With thousands of students back into lectures this week, students in the York area have been invited to ‘plug into’ the local church by a new website constructed by One Voice, a group of churches in York that meet to work and pray together, The Good News reports.

|PIC1|“We have over 10,000 students arriving in York and the ethos of the site is to try and make connections with local churches,” says Stephen Redman of The Ark, York, and editor of York Students.

The tagline of the new website is “plug into your local church” and the local churches are hoping York students will do just that.

Mr Redman added that churches in York can no longer ignore this huge influx of people that accompanies the start of the new academic year and that the churches need to serve them and let then know what is there for them.

“At this time of huge change and pressure, students can get maximum benefit from the support functions of the Church and from being involved too,” he said.

The first few weeks of university are often the most crucial in getting new students planted into the church community. He said: “It is also true that many Christian young people ‘slip away’ after a term or two at university. Getting plugged in will minimise this.

|QUOTE|“Instead of considering students a passing migrant population, we should welcome them and involve them, provide pastoral care and give them every opportunity to share their faith.”

The new website was launched on 1 September in order to have it catalogued by the major search engines by the end of the month, explained Mr Redman.

The site is also set to expand with local churches already invited to participate in the initiative by contributing their own articles. Students have also been asked to send in their own stories of how plugging in is helping them.

“We will add to the content continually, so that there is always something new to read, and as we develop more links from the site and all these other elements we hope to increase the traffic on the site because there will be more reasons to come back – and more of an incentive to get plugged in,” explained Mr Redman.

|TOP|One Voice has been busy advertising the new website, issuing flyers throughout higher education colleges, as well as posting downloadable banner adverts on the site for churches to upload onto their own sites.

“It is very difficult to advertise the Church on campus these days – in fact it is almost impossible, but advertising a website is much more straightforward – and every student uses the Internet.”

Mr Redman recounted the importance of the church in his own experience as a student. He said: “Freedom, exciting changes, but overall two things: being part of a local church that changed my thinking for the rest of my life, and getting to know people who have been friends ever since.

“I guess that life is all about knowing God and getting on with people – and that was my experience as a student.”

York Students can be accessed at www.yorkstudents.org