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With Amber Nesbitt
287 Plays3 months ago
Steve Osmond chats with a UCCF student worker this week on PEP Talk. She helps explain some of the trends, challenges and opportunities happening right now on university campuses. From awareness of spirituality to ignorance of basic Biblical concepts to a loneliness pandemic, these are the things shaping evangelism and discipleship amongst young adults today.
Amber Nesbitt is a Staff Worker for UCCF based in Edinburgh, where she works alongside Napier and Queen Margaret Christian Unions. She attends Charlotte Chapel Church in Edinburgh and her family are in Surrey. She loves to hang out with friends/family, learn about different cultures and food, explore new places and dance!
Find out how to support Amber at https://www.uccf.org.uk/our-team/amber-nesbitt
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Transcript
Introduction to the Pit Book Podcast
00:00:10
Speaker
Well, hello and welcome to the Pit Book Podcast, the Persuasive Evangelism Podcast, where we ah speak about the Gospel um and interview guests who are in like forward-facing evangelism ministry and where we talk about their work and all of those good things.
Meet Amber Nesbitt of UCCF
00:00:29
Speaker
Today, I am joined by Amber Nesbitt, who works for the UCCF. ah Amber, how are you doing today? I'm very well, Steve, thank you. Yes. All right. Where are you calling in from today? Today, I'm calling in from Edinburgh. So I've been around Shropshire last week, but I've eventually come back where I'm based here in Edinburgh. Very good. Very good. So Amber and I first met. Where did we first meet? It was in St Andrews. We're doing the CU events week.
00:01:07
Speaker
And actually I don't remember, what were you speaking on um when you were there? I was speaking on justice and I think it was looking at conflict in justice and looking at the Christian perspective of kind of, is there any hope in conflict? Yes, indeed. Cool. So I think um I remember you doing that talk and I just thought, oh, this is this is great. We have to get you onto the the podcast. um And so here you are a couple of months later. um And so again, thank you so much for joining us. and Now, as I mentioned, you work for the UCCF.
What is Amber's role in student evangelism?
00:01:44
Speaker
um What is your role there? What is the UCCF all about for those who don't know? um And yeah, what is the sort of favorite part of your job?
00:01:54
Speaker
Great question. um So UCCF stands for University College Christian Fellowship and the work of UCCF um aims to give students, through students, opportunities to hear about Jesus on campus. And so it is all about student witness on campus. um And how then they do that is varied, very varied. That would look like events that they put on, running Bible studies, getting trained up to just speak to their friends about Jesus. And my role is a staff worker or student worker, we could say, and I essentially resource, train and support them as they do this.
00:02:41
Speaker
Awesome, so that sounds ah like you have your hands very busy. Lots of different things going on. Yeah. Yeah, and you've been doing that for a few years now. Yeah. What's the, like, that if there was one thing that you could pick as your favorite part of the job, what is it? I think my favorite part would be the relational side of this. I think it is actually like getting alongside these students and kind of cheering them on as they do it. um I think as you build that over the year, um you really see a growth of students go from maybe a bit worried about sharing their faith, you know, even questioning these big topics that they're going to speak um to their friends about. And then by the end of the year, once they've come off of their um committee role, actually seeing them a lot more um excited to share Jesus.
00:03:37
Speaker
and just growing in a lot more courage. So the thing actually about getting alongside people as we do this is definitely probably one of the biggest highlights and privileges, I think, as well. Awesome. Yeah, I remember but um in past years, you know, a lot of university work and it's one thing to go in and You know, do a talk, um speak to you a hard topic, answer some questions and then kind of leave. and But I think it's such a crucial time in life, and those those years where you're a student, um especially as a Christian.
