UCCF: Our Story
In 1919 Norman Grubb was a young student at Cambridge University. He wrote Before I left university, the Spirit distinctly came on me to go and speak in no uncertain terms to all I knew personally who had not accepted Christ, or who at least showed no sign of spiritual life. There had been this definite ‘commission’ that I had to give myself to witness in the university. I went and pulled no punches, and a number came out for Christ, about sixteen of them. This caused a stir like a touch of revival. As I shared these experiences with others in the Christian Union, it came like a vision to me that every university and college in Britain and the world should have its evangelical and witnessing Christian Union, as we had. Little did I then realise that this was the start of what has since grown to become the world-wide ‘Christian Union’ Fellowship, now in hundreds and probably thousands of colleges in all nations.
In 1947 UCCF: The Christian Unions (formerly the Inter-Varsity Fellowship) was one of ten founding members of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) and continues to play a significant role in the global fellowship. Today there are approximately 20,000 students involved in over 350 CUs across Great Britain. For over 80 years “UCCF: The Christian Unions” has sought to be a faithful witness to Christ in the student world.
UCCF has been located in Leicester since moving there from Bedford Square, London in 1976. Even though Leicester is a university town with good rail links to London, it is not well positioned for short visits and this has limited the creative influence of UCCF in wider Christian circles.
As the end of UCCF’s current lease in Leicester approaches, the question of UCCF’s positioning, both geographically and in terms of influence has come to the fore. After much prayer and consideration, UCCF plans to re-locate to Oxford. Not only will this position UCCF at the heart of a world university centre, it will also facilitate a co-location with IFES, releasing a number of opportunities for cost savings and synergy.
