Giving Christian students a voice in their schools

Brad Hawkes

Heather Bellamy chatted with Brad Hawkes, the International Coordinator from student organisation New Generation:

Heather: So what is New Generation and what is it trying to achieve?

Brad: New Generation is a network of young people across the globe aiming to put Jesus back into schools, colleges and universities. Through prayer and creative evangelism we want to make sure that every person is given an honest chance to hear the Gospel. As an organisation we encourage, train and resource young people to start student-led groups in their schools. We do this with the help of travelling teams, websites, training courses, conferences, books and multimedia.

London group

Heather: How many groups are there in the UK and what do they do?

Brad: So far, we only have a handful of active groups in the UK but many young people have hooked up with the network and we're focusing on helping them and getting their groups up-and-running this term. New Generation's focus is prayer and evangelism, and under the motto "My School, My Responsibility" our groups aim to both share Jesus with their classmates and make their schools a better place. In other countries where we've been around a little longer, we have groups at up to a quarter of the schools, colleges and universities in the whole nation.

Group poster

Heather: Why do you think support groups are important for Christians in school? And why do you think it's important for these young people to share their faith with others?

Brad: We believe it's good for young Christians to adopt a lifestyle of sharing their faith early, as it's a natural part of the Christian walk we see is strongly encouraged in the Bible. This may not always be easy, especially with today's racial tension and religious conflict, but this doesn't change the fact that all Christians are called to share their message. Our support groups, or teams as we call them, are there to encourage the students, provide them with resources and back them up in every possible way. Teenagers have a tendency not to plan too far ahead and can have a hard time with things like finding resources, printing bibles and tracts, making trailers etc. This is where we come in.

Heather: Why do you think many Christians are still hesitant to be known as Christians, whether at school or elsewhere, when people from other faiths don't seem to have that problem?

Brad: Personally, I believe the concept of humility and meekness has often been confused with keeping quiet and trying not to offend anyone. This idea has turned way too many genuine and passionate Christians into harmless wimps, and somewhere along the line the body of Christ has lost its boldness, whereas many other religions seem not to have this struggle. Many other faiths have for example adopted a style of dress that displays their conviction, whereas Christianity has for many become a private religion. We want to change this trend, by providing everything from t-shirts and posters to school bags and notepads with a visible Christian message.

Countries in orange are ones New Generation are already working within in Europe

Heather: Do you find schools in the UK open to allowing Christian clubs/events/work? Do you see any difference in schools in other countries?

Brad: On the whole, schools in the UK are positive to any student-led activity, even Christian lunch clubs, unions etc. In some areas, they may be more hesitant due to a heavy immigrant population but we're finding the UK much more open than for example countries like France where almost any religious activity is schools is forbidden, and where it's government policy to ensure that schools are a secular zone. The UK is a Christian nation with a long Christian heritage also in schools, and we believe it should stay that way!

Heather: Many people are saying that young people are open to spiritual things. Are you seeing that in relation to Christianity and Jesus and is there an increase in witchcraft at the same time?

Brad: A recent European survey tells us that over 80% of all teenagers are interested in faith and religion. I believe the young generation have seen the downsides of materialism and the limitations of science and technology, and that there's a great hunger in the young generation for something greater. Young people want something to live and die for, and long for a higher purpose, which can often lead them down the wrong road. Our job is to make sure that they find what they're looking for, and that the answer is within reach. We're seeing the positive response to young people doing such things as handing out Bibles and sharing the Gospel, and we believe that if we can just harness young people's eagerness to stand up for something and be bold and use it to do something good, then we can see this generation reached with the message about Jesus.

Heather: What are you seeing God doing in schools in the UK and around the world?

Brad: We're seeing young people stand up for what they believe in and doing loads of creative things to share the message of Jesus with their classmates. We really believe that God can use young people even if they don't have a theological degree or years of experience in ministry, and we're seeing it all over the world.

Johan

Heather: What success stories have you heard back from students who are a part of New Generation?

Brad: Where do I start?! One of our classics is a guy named Johan who put up 40 or 50 posters at his school with his face on it together with the words "I'm a Christian, ask me why!". The response was huge and in just 2 days over 40 people had come up to him to ask him why! He was able to pray with several people and not only did he lead some of his classmates to Jesus, but he sparked something that's not only been done in the UK but also been copied in other countries like Switzerland and Indonesia. Another thing we've seen take off in the last 2 or 3 years is our Bible Project. It started with us printing cheap, easy-to-read New Testaments full of colour pages with testimonies and the basics on Christianity. We then encouraged our groups to hand them out to their classmates at graduation or Christmas. In just three years over 125 000 Bibles have been handed out in the UK, Sweden, Finland and Norway. We're currently working on Bibles for Iceland and Russia, and we're seeing amazing fruit even now after just a couple of years. The best thing with the Bibles is that we're just doing the behind-the-scenes work and that the actual evangelising is being done by young people, which is one of the main goals we have as an organisation.

Heather: If anyone would like to see a group set up in their school, whether in the UK or abroad, how would they go about that?

Brad: We have information on our website about how to get involved and there are even online sign-up forms, but the best way to get started is to contact us at the UK/International office. We can be reached at info@newgeneration.co.uk or 0121 7774104.