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Session Four: The Welcome You Long For

Welcome (8 minutes)

Welcome everyone back for the final Start Here session. Using break out rooms if you need to:

  • Have everyone share a photo that encapsulates where they’re from.
    (This could be a famous food, a landmark, or a famous person who was born there!)
  • Then discuss: what is your favourite thing about home?

Welcome to our final session of Start Here! It’s great to see you – thanks so much for coming!

By now, you’ll know that we’re running Start Here to help you get to know people before you arrive at uni. We’ve loved seeing that happen!

This week we’re going to be chatting about church, CU, and the different new people you’ll meet very soon. Like other weeks, we’ll open the Bible together and listen to what God has to say to us.

Hearing from an older student: finding a church (5 minutes)

  • Have a well-prepped returning student speak about what it’s like finding a church.
  • Each town/city will have a different number and variety of churches, so ask them to give enough detail to be helpful without being so detailed it becomes confusing or uninteresting!
  • Ask them to speak about their experience of finding a church, and what they love about being part of their church family. Make sure that they speak well of other churches too.
  • Have them clearly share details of the practical help your CU will give to those looking for churches when everyone arrives (such as a church search).

Hearing from God (2 minutes)

We’re now going to read from the book of Ephesians. This was a letter written by the Bible writer Paul to one of the earliest Christian communities. Let’s learn from what he says and think about what it could mean for us!

Have a returning student read Ephesians 2:19-22. Link to the passage (use Bible.com) in the chat so everyone can read along if they want to. Then introduce today’s video.

Video: The welcome you long for (8 minutes)

  • Project the video for the group by sharing your screen. You might like to download the video to use offline.

Thinking it through (10 minutes)

Discuss the following questions together. Use break out rooms if you need them.

  • How do the three pictures Paul uses portray Christian togetherness?
  • Paul was speaking to a divided community. How might these pictures have spoken to them?
  • According to Paul, what do even very diverse Christians have in common?
  • How do these pictures shape our attitude towards other Christians, whatever they’re like?

Video: Olachi’s story (4 minutes)

We’ve heard today that God’s plan is that we’re not made to be totally independent. Olachi will tell us his story of building relationships with other Christians in his new university setting.

  • Project the video for the group by sharing your screen. You might like to download the video to use offline.

What about us? (10-15 minutes)

In the same groups as before, discuss the following questions, aiming to help group members take real-life next steps.

  • Were there parts of Olachi’s experience that particularly spoke to you?
  • How does knowing that you’ll arrive to Christian family waiting for you help you as your prepare for uni?
  • How do you feel about finding a church? What are your fears or questions?
  • How would you like to grow closer to Jesus as a student? How might church and CU play a part?

Ask a couple of volunteers to pray in the light of your discussions.

Until Freshers’ Week (3-4 minutes)

We’ve loved having you as part of our Start Here group. We hope you’ve enjoyed it too.

We can’t wait to see you soon at our university. We’d love for you to keep connected in with the CU, and to find a church in our city – just like we’ve been talking about today.

We’ll post all the information for church search and freshers’ week into the group chat, as well as the CU’s social media channels. We’re praying for you all as you get ready to move. Do let us know if there’s anything we can help with!

Thank you again so much for coming along, and we hope to see you very soon!

  • Keep your Start Here group chat up to date with your CU’s plans and with church search information as Freshers’ Week approaches.
  • If there are other ways for them to connect with the CU – social media, signing up for an Impact Group, or a CU buddy, then post these into the chat too.
  • Well done! That’s Start Here all finished – now for Freshers’ Week!