Life in Fife 5: March 2017 An Update From Matty Guy

Greetings!!

Thank-you all for your continued prayers during this busy month in the life of a Staff Worker! Story St Andrews was a wonderfully encouraging week of mission. It was great to see the CU actively engage both their friends and the wider campus with the good news of Jesus.

 

Dinner Time

All of our events took place in the Story Marquee which was ideally situated outside the library. Each lunchtime we put on a free lunch with an apologetics style talk on one of the big objections to the Christian faith. Every evening we put on a different event, including a wine and cheese evening on the Monday, a gin and jazz event and a hog roast to round off the week. The centrepiece of each of these events was an interview with a CU member sharing their story and a talk from Mark Ellis, our main speaker, on a different encounter with Jesus from John’s Gospel every night.

 

It was a real joy to be a part of Story Week. Having the marquee enables us to create a really welcoming, chilled out environment which lent itself well to good conversations with guests. Events were well attended, with an average of around 150 at each and even more by the end of the week. Praise God for at least one girl who committed her life to Christ on the Friday evening!

 

We also pray on for those who had good conversations during the week and are currently finding out more about what it means to be a Christian. 25 people signed up to take part in Explore, our official follow-up course which runs on Sunday evenings, and 35 signed up for one-on-one conversations with a CU member. Pray for good follow-up for these people and, as they open the Bible for themselves, that people would come to put their trust in Christ.

Day-to-day as a staff worker: Supervision

Peter Dickson

Peter Dickson

In my job I am well supported by a big team of people both nationally from the UCCF head office in Oxford and regionally as part of the Scotland regional team. A few times a term I have the joy of sitting down with Peter Dickson, the Scottish team leader. Pete was born in Edinburgh, raised in St Andrews and was involved in church ministry in Aberdeen for about 24 years before taking the job as Scotland team leader. As well as supervising the Scotland Staff Workers individually he and his wife Eleanor warmly open their home once a month to host us for team days. Pete is a wise, caring and warm boss to work for and is great at supporting us in our work on the ground. Pray that he’d have wisdom in leading the work in Scotland and fulfilling the wider, national duties that being a UCCF team leader entails, and that he’d be kept walking closely with Christ as does all of these things!

 I never cease t be amazed by the potential of CU ministry. There is, every year, the likelihood that many students will come to faith in Christ, experience Christian leadership for the first time and learn what the true priorities of the gospel are, whatever their church background. I have the privilege of supporting a committed and gifted team of staff and Relays who model the grace of the Lord Jesus which is the foundation of all our work. Pete Dickson, Scotland team leader

March Madness

Mission week season has drawn to a close, but it’s full steam ahead in the life of a staff worker in Scotland! This weekend we have Forum Scotland, an annual training weekend for CU leaders from all over Scotland. About 130 students will be gathering in Kinross for a weekend of teaching, training and fellowship as Hamish Sneddon, an associate pastor in St Andrews, will lead us through the book of Galatians.

 

Listening in

Following on from this is the planning weekend for the new SAUCU committee. They’ll be heading to Anstruther to spend a couple of days planning the year ahead in CU mission. Pray that they’d get to know each other well and use what they’ve learned at Forum to bless the wider CU.

 

 

As well as this I’ll be speaking at Queen Margaret CU, Stirling CU and at Edenderry CE, a youth group in my hometown. Pray for good prep time for all of these opportunities, in particular the Stirling CU event. This will be an evangelistic evening entitled “The gospel according to Beyoncé”, where musicians will play some of Beyoncé’s songs and I’ll give a talk on any points of contact with the gospel. This will be a challenge, but one I’m looking forward to!

 

The Edenderry CE talk will take place during a long weekend at home to celebrate a big birthday for my mum, so pray that I’d also get a good restful time with family and friends in the midst of a busy month. 

Support Raising 

 

 

Another talk 

As I’ve said before in my updates, the work of UCCF depends entirely on the generous support of sacrificial people. Each staff worker builds a team of prayer and financial supporters, aiming to raise the entire cost of hiring a full time staff worker over their time in the post (this amounts to £27,000 per year). I am very thankful for all of my supporters who partner with me both in prayer and through giving financially – it’s both very encouraging and truly humbling when people get behind the vision of CUs and want to give sacrificially towards supporting and growing it.

 

If you’re reading this I’d like to thank-you for your ongoing prayerful support this year! Please do specifically pray for me as I seek to keep growing my team of supporters this year. If you’d like to also partner with me financially then please do get in touch and I can give you more information! You can also sign up to give online at

 

https://www.uccf.org.uk/give/staff-worker.htm

 

Prayer Requests

Give thanks for:

  • An encouraging, fruitful week of mission at Story St Andrews with lots of good conversations
  • The blessings of team life
  • A generous team of prayer and financial supporters

 

Please pray for:

  • Helpful teaching and training for CU leaders at Forum Scotland
  • Wisdom and good time in preparing various talks
  • A restful time at home

 

Regards:

Matty Guy

 

 

 

Matty Guy

Matty is from Northern Ireland, but has moved around Britain quite a lot since leaving for Uni.

It was during his time at Newcastle University that Matty really learned the importance of evangelism, and started to get enthusiastic about seeing students reached with the gospel, and he’s praying for lots of opportunities to see this happening in St. Andrew’s.

Matty loves writing poems, reading books and listening to an eclectic musical collection comprising everything from Busted to Bruce Springsteen. He's also a big Newcastle United fan, though that's not been a huge source of joy recently.

Matty will be working with the University of St Andrew's CU to help further their mission in the Gospel.