Is your faith “crazy for God?”
While leading a student conference in Queensland, Australia, John Mayne – a staff member with Power to Change, the name for Cru in Australia – told students he was moving to Perth, a city on the opposite side of the country, to help start a campus ministry there. John challenged the students to join him.
He gave 3 options for helping launch campus ministries at Curtin University and the University of Western Australia.
- Become a full-time missionary.
- Commit a year of your life to help launch the ministry.
- Transfer to the university there and work on your degree while helping start the college ministry there.
Timothy Watkin accepted the challenge. He wanted to boldly follow God, so he transferred to Curtin University for a semester.
“I thought it was crazy originally, but then I thought, God wants me to be crazy for Him,” he says. “Why not give it a go, if He opens the doors.”
Curtin University’s student body includes more than 40,000 students on 5 campuses. Overall, 100,000 students, including 30,000 international students, live in Western Australia.
During the first few weeks, Timothy and his team talked with about 300 students. Many would listen to the gospel story, but often they were very apathetic. They would say things like, “Ok, it’s a cool story.” But they would ultimately reject it.
In his semester there, the campus weekly meetings averaged about 10 students, and Timothy saw about 20 people attend the mid-year conference. This year, Timothy has heard that more people are involved and participating in campus outreach. He has moved back to Eastern Australia.
When God challenges you to take a step of faith, whether big or small, how do you respond? Let’s look at a few responses from Moses.
In Exodus 3 and 4, Moses talks with God. First, God uses the burning bush to get Moses’ attention. God waits for Moses’ response. Moses turns toward the burning bush. “When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am” (Exodus 3:4).
God is looking how we respond to His leading, calling and word. Moses responds obediently again: “Here I am,” he says.
God gives Moses two imperatives: “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). God instructs Moses what to do and why:
- Don’t come near.
- Remove your sandals. Why? The ground is holy because God is there.
Next, God tells Moses who He is: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God” (Exodus 3:5).
After God tells Moses who He is, God maps out His plans. He explains why He has called Moses and the mission He has for him. We may initially respond well to God as Moses did. But then fear sets in. We look inward at our self, instead of upward at who God is.
“Our view of God determines our walk with God,” said Cru co-founder Bill Bright.
Sometimes God asks us to take a step of faith and we say, “Who me?” Here are some reasons Moses hesitated:
- “Who am I?” (Exodus 3:11)
- “Who are You, God?” (Exodus 3:13)
- “What if…” (Exodus 4:1)
- “Please, Lord, I’m not a public speaker” (Exodus 4:10).
- “Please, Lord, send someone else.” (Exodus 4:13).
Has God been challenging you to take a specific step of faith? If so, how have you responded? Do you consider who God is when He calls?
Here are some faith step opportunities with Cru to consider:
- Get Involved with Cru on a nearby campus.
- Apply for your first mission trip.
- Start a Cru ministry on your campus.
- Join us.
- Find out more about internship opportunities.
- How to discern God’s will and calling
- Hear from others like Timothy who stepped out in faith and studied abroad to advance the gospel and grow in their faith.
- 8 ideas from Friday summer outreaches that you can use any day throughout the year to step out in faith. Choose a faith challenge that you can implement this week: Faith Step Fridays
