Proposal to sow studentsoul Beyond Dunedin

Studentsoul in Auckland

The vision of studentsoul has always included the development of ministry to students through churches on campus across the nation.   Now, the Dunedin/Otago University model of studentsoul has been taken to a different part of the country.   This next studentsoul plant has taken place in Auckland in partnership with The Richard Maclaurin Goodfellow Foundation Trust.    Much research and time has gone into enabling this dynamic church plant. 

Studentsoul National in partnership with Auckland Presbytery, St Andrews Presbyterian Church and the McLaurin Chapel Trust Board appointed Rev Howard Carter to plant studentsoul at Auckland University in 2009. The Goodfellow Trust generously committed to underwrite the resourcing of studentsoul on Auckland University Campus for the next few years.  

If you are attending Auckland University in 2010 and would like to be a part of this new church please contact Howard at howardkris.carter@xtra.co.nz

THE STUDENTSOUL MODEL

Studentsoul, as a café style outreach mission for students, was established in 2002 under the guidance of the Synod of Otago and Southland, and through the Dunedin Presbytery.  It has now become linked to a church context as a special outreach project of Leith Valley Presbyterian Church, continuing to be funded as a mission of the Synod and Presbytery and supported by other local churches. Studentsoul was planted on the Dunedin campus for the sole purpose of providing a church environment in the first instance for Presbyterian students, and for those searching for a different way to "do" church. It has proven that some of the above trends happening in the PCANZ can be reversed.

Without having any conditions or particular model attached to it, studentsoul was able to evolve with its sole focus on the needs and culture of the 18-25 year old person at a tertiary institution in Dunedin. Yet at the heart of it were deep roots in the Presbyterian Church and its ethos.  In many ways it is a modern day version of the Bible Class movement, in that it has gathered and developed a solid community of faith and fun and begun to seed the call of leaders for mission and ministry in the future.

Over 130 students from across the country attend weekly services during the semesters. It has captured a core of Presbyterian young people who were and would have otherwise gone to other non Presbyterian churches or nowhere at all. It is also reaching students who have not been exposed to the gospel. It is drawing students from a wide variety of church and non church backgrounds, as well as significant numbers of international students.

Studentsoul is a growing community of students who believe in Christ and want to help others to discover a relationship with God through Jesus. It is particularly focused on providing a ministry that integrates the life of faith in Jesus Christ with the special tasks of life as a young adult and student, spirituality, academic experience and emotional and mental health. We aim to provide opportunities for leadership development that prepare students for life beyond academia, and especially for future church and other leadership.

The purpose of studentsoul is to:

We aim to do this through:

Over the last seven years we’ve seen:

Where can we go from here?

From our experience of seven years of leading this ministry, we are more then ever convinced that there is a need for churches like this offering an indigenous place for young adults to find faith and to find wholeness and focus for a life of service. We believe our experience warrants this model being replicated in other tertiary institutions for Christ’s sake and the Gospel’s and for the sake of this generation and our church. It is time to intentionally strategize to retain and grow a new style of Presbyterian Church with great roots and much richness to call forth and seed into a new generation of leaders.

Philosophically this needs:

Specifically a church plant of this nature would take the following conditions and resources: