Celebrating Our First Year Of Formation!
Just last month we gathered with supporters and celebrated the graduation of our first cohort of Formation Workers, seven graduates who spent the past 10 months growing both personally in their faith and helping form and shape students to boldly live and speak for Jesus in their university. It was wonderful to hear the stories of how God used these brave Formation Workers this year as we gathered together.
The Lord had called Beth, Eliel, Jed, Laura, Mary, Sandra and Zion to be the Formation Originals! They took the brave step of entering a brand-new programme. Though they came from diverse academic backgrounds (Accounting & Finance, Sports Science, Digital Marketing, Fine Art, and more!), each of our Formation Workers gained valuable experience that will serve them for the rest of their lives!
It involved raising their own finances (while growing a reliance on God’s provision!), accepting a supervisor’s leadership and guidance, reading and studying the whole Bible, and taking part in campus mission through supporting and equipping university students across Ireland through one-on-one mentoring, preparing and delivering training sessions and seminars, event planning, content creation, public speaking, and student-led activities!
This is how one of them summed it up: “This was an epic journey in my life. It has also given me a boost in my knowledge of God. Formation has helped me to study the Word of God more and pushed me to be more like Christ.”
Beyond the practical ways they’ve grown, this adventure has brought many challenges. Some struggled to raise the funds they needed; some found students unresponsive; there were personal losses, too, but they stayed the course. They finished what they started, and all of them gave thanks to the Shepherd who had brought them through it all.
It’s been a privilege for CUI to host a programme that supports and invests in these Formation Workers, and we are excited to see where God takes them in their next steps. We welcome our next cohort of Formation Workers! So please, join us in praying for the new incoming cohort of Formation Workers.
