FAQs

See below for answers to some of the questions people often have about CICCU. If you have other questions that aren't addressed here, do contact us, we'd love to hear from you.

Why do we study the Bible together?
Is CU a church? How does CICCU relate to local churches?
What is UCCF? How is CICCU part of UCCF?
What is IFES?
What do we believe about how evangelism works?
What is the Doctrinal Basis and why do we have one?
How did CICCU come about?
What is a college group? How do college groups relate to central activities?
Why do we focus our aims on mission? What about having other aims?
What do we believe about the Bible?
What is the gospel?
Who does CICCU work with?
Why is CICCU led by students?
Why do we unite around the gospel?

Why do we study the Bible together?

As a Christian Union, we see ourselves as a mission team and that means we need time to prepare, train, encourage and pray together. Effective mission teams are built around the Bible because the Bible is God's Word. As a CU we believe the Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Bible and He transforms us as we get to know Jesus better.

So the main reason why we have Bible times in CICCU is because that's how we will grow as a team ready for mission. We need to be stuck into the Bible together, so that...

We will be united around the gospel

As we are team of Christians from a wide range of backgrounds we'll need to keep coming back to God's Word. Keeping unity is something that we need to work at. This is especially true for us a CU compared with other mission teams - because we are from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and church backgrounds, because it's the first time many of us have been part of something like CU, and because in colleges our mission happens in the context of being a community.

We will be excited about the gospel

Each week as we get into the Bible together, it's really encouraging to learn more and more about the gospel and God's worldwide plans. It's exciting to see how God is working to save a people from every nation, and that as we share the gospel here at Cambridge we are part of that plan. So as we look at the Bible together as a team, we are not only excited about the gospel, but also about CU.

We will be equipped to share the gospel

We know that we need help in sharing the gospel with our friends and that God has fully equipped us for this task in his Word (see 2 Timothy 3:15-17). As we study the Bible, we are always thinking about how this helps us explain the gospel clearly and how it helps us answer common questions that people ask.

We will be challenged to live out the gospel

We also want to apply the Bible into living as Christian students. We know that the way we live and the way we relate to each other within CU will be noticed by our friends. We want to live lives transformed by the gospel so that other students will be drawn to hear more about the gospel.

And so for those reasons, along with CUs up and down the country, we believe our team times, with the Bible at the heart, are vital for us to be an effective mission team. We are convinced that the Bible must be our authority, not just in theory, but in practice. We believe God's Word must be at the centre of our team life and driving our mission. If the Bible ceased to be at the centre of our team times, we have let go of our anchor and we are free to drift in the currents of the latest ideas. This point was made in the conclusion of the book “From Cambridge to the World” which records the story of CICCU from its beginnings through to today:

“In the face of these pressures, what is the golden thread that runs through the CICCU's life, providing continuity and consistency? The single thread that has been present in all periods is constant exposure to the Bible. Under God, that is what has kept the CICCU alive and true to the gospel. The personal quiet times with God, the college Bible studies, the central Bible Readings and the Bible-based evangelistic events - these have exposed the CICCU's members to a consistent flow of Biblical input and application. Through the ever-new and life-giving spring of his Word God's Spirit has often refreshed people, turning them from indifference or dry orthodoxy to spiritual reality and true love for God. Future members of the CICCU need equally to be fed on the Bible so that they will be able to stand when the pressures mount.”

Summer mission teams such as International Cafes, Beach Missions, Overseas Teams or Camps usually run daily outreach activities and so have team times daily. Our activities work on a weekly basis and so in each college we meet on Wednesday evenings as a college group and all the college groups meet together at CICCU Central on Saturday evenings. In college groups we have Bible Studies where we help each other understand and apply God's Word (Colossians 3:16). At CICCU Central we have a speaker come to explain part of the Bible to us and to help us apply what we learn, especially in terms of being students looking to share the gospel with fellow students.

