The latest on CU mission and Covid-19

Thank you for your prayers for us over these past couple of months. We were successful in our application to the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) and have received the rebate for April salaries, as per the terms of the scheme. We are grateful to the Lord for this provision and to the UK government in supporting a Christian charity who have been employing staff for nearly a century.

Updates on Furlough

Towards the end of May and beginning of June, we are gradually bringing our staff back from Furlough leave to form different work parties and to focus on specific projects. Some will be working on the Relay Transition conference, others on planning Forum (our national student leaders’ training conference in August) and helping CUs to plan for freshers’ weeks, and some working on the production of resources for the new website that is being constructed. Some are coming back for just a short period, whereas others are coming back for several weeks or permanently. Sadly, but inevitably, all of our summer teams (international and UK-based) had to be cancelled due to recent restrictions.

Do please pray that staff, whether coming back to work for longer or shorter periods or remaining on Furlough, will be sustained and refreshed and be able to be effective and creative within a very different university landscape in September. With no prospect of universities opening anytime soon and yet the need to be ready for Forum and freshers’ weeks (in whatever form) we will need to master this new way of working fast.

An encouraging response from the CUs

It has been a great encouragement to see how the Christian Unions have returned from the Easter break and continued to give their coursemates and uni friends the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news of Christ. At a time when social isolation is being felt more keenly by many, the loving and welcoming community of CUs is providing a striking witness. Of course, there are challenges to overcome but we pray the Lord uses this time to draw many more students to Himself. You can see what some of the CUs have been up to these past few weeks here.

We realise that for many of you reading this, you too will be finding this economic downturn greatly alarming and constraining. We do not in any way take your continued prayerful and financial support for granted. The opportunities ahead of us in UCCF will be difficult but vital and the CU communities of Christians on campus will become more even more significant after the suffering and dislocation caused by this pandemic.

Thank you so much for standing with us.

Richard Cunningham

UCCF Director