My most recent prayer letter

Where has time gone?  Since my last edition of “On the run…” so much has happened.  It’s been crazy (in a good way).  I have been blessed to be able to see God working in the lives of students and in my own life as well.

Let’s start back in February when I was part of a team supporting Durham Christian Union.  Durham is a very “red brick” university and operates on a college level so this was always going to be very different to my own university mission week experience.  We had lunchtime apologetic style talks, which were led by Andrew Sachs, on various hot topics such as God and Science, Suffering and Hell, while Rico Tice led the evening talks titled RESCUED?  This was a really awesome week seeing God work miracles in people’s lives and unveiling the glory and splendour of Jesus Christ and seeing how bigger CUs run their mission weeks.  A number of people have been coming along to find out more in a follow up course so please continue to pray that eyes will be opened to the Truth of the gospel.

Towards the end of February the North East region held Forum NE for new CU leaders.  This was a really cool time meeting all the new leaders from as far north as Newcastle and as far south as Sheffield.  During the weekend we studied the sweet gospel message found in Leviticus.  There are some people who actually think Leviticus is boring! Isn’t that weird? Of course it can’t be true, because what would that say about God whose Word it is? So we were shown how awesome Leviticus really is by Mike Reeves which has impacted so many new leaders and many staff as well. I was helping to lead a seminar for new secretaries which went well.  Please pray that all the new CU leaders will find their feet in Christ and be able to serve the CU they are part of in His strength and using his wisdom. 

As March came so did the slightly better weather which a lovely blessing.  Northumbria had their Mission Week during the first full week of March, which had been forecasted for snow.  Thankfully the weatherman got it wrong and we were blessed with beautiful sunny days, albeit with some gale force winds added into the mix. A lot of the day-time events were held outside under a gazebo which proved to be fun with the winds but the CU managed to have loads of good conversations with students about “Who do you think Jesus is?” and “What do you think happens after you die?”. The week was titled “Trying to be religious is POINTless” which was trying to get people to think about where their priorities lie and what influences them climaxing with the main point being Jesus dying for them.  The evening events were really well attended and some people have been attending Christianity Explored, which is brilliant – Praise God!  Please pray that as people find out more and count the cost that they will see Jesus as their Saviour and Lord and follow him.

Just a fortnight ago I was helping out Sheffield Hallam CU, which is a smallish CU much like Northumbria.  We were using Sheffield Hallam’s 4 favourite movies (The Lion King, Inception, Toy Story 3 and Shawshank Redemption) to show how Christianity engages with film.  Each night we set up a themed 3-course meal where students watched clips from the movie, discussed some of the themes and heard a talk about how Christianity deals with some of the key themes in the movie.  This was a new concept as a method of engaging evangelism, and it seemed to work really well.  The CU members were really great at inviting their friends along, so much so that we had to put out extra tables many of the nights.  As with all the mission weeks there are students who really began to see Jesus for who he really is, please join me in praying for these students and that God will open their eyes fully.

Over the past two months Jo and I have been running a film discussion night in our flat for some of the students at Sunderland CU.  Basically our view was to love the students by welcoming them into our home and to help them engage with the big themes of the film.  Our God is a creative God and therefore we are creative which means God can speak into film, music and art.  So our aim is to show how Christianity engages with the films that we watch and ultimately help our non-Christian friends see a bit more of Christ.  This has been really good fun as it has helped Jo and I get to know the students better as well as allowing us to watch movies and call it work! J The guys from Sunderland are now running a film discussion night in their own homes which is brilliant so pray that they will continue with the vision: to seek to love their friends and show them Jesus more and more.  In light of that, we are now hoping to start a night for the guys and gals at Northumbria.  Please pray that this will work out and in the last few months of doing Relay we can serve the CU members in this way as well as showing them a really easy method of evangelism.

As you may or may not know Jo and I got an unexpected email from our landlord saying that due to the earthquake in New Zealand, where he was living for the year, he would need to move back into his property in April.  He had expected to be in New Zealand working for a year however the earthquake destroyed his home and business so he came back home to the UK.  This has left us in a bit of trouble as we are now looking for a place to live again.  Please pray that we will be able to find somewhere in the next few weeks so that we will be able to move and settle into another property before the end of the Easter holidays.

Thank you for all your continued prayer and support.  It really is much appreciated.

Chris and Jo Simons