Is CU a church? How does CICCU relate to local churches?

As a CU we passionately believe in the local church. We believe that when we were saved, we were saved to belong to God's new community. God's plan for each of us is that we are part of a local church.

So is CU a local church? Some Christians say that a church is simply God's people under God's Word, and if we went with that definition then CU is a church. But most Christians have recognised that the Bible says more about what makes church church. That's why we don't think we are able to be a church in the full sense. There are three main reasons for this:

Membership

As a student society we are only made up of students, but at the heart of God's purposes is that the church should be a socially and culturally diverse people who all trust in Christ. On a practical note, we are only students for 3-4 years, and only meeting regularly together during term time, so we would struggle practically to be an ongoing church family.

Leadership

We are committed to student leadership, because we are convinced that the best people to reach Cambridge students are Cambridge students. But as students, it is often the first time we've led anything like a CU before and so we don't think we have the experience to be able fully to pastor CU members. We are thankful that there are many good local churches who are able to provide mature leadership and pastoral care.

Mission

Our primary aim as a CU is to share the gospel with fellow Cambridge students. All our activities centre around that aim. Churches will have wider aims and won't just be focused on one particular mission field.

For those three reasons we do not aim to be a local church, but we strongly believe that CU members should belong to and be involved in a local church during their student years here at Cambridge. We promote involvement in a local church as the lifelong and primary place of Christian community, teaching, discipleship, ministry and pastoral care. We see our involvement in the Christian Union as a short-term (3-4 year) 'workplace' mission team on campus. And so we relate to local churches in a similar way to most mission teams relate to local churches.

As a group we very much value our partnership with local churches. We know that we will work better as a CU if our members are connected into a church. We also know that we would not be able to operate without the resources that local churches give so sacrificially and their faithfulness in praying for us as a CU.

To go deeper into this issue click see http://www.uccf.org.uk/resources/what-is-a-church-what-is-a-cu.htm

Or click here for some advice on choosing a church in Cambridge

What is UCCF? How is CICCU part of UCCF?

As a CU we are not alone! There are hundreds of CUs across England, Scotland and Wales who share similar vision and values to CICCU. All are networked together in a 'family' of CUs called UCCF (the 'Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship'). Check out the UCCF website.

How did UCCF come about?

Around 80 years ago, CUs had been started by students in a number of universities across the UK - in places like Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol, Durham, Manchester and London. These CUs decided to come together, to support and resource each other. This network was originally called IVF (the 'Inter-Varsity Fellowship') - named after the Oxford vs. Cambridge rugby match that took place in London on the same weekend that it was formed. Since those early days God has worked through CUs to bring thousands of students to know Christ. If you want to find out more check out http://www.uccf.org.uk/about-us/our-story.htm.

What does it mean that CICCU is part of UCCF?

We support other UCCF CUs

As well as praying for other CUs, we financially support some of them. God has been generous to us, and so we want to be generous by giving to support mission events that smaller CUs want to run. To find out more about the CU Mission Fund click here.

We are supported by UCCF workers

As a charity, UCCF employs staff workers who support Christian Union leaders. They work behind the scenes to train, advise and resource the student leaders of CICCU. Staffworkers bring experience and ideas from other CUs. You'll see them around at CICCU activities. As well as staffworkers, UCCF have a graduate training scheme known as Relay and several ex-members of CICCU have been Relay workers.

How can I be part of UCCF?

If you are part of CICCU, then you are already part of UCCF! You can get a UCCF membership card for free (with lots of great discounts on Christians books and music) here. You'll also get termly news updates to hear about what God is doing on different campuses.

A great chance to meet students from others CUs is to get along to some of the national conferences that UCCF puts on each year:

The new Word Alive is the main Bible Week with evening student celebrations.
Forum is the national CU leaders' week in September.
Biblical Evangelism Conference is a fantastic weekend helping each other to communicate the gospel in a relevant and Biblical way.

