Sydney University Evangelical Union
Encyclopedia
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
since 1930. It is affiliated with the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students
Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students
The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students is an evangelical Christian parachurch organisation that aims to encourage university students to believe in and follow Jesus Christ...
(AFES) and the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students is an association of about 136 evangelical Christian student movements worldwide, encouraging evangelism, discipleship and mission among students. The goal of the organisation is to establish local autonomous student movements in every country...
.The EU has throughout its history maintained a relationship with St Barnabas Anglican Church
St. Barnabas, Broadway
St Barnabas, Broadway is an Anglican church in the Diocese of Sydney, Australia. The church property is located on Broadway, near the University of Sydney....
in Broadway
Broadway, New South Wales
Broadway is a road in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The road constitutes the border between the suburbs of Ultimo and Chippendale . Broadway is also an urban locality....
and the Sydney Anglican culture in general whilst retaining a non-denominational base. The EU is also quite unique amongst its contemporary AFES affiliates in having a student-staff partnership, in contrast to other groups (such as Campus Bible Study
Campus Bible Study
Campus Bible Study was established in 1975 at the University of New South Wales by the then Anglican chaplain Phillip Jensen...
at the University of New South Wales
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
) which has maintained a staff-run model.
In 2002, the publication by the Union of a statement during their on-campus mission, "absoluteGod", encouraging students to investigate Christianity, was signed by 22 senior academics at the university and worried many for allegedly damaging the religious and racial tolerance at the university.
Description
The executive meet weekly with two senior staff members from the EU Graduates Fund (the body responsible for employing staff to work in partnership with the EU). This meeting of students and staff is called the SMEAS - Special Meeting of Executive And Staff - and is, according to the standing orders of the EU:
to assess the state of the SUEU and to create and implement strategies to achieve the Objects with the approval of the General Council and with the assistance of Faculty Groups and Specialist Committees.
The EU is governed by the General Committee. This is made up of the student executive, a male and female faculty leaders (who represent the EU's 11 faculties and in turn lead committees to run ministry in their faculty) and senior students appointed by the General Committee to run activities such as Public Meetings, Annual Conference and the I.T. team.
Activities include sermon
Sermon
A sermon is an oration by a prophet or member of the clergy. Sermons address a Biblical, theological, religious, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law or behavior within both past and present contexts...
s in Public Meetings, faculty based small group bible studies
Bible study (Christian)
In Christianity, Bible study is the study of the Bible by ordinary people as a personal religious or spiritual practice. Some denominations may call this devotion or devotional acts; however in other denominations devotion has other meanings...
, prayer meetings, several conferences including Annual Conference and Equip, along with mission trips. Most of these activities are organized by specialist teams which are led by Senior Students appointed by General Committee. The specialist teams are also known as Student-Staff teams as they are made up of both students and staff. The EU regularly runs events designed to attract new members, and in 2008 the EU hosted a campus-wide festival, with scores of events taking place throughout the university
Notable people
- Peter Jensen
- Phillip JensenPhillip JensenPhillip Jensen is an Australian cleric of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney and the Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral. He is the brother of Peter Jensen, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney.-Education and ministry:...
- Sir Marcus LoaneMarcus LoaneSir Marcus Lawrence Loane KBE was the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney from 1966–1982 and Primate of Australia from 1978–1982. He was the first Australian-born Archbishop of Sydney and also the first Australian-born archbishop within the Anglican Church of Australia.Loane was born in...
- Catherine HamlinCatherine HamlinCatherine Hamlin , AC, MBBS, FRCS, FRANZCOG, FRCOG is an Australian obstetrician and gynaecologist who, with her late husband New Zealander Dr. Reg Hamlin, co-founded the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the world's only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free obstetric fistula repair...
- Robert ForsythRobert ForsythRobert Forsyth is the Anglican Bishop of South Sydney - a region of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney. He has been bishop since 2000. Prior to that he was the rector of St. Barnabas, Broadway.- Personal life:...
- Bruce BairdBruce BairdBruce George Baird, AM , is a former Australian politician.-Early life:Baird was born in Sydney, and was educated at the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne, holding a master's degree in business administration from the latter...
History
Further reading
- Lake, Meredith (2005), Proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord. The EU Graduates Fund: Sydney. ISBN 0646452789
- Prince, John and Moyra (1987), Out of the Tower. ANZEA: Sydney. ISBN 0858923092