Peter Leslie is one of the Melbourne AFES student missionaries. They're a different crew, the Melbourne crew.
Here are some of the wise advice Peter shared with me:
- Students seem to be more passive and Christian students arrive at uni unclear about the gospel. This means that recruiting student leadership is difficult.
- Big Bible talks each week are losing their appeal to students. They want easy access and relevance.
- Issues relating to identity, feeling defiled, losing hope are significant issues on campus right now.
- It is hard to mobilise students in evangelism. Christians feel uncomfortable on campus and so they form a ghetto. The important thing is to teach them how to be comfortable in the world and show them how the gospel is even better than the philosophies of the world.
- Christians don't arrive on campus with a ministry mindset. You have to begin by persuading Christians to be excited about Christ.
- Public advertising is best done through: good website, word of mouth, posters on campus and free giveaways.
- Do a lot of pre-evagelism to persuade people that God and Christ are worth taking seriously.
- When there is no common lunch hour on campus, evening meetings work better.