What is IFES?

Christian Unions in this country are networked together to form UCCF and in turn UCCF is a member of IFES, which is the international network of student Christian Unions. IFES stands for the 'International Fellowship of Evangelical Students', and has the vision of seeing student witness on every campus worldwide. God has so blessed the movement that vision is almost a reality! You can find out more about IFES by clicking here (www.ifesworld.org).

CICCU and other CUs in our region have a particular link with IFES Belarus, so we have a focus supporting that movement, for example by getting regular updates from our brothers and sisters over there so that we can be praying for them. A summer team also goes out from the region each year and CICCU members often take part in that.

Another connection with particular IFES groups is through CICCU language students who often help out with IFES groups during their year abroad. We try to update CICCU members with their news so that we can be praying for them before and during their year abroad, and it's also great to hear from people who've returned from a year working with an IFES group.

What do we believe about how evangelism works?

We are committed to going about mission by sharing the gospel. This is often referred to as 'verbal proclamation', which means we communicate the gospel using words. But why are we committed to that? What exactly does that mean in practice? And what about our lifestyle - where does that fit in?

Why are we committed to going about evangelism in this way?

As a CU, we passionately believe that the gospel message is powerful (see Romans 1:16). In fact the Bible says that only by hearing the good news about Jesus can students around us come to know God and find eternal life (Romans 10:14-15). The Bible says that people are spiritually blind and that means they cannot see who Jesus is unless God's Spirit enables them to see (2 Corinthians 4:1-6). Our role is simply to explain what the Bible says about Jesus and we trust the results to God. That's basically why we are committed to going about mission by telling our friends the gospel message.

But doesn't that sound a bit full-on?

Telling other students the gospel doesn't mean we have to stand in our college bars or JCRs with megaphones. In the book of Acts, the gospel was communicated in many different ways including talks in lecture theatres, one on one conversations and discussion groups. And as a CU we communicate the gospel in all those ways as well. For most of us in CU, the way evangelism will happen is in the context of friendship. We want to be good friends to those we already know in college, department or in clubs and societies and then when opportunities come up we share the gospel with them or invite them along to an event where the gospel will be presented. We put on a wide variety of events and so there should be something to suit all our different friends.

Some aspects of the gospel are less popular today, such as the problem of sin and the truth that Jesus is the only way to God. And that does make it harder to tell our friends the gospel. But we know we must share the whole gospel because it is only the whole gospel that is powerful to save people.

But what about...?

But what about prayer and lifestyle? Aren't they part of evangelism? As the Bible passages referred to above show, they aren't alternatives to communicating the message, but they can work to support evangelism. Evangelism is verbally communicating the gospel message (i.e. communicating with gospel with words), but of course as much as we can we want to back up this message by:

Praying for friends

We know that we cannot win our friends for Jesus by our own efforts, but we need God's Spirit to work, both through God's Word as we present it and in the lives of our friends as they hear the gospel. So in our team meetings we encourage each other to pray for our friends and for events we're putting on.

Living for Jesus

We know that the gospel transforms lives, and as our friends see the difference in the way we live, we pray that they will be drawn to hear the gospel, as they begin to think about why we are living in this way.

Loving each other

And also the gospel transforms the way we relate to each other. Therefore, as a CU we aim to be a witnessing community. We want our friends to see the power of the gospel as it transforms the way we love and serve one another. Hopefully, that will invite our friends to ask questions, giving us opportunities to talk about the thing that has brought us together from such differing backgrounds – the good news about Jesus Christ.

What kind of events do we actually put on?

We want our friends (and in fact, everyone at Cambridge) to hear the gospel in a way that they can understand. So what kind of things do we do? We run Christianity Explored discussion groups in colleges, weekly Friday Lunchtime Talks answering some of the common questions our friends ask about the gospel, a big Carol Service, International Cafes, a week of talks called the Main Event every February, and then there are Garden Parties, Ceilidh evenings, Football Tournaments and much more. And of course there are loads of events going on in colleges such as dinner parties, grill-a-Christian evenings, Frisbee tournaments, chocolate fondue nights…All these events give different ways in which we can bring friends to hear the gospel.

