Home » Thoughts for the Week » Starting well at Uni (14 September)

Starting well at Uni (14 September)

Starting Well at Uni

In the next few days and weeks thousands of students will be starting their first year at university. Many of them will be living away from home for the first time. They will be doing this with a backdrop of a cost-of-living crisis, and the recent death of the Queen, whose constant presence would have previously been an important symbol of normalcy for many.

Our prayer for all of these newcomers is that they will start this new chapter, well. That said, what might they need to help them start well?

Over the coming weeks wearing my chaplaincy role hat, I will be helping out in a ‘Starting Well’ initiative for new students of all belief backgrounds, to address some of their needs.

Students will be given the opportunity to explore wellbeing holistically along these lines:

How to make friends and have healthy relationships (Relational wellbeing);

How to Thrive in Transition (mental/emotional wellbeing);

Time Management (practical wellbeing);

Mindfulness (mental/emotional wellbeing);

Eating Well/Being Active (physical wellbeing); and

How to answer some of the big questions of life while at university (spiritual wellbeing).

As I prepare to help out in these sessions, I have found the image of Paul in Athens (Acts 17) has constantly come to mind. For I am sure as facilitators, we will have discussions with students about all the latest ideas, uncover all sorts of things the students are putting their trust in, and be asked about the God we know and put our trust in. Like Paul our responses to their questions may illicit a range of responses, from laughter to a desire to hear more (or no more). May we have the confidence of Paul to handle their responses well!

Please join us in praying that God will be at work in us, students, student workers, and chaplains in our regions and across the UK, as he works out his plans to help new students start well at university.

N.B The ‘Starting Well’ initiative is inspired by resources on the Agapé UK YouTube Channel entitled ‘Starting Well at Uni.’ These resources are available at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzM3KXwozm7Q9g-hpJ3w3Pg/videos