00:04:09
Speaker
You know, you often can, you know, you might grow up in the church um and and you have your faith and then you're off to university and there are lots of different
Challenges of faith at university
00:04:19
Speaker
challenges. Often and you'll find, you know, professors and lecturers who are and maybe very against your faith. and And, you know, I've heard so many stories where students are kind of picked out for their faith um and and often they just aren't equipped to to deal with that kind of that pressure. um and I think that's really where the relationship aspect of it comes, having someone come alongside them to help guide them sort of relationally um and through all those questions, but also have that like firm ah community around them. Would you say you see that um a lot when you speak to students? Is that still the experience that many of them have?
00:04:58
Speaker
Yes, i guess but I guess it's actually dependent on what degree that they're studying um and kind of the big topics that comes up depending on what subject you're studying. um For example, there are still theology students in secular universities that are experiencing this. kind of push back to Christianity. um But then I would have students who are in healthcare and they're dealing with a lot of different challenges that might not be so obvious or, you know, it's not that they're saying Jesus isn't real, but it's how do we deal with these um social issues that we're going to have to confront in the workplace. And so I think, yeah, you're right, there are
00:05:42
Speaker
there are challenges as they come to university, they're confronted with a difference. You know, even as you go to school, you might become aware by the time you leave school, um okay, this is what my friends are talking about, these people have opinions, but they're not maybe has widespread or different. And then you come to university, which is meant to be the place to share knowledge, share ideas, yes, in the academic sense. And then you're just met with loads of different things that is very different to where you've come from, different beliefs, different ideas. And so that's us trying to help them engage with these conversations rather than run away from it.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's it's such a... yeah i just I just love that time of life, like I've said. And so as much as there are challenges, I know that at the moment, um it seems like there are some really, really good opportunities as
Openness to Christianity and worldviews
00:06:41
Speaker
well. you know Just so before we hit record, just talking through a few of those, and I have some questions, and this is really why we wanted to get you onto the and podcast is to obviously hear about some of those challenges what are some of the big questions and the big issues that people are i concerned with at the moment but also what are the opportunities for us so um i think that would.
00:07:02
Speaker
The first question is, for me, you know what would you see some of those opportunities being? um Because it does seem in some way that there is an increased openness to to Christianity, as much as there's still the antagonism, sure, but there is this openness um to Christianity, but also, I suppose, openness to many ah other worldviews and and systems of thought. But what would you see is going on there? Yeah, I think you are completely right. There is this openness to, well, whether it's a spiritual openness, whether there is just an openness of listening to other people and their ideas. I mean, you're hearing terms that aren't, you know, they're not
00:07:47
Speaker
new terms such as karma or you're hearing manifesting, hearing things like oh I hope this will happen or um you know those kind of things they've always kind of been around but there seems to be a shift with people actually going oh maybe I could look into these things. A very spiritual language. Yes, exactly. um And although we might go, oh gosh, well, what do we say as Christians? How do we engage with that? I think actually, because Christianity can fall under that, it really does leave us um with a wonderful opportunity to really speak into that. um And people aren't as afraid to have these conversations about spirituality or about religion.
00:08:35
Speaker
um Yeah, people aren't as closed off either. um We're kind of moving away from this kind of atheist that there's no God and we're not going to talk about that at all. People are actually going, oh, maybe there is a God. Maybe there's something out there. ah For them, they are looking for, or at least there's something. And I wonder if that is part of, you know, you look at the state of the world and you go, There's gonna be something or someone to help us in this.
00:09:06
Speaker
um And I think, yeah, that really creates a great opportunity for us to go, well, there actually is something think that is firm, that is constant. um And then we can eventually lead them to the person of Jesus.
Impact of societal issues on spirituality
00:09:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's brilliant. I was going to ask, you know, what do you think is driving um this this openness? um And I think in many ways it is, as you point out, you know, you look around and um so much of what the world has promised is just failing us, you know, it's like, yeah you know, I answer all our questions and I as a scientist, I do love science, but you know, it doesn't really answer them the biggest questions of life, of meaning your purpose.