What is the Doctrinal Basis and why do we have one?

The Doctrinal Basis (often referred to as the DB) is simply a summary of the central truths of the gospel and so sets out what we believe as a Christian Union. Along with Bible believing Christians worldwide, we treasure these profound truths as they summarise the gospel that can save people for eternal life! If you are unsure about anything written in Doctrinal Basis, please feel free to chat them over with the leader of your college group about it.

You can find the Doctrinal Basis here.

So why do we have a Doctrinal Basis? If you get involved in CICCU, you'll quickly come to see that the Doctrinal Basis is very important to us because we want to be shaped by the gospel in both who we are and what we do:

- We go about Mission by sharing the gospel.
- We are a Team united around the gospel.

That means the truths of the DB are the basis of our unity, the foundation of our ministry and the content of our message. To be driven by the gospel in this way is what we understand it means to be an evangelical group and faithful to the Bible.

How did CICCU come about?

Christian Unions are grassroots movements, and as with most CUs, CICCU (the 'Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union') was started by a group of Christian Students. In fact, CICCU was the first university Christian Union ever and has continued to be the University of Cambridge's most prominent student Christian organisation. It was formed in 1877, but can trace its origins back to the formation of the Jesus Lane Sunday School in 1827 and the Cambridge Prayer Union in 1848.

Students in many other universities followed Cambridge's lead in forming their own Christian Unions, beginning with OICCU (Oxford) in 1879. Initially CICCU became part of the Student Christian Movement, formed in 1889; however, the CICCU left the SCM in 1910 because the SCM had drifted to the view point that Jesus' death on the cross was not at the centre of their message. Recognising the seriousness of this issue, OICCU and other CUs followed them in this split, and together they founded the Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Evangelical Unions (now UCCF, the 'Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship') in 1928. By God's grace this movement spread to Canada in the same year and later to the USA, Australia and New Zealand. In time these student movements formed the IFES (the 'International Fellowship of Evangelical Students').

The story of CICCU is a story of how God has moved by his Spirit to raise up generations of students who are passionate to tell their fellow students about Jesus. One small group of Cambridge students has exploded into a student witness on almost every campus worldwide. You can read more about the story of CICCU in the book “From Cambridge to the World” (O. Barclay and B. Horn, IVP).

The CICCU continues to be committed to the same core values, including the centrality of the cross in its message, whilst always looking for new and creative ways to communicate this life-giving message to a new generation of students.

What is a college group? How do college groups relate to central activities?

CICCU is one CU which is made up of college groups in nearly all the colleges. Or to put it the other way around, all the college groups together are CICCU, so if you are in a college group, you are in CICCU!

If CICCU as a whole is a mission team, then college groups are mini-mission teams for each college. College groups are brilliantly placed to be witnessing communities in the colleges. Their strength is that they can be relational and welcoming - and we hope that will be your experience of your college group. As a team they will put on events to reach out to college friends with the gospel.

College groups are led by reps (normally two), but they'll usually seek to involve everyone in the planning and running of events. College group reps also have the role of representing the college group in central decision making and the role of representing those decisions and announcements back to the college group. Important central decisions are made by the General Committee (the 'GenComm', composed of the reps and other officers) and day to day running of central activities is done by the Executive Committee (the 'Exec').

We believe college groups work best when there is a strong sense of ownership and when they are free to come up with events that will suit each individual college. But we also think they work best when they make the most of central resources, the support of other college groups and have a good grasp of our shared vision and values.

The main time when all the college groups come together is CICCU Central on Saturday nights. We meet to focus on God, especially by having His Word explained to us, and to be encouraged by what He is doing in all the different colleges. There are many other weekly events going on where you can get to interact with people from other college groups.

