicide bombers to avoid people.

Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :

Baby steps, leo, baby steps.

CUs tended to be like the people who comprised them - fervent, over-serious, a bit insecure and unreflective - young, in fact.

Posted by Baptist Trainfan (# 15128) on :

quote:
Originally posted by leo:
The meetings were preceded by a prayer meeting in a run down evangelical anglican church hall.

I like the concept of run-down Evangelicals. Do they still exist?

Posted by Ethne Alba (# 5804) on :

i tried to go to a college CU, it was so miserable though that i found other things to do instead.

A shame as many of the same peple (once out of the meeting setting) were perfectly lovely people.

Posted by Dinghy Sailor (# 8507) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jade Constable:
I attend the meetings of the one at my university (Northampton) but am not a paid member as I cannot in good faith sign their declaration of belief.

I would be very surprised if this is the case. I believe there a few places where ordinary CU members have to sign the UCCF doctrinal basis, however the usual setup is that only leaders (and invited speakers) have to sign the DB, while the ordinary (voting) members only sign a much more basic statement: ours goes something like "I accept Jesus Christ as my redeemer, saviour, mediator and Lord, and give my active support to the aims of the CU." I can't remember those aims, but they're pretty innocuous: something about evangelising campus and discipling Christians or whatnot.

I've lost count of the number of non-members who've told me how they don't go to CU because it requires members to sign the DB, when the CU makes its position very explicit. I must admit, I always end up thinking less of these people who have judged other Christians without bothering to do their research - so I'm not saying you're wrong JC, but you owe it both to yourself and to the CU to find out what the actual situation is, by asking someone who knows, such as a committee member.

Anyway, I've been hanging round this campus for nearly a decade now; my impression of the CU is that they're cyclical. They've always had an evangelical focus but their favoured churches have changed and changed back again, their attitudes to charismata have wavered a few times and the borderline-fundie committees have come and gone. Get involved, they will be richer for your presence.

Posted by FooloftheShip (# 15579) on :

My experiences of UCCF belong somewhere hotter. Well, not so much my experiences but the effect of their """""good offices"""""" on my experience of christian unions.

Posted by Hazey*Jane (# 8754) on :

I joined as a Roman Catholic with an interest in Ecumenism, naively thinking that 'Christian Union' meant a group of Christians from different backgrounds who wanted to come together and focus on what they had in common. I'd never heard of UCCF and it took me quite a long time to twig how narrow the outlook actually was. It was the only environment in which I'd heard it espoused that Catholics aren't really Christian (and thus still in need of saving). I also got grief when I started going out with an Agnostic.

I do have still some good friends from that group, but I've been disinclined to bother investigating a CU in any of my subsequent stints of studentdom.

[ 11. December 2012, 20:09: Message edited by: Hazey*Jane ]

Posted by Lothlorien (# 4927) on :

slight tangent:

In my first stint as a student many years ago, I joined the Evangelical Union at Sydney Uni. Sounds very similar to CU. We regarded the Student Christian Movement as way too liberal for us.

I eventually became an office bearer.

Now, many years and a few churches later I started attending St Docs in Sydney, not your average SydAng church. There was a fellow there with a familiar name so I asked him about uni days. Yes, he and I had been faculty leaders of EU together.

We have both gone considerably up the candle since uni days. Change is possible. We laughed.

/slight tangent

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Dinghy Sailor:
I believe there a few places where ordinary CU members have to sign the UCCF doctrinal basis, however the usual setup is that only leaders (and invited speakers) have to sign the DB, while the ordinary (voting) members only sign a much more basic statement: ours goes something like "I accept Jesus Christ as my redeemer, saviour, mediator and Lord, and give my active support to the aims of the CU." I can't remember those aims, but they're pretty innocuous: something about evangelising campus and discipling Christians or whatnot.

That was more or less the same where I was.

quote:
Anyway, I've been hanging round this campus for nearly a decade now; my impression of the CU is that they're cyclical. They've always had an evangelical focus but their favoured churches have changed and changed back again, their attitudes to charismata have wavered a few times and the borderline-fundie committees have come and gone.

I was at uni for 7 years, on the exec for a year and hall group leader for 4 years ... and, yes very cyclical.

