Stories from Coventry
Tracy Mumbi from CLM Church Coventry found an amazing strategy to use the CAMPUS Film Series with her community of over 50 students!
Read on to hear her insight, experience, encouragement, and be inspired with ways you can see your students built up in their identity in Christ, and releasing His kingdom on their campus.
Hi Tracy, how did you find using the film series?
We found out about the series a very long time ago through the Campus Project website. We loved the series but were just exploring the right time and way to execute, and we think we found it!
There are several things we loved about the series. Firstly, anyone could have something to engage with. Whether you are a Christian or not, in first year or not, joining from the start or not, a reflective person or not, every student has had or is having a first-year experience that they could share about.
The questions were thought provoking, relevant and necessary to any stage of university. It gave first years an opportunity to set off on the right foot, thinking about the kind of people they want to be (especially as Christians).
What I would say to other student leaders considering running this series is GO FOR IT!!
What strategy / framework do you think worked best with your students?
Given how much conversation could come out of the questions, we had considered doing the series outside of our weekly student settings by putting small clusters of students together (3-4) to meet together in coffee shops. Although this could have made for great relationship building, logistically this could have been much more difficult to put together at the start of the academic year when students are still settling and could mean others miss out on engaging with the content.
We landed on running the series initially as one large group of over 50 students with discussions on small tables of maximum 8 (including a leader) and opportunities to feedback room-wide. This worked well as students were still building rapport and groups were still getting established. After week 3, the series was continued in small groups. This fit really well as by Week 3 we were able to exhort students to commit to community and by week 4 they could share more candidly in small groups about ‘Living in the Open’.
How did it impact your students, and what advice would you give to other student leaders who might want to try the same?
The fact that students got to hear other student experiences in a large room helped them feel they are not alone both in their struggles as well as in their fight to live upright during university. It’s just been encouraging to see how much the students have had to say, especially when discussing on tables and how much this series has potential to pull out issues relevant to student life.
What I would say to other student leaders considering running this series is GO FOR IT!! This series has really helped to set the tone for students as they look ahead on their academic year. The questions presented are crucial for ANY Christian to be considering and especially Christians coming into an environment where their faith may be challenged and temptations may come, it can help students in thinking and living carefully. This series can also be really helpful in gauging for you as a leader, where you student community is currently at and what their needs could be moving forward.
Thanks so much Tracy. Could you pray for everyone reading?
Thanks! Yes. God I thank you for every person reading this, whatever sphere of influence they are in. I pray that you would give them a heart of wisdom, diligence and tact for the roles they play within their communities. I pray for every student that may engage with series, may it provoke their hearts to live single-mindedly and whole-heartedly for You! Amen.
Tracy Mumbi
Student Pastor at CLM Church, Coventry.
Use the campus film series with your students!