Why do we focus our aims on mission? What about having other aims?

Our primary aim is evangelism here at Cambridge University, but where has that aim come from? Our vision comes from the gospel and the situation God has placed us in. God has put each of us in a college where we should each be seeking to live and speak for Jesus. But it is hard to do that on our own. Thankfully God has placed many other Christians in the same situation, we go to different churches, but we all hold to the same gospel. A CU is simply all these Christian friends coming together to unite around the gospel knowing that we can be far more effective together than as lone rangers.

In this sense we are uniquely placed as a CU to work towards specific aims. The primary opportunity which forming a CU makes possible is evangelism to fellow Cambridge students. This really is an amazing opportunity because at university we have unparalleled opportunities for evangelism, living among many friends, all the time, at a time of life when they are searching for answers. As a student group we are uniquely able to come alongside students and use university resources. It is also a natural environment to put on talks, lectures and discussion groups. As a group together, we can combine resources in order to put on events or meetings, and use each other's gifts. That's why our primary aim is mission. The CICCU's tagline puts it like this “we exist as a group of students to make Jesus Christ known in Cambridge”.

What about having other aims?

We have resolved to focus on evangelism as our primary aim, and everything we do centres around it. This inevitably means that there are lots of good things we could do but have decided not to. It's important to remember this! We see the uniqueness of our time as Christians at university as a brilliant opportunity to share the gospel with our friends.

But of course we also recognise that there are some other ways in which a CU is uniquely placed. Some examples might be:

- Theology/Medical students supporting each other in the face of subject specific issues.
- Helping Christian freshers make the transition into university life.
- Accountability relationships of Christians in the same e.g. sports team or corridor.

So where we can, without losing mission as our central aim, we can pursue these things as well. In fact it's hopefully pretty clear that these will all support our primary aim of evangelism in some way – for example, accountability between Christians in the same sports team will help each of them to be a better witness for Christ on the sports field, and will hopefully result in opportunities for them to speak about Christ.

How do our aims relate to the aims of local churches?

Some people think of CU's aims as determined by what a church cannot do, but this can be unhelpful as all faithful churches should evangelise, pray, sing and teach the Bible - just as CICCU does! It is better to think that as a CU, we are what a church cannot be: a group of Christian friends from different churches placed in the same situation, united around the same gospel, and therefore with the unique opportunity to do evangelism together. All our aims flow out of that vision! For more on how CICCU relates to local churches see Is CU a church? How does CICCU relate to local churches?

What do we believe about the Bible?

As a CU we unashamedly love the Bible, because the Bible is God's Word. The Bible is at the heart of our team times together (CICCU Central and College Group meetings), see also Why do we study the Bible together?

Since the Bible is God's Word we hold to four vital truths about the Bible as a CU:

The Bible is our supreme authority

God's words cannot be separated from God. They are His words and so carry His authority. How we respond to God's Word reflects how we respond to God Himself. This means for us as CICCU that the Bible must be our authority - not because we worship the Bible - but because the God we worship has made Himself known through the Bible. The authority of the Bible derives from the author of the Bible.

The Doctrinal Basis states this by saying the Bible is our supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. This means that everything about CICCU, for example the message we communicate, the way we communicate it, and how we relate to people both within and outside CICCU, must be drawn from the Bible. Of course we may also take into account common sense or 'tradition' – how we've always done things – but never so as to lead us to go against God's Word.

The Bible is clear

This has been called the doctrine of the perspicuity of Scripture. That's a long word meaning that the main things of the Bible are clear to even simple Christians. This must be true if God is the author, since He is a brilliant communicator! When the Reformers broke away from the Roman Catholic church, they fought against the view that we need a priest or any other designated person in order to understand the central teachings of the Bible. That doesn't mean Bible teachers aren't needed! Clearly they are a God given help in understanding the Bible. But what this wonderful truth of the clarity of scripture means for us as a CU is that we do not need a church leader to be present to understand the Bible together. The Bible, both Old Testament and New Testament, is sufficiently clear that we can have confidence to study God's life changing Word together.

