Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union
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The Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, usually known as OICCU ( ), is the world's second oldest university Christian Union and is the
University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
's most prominent student
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
organisation. It was formed in 1879. Due to the strength of the
Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a theological movement of high-church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the Un ...
and later the
Oxford Group The Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded by American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921, originally under the name First Century Christian Fellowship. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. ...
s (alternative Christian movements),
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
Christians in Oxford have generally faced a more pluriform environment than in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, and OICCU has tended to follow the general lead of its Cambridge counterpart, the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU). OICCU admits postgraduate students as well as undergraduates, although postgraduates are eligible only for associate membership, and their needs may be better served by the Oxford Graduate Christian Forum.


Aims and purpose

The OICCU vision is: ''Giving every student in Oxford University the chance to hear and respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ'' The three aims of OICCU are: * ''Presenting the claims of
Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
to the University'' * ''Uniting in fellowship those who desire to witness for Christ, and to deepen their spiritual life'' * ''Promoting involvement in God's work worldwide''


Relationship to the local church

* The local church is a biblical principle which OICCU does not try to replace in the Christian's life: OICCU encourages all its members to also be part of a local church and to contribute to that family of believers. * OICCU has the opportunity as a student run organisation to put on events uniquely geared to what its members think its fellow-students want. * OICCU also has the opportunity to be prominent in the college communities in a way that churches cannot do. * OICCU is inter-denominational, so its declaration of belief reflects what its members believe to be central to the gospel, and not secondary issues which Christians differ on.


Activities and organisation

* ''Personal Evangelism'' is key to what OICCU does - its members want to get alongside non-Christians and tell them about Christ. * ''College Groups'' enable OICCU to put on events geared towards evangelising the individual college communities. There is a college Christian Union group in almost every undergraduate college in the University. ''Text-a-toastie'' is a popular college outreach event. The collegiate structure also enables students to have fellowship with a small group of believers, which helps in reaching out to the rest of the college. OICCU believes that when non-Christians see the Christian Union's members acting like a family and supporting one another it helps with evangelism. * ''Central meetings'' mean that members of OICCU can be encouraged by seeing that there are many people who also want to witness for Christ in Oxford. OICCU has speakers, music and opportunities to hear about God's work in Oxford and further abroad. * ''Monday Morning Prayer'': The members of OICCU pray together regularly, recognising their belief that everything they do is useless if God is not at work. Central events are a resource to back up personal evangelism; OICCU has weekly events like 'Friday Lunchtime Talks' and bigger events like the Carol Services. * ''Events Week'': Since 1940, OICCU has held weeks of evangelistic events including
apologetics Apologetics (from Greek ) is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their f ...
talks and a summary of the gospel. This now happens annually, with a larger series of evangelistic events organised every three years. * ''Residentials'': OICCU hosts several annual residentials for its members, in particular the "Freshaway" event, which was first held in September 2016, and aims to help new students ("freshers") make Christian friends in the university, alongside seminars and talks to train and equip Christians for evangelism. * ''The Search'' is an event which aims to provide opportunities for open discussion between Christians and non-Christians on a variety of topics, and to allow Christians to share their beliefs with their friends. This event usually takes place in a local Oxford café.


Beliefs and affiliation

OICCU adopts the doctrinal basis of UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship), an
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
Christian organisation with which OICCU is affiliated. The doctrinal basis contains what evangelicals perceive as the
biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...
foundations of Christianity. UCCF is in turn affiliated with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES).


History


Foundation

OICCU was modelled after the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union (CICCU), founded two years earlier, but later incorporated a Daily Prayer Meeting established in
Brasenose College Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...
in 1867. Like Wycliffe Hall (also 1877), it could be seen as a response to the University's abandonment of its previous officially
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
position. The initial members included
Francis Chavasse Francis James Chavasse (27 September 1846 – 11 March 1928) was an Anglican priest and bishop and father of Noel Godfrey Chavasse, Captain Noel Chavasse. After serving in parishes in Preston, Lancashire, Preston, London, and Oxford, for eleven y ...
, subsequently Bishop of Liverpool and founder of St Peter's College.


