Daniel Gebert's reflections

Some people are reluctant to get involved in their campus’ Christian group, but hang around on the fringes – you can tell they’re just there for the free sausage. I wasn’t one of those people. Despite the fact that I’d never heard of ‘Christian Union’, ‘evangelicals’, or ‘expository preaching’, I jumped in head first. After realising in my final year at school that I had hardly any Christian friends, I hoped there would be some Christian group I could get involved with when I started Uni in 2003. There was something about the culture, the welcoming attitude, the warm acceptance as a brother, which made it clear that this was the group for me. 

God had more planned for me than just making friends. I would say that God used my 6 years at Christian Union to turn me from a believer in Jesus, into a disciple of Christ. Before this time, I believed the gospel, I read my Bible, but I didn’t know what difference this made day-to-day. The Bible teaching at CU was more in-depth, but also more accessible, than anything I had experienced before. I remember a particularly lucid series Dave preached on the book of Revelation, which opened it up to me for the first time. When I was disoriented by new ideas, there was support. I recall sending Dave quite a melodramatic email after questions were raised in my mind about the persistence of the more dramatic gifts of the Spirit. He patiently invited me to his house to talk it over. 

As my comprehension of God’s word grew, so did my realisation of its implications. If Jesus had bought me at the price of his own life, if I was freed from sin and raised with him; if this was a free gift of God’s grace, how could I but be willing to give my whole life to his service in thanks? I was able, by the support of my CU leaders and peers, to grow towards this goal. The initiatives organised by CU provided practical experience in Christian ministry and local mission. I am now an ordinand with the Anglican Church – a path in which Christian Union played a significant role. I thank God for how he used my time there. I pray that he will use Dave and Cathy’s work in Queensland, the Northern Territory, and overseas, to turn many more young believers into disciples of Christ.

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