The Bible is all we need

The third key truth is that the Bible is sufficient and effective. In other words, the Bible 'is all we need' and the Bible 'does what it says'. So in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, Paul stresses how sufficient the Bible is:

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (emphases added)

As a CU we must rely on the Bible to build and equip us as a team, for it is God's tool that He has given us. And the Bible is also effective, so as we open up the Bible together, God's Spirit will change us. We can therefore have confidence in the Bible.

The Bible is contemporary

The last vital truth about the Bible is that it is contemporary. In other words, God still speaks to us today through the Bible. It is not a book relevant only to the original audience, it is still God's words for us. So in Hebrews 3:7 the Holy Spirit speaks in the present what was written centuries before in the Psalms! The Bible is God's living and active word. The Spirit speaks to us today through it, into our situation. And so it's really exciting as we see what God has got to say to us as Cambridge students.

What is the gospel?

We are excited about CICCU because it is all about the gospel. If you haven't come across the term 'gospel' before, then it's simply the good news of what God has done for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. There are many ways of explaining the gospel. Here is one way based on Mark's account of Jesus' life on earth:

Jesus' Identity: Who was Jesus?

Jesus was not merely a good teacher (Mark 10:17-18), Mark presents masses of evidence to show us Jesus' true identity. Jesus is the Christ (Mark 1:1, 8:29). “Christ” means Messiah, God's king who had been promised centuries before in the Old Testament (Mark 1:2-3). This king would come and rescue his people. As this king, Jesus claims and acts with the power and authority that belongs to God alone (Mark 2:1-12, 4:35-41, 2:28, 14:61-64). The only explanation that fits the facts is that Jesus is God himself and so we must listen to what he says (Mark 9:2-8).

Jesus' Mission: Why did Jesus come?

Jesus had come on a rescue mission, but this rescue would happen through his suffering on the cross (Mark 8:31-34). Jesus taught that he is like a doctor who had come to heal us from the problem of sin (Mark 2:17). Although we often joke about “sin” today, according to Jesus sin is a very serious problem. Sin is living life ignoring God and hurting other people (Mark 12:28-32, 7:20-23). It is serious because we will face judgement unless we are forgiven our sins (Mark 9:42-48). We may be blind to this reality (those who followed Jesus were!) but forgiveness really is our greatest need (Mark 2:9). If we persist in rejecting God by running life our own way, then eventually he will reject us. We need rescue from judgement.

On the cross, Jesus swapped places with us, taking the punishment we deserve for our sins. The king of heaven came as a servant in order to pay the price for us (Mark 10:45). There is no other way to be forgiven and to solve our greatest problem; and that's why Jesus must suffer (Mark 14:35-36). We cannot rescue ourselves, we desperately need his rescue (Mark 10:17-27).

Jesus' Call: What response does Jesus demand?

To gain the eternal life won by Jesus' death and resurrection, he demands that we follow him (Mark 8:34). We must give total control of our lives to him at whatever cost to self. We must submit to Jesus as king and entrust our lives to him even if that brings suffering. This is very demanding, but Jesus wants us to see that eternal life to come far outweighs any cost to following him now (Mark 8:35-38, 10:29-31). And if all of this really is true, then it would be foolish not to do what Jesus says.

If you prefer pictures and wanted to see how this fits into the bigger story of the Bible, see Two Ways to Live

Who does CICCU work with?

In various ways, CICCU works with a number of different groups, organisations and churches. We are thankful to God for these partnerships which have so blessed the work of CICCU over the years.

