Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students
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The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is an evangelical Christian parachurch organisation that aims to encourage university students to believe in and follow Jesus Christ. It is affiliated with, and in 1947 was a founding member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.
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[edit] History
The group was founded in 1930 by a young English evangelist, Howard Guinness, who emigrated from England to encourage university students in evangelism. He formed a number of groups in 1930 in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, among which are the Sydney University Evangelical Union (SUEU) and Melbourne University Christian Union (MUCU), both of whom celebrated their 75th anniversary in 2005. Guinness returned in 1934 and founded groups in Perth and Adelaide.
The groups joined together to form a network in 1936 as the Australian Intervarsity Fellowship or IVF, which later changed its name to the AFES in 1973. It had over 2000 members by 1959[citation needed], and today has groups in over 50 campuses across the country in every state and territory, and employs over 200 staffworkers who look after the students on their various campuses.
[edit] 2005: Year of Tertiary Evangelism
In 2005, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first student groups in Australia, the AFES ran a "Year of Tertiary Evangelism" involving coordinated events on university campuses throughout the country. The theme of the year was "For Christ's Sake", a phrase normally used in swearing, though used here to promote the Christian message itself. Besides the events on specific university campuses, the AFES ran various evangelistic rallies with many Christian groups from different universities attending.
[edit] Mission and Theology
The theology of AFES is evangelical in character. AFES attempts to be inclusive of people from all Christian denominations who profess a conservative Christian faith.
Mission statement of AFES—
To promote the mission of Christ in Australian universities by building evangelical student groups that:
- evangelise students by proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord
- encourage growth toward maturity in Christ
- train students in the skills and character to serve Jesus and his people
- send graduates throughout Australia and the world to serve Christ[1]
Doctrinal basis of AFES—
- The divine inspiration and infallibility of Holy Scripture as originally given and its supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
- The unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Godhead.
- The universal sinfulness and guilt of humanity since the fall, rendering men and women subject to God's wrath and condemnation.
- The conception of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit and his birth by the Virgin Mary.
- Redemption from the guilt, penalty and power of sin only though the sacrificial death, as our representative and substitute, of Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God.
- The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
- The necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit to make the death of Christ effective in the individual sinner, granting him or her repentance towards God, and faith in Jesus Christ.
- The indwelling and work of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
- The expectation of the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ.[2]
[edit] Activities
AFES groups run a variety of activities, such as regular public Bible talks, smaller Bible studies, prayer groups, mid-year conferences and evangelistic outreach events. These activities are organised and run by both staff and students.
Each year in December, the AFES runs a National Training Event (NTE). This consists of a four to five day training conference, followed by several days of mission. Recent NTE conferences have been hosted at Australian National University in Canberra, and are attended by up to 1000 students from around Australia. The mission aspect of the NTE takes place in conjunction with churches around Australia.
[edit] Staff
As of 2007, the national director of AFES is Richard Chin. He was preceded by Kerry Nagel.
Staff are employed through AFES for the particular university campuses. Each staff member must raise his or her own financial support, which is sent to AFES by supporters and paid out to staff as a salary. (Many supporters of AFES staff are former AFES students who are now in paid employment.)
Staff typically begin working for AFES with a two year "traineeship". After completing the traineeship, they may move to a more senior position.
[edit] Publications
AFES publishes a biannual magazine called Salt.