00:09:44
Speaker
um and or technology, you know, all the promises that students, you know, our tech grows and we increase in our knowledge, we'll fix all the world's problems, but you just look around and it's a lot of the time ah just getting worse. yeah You're right. People are looking for something that'll last a more firm foundation, something that'll make sense um of their lives. We really do have a great opportunity to share the gospel into that. Definitely. And I think people are also, it's it's kind of shifting as well to think, plays into another opportunity that we've got. And people don't want to offend either. um There's this thing of, oh,
00:10:25
Speaker
you do you and I'll do me and that's fine actually, you know, you can believe that, I can believe that. um And then we're we're equal in that. I mean, then that creates challenge because then you start to go, well, is there absolute truth? And we go into that. But I think that's also happening as well, when people are open to the possibility that there are different beliefs um rather than just shutting it off entirely. um But it at least starts the conversation. At least we can start engaging with it rather than shy away from it, which I think is quite yeah exciting, actually. Yeah, absolutely.
00:11:10
Speaker
Do you see that when you're you know speaking to students um and being involved with um the CU's at the universities, when they're engaging with people who aren't Christian, what is the level of understanding that people would have about Christianity, about the Bible, about, I suppose, the gospel, the person of Jesus? um you know where Where is that? Is it like a complete ignorance or is it people have some kind of vague idea? I think at this point in time it's quite mixed.
00:11:46
Speaker
it's Yeah, it's not really people are really like have a great understanding to nothing. I think it is going towards ah like an ignorance in Christianity. come when we're When we're doing events week and basically this mission week that we call it, we have a week long rung of events all throughout the universities across the UK. They're putting on these evangelistic events. and they'll do lots of what we call first contact to someone who's never um maybe even heard about Christianity before or they haven't got any friends who are Christians. We come onto campus and you get a whiteboard and you put this big question out, you know, what is the Bible, let's say, for example? Or, you know, what is Christianity? is Does Christianity cause any harm? And we're finding that
00:12:38
Speaker
people have quite a low understanding and maybe that's because schools are moving away from even the basics of who is Jesus. People seem to think of him as um a guy who's on the TV in some Netflix shows, or it's a cursing word, or it's maybe something at Christmas, not quite sure. We're actually starting to think as um as Christian unions, I mean, particularly in Scotland, do we continue doing carol services?
00:13:13
Speaker
um because do people actually know Carol's songs? Are people actually wanting to go to a cathedral to sing songs? um So that's where we're starting to get you know our people actually understanding. um But then you are surprised some people go, oh, yeah, I did go to a church once when I was younger, or I'd be quite interested. um There's a kind of a mixed bag of what they view of Christianity, but it's, I think, getting a bit lower more generally. Yeah, I mean, I was um absolutely surprised when I did one of the Carol services, it was ah last year, yeah in Andrew's and I spoke at that.
00:13:55
Speaker
um and just really surprised by, number one, just the sheer number of people that came, um and then the number of those who wouldn't identify themselves as Christians. So it seems like there still, I suppose, is this, you know, there's, hey, the cultural practice of it's it's around Christmas time and well, you know, you go to church and you you're sing some songs. um So encouraging in one way that is that openness, um but also like you, I think rightly point out, Do people understand what they're singing about? Do they understand the significance of the carol service, you know the ah the incarnation? and yeah that and I suppose that's where the hard work is, of that first contact, like you say, and then this long, long journey of of helping people understand what this is all about, you know that God exists, that He cares for them, that the world works a certain way and all these things. so
00:14:46
Speaker
I suppose it is very different to um what 10, 20 years ago, yeah maybe a bit longer, where you could just go on the street, speak about, you know, God and Jesus and people would know what you're talking about. Now there's this vagueness to it all. Yes, it was actually quite interesting. I was in Birmingham the other day um and we're walking through the city centre and there was a big um kind of Muslim outreach and on their side had embold Jesus in capital letters. um And I guess it's their way of maybe culturally um engaging with people. And it didn't make me think actually of what is society's kind of view on Jesus actually at the moment, whether you're coming from that religious faith or they're trying to reach the British because maybe
00:15:39
Speaker
you know, Jesus maybe is still culturally seen as a British thing. um But yeah, it was quite interesting the students, we aren't typically finding would put massive Jesus is this over events week, it's becoming a bit more like subtle, trying to understand where people are at. um But I did think it was quite funny how bold they were with talking, putting the Jesus letters. so that's pretty yeah I think that leads nice and into what I was going to ask next is um you you speak about these kind of contact points with the event weeks to try and draw people in and that's through ah Christians on campus who are then inviting friends um and you know posting flyers around and all that. What would you say um at the the universities that you are working with?
