By Danielle Wilson
With its unusual ‘moral dilemma’ prize draw, Agapé Student Life’s national ‘Freshers’ Week’ campaign gives Student Leaders a chance to step up and make a stand.
If you’ve been a new student at university, you may remember the buzz and the terror of Freshers’ Week. Starting with your first hesitant steps out of halls with some fearful fellow first-years, you begin your quest to define yourself as a university student. The Freshers’ Fayre greets you with a rabble of voices, temptations and prize draws. Will you sign up for a credit card? Join a society? Go to a party? Throw yourself into a cause?
So why, with all of its chaos and calamity, would Agapé Student Life want to dive headfirst into Freshers’ Week? And why on earth would we be adding yet another prize draw to the mix?
The first term of university is a whirlwind, and it’s about so much more than academics. Students are out to define who they are and what they think. Friendship groups, interests and patterns of behaviour are quite often established for the rest of their university careers. For Agapé Student Life, Freshers Week provides an amazing opportunity to make contact with literally thousands of first-year students who find themselves at this significant crossroads of life.
And so The Connection campaign was borne. It’s a simple concept. What appears initially as a classic prize draw is really much more. The winners of the prize draw receive a moral dilemma: the choice between an iPod for themselves or two goats for a family in the developing world. Plus everyone taking part in the competition is offered the chance to receive a copy of a specially designed evangelistic magazine which will be delivered personally by a Student Life staff member or student.
This autumn, The Connection campaign has been run by all nine of our Student Life teams across the country. “It’s fun and bold,” says Bristol Team Leader Ben Evans, who helped to coordinate this national effort. “Most importantly, it’s helping us to connect with huge numbers of students to find those who are spiritually interested. We get to meet them face-to-face and help them think through the most important decision of their lives.”
“These days, it seems that being seen to do what is socially or politically correct holds a higher value than actually doing what is right. From politicians to business leaders to celebrities, we see people living public lives of virtue, until a skeleton or two is uncovered in a closet or an expense account. No one sets out to be a hypocrite. Yet to one degree or another most of us experience that painful disconnect between who we want or claim to be and who we really are. So the important question isn’t really goat or iPod? It’s, who are you when no one is watching?” -The Connection Magazine
THE MORAL DILEMMA
So why goat vs iPod? “We thought that not only would the moral dilemma add a really interesting element to the campaign but would also help to overcome the cynical attitude that we have developed in this country towards advertisements and prize draws,” says Ben. “We have become saturated with clever advertising and brand promotion. When an organisation offers a free prize we immediately begin to look for what they want in return. We wanted to provide a prize draw which not only interested people but maybe even helped them think through the kinds of choices they make and why.”
Ross McCall, Glasgow Team Leader, recalls some interesting responses from students on this score. “We had one student decline our invitation to enter the prize draw on the grounds that he already owned both a goat and an iPod! Others declined because they said they were uncomfortable even at the thought of having to make that choice.” The actual winner from Glasgow chose the iPod, apparently under some peer pressure from friends. She chose to remain anonymous.
“A group of girls told us the goat vs iPod competition had framed their whole initial view of their first week of university. They had all the badges, they wanted posters, they had their photos taken with the goat…” recounts Allan Ooi, Operations Intern, also working at Birmingham Uni. At Birmingham University alone, 1,316 entered the prize draw. Of these, 155 said they wanted to know more about how to connect with God.
MOBILISING STUDENT LEADERS
The vision for reaching first-year students through The Connection is exciting and huge. And for our staff teams, the dream was never for them to do it on their own. “We wanted to provide a lot of the means and the resources, and as much as possible, give our Student Leaders the authority to use their own initiative in running it,” says Ben. Agapé’s Communications Team worked closely with Student Life to produce the magazine, entry cards, a website and other materials. But the creative juices were also flowing on campus, with both students and staff donning goat and iPod costumes, producing their own t-shirts, balloons, pens, badges and anything else they can think of to get the word out there about The Connection.
“I feel more of an ownership over Student Life because we are organising a lot of it, like contacting the Student Unions and deciding what to do in the Fresher’s Fayre, says University College London Student Leader, Nengi Omuku. “We’re more involved, not just showing up on the day.”
“Academic success is to be applauded. But if you begin to believe that your value is somehow determined by how much you achieve or deserve, then you are headed for disappointment.” –The Connection Magazine
“It has been great to see students involved at the Newcastle Freshers’ Fayre,” says Newcastle staff member Pete Moll. “At one point we came back to the stall to see just students running it totally without us because they were so keen to get people to sign up for the competition.” Nearly 3000 people entered the competition, between Newcastle and Northumbria universities.
