Are you a Christian studying at Griffith? Or are you a Griffith student who is curious about Christianity? Griffith Christian Student (GCS) is the group you should join if you’re interested in meeting fellow Christians at university.
When I first came to Australia as an international student, I had no idea which church to go to to support my Christian life. Sometimes I tried to hide my Christian identity in front of my friends because I was afraid to answer difficult questions about my religion. Coincidentally, one of my group project teammates was a member of GCS and I was able to ask him about the Christian student group. I believe it is one of the best choices I made in my uni life.
GCS main meeting
I usually attend the GCS main meeting on Tuesday or Wednesday from 5–6pm. Everyone in the main meeting receives a one-page paper with quotes from a chapter in the Bible. The staff of GCS share their views about the Bible and provide advice to us for living with our God. I believe joining GCS enriched my knowledge of Christianity because we discuss issues that we face in our daily lives and how to find the right methods to solve those problems from the Bible. Joining GCS lead me to have the confidence to be a Christian who is open to discussions with friends with different religions. And we still have good relationships and love each other.
GCS main meeting in Trimester 2, 2017
- Topic: How would you fix the world?
- Tuesday 5pm G27_1.12 and Wednesday 5pm G11_4.28
After the main meeting, attendees usually have short gatherings outside the lecture room where you can meet people from different age groups and study areas. Everyone is so nice. We care and share our problems about uni life and help each other to solve it. This student group is just like a big family and it helped me find my belonging and identity. They usually have volleyball playing times before the main meetings or organise leisure activities out of uni either on weekdays or the weekend. These activities help us build our strong friendships.
ABC group
GCS also organises the ‘ABC group’ for Christian students at Griffith who want to do bible studies outside of the main meetings. Everyone is divided into groups of three. We then read an ‘Uncover’ booklet with quotes from Luke in the Bible. After reading a few verses from Luke we have to follow and answer specific questions and give short reflections for ourselves about the studies. I usually meet my group members in the library or a cafe on campus, pray and study God’s words together. It enhances the opportunity for new Christian students like me to meet more new people at the university.
Mid-year camp
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- Camp work booklets
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- Talks about Christian life and the Bible
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- Sing songs after dinner
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- Study the Bible
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- Dinner time in the camp
Mid-year camp is the annual event by GCS. This year, we had four days camping with Griffith students and Christian students from the University of South Queensland in Toowoomba. In these four days, students were away from crowds and focused on studying God’s words with other Christian students from Griffith and USQ. We formed small groups for studying the Bible under the guidelines, listened to the talks by AFES staff and had morning Bible reading and self-reflections. We also did typical camping activities, such as playing ice-breaking games, card games, board games, collective games etc. Before I attended this camp, I carried lots of worries and questions, such as ‘Am I able to be God’s people?’, ‘What is worship?’, ‘What should I do as a Christian?’, ‘How to live with God?’, ‘Should I listen to all the things from the Church or have my own critical thinking on studying the Bible?’. At the camp, I found out I was not the only one who had these questions. We gave advice and prayed for each other. On the last day of camp, no one wanted to leave because we had built strong friendships already.
All in all, being a member of the GCS has benefited my uni life in Australia. Now I am brave enough to find a church that I will feel comfortable going to and I will go there more frequently on weekends. I encourage any students like me, who want to be a Christian or already are Christian, please come to GCS to start your own Christian life at uni to learn more and meet more like minded people.
GCS details (Gold Coast):
Gospel Students details for Brisbane campuses (Nathan, Mt Gravatt, South Bank and Logan)
– Chin
