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Current Committee
Our committee is made up of 9
individuals who each co-ordinate a specific aspect of CU. Our
committee consists of President, Vice-President, Treasurer,
Administration, Evangelism, International, Praise, Prayer and Jordanhill Officer. For
more information about each of these roles, please scroll down.
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President - Matthew Copus
Information on this role will be
available soon.
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Vice-President - Amy Davies
The Vice President does a
lot behind the scenes. They head up small groups, meeting and
supporting the leaders and linking back to committee and they allocate everyone in the CU who wants to be part
of a small group to one that suits them best. They meet up with the small group leaders
so they can share how their small group has been going and then we
have a time to pray about that. Linked in with the responsibility of
small groups is Tuesday mornings. The small groups take charge of
Tuesday mornings, but the VP co-ordinates this and guides the
direction.
Another part of the role
is supporting the President. We meet up regularly to tie up any
loose ends and chat about how the CU is going. The VP helps to make
decisions and supports the President practically in his role as well
as supporting him in prayer.
A massive challenge that occurs when you are in a role like VP is
the fact that you are to be a good example. It's really tough
but thankfully God is strong when we are weak so He's been helping
me grow and has given me the fantastic support of a great committee.
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Treasurer - Judith Murray
Information on this role will be
available soon.
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Administration - Emma McKeown
As
the Administration Secretary, my duties involve the
following:
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Taking minutes at
committee meetings and typing them up.
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Compiling & sending
the announcements e-mail and acetate.
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Up keep of the members
database and CU e-mail list.
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Sorting post that the
CU receives.
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Contacting
up-and-coming speakers to teach at CU.
I
am also responsible for publicity:
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Making up posters and
flyers for events such as a pub quiz or ceilidh.
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Organising
distribution of these materials around campus.
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Thinking of new ways
to publicise the CU and our events.
These
things are important for the CU to be effective in doing God’s work.
Currently, there is not a specific team for helping me out with
these duties, but assistance, especially on the publicity side of
things, would be extremely welcome. Ultimately, the aim of CU
administration is to ensure smooth running and communication within
the CU, as well as promoting CU events to the student body and
specific sections within that depending on the event.
“Now you are the body
of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”
1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)
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Evangelism - Tim Kwant
Our belief in Jesus and
the salvation his death on the cross brings is something we would
all love our friends and family to experience. For this reason, the
evangelism team seeks to provide support and prayer for individuals
who are witnessing to the people they love.
International Cafe
- This offers
international students the opportunity to have a meal together and
make new friends. A Bible study and a ‘Christianity Explored’ course
is available, as well as other activities such as video nights,
learning to speak Gaelic and an Irish night for St. Patrick’s Day.
The Toastie Bar
- This gives CU members a
chance to speak to other students about Jesus and to give them a
copy of the ‘Life Gospel’ which is the book of John from the Bible.
Free toasties are given out to anyone who wants them!
Alpha -It
is a 7 week introductory course to the Christian faith. More
information in the Alpha section
Thursday nights
- This is our main meeting
but it's also a time when we can hold events, through which we can
deliver the gospel and build relationships with people.
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International - Stevie Crawford
I
believe the main role of the international team leader is to provide
opportunities for the CU members to build up friendships with
international students with the goal of providing an opportunity for
international students to seek God for the first time, to increase in
knowledge of God and to draw close to him in a personal relationship.
The CU provides this opportunity by hosting an International café, which the international team leader co-ordinates.
“The international café provides an innovative way
to reach the world as it arrives on our doorstep.
Many international students are never befriended
by British students. The international café setting
extends a welcoming embrace, bridging the
culture gap, driven by a commitment to bring
God’s gospel to all peoples.” UCCF Annual review (2007)
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Praise - Karen Hutchinson
Shout for joy to
the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs"
(Psalm 100:1-2)
Worship is more than singing songs -
it's a lifestyle, it's a choice. We have to make that daily decision
to worship God. He is holy, and unchanging, and worthy to be
praised, and we're called to give Him the glory that He's due.
Different people express their adoration in many in different ways,
but all are equally as acceptable to the Lord when they overflow
from a pure heart.
At Strathclyde, I co-ordinate the musical side of worship. We have
music most weeks in our Thursday evening meetings and it's an
integral part of our Tuesday morning 'Praise and prayer' meetings.
