Open University Christian Union

A warm welcome to those of you who are reading this article! We are thankful for the opportunity to share a little bit about ourselves, in who we are, what we do and how we became a Society!

Who we are

The aim of the group is to help cultivate an interest in Christianity! The group is not exclusive to Christians – we have a number of people who have joined our group to ask the questions they may not feel comfortable asking elsewhere. We aim to provide a safe place to share about matters of belief, featuring students from all walks of life.

England, where I am writing from and where you may or may not be reading from, is historically a Christian country – though it may seem different in this postmodern day and age. Christianity laid the foundation for many aspects of our legal, healthcare and education systems, and it continues to be the world’s largest religion, by number of followers. 

Did you know that there is more historical evidence that accounts for the existence of Jesus Christ than there is for Julius Caesar? 

What we do

We are active online, through social media, emails, Zoom calls and our online forum. We are keen to support our student body! We do so through our online presence, but also through our various events. We run the following events: 

• Weekly ‘Small Group’ where we enjoy ice-breaker style questions and study a chapter of the Bible. We have studied the Gospel of Matthew, and we are currently working through the Book of Acts! We discuss any interesting points or questions that arise from the reading.

• Weekly ‘Watch-Party’ where we watch a video that has been recommended by a member, such as a sermon, spoken word – you name it! We watch together on Zoom and we discuss any interesting points or questions that arise from the video.

• Our popular ‘Grill-a-Christian’ sessions during Freshers, where we invite guest speakers to join our student panel to answer difficult questions such as “Where is God in COVID-19?” As well as “why is there suffering in the world?”

• A semi-regular games night as and when members want to play all sorts of games, such as Jackbox, skribbl.io and more.

OUCU in numbers: We…

• Have partnered with an internationally recognised organisation, UCCF as part of a network of Christian unions.

• Currently have 5 Officers, with the view to appoint a team of approximately 10 Officers before the new term starts.

• Average event attendance between 5-15 people.

• Growth from <100 to 272 members in our Facebook Group.

• Started an Instagram account and gained 200+ followers.

• Started email list and gained 50+ emails on our contact list.

How we became a Society

We come from a range of different cultural and societal backgrounds, our ages vary greatly and we are studying a range of subjects, but we share a mutual appreciation for the desire to cultivate a greater understanding of Christianity among our members.

So, it did not come as a surprise to me that the Open University Christian Union (OUCU) has been in existence for quite some time now as an OU Students Association Club. It was during the first lockdown that the OUCU saw a bit of a resurgence when the ownership of the club changed and I was handed admin responsibilities! 

With the Open University being one of the largest universities in the world by number of students enrolled per year, I anticipated that it would not be difficult to find other students with similar interests to mine. Through checking out the OU Students Association website, and getting a bit tech-savvy (creating and utilising social media profiles, running a consistent schedule of online events, consistently promoting our events) as well as working with the OU Students Association to develop a Constitution and vision-casting with our members, we have steadily grown in number and we have formed quite a strong community, with friendships that will continue long beyond our studies! As a faith-based group, we hope that we can support the development of other faith-based groups to cultivate an appreciation for belief systems in contemporary society.

In the long run, we hope to be able to organise meet-ups and residentials, and develop on our existing events schedule to better serve the wider student body. In the coming weeks, however, we are excited to appoint a range of Officers & Coordinators and to think ahead to new student enrolment over the summer, up to October and how we can help any students that come our way!

OUCU in numbers  

• Have partnered with an internationally recognised organisation, UCCF as part of a network of Christian unions.

• Currently have 5 Officers, with the view to appoint a team of approximately 10 Officers before the new term starts.

• Average event attendance between 5-15 people.

• Growth from <100 to 272 members in our Facebook Group.

• Started an Instagram account and gained 200+ followers.

• Started email list and gained 50+ emails on our contact list.

Want to find out more? Just check out bio.fm/openunicu to find our various media profiles!, or you are most welcome to contact us at openunicu@gmail.com. It would be wonderful to hear from you.

Luke Groves-Davis

Chair of the Open University Christian Union