“The Connection has really brought our movement here together. The Student Leaders took hold of the whole thing and ran with it,” says Birmingham Team Leader, David Blower. “It’s been intense and a lot of fun.”
“For me, it was great to start the year off by running this campaign,” says Allan Ooi. “It allowed Birmingham Student Life to bond. Taking turns dressing up as a goat really drew us together and provided much hilarity!”
Sam, a first year student at Birmingham, commented to one of the Student Leaders, “I saw the Goat vs iPod thing on campus and thought it was such a great initiative. That’s the kind of thing I want to get involved with!”
LAUNCHING MOVEMENTS
The Connection campaign has been a particularly helpful tool for building momentum in locations where Student Life is just starting up.
“It has helped us find potential Student Leaders in the first place and has given them something they could immediately get involved with,” says Aston University team leader, Chris Carter. After chatting at the Student Life stall, two Aston students asked if they could become Student Leaders in writing on their entry cards for the competition!
“It was really great being able to approach my peers in a way that was fun and not threatening but still told the other students what we are trying to do and what we care about,” says Hadassah, Alaskan exchange student and the first Student Leader for the newly-launched Student Life Glasgow.
“Having only arrived in Glasgow the week before our first fresher’s stall, I saw it very much as a little looking glass into Glasgow student culture,” says Glasgow Team Leader, Ross. Despite just having arrived, the team quickly made some good connections. At Strathclyde, they asked the Student Union to do the prize draw, and at Glasgow, the editors of the biggest student newspaper, the Glasgow Guardian. “The Connection gave us a chance to just get our name and a flavour of what we are about in the Glasgow ether.”
“Jesus is a hard act to follow. Certainly impossible without counting the cost and making a big choice. The tragedy is to never make a choice at all.” –The Connection Magazine
“The Connection campaign has been invaluable in pioneering a ministry in Nottingham, enabling us to connect with many hundreds of students who would otherwise be strangers to us and to the gospel,” says Nottingham Team Leader, Matt Walmsley.
“We’ve featured on the student radio, in a student film, appeared in countless photos on peoples’ phones – It’s amazing what dressing up in a goat costume can achieve! But beyond that, we’re bringing a positive contribution to the life of the university, and we have an instant point of connection when we meet people again.”” says Nottingham intern, Tom Glen, who also contributed his design expertise to the national campaign.” The beauty of the prize draw has been how non threatening and non ‘Christian’ it is. It allowed us to engage with the widest possible group of students.”
CHANGED LIVES
The impact of the Connection campaign will continue to be felt across the rest of the term and into the future. But as Student Leaders and staff begin the monumental task of connecting personally with those who have indicated spiritual interest, lives are already being changed.
"Asking Jesus to take charge of my life was the most real, full of feeling, telling, scary, life changing, rewarding, transforming, freeing thing I have done. I have had my eyes opened when I didn’t even realise they were closed. But I’m still me. In fact, I’m more me that I’ve ever been.” -from Sara’s Story, The Connection Magazine
“A girl who we had seen many times at Newcastle’s Freshers’ Fayre, met with Phil and Diane,” recounts Pete from Newcastle. “They gave her the magazine, using it to explain the gospel to her. She said that this was what she had been looking for, even giving an illustration about sin that can’t be covered up. She went away and spoke to God, committing her life to him.”
“Aaron spoke with a guy about the magazine. He said that he was a Christian already, but that it was just a cultural and family thing. After talking with Aaron, he decided to put his faith in Christ. He and his friend came to our open house a few days later, as did some of the other guys we had met or who had helped us with The Connection.”
“I was chatting to one girl whilst she was filling in her entry to the competition, and she started to ask me about God,” says Oxford Associate Team Leader, Pam Robertshaw. “I shared with her about how God is love and how he loved us so much that Jesus was willing to die for us so that we could be forgiven. When she came to fill in the last question on the flier, ‘Would you like to find out how to personally connect with God?’ as a result of our conversation she changed her answer from a ‘no’ to ‘maybe’. This was a real encouragement to me that as people hear the good news about Jesus, it creates a desire to know God. We are going to meet up and chat again soon.”
There are many others around the country who would like to talk more about issues of faith. Staff and Student leaders have begun setting up Connect groups, where students can have their questions addressed and get a fuller understanding of the gospel in a small group setting. The hope is that many more of these students would become committed followers of Jesus with a vision to reach their university.
“Of the many thousands of students starting university this autumn there are many who would like to begin a relationship with God, given the opportunity,” says Ben Evans. “They are out there. This year, The Connection is helping us to find them.”