We try to incorporate a mixture of contemporary and more traditional
songs, as well as varying the instrumentation. We're always looking
for more people to play, so if you'd like to be involved in any way,
please contact me. We would love to have you on board.
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Prayer - Robin MacDonald
We
believe that prayer should be the foundation of the Christian Union
so everyone should be doing it! It’s talking with God, sharing your
ideas, troubles, thoughts and happiness with God and nothing in the
CU should be carried out without it otherwise WE are trying to run a
show that really belongs to God.
We
need to ensure our actions are in line with God’s. God wants the
best for us. He has plans for us that are greater than our wildest
dreams and through prayer & listening to God we can let Him work.
We
hope to get the CU enthused about prayer this year. We hope to
listen to God and put our best effort into consulting Him on
everything we do in CU this year and in our own daily routine.
Tuesday morning
praise and prayer (Tuesday 8am, Chaplaincy)
Nights of prayer throughout the term (look out for more information)
ACTs Prayer (Thursday 12:30pm, Chaplaincy )
All of
these are open to everyone!
We want everyone to join us in prayer because God asks us to do it!
Let’s
see what God can do with a whole CU who are constantly on their
knees!
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Jordanhill Officer - Kirsten Braden
Information on this role will be
available soon.
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2007/08 Committee Reports
Kirsty Plummer – President
I can hardly
believe that my year as President is nearly over and with it my second
year on committee. At the end of the year it is important to look back
over the past year and see what God has been doing in our lives,
through us and throughout the campus as a whole. IN reflecting over the
past year we can really rejoice in God’s provision and I hope you
get a sense of that through this years committee reports.
This year has at
time been a struggle, an eye opening experience and one in which God
has continually upheld me and the whole committee and kept revealing to
us all his majesty. I have had to face on several occasions had to deal
with cases of mistaken identity including being told that
‘I’m a Prawn!’ and that being president evidently
made me ‘super holy’. Neither of these are true and often
over the past year I have asked God if I really was holy enough or good
enough to carry out the role of President but he has shown me
throughout this year that by his grace he will enable us to face
whatever he gives us. It has also been a time where God has challenged
me to look at my own heart and motives, one of the most important
verses for me this year has been that God tells us “Be holy,
because I am holy.” Leviticus 11:44.
This year has
been challenging but I am glad to have been a part of everything that
the CU has been involved in; from the Grill a Christian event to the
BBQ, Missions week to the weekend away. As you may have noticed the
past year we have slightly changed the focus of the programme with a
number of apologetic talks and what would Jesus do? evenings covering a
variety of topics. I pray that these evenings have enabled us to be
better equipped to spread the gospel on campus.
It has also been
exciting being involved in initial discussions with the Union regarding
affiliation and part of the amalgamation of Strathclyde and Jordanhill
CUs.
As a committee
we have been really blessed working together and with the support of
UCCF trainings throughout the year. I pray that the CU will really
continue to grow and that the whole CU will have a heart for
evangelism.
“Do not be
anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving, present your requests to God” Phillipians 4:6
Jillian Annan – Vice-President
It
feels like no time since last year’s AGM, where shortly after
being accepted as Vice President on the new committee I ran away... to
a Switchfoot concert. Our first week on committee was teaching
week, and Kirsty our esteemed president was unable to attend the first
evening. I quickly realised one aspect of what it means to
‘support the president’, when all eyes in the room fell on
me as the one in charge. Supporting the president this year has
been a lot of fun, with many a trip to a coffee shop, pub or restaurant
to discuss how the CU is doing. We have also been to PVP meetings
to discuss inter-Glasgow events with the leaders of other CUs.
Yes, there has been a lot of eating, drinking and merriment, but
included in it has been committee meetings and jointly making tough
decisions, often on the spot.
Part of my
responsibility was to organise and look after small groups. Our
small groups took on a slightly different format this year, now having
two leaders per group, and a slightly smaller group size. During
the first semester we studied the somewhat challenging book of Hebrews
with helpful notes from Dan, our staffworker. This semester
we’re moving onto the possibly even more challenging book of
Romans, this time with Sam and Neil from the CU writing the
study. I know from personal experience that many of the strong
friendships I have are with people who I’ve been in a small group
with. The CU small groups are a great place to not only grow in
our knowledge of God through Bible study, but to support and encourage
one another through prayer and fellowship.
