I would like to share a testimony about my journey with God in the past four years, especially about how God fulfils the five year vision that he showed me in 2009. Back then I was a new believer and I hardly know anyone outside CCM. However, God has put such a burden on my heart for unity between Christians on campus. I cried out to God regularly for this to happen on Monash Clayton campus. The breakthrough came this year when five Christian clubs on Clayton campus signed the statement of faith and created the unity flyer. It was a significant milestone in the history of campus ministry of Monash. It sends a clear message to believers and non-believers alike – that we are united and not a divided army of God. The statement of faith signatories precedes Jesus Week 2012, in which the five Christian clubs participate in a four-day outreach event before Easter (2-5 April, 2012). We also make use of this opportunity to establish Monash University Clayton Christian Network (MUCCN).
There are a couple of praise points for Jesus Week:
- Statement of faith – demonstrate the Christian clubs agree on the same doctrine and we are working towards the same goals for Christ – to reach out to the campus and make disciples.
- There are unity flyers that accompany the statement of faith. It has the clubs’ logo and short description of what each club is, along with Jesus Week logo and Monash House of Prayer, a prayer network for all Christians across all Monash campus in Australia and overseas.
- United prayer: the club representatives pray for Jesus Week before the event, during the event, and give thanks to God and share testimonies after the event.
- Unity between local and international Christians groups, demonstrated through prayer, people visiting each other store and an event list from different groups were compiled.
- Monash University Clayton Christian Network (MUCCN) is established with its Facebook page. The purpose is to facilitate discussion for future united prayer and events.
- God’s provision for finance (manage to raise $200 from CCM; other clubs also raise enough funds for the hot cross buns). Bakers Delight Pinewood provided generous discount for the hot cross buns (40% off).
- Give out hot cross buns to bless the campus – hot cross buns from bakers delight 1600 across four days, CCM gave another couple hundreds buns from Coles and Woolworths.
- There is at least one salvation – Amy (student life) and many seeds of the gospel are sown.
- Hundreds of gospel tracts are given out: with each hot cross bun, we gave out a gospel tract. Also, we were able to have spiritual conversation about Easter and the gospel with a couple of people.
- CCM has live worship that share the love of Christ to campus. Great to work with worship ministry development! We realise that worship allow people to participate in outreach.
- We share the good news with many people. Doing evangelism can be simple and fun, and there are many ways to do it.
Jesus Week is the result of consistent, persistent prayer. This breakthrough came partly because of the prayers that my friend Jonno and many other watchmen on campus before us. Here I would like to acknowledge the sacrifice of their prayers to God. Last year we had a weekly campus-focused prayer meeting. This year this proliferates to daily prayer meeting groups springing up in different faculties. Miracles and breakthrough came because of prayer!
SWOT VAC outreach (30 May 2012) is the second combined event under the banner of MUCCN. This time the Navigators also participate in this exam time outreach. With Navigators on board, every Christian club on Clayton campus is present. There was a great sense of unity and partnership across believers from different cultural background and denominations. No matter you are local or international students, we are all one body of Christ striving to fulfil the Great Commission on this campus harvest field.
During Oceania Convention this year, I shared what happened at Monash when I met about 30 CCM representatives from various states. Originally I only anticipated a dozen of people from Victoria and Brisbane. However, James from UQ managed to invite other people from Perth, Tasmania and Adelaide as well. Back in 2008, God showed me a 10 year vision in which every CCM across the Oceania region will unite together before. Recently, God revealed to me that it will start as a prayer support network and empower people to reach their campuses for God. This meeting is a major milestone towards this direction. A CCM national network is not something new but it once existed some 7-8 years ago. Overall, the meeting was a fruitful time of sharing testimonies and praying for one another.
There are many students hungry for God and waiting for people to tell them about Jesus. With all these breakthroughs this year, I believe a new wave of revival is going to start at Monash and other universities in Melbourne. I sense that God has a purpose for me to unite not only the Christians on Clayton campus, but also those on other campuses in Victoria.
As I face such a great task ahead, I really need God’s strength and wisdom so He can guide my steps in the future. One thing is certain – we will do greater things in the future (John 14:12). Instead of just praying for revival, let’s go out and do what God commanded us to do – share the Good News and make disciples, love our neighbours as ourselves. We are the answer to our own prayer. Please pray for more labourers to rise up on our campuses (Luke 10:2b). We can all be part of this revival.
Charlie Lam
