We’re a group of Christian students from the University of Sunshine Coast. We travelled down to Canberra last week for National Training Event (NTE), a training conference organised by AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students).
AFES aims to proclaim Jesus Christ at university and assist students to mature in their faith in Jesus. We do this by building Christian student groups at university campuses. AFES encourages and trains students to share the gospel with their peers with the hope they will do this in the workplace or in ministry when they graduate.
NTE aims to transform, train and send students by providing biblical teaching and training in teaching the bible and sharing the gospel. NTE emphasises the desperate need for Christians to go into the world and share the good news of the gospel with those who don’t yet know Jesus. NTE partners with existing mission organisations to show students the local, national, and global scale of missions. And how students can be part of this now and in the future.
Our students went to bible talks and heard about the gospel being an eternal message that is always timely and timeless. They also participated in strand groups. Strands provide bible intensive training. The first-time students learnt about exegesis – how to interpret a bible passage and turn it into a bible talk. Other students in our group learnt about biblical theology – the whole bible is one big story so how does where a passage is in this big story affect how we interpret and teach it? They also attended electives about missions in the pacific, missions to unreached or unengaged people groups, and more.
2,200 Christian students attended NTE from all over Australia. It helped us see that God’s church really is all over Australia and overseas. The worship of 2,200 students altogether certainly gave a glimpse into what worship in heaven will be like. A great multitude too many to number, from every tribe, nation and tongue worshipping God.
The Sunshine Coast students have come to Wilton to serve and have opportunities to apply what they have been learning at NTE. Thank you for hosting and welcoming us!
God Bless,
Hannah (MTS Trainee with AFES Sunshine Coast)