Part of being on
committee, and maybe especially in the PVP roles, is that you are an
example to others in the CU. To begin with I thought that this
meant always being happy, smiley and on the go, even when you feel
absolutely rotten. However, one of the things I’ve really
been challenged about, over the past year is to live a real life, being
real with people. Being a Christian isn’t about being
‘fine’, and it certainly isn’t about having an easy
time, all the time. Next time a friend asks you how you are,
answer them honestly and tell them exactly how you’re
doing. Only by being honest and ‘real’ with one
another can we truly know how to help and encourage one another.
“And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love
mercy and to walk humbly with your God” Micah 6:8
David Ferguson – Treasurer
So do not
worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What
shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your
heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom
and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry
about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:31-34
God Provides.
That’s the biggest lesson I’ll be taking from this year on
committee. There has been countless times over the year where things
seem to be going pear shaped only for the whole situation to be turned
on its head, doors opened and God’s work through the CU blessed
in abundance. Whilst treasurer is regularly an administration and
planning role it constantly reminds you how much more important it is
for each of us as young followers of Christ and for the Churches we
attend to “seek first his kingdom” and place everything
else further down the agenda.
So, how to sum
up, thank people and leave a challenge for Strathclyde CU. This year
has seen a vast amount of evangelism work undertaken and this has only
been possible by your donation of time and of finances. The new weekly
donation has been a real help to things and will enable the CU in the
coming while to try out even more avenues for evangelism and mission so
thanks to everyone for that. Also, a huge thank you to everyone who
helped organise, pray for and come along to the weekend away, it was
awesome. Oh, and if anyone has my NFL ball from that, I’d really
like it back please, thanks. A massive thank you and almighty pat on
the back to everyone on the committee this year, your passion, wisdom,
support and patience have really blessed this Christian Union and kept
me sane.
Dave’s Three Tips/Thoughts for the future…
1.
Standing Orders. You can setup a monthly/weekly/daily/bi-centennially
repeating payment to the Strath account which would be a great way to
provide for the CU and I thoroughly encourage it to all you leaving and
earning some dosh. See me for details.
2.
Remember the Elderly. As a CU, always be thinking how to engage,
challenge and most of all, use your older members. We get stiff and
crabbit at times but can have a bit of wisdom stored in the decaying
grey matter to share with the world.
3.
Remain in the vine. Whatever you come across in Uni, CU or Church that
confuses challenges or upsets you stay close to Christ and you
won’t go wrong.
3.a Never fall in love during a total eclipse.
Jennifer Sturgeon – Evangelism & Mission Team Leader
It has been
such a privilege to have been the Evangelism /Mission exec member this
year and such an experience. The greatest lesson I have learnt this
year is just to share your life with people and do not box your life
into a Christian box and a box with everything else. Many of our non
Christian friends never get the chance to see that side of our lives
because we just presume that they don’t want to hear or
won’t understand but if we are not opening up to our non
Christian friends about things that are so important to us like our
faith and walk with God then we are already setting them apart from us.
Let them see how you genuinely are working at deepening your faith, be
honest and open about your understanding (or lack of understanding in
my case) about God and just being a genuine person who loves them. This
has been a massive journey from my initial views of
“evangelism” being much more limited to events run and
assigning special time where I think “right tonight I’ll do
some evangelism”. God works in incredible ways and by simply
serving him and serving others in this world humbly and with love and
then Gods love will shine through to them. The rest is up to God. It is
not our job to convert people, that is only done through the power and
will of God, so we don’t need to worry about it. I know
I’m rambling but I must impart my all time favourite quote from
Karl Martin on our first UCCF weekend away , he said “ a tree
does not produce fruit because it tries too..... but it produces fruit
because it’s a tree”. Love it! We just need to be people
who love and serve God and the fruit will grow from that. Highlights
from this year on Committee have to include our planning break away
where I managed to be serious and grown up for an entire 3-4 days (well
most of it), the great support and encouragement from fellow committee
people, the calling, organising and experience of a C.U group going on
mission to Argentina, the slamming Scottish night, countless exciting
nights at toasty bar and the many awesome apologetics talks last term.
