I'd like to say that I remember the first time the nine of us met together but I can't find the memory. I have plenty of other memories of the nine of us together to choose from though.
We were the new Executive Committee of our university's Christian Union (CU). A bunch of eager 19 and 20 year-olds who had the responsibility of leading the CU for the next year. We were all from different tribes of evangelicalism and attended a variety of churches between us. Between us there was (and continues to be) differing views over several 'secondary' theological issues and so there was plenty of potential for disagreements. But we were all united in the fundamentals of the Gospel and committed to helping our fellow Christian students make Christ known at our university.
That year we organised evangelistic events and talks, encouraged each other and our fellow students to pray, tried to help Christian students to get stuck into local churches, hosted CU meetings and weekends away, supported our small group student leaders and tried to share the Gospel with our own friends. We worked hard together, as well as being involved in our own churches and even managed to fit in some studying for our degrees as well.
We hadn't chosen each other as friends but had been thrown together by virtue of us all being asked to, and then agreeing, to take on different roles on the 'Exec'. But we spent a lot of time with each other and we grew close that year. We prayed together a lot. We laughed until we cried and sometimes we actually cried. In fact, after we'd finished our official duties and were no longer constrained to spend time together, we voluntarily went away for a few days as a group. I'd been a Christian since I was a fairly young child, but I grew so much that year and a lot of it was due to those people.
One conversation we had made a strong impression on me. I don't remember the specifics but I do remember the atmosphere becoming serious and the sober looks passed between us. Somehow it had come up in conversation that many people who were professing, active Christians at university slid away from the faith after graduation and during their 20s. Someone might have quoted some statistics about the percentage who fall away - I have no idea how substantiated they were. But we were mature enough to realise that having been CU leaders, dedicated in our Christian service, was no guarantee of continuing on in the faith. I remember the feeling of looking at each other, hoping that we'd prove the genuineness of our faith by keeping going.
Since then life has moved on and we've lost contact as a group. Some of us have kept in touch with others and, predictably, we've mostly seen each other at weddings. So it was a joy last week to have a ten year virtual reunion via a video call. Eight of us were able to make it, and there was news of the ninth person too. For one evening, we picked up where we'd left off in our friendships as we talked and laughed together. And I could have cried to hear that we are all continuing to follow Jesus.
As we all shared our different stories of what we've been doing in the last decade and how God has been at work in our lives, God's faithfulness shone through so clearly. There were happy updates of marriage, children, church life, work and house moves. The disappointments and griefs were given space too. They were all a monument to God's goodness.
This is not to boast in our own staying power though. For one thing, we're all only 30-ish years old! God willing, we have a lot of the race yet to run. Yet much more importantly, it is the Lord who keeps us. I firmly believe that no genuine Christian can fall away from the faith; the God who has called us will bring us safely home.
It's been a strange and difficult last couple of months. But in the midst of everything going on, I'm so glad that we were able to take a couple of hours to celebrate God's goodness to us. We raised our virtual Ebenezer and proclaimed that the Lord has helped us this far. And we prayed that God would keep us over the next ten years - and beyond - and finish the good work that he has started in each of us.