00:16:31
Speaker
um What would you say are maybe the the top few questions or topics of interest um that you see are ah ways to start good conversations um and and how could you know our listeners use those in their conversations when they're you know speaking to friends, family and and colleagues? Yeah,
Engaging students through spirituality and community
00:16:51
Speaker
I think the Questions that are kind of capturing people, I think is on this spirituality. That was one quite big topic we found last year. um We're finding that there is a growing, there's an increase in loneliness with particularly students, but I think we can see that generally um in this country. um So I think talking about maybe community and loneliness is helping people engage with this topic.
00:17:25
Speaker
um Yeah, and really kind of unpicking what Christianity is really. um I think when we, as we do it when the Christian unions will do kind of apologetics style, as you would know, Steve, as you would have spoken on this, the kind of topical questions, and then evening sometimes we would get a bit deeper and just go straight into what does Jesus have to say about all of these issues. um
00:17:57
Speaker
And maybe dealing with these preconceptions about Christianity, is it boring? um Is it just a bunch of rules? Students don't like to feel that they're kind of restrained at all. This is freedom. They like to think, oh, we're free. And so, you know, you've got topics of would Christianity just spoil my fun? um Is that what it is? And I think so. That's what we're seeing with students, particularly. um Yeah, maybe even mental health is quite a big one that we're speaking into at the moment as well. um That I feel it's not a new topic that people are going, oh, wow, what do Christians think? But a lot when you get students who come along to these topics, and you might have found this as well, Steve, when you've spoken, when you've had seekers who are coming in and they go,
00:18:48
Speaker
Oh, I didn't think Christians would actually care about this topic. I did one on earth and think a different one on justice a couple of years ago at Stirling University. um And it was yeah um it was on that topic and a student said to a friend afterwards, oh, I didn't realise that Christians were progressive. And it was you know it wasn't anything. out there wasn't anything crazy but yeah for them they were quite shocked that Christians really cared about the issues that they care about as well. Okay yeah that's um man there's so much and it is um really funny that you say that you know that um
00:19:28
Speaker
Yeah, Christi, I mean, for me, it's like my Christian worldview just makes sense of all of these things. You know, you look at you know environmental issues, why do we care for the environment? And you can trace that back to this um ownership that God has given us over creation to steward as well. You know, that's how we make sense of it, that it's it's part of God's creation and and we should care for it all. You know, justice, I mean, without God to mean you lose your moral foundation. So my mind is like, well, Christianity just makes the best sense of all of these things. And I suppose maybe,
00:20:01
Speaker
um we as Christians just haven't been that good on it at actually explaining that to our friends and just showing them how Christianity does speak to all of these issues um and really does make the most sense of all of them. So, I mean, that's why I just love the approach of the UCCF um working through the students um on on the ground and actually hearing from them what are their big concerns, what are the things they're wrestling with, be it um hope or loneliness, mental health, stuff like that. Because I think that is
00:20:32
Speaker
the best thing to do is find those points of contact um with people, find the things that they care about, and use those as ways to start you know stepping in and and sharing the gospel with them, although that will probably take a long time. um So I'm conscious that our time is running out very quickly. One of the things that you did mention at the the beginning there is um that aspect of friendship in evangelism. You know, how how does the the relational aspect um help us now evangelism and and what kind of, you know, if there are two or three things you can encourage people to to do in terms of growing those those friendship relationships, specifically for evangelism, what would you say?