As with any organisation, we can only wholeheartedly work with other groups who support our vision and values. At the core of our vision and values is the gospel. The gospel drives everything we do and this is what we understand it means to be an evangelical group. For us, the Doctrinal Basis is not a box to be ticked, but the engine of the CU. Other convictions such as the nature of unity, how we should approach to evangelism and the place of the Bible in our meetings all flow out of the gospel.

Why is CICCU led by students?

Along with all other CUs across the country, CICCU is committed to student leadership as a principle.

The main reason for this is that we are convinced that Cambridge students are best placed to reach other Cambridge students with the gospel. As part of the community we live in close relationship with other students and we understand our university culture from the inside.

As well as that, student leadership has several other pragmatic advantages:
- We have a strong sense of ownership of the CU. CUs are grassroots movements.
- We have access to University resources (e.g. room bookings) as a student society.
- We are recognised as a legitimate part of the university community.
- We can be a non-denominational group, visibly demonstrating gospel unity.

We are aware that as students this will normally be our first experience of leading a group like CU. That's why we have the support of UCCF workers who's job is to support us. As well as the training and advice UCCF workers give, we also have Honorary Vice Presidents who give advice on important decisions.

Nationwide, over the years CU student leadership has had a unmeasurable positive impact on local churches. Generations of student leaders have learnt the basics of leading gospel ministries whilst serving in leadership positions in CU. And also the chance to work together and learn from people from different church traditions and backgrounds can only promote more partnership between churches.

Why do we unite around the gospel?

We are passionate about gospel unity and see it as a wonderful blessing. There is something tremendously powerful about Christians from diverse backgrounds actually working together as one mission team in a college. Visible unity draws other students to want to find out more about the gospel. But also, our diversity means that we each contribute different strengths, ideas, gifts, creativity and personalities to the team.

Why do we believe our unity must be unity in the gospel?

The answer is that because Jesus said so, for instance on the night before Jesus dies to save us, that is what he prays for Christians. In John 17, having just prayed for his disciples, Jesus then prays for all believers...

“ 20 My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ”

Jesus prays that we would be one just as the Trinity is one! But who is included? The answer is in verse 20, where Jesus says he prays for all who believe in him through the message of the apostles. In other words, Jesus prays for unity amongst those who accept the gospel message as recorded in the Bible. We believe unity must be gospel unity because that's what Jesus prays for the night before he dies to save the world. Jesus thinks that unity amongst gospel Christians will bring people to see that he really is the Son sent by the Father (v23). Jesus is saying that our visible gospel unity as a CU supports our mission.

How does unity in the gospel work in practice?

As a CU we have a Doctrinal Basis which summarises the gospel. Everything we do is driven by the gospel, so the Doctrinal Basis is very important to us. That's of course why leaders and teachers in CICCU are required to agree to the uphold the truths summarised in the Doctrinal Basis. We want to work in partnership with all those Christians who are gospel Christians, whether charismatic or conservative.

How can you have diversity when unity is in the gospel?

Gospel unity does not mean we all need to conform in every area of our Christian lives and service in CU! We believe in diversity in unity. God wants the CU to be made up of students from different nationalities and backgrounds, having different personalities and gifting.

We will also come from different kinds of churches and we won't all agree on every issue. Paul says that the gospel is the most important truths (1 Cor 15:1-8) and other issues although important, are not as important. We unite around issues that are essential to the gospel message (the gospel truths in the Doctrinal Basis) but have freedom to have our own beliefs about 'non-essential' issues. We don't impose our beliefs about these non-essential matters on each other; rather, for the purpose of evangelism, we lay aside such views to unite around the gospel and keep that the main thing. That doesn't mean that we can never talk about non-essential issues, but we always want to keep the gospel as the central focus. When differences arise, it is a wonderful opportunity to put into practice Jesus' command to love one another and not to insist we get our own way.

Learning to keep the gospel the main thing is really rewarding and keeps us focused on it. It is also such a blessing to learn off others who see things in a different way to us. Above all, we always want to be learning from the Bible and doing everything we can to be in line with its teaching.