Oh, and our CU didn't hide where it came from. It was called the "X University Evangelical Christian Union", the aims and short member declaration were on the back of the cards we gave out at the start of every term listing main meeting texts and speakers, a copy of the constitution and UCCF DB was always on the end of the bookstall at each meeting, we had a representative (observer status only) on the joint chaplaincies committee, the CU stall at Freshers Fair was almost always next to the chaplaincies stall (depending on the vagaries of the SU who had the ultimate say in stall placement - and often seemed to delight in inconveniencing the Christian groups) and we often directed people who'd clearly be happier in the chaplaincy groups in that direction (again, depending a bit on the particular make up of the CU at the time). I've no idea how things are now, over 15 years later. I know that the CUs of the two uni's (one of which was a poly when I started) have merged, but otherwise I'm well out of touch.

Posted by GordonThePenguin (# 2106) on :

I was a member of BUCU in the early 90s. IIRC, we signed up to the full UCCF doctrinal basis. Took it all very seriously in my first year, became more involved with my church in my second, and had nothing at all to do with it in my final year. Since then I have never encountered another organisation where it was so important that your face fitted and that you were constantly "on-message".

Certainly wouldn't touch it with a barge pole now!!

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

I had a brief flirtation with my university back when I was 18 but they were not a welcoming group and they had their own mysterious jargon which I found rather alienating.

Posted by Stejjie (# 13941) on :

I was part of Hull University CU 1997-2001 (although I spent one year of that in Madrid as part of my studies). It was a vaguely evangelical/charismatic mixture, but, contrary to some of the experiences here, very open and welcoming regardless of background. I was one of the few Baptists there and, although I was labelled (jokingly) "token Baptist", I didn't feel like an interloper.

In my first two years, when I was treasurer (one of God's little jokes, that one), we were distancing ourselves from UCCF as the leadership team before us were heavily into cell groups as the main focus of the CU, which UCCF didn't seem so keen on. When I arrived back from foreign parts, UCCF seemed much more involved again, providing a lot of the teaching material and having support workers who came along to the main meetings most weeks. It didn't seem to have changed the atmosphere a great deal, though.

Posted by Alan Cresswell (# 31) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Stejjie:
In my first two years, when I was treasurer (one of God's little jokes, that one), we were distancing ourselves from UCCF as the leadership team before us were heavily into cell groups as the main focus of the CU, which UCCF didn't seem so keen on.

The UCCF model, at least when I was in CU, was to provide Hall Groups who helped first years settle in and public main meetings that were for the whole CU - these were partly teaching/worship, but also part of the witness of the CU to the university. I can see how UCCF would have a problem with the focus shifting onto cell groups if that downplayed the witness provided by the main meeting.

I remember a discussion with our Trav Secs once about extending Hall groups to those who had moved out. They saw no harm in people from outwith the Halls associating themselves with a Hall group, but they're preference was that by the time people had finished their first year they would be part of a local church, and it would be local church housegroups that would be the main source of small group study and fellowship for those who moved out of halls. At the time it felt like they were trying to deny 2nd and 3rd year students the benefits of Hall Groups - but a couple of years later I realised they had a good point. CUs should be feeding students into local churches, so that when they leave uni the transition to the often very different environment of a local church is not too rough.

Posted by aig (# 429) on :

I was loosely associated with the CU in the late 70's: the Hall group was brilliant for a homesick Anglo-Catholic Christian - strange, but true. I went to one Main Meeting and was horrified,to the extent that 30 years later I could tell you what the speaker said, and never went back. But I stayed with the small groups in Hall for two years and then shared a flat with some CU people for three more. At the same time I attended a church with a daily Eucharist and High Mass on Sundays, and also was an active member of the Anglican Society.
I suspect many of the CU were working on my salvation all the way through Uni, but somehow my own conviction about the rightness of my expression of faith prevented me minding.

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

My college CU tended towards silly and juvenile rather than fervent and earnest. I stopped going part-way through my course because I preferred attending the CofE church and getting involved in their activities aimed at all ages, not just students.

Posted by Boopy (# 4738) on :

I was at Bristol in the early 80s in the days when BUCU was still called BIFCU (inter-faculty..). I think I went to a total of 5 meetings before deciding it wasn't for me. Members seemed to combine extreme conservatism with extreme anxiety...not a good mixture. They were also very keen to feed students into local favoured churches and steer them away from less favoured ones. I thought the whole set up was controlling and insecure.

Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Boopy:
. Members seemed to combine extreme conservatism with extreme anxiety...not a good mixture.

Indeed, although the two seem to go together, in all walks of life.

Posted by Noodlehead (# 9600) on :

It's nice to know that other people's experiences of BUCU are the same. I left three years ago and it sounds like life there continues much as it always has.

Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :

At Lancaster in the early 80s, there was the CU and the CA (Christian Association).
The CU were evangelical, liked singing choruses, and generally started prayers with "Lord-we-just-wanna...". Some of them had doubts that the Anglican chaplain was "really Christian".
The CA had interesting speakers, and a much wider range of opinions, and I much preferred going to their meetings.

Posted by Jonathan Strange (# 11001) on :

At Birmingham Uni, the CU was called BUECU and it ran satellite CUs in the halls of residence. I came to uni with lots of questions and was promptly kicked out of the hall CU by the leaders. Apparently the CU was for 'building up Christians' and not for doubters struggling with basic questions about the problems of suffering and evil.
I then went to the Anglican chaplaincy whereupon a tag-team of Anglicans, Catholics and Methodists welcomed me and took me to the pub to talk stuff through.

Posted by Jonathan Strange (# 11001) on :

I meant to add - the BUECU leadership had declared that Catholics were personae non gratae, and refused to work with them and anyone associated with them. This forced the Anglican Society and Methodist Society to choose between working with BUECU or Cathsoc. They chose the latter. I think the division still exists.

Posted by Zappa (# 8433) on :

As a "radical" convert to Christianity in 1979 i was quickly embraced (in most ways) by the CU (or CF, actually) at my NZ university. Torn between Brethren Fundamentalists and Pentecostal fundamentalists it was nevertheless a warm and welcoming group of people, and I made some fine friends - and tried hard I guess to find a wife because that was the only way to have sex.

Late in that year I split up with my girlfriend (sexual tension, I supect - and oh I felt so virtuous [Disappointed]

... now I just regret opportunities lost!) and headed off to an evangelical Anglican Church that wasn't on the CU radar. Soon the Springboks arrived in NZ for an infamous tour, I joined the protests, and was seen immediately as a pariah by the CU membership.

Despite that, in this age of Facebook, I still have some contact with half a dozen or so of them, and their journeys, too have been diverse. Only one that I know of ever became Anglican.

I lost contact with the girlfriend [Waterworks]

and she with Christianity [Tear]

Posted by Augustine the Aleut (# 1472) on :

My CU experience was at Trinity College, Dublin, in the 1970s. It was a collection of Dublin and southern Ireland evans, mainly CoI but with a few Presbyterians, Northern Ireland mainstream evangelicsls, and a few very odd types. It was fairly balanced in its operations, as far as I could judge, and I would attribute that to the leadership of its head for a few years, Harold Miller, now the Bishop of Down and Dromore. An undergraduate, he was a good listener and careful in speaking, and I think was able to help some of the more intense members work things through. I was told that there was off-the-record debate about whether or not RCs should be allowed to join-- two members told me that RCs could not honestly sign the statement of belief, and so should not be allowed to try-- but cooler heads prevailed.

In any case, I found the SCM more agreeable to me at the time, and the chaplains' coffee room and the College Theological Society were both excellent places where those with differing viewpoints could meet and quietly learn from and about each other.

Posted by Arethosemyfeet (# 17047) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Eigon:
At Lancaster in the early 80s, there was the CU and the CA (Christian Association).
The CU were evangelical, liked singing choruses, and generally started prayers with "Lord-we-just-wanna...". Some of them had doubts that the Anglican chaplain was "really Christian".
The CA had interesting speakers, and a much wider range of opinions, and I much preferred going to their meetings.

I was at Lancaster around 20 years later, the CA was CF (Christian Fellowship) but otherwise things much the same - the eCU (the e, for evangelical, was hidden at every opportunity) regarded the Chaplaincy with suspicion, particularly with regard to One World Week. There was a bit of a hoo-haa when one of their adherents was elected as Education & Welfare Officer and questions were raised about their ability to support LGBT students and those dealing with unwanted pregnancy.

The eCU certainly did demand that all their members subscribe to their doctrinal basis, which caused me to give them a wide berth from the start.

Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :

Jade -

My experience (>20 years ago) was much like many here - anxious, conservative people eyeballing each other for signs of religious deviancy. Especially pointed when one is a first year, and has no influence.

They are (as has also been said) _really_ cyclical though, since if you stick with it, you'll be something of a guru by the time you're a final year, whether you like it or not. I guess that's just the way young people are, helped by the short duration of any one person's stay. Given how liberal I was and am, I found that pretty funny.

I went to a university, where the city is a byword for crime, post-industrial decay, and Northern grimness and despair. The locals hated students, and being out with a big gaggle of CU people (silly jumpers, loud behaviour, no sense of the vibe around them) went way beyond embarrasing to the actively dangerous. Just feeding that into your deliberations as to whether to stay or go [Big Grin]

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