I want to mention more... like the 24/5 prayer room, the WEEKEND AWAY
and the way God spoke so clearly to me that weekend and I must mention
the handing out of food outside the library but I need to stop now.
Glad I will be around for another year for all that lies ahead!
Alastair Bennett – Praise Team Leader
So, my second year of being on the committee and being in charge of praise has flown by, but what a time it’s been.
At the start of
last year, I wondered to myself if a second year on committee could
live up to how great the first year was, and whether or not I would
have the drive to keep going for a second year. Now I can look
back and say that the answer to both those questions is most definitely
‘yes’.
It’s been
such an encouragement to hear people praising God at the top of their
voices, especially at the weekend away with the meeting room packed to
the rafters and worshipping with all of their hearts.
Now as I come
off the committee and leave things in fresh hands, I pray that the
whole CU will continue to praise and worship God with all aspects of
their lives, and that Karen will take as much away from the role as I
have over the past two years.
Greig Ferguson – Prayer Team Leader
My
time as prayer secretary has been very much a time of ups and
downs. This has been both in terms of my own spiritual life and
in terms of the prayer life of the CU. When I first came on
committee I set out to try to understand prayer on a deeper level, the
only conclusion I came to was that, as a CU we needed to pray if we
were to be effective witnesses for Christ. In this I am unsure as
to what progress we have made, are we more prayerful? On the one
hand the weekly prayer meeting is still very low in numbers but on the
other hand the 24/5 prayer, in the week preceding mission week, was
embraced and the attendance and belief in its importance was real and
great. As I step down from my role I hope and pray that we, as
the CU body, as a family and as a whole will grow in our prayerfulness
and demonstrate and realise our need of God. I leave you with the
verse which has meant the most to me this year.
2 Chronicles
7:14 - 'If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and
pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear
from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.'
Amy Davies – International Team Leader
I knew very
little about the CU or UCCF let alone what I was meant to be doing as
International Team leader; but being a part of a team and having the
support of the CU and the training from UCCF, I have been able to fit
into the role. As International team leader I have been able to meet
and get to know many students from all over the world and it is a great
opportunity for the rest of the CU to do the same. One thing that I was
especially challenged about was realising many international students
come from countries that are closed to the gospel and many will go back
to their countries into influential jobs; imagine the impact of sharing
the love of Jesus with these students! Being a part of the CU committee
is time consuming and is certainly a challenge, but in the past year I
have grown closer in relationship with God. I could not have completed
the year on the committee with relying on him to fill me with an inner
joy especially when things on the surface were difficult. Something
that I have learnt very recently is that the strength that God gives us
is not some super-natural physical strength but is an inner strength
that is directly related to the joy we have in knowing that we are
accepted by God as we are. A great lesson for anyone who is part if the
committee is the realisation that you can’t do it alone! It has
been great to be a part of the committee team but more importantly a
part of the wider CU team.
Matthew Copus – Administration Team Leader
As
Administration Secretary my job involved taking minutes at committee
meetings, writing the weekly emails, keeping the mailing list and
membership up to date and also publicity for the CU and events. I
have thoroughly enjoyed my time on committee. It has been hard
work at times, but I have really appreciated the Challenges it involved
and the excellent teaching which we received at leadership days.
I look forward to the fresh challenges of the coming year involved in
taking up the role of President.
Jordanhill CU: Karen Scott, Kirsten Braden, Suzi Sheriffs, Rachel Cupples
The four of us have had a really great year in leading Jordanhill
CU. As a result of the various teaching we have received from
UCCF and each other, we have all grown closer to God. We have
also been challenged throughout the year to be speaking to our friends
and to be sharing our faith with everyone. Something that impacted us
all was hearing that there were only two reasons why we wouldn't be
sharing our faith, firstly because we didn't love our friends or
secondly because we didn't fully believe it ourselves. (Forum
2007) We have been constantly reminded to rely fully on God and
not on our own capabilities. We have had lots of fun together, camping
at Forum and in Karen’s living room!
There were important decisions to make and one of these was whether we
were reaching out to our campus as effectively as we could. This
decision took a long time and after many different inputs and
discussions we decided that it was best to join Strathclyde CU.
This decision will affect each person differently, but we feel we have
sought God's plan and pray that each Jordanhiller will feel welcome and
part of Strathclyde CU over the weeks and months to come.
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