I’m Joseph, and I’m serving full time with a university campus ministry named Student Life, at the University of Auckland. Student Life is part of Campus Crusade for Christ International, which is a world-wide organisation dedicated to seeing people won for Christ.

Student Life’s Mission

To change the world by turning lost students into Christ-centered labourers through our movements on campus.

Our mission can be broken up into three parts:

1. Win students to Christ, through evangelism.
2. Build students up in their faith through discipleship, and train them to share their faith.
3. Send those students out win others, making disciples who make disciples!

These things are based on Christ’s command (Matthew 28:19-20):

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Why Students?

Although students only make up 1% of the world’s population, they will go on to control 80% of the world’s wealth and influence.

More and more of the students coming to our universities are international students. They will take back to their home countries the things that influence them the most while they are in New Zealand. Around 30% of students at Auckland Uni are not kiwis.

Put simply, Today’s Students are the future leaders of our society!

Win – the Details

We actively share the Gospel:

One of our major campaigns in the year is called Tune In. We have short questionnaire cards for people to fill out during orientation week. One of the questions asks “Would you like to know more about tuning in to a relationship with God?” The options are ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘maybe’. Around 3000 people filled out a card each semester at Auckland Uni. 2000 of those say ‘yes’ or ‘maybe’ to that question! That’s 2000 opportunities to share the gospel!

We call these 2000 students, and organise to meet them in person. We get to share the gospel with many of them.

Our weekly event:

We have a weekly evangelistic meeting on campus, which provides a non-threatening environment to bring non-Christians to. We have guest speakers, interviews, and skits, which have to do with relevant topics, such as ‘How to study smarter, not harder’. The gospel is presented in a relaxed, natural way in each meeting through the speaker’s testimony.

Build – the Details

There are 3 main ways in which we build up and train students:

1. Action Groups (similar to home/cell groups) teach the basics to the advanced of Christian faith and life, build community and give support.
2. Evangelism training sessions teach students how to relate to non-Christians, how to share the gospel etc.

Send – the Details

Staff and students share the gospel with others on campus regularly. This teaches them how to share so that not only can they talk with their peers, but also their friends and family!

We have both short term missions in NZ (previous trips have included Whangamata and Tahuna beaches), as well as overseas missions sending students to share and work with staff in places such as Thailand.

The Result

Every year, we record around 15,000 gospel conversations with people on our local campuses. This means that the conversation included discussing with the person how and why they could personally receive Jesus Christ as their saviour.

Around 250 people will pray to receive Christ every year through our ministry.

You Can Help Reach Students With Me!

I am looking for people to partner with me in sharing the gospel with students. Part of my job involves me raising financial support to cover my ministry costs and salary.

All money donated goes to the staff member it is specified for, rather than into a general pool. All money goes through our NZ office, which means it’s all accounted for, and is tax-deductible.

If you choose to support me, you can receive regular updates from me about what’s happening in Student Life, prayer requests, etc.

Would you prayerfully consider supporting me? If this ministry sounds like something that you can identify with or believe in, then please contact me so that we can talk further.

Do You Want to Give, or Know More About Giving?

You can contact me and we can discuss this further (for one-off or regular donations). I’d enjoy getting to know you, so this is the best way for us to chat!

You can contact the Tandem Ministries office in New Zealand. You can donate online from here, either by Internet banking or credit card.

For those of you in the United States, you can donate to my ministry online via credit card. (This is tax deductible for US residents.)