Over 150 people will celebrate 30 years of Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) ministry at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) with a formal dinner this Saturday night.
Graduates will return to their old campus to thank God for his faithfulness in preserving and growing a Christian witness at UTS.
The night will feature a number of short interviews with people key to the Credo ministry from the 70s, 80s, 90s and the present era.
Guests from Credo's 1970s era will include the Rev Allan Blanch, former rector of St Barnabas, Broadway who greatly assisted the ministry on campus during its fledgling years.
AFES UTS Campus Director Paul Winch says the special event is an opportunity to reminisce over the decades, look to the future and celebrate all God has done.
"The anniversary dinner is another way in which those committed to the cause of Christ at UTS can corporately thank God for his past goodness," Mr Winch says.
Fund for future ministry
Mr Winch says a special ‘30th anniversary fund’ has been established for Credo to seed campus missions over the next decade.
"Donations towards the fund are being reserved explicitly for evangelistic crusades on campus," Mr Winch says.
“As a way of thanking God for his past goodness and expressing our hope in the power of his gospel as we proclaim it over the next decade, we are looking for this fund of $30,000 to be established this year."
Reflections on history
Mr Winch, who has been involved with Credo as both a student and staff worker for over 20 years, recalls his first Credo house party shortly after commencing studies at UTS in 1987.
"About 20 of us were in Bundanoon and we spent a weekend learning together from the Bible and enjoying the other activities," Mr Winch says.
"The campus ministry had a profound impact on my Christian development, so much so that I have pretty much been involved in leadership ever since I started at UTS, firstly as a student and subsequently as a staff worker.”
Credo started informally in 1974 when a number of Christian students, met privately after class. The following year they decided to go public, using the name Christian Union.
In 1977 the Christian Union decided to affiliate with AFES. It is believed that this is when the name was changed to Christian Fellowship, a name used until 1995 when it was changed to Credo.
Credo has always shared close links with St Barnabas', Broadway and many of their archives were lost in last year's fire.
"We had our archives cupboard stored there, so we lost our historical records, past minutes books and old photo-albums," Mr Winch says.
Vision for the future
Third year science student and current Credo President Joel Atwood says Credo's current generation are optimistic about a continuing and developing impact on campus.
Credo currently has around 170 members and the group is looking to more-than-double that number in the next ten years.
“There is a strong feeling amongst us that as we go into the fourth decade of AFES ministry at UTS, we should be looking to God to grow us to a strong group of 400," Mr Atwood says.
"A group of 400 will enable us to be much better placed to reach this campus of over 25,000.”