The power of relational evangelism
00:21:16
Speaker
Well, we're seeing, I think I said a bit earlier, there's this kind of loneliness pandemic that we're calling it. Though there is a growing sense that people feel they don't know people deeply, they're not growing in their relationships, communities feeling a bit um flaky, but What one thing I think we can all do is think about someone in our life who really can invest in, who we can be intentionally loving.
00:21:47
Speaker
I'm not just because, no not so that we go down the path of, they're a project and so therefore I just have to make them a Christian. People are projects, they're people who we need to love. ah We see that all throughout Jesus' ministry. We see that through Paul's ministry, him loving and getting alongside people. um I love it in 1 Thessalonians where it's not just that they share the gospel, they share their whole lives with them as well. um And I think that's what, we can do and what we're seeing with students, um I've been really encouraging that this year with UCCF of those kind of personal friendships and relationships. um Yeah, whether that is, and I guess it's to everyone, whether it's with a neighbour, it's with your colleagues, sports teammates, friends, um actually really getting alongside them and showing them your authentic self, your authentic faith,
00:22:45
Speaker
um but actually then being able to have conversations with them when those opportunities come. I think actually as they see us live out distinctively for Jesus, but actually just live a normal Christian life, a Christian walk. um They'll be able to see something of Jesus in that. um And then we might feel even more comfortable to them, bring them to church. It won't be just a, hey, I've got an event on, I don't really know you, but you wanna come along. It's actually as my friend, you know they seem to go, you care about this. And so maybe I want to support them in that.
00:23:22
Speaker
um That's where I've seen it. um Best work. We've seen that through friendships this year. a student came along to a Bible study essentially um called Uncover Mark where they just open up Mark's Gospel and there are kind of evangelistic questions alongside it. The CU put on an event where they were doing that and a student from her flat in halls, she was a fresher, just brought him along and he thought, well, why not? She's my friend. And from there, he made friends with other Christians.
00:23:55
Speaker
who really invested in him, would bring him along to things, would bring him along to social things. um And eventually he became a Christian last year. um And I think that's where we're really seeing it done beautifully. um And so I just yeah encourage everyone that it can be quite simple. and We don't have to overthink it too much. Really do keep praying for the people around you or think, who is that person that God has placed in my life um who I could really invest in and love well? And when those opportunities come, can I take them? um Let's take them. I really love them as Jesus loves us.
00:24:40
Speaker
Amen. Yeah, that's great wisdom speaking there. So thank you so much for that. That's such good advice. Oh, man, there's there's so much more that I could ask you and keep getting ready. Yeah, we do need to um bring this to a close. um And so, yeah, thank you again so much for being with us. um If somebody wants to follow you a little bit more, just get involved um and support you in the ministry, ah how could they do that? Thank
How to support Amber's ministry
00:25:08
Speaker
you. Yes, if you go on to the UCCF website, you can find under the support bit the staff workers, um or you can type my name in, which is Amber Nesbitt, UCCF. And on that, um there's a way to sign up to my prayer letters where you'll see a bit more personally what's going on in the ministry. um There's also um a link if
00:25:31
Speaker
um I also have to raise my own salary as well, so if um there's financial support as well, um if you want to support it yeah financially, um and then if you want to just email me and talk to me, we'd love to hear from you as well and pray for the evangelistic opportunities in your own lives as well. Perfect, thanks so much. We will um get the link for for that particular page and we'll put it in the the wording for this podcast has lots of people just click on that and find you. um So yeah, that's our time done. Thank you again so much for joining us. And as always, we will see you again in two weeks time. Cheerio for now.