Relations with the SCM

OICCU was a founder member of the Student Christian Movement and followed its lead in liberalizing its doctrine. In 1914 OICCU, along with the rest of the University, suspended its activities. After World War I, the Oxford SCM was reestablished under that name, but those who held OICCU's original doctrinal position established a separate ''Oxford University Bible Union''. In 1925 the two agreed to merge, and the OUBU became the ''Devotional Union of the Student Christian Movement in Oxford''. However, the merger was not successful and in Michaelmas 1927, the Devotional Union committee voted to secede. The SCM gave them permission to use the old (1879) name and so OICCU was born anew, adopting the Doctrinal Basis of the new Inter-Varsity Fellowship of Evangelical Unions (now UCCF) in 1928. During much of this period, OICCU used some of the buildings later incorporated into St Peter's College. However, after 1933 it had the use of the Northgate Hall (just opposite the
Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest unive ...
on St Michael's Street).


The Oxford Groups

During the 1920s and 1930s, an American preacher named Frank N. D. Buchman drew a considerable following at Oxford. He emphasized the use of small groups (with Buchman-appointed leaders) where sins were publicly confessed and repented of. The movement taught that the
Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...
was to directly guide Christians. These small groups became known as
Oxford Group The Oxford Group was a Christian organization founded by American Lutheran minister Frank Buchman in 1921, originally under the name First Century Christian Fellowship. Buchman believed that fear and selfishness were the root of all problems. ...
s and later Moral Re-Armament. The emphasis on small groups and personal belief was inherited by
Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led Mutual aid, mutual-aid fellowship focused on an abstinence-based recovery model from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions, besides emphasizing anon ...
. Buchman was appealing directly to the OICCU constituency, and Julian Thornton-Duesbury (one of OICCU's supervising university teachers) became a noted Buchmanite. However, OICCU's student leadership distanced themselves from Buchman.


1940s: Problems and Packer

The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, the worldwide body to which OICCU belongs, was planned at a conference in Oxford in the late 1930s.
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
forced those plans to be delayed. The greatly reduced number of students in Oxford obviously interfered with OICCU itself; one medical student had to serve as President for much more than the customary one year of office. However, the Union maintained daily prayer meetings (in termtime) throughout the War. Afterwards, a Standing Committee of prominent past members was established to ensure the Union's long-term continuity in such circumstances and in 1948 they became trustees of the Northgate Hall. The Standing Committee also has some reserve powers regarding the Doctrinal Basis, although they have never been used. More positively, the prominent evangelical theologian J. I. Packer was converted to evangelical Christianity at an OICCU meeting in the 1940s, during his first week at the university. While a student member he was not regarded as doctrinally sound enough to join the Executive Committee. However, he was appointed Librarian, taking a particular interest in OICCU's selection of out-of-print
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
books. In the following decade Packer, along with Martyn Lloyd-Jones, led a revival of
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should b ...
studies amongst British pastors. He returned to Oxford in 2004 as the guest of honour at the 125th Anniversary celebrations.


Post-war era

The 1950s saw OICCU at perhaps its greatest numerical strength, while the SCM was seen to have moved towards
Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...
. One leading figure at this time was Michael Green (President in 1952), who has been a leading evangelical in the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
and then the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...
since the 1960s. Green has taken a particular interest in promoting the
Charismatic Movement The charismatic movement in Christianity is a movement within established or mainstream denominations to adopt beliefs and practices of Charismatic Christianity, with an emphasis on baptism with the Holy Spirit, and the use of spiritual gift ...
, including within OICCU. In a slightly later generation, Tom Wright was the OICCU President (1970–71) and published his first book together with other members of his year's Executive Committee. The book was a plea for a conservative
Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
doctrinal position, a position he has since modified. A feature of the post-war years has been the custom of triennial missions which attempt to explain the gospel to every undergraduate. These missions can trace their history back to the visit of Dwight Moody and Ira D. Sankey in 1882, but the current model began with a 1940 mission led by Lloyd-Jones. Subsequent main speakers have included Michael Green, Dick Lucas (long-time rector of St Helen's Bishopsgate),
John Stott John Robert Walmsley Stott (27 April 1921 – 27 July 2011) was a British Anglican pastor and theologian who was noted as a leader of the worldwide evangelical movement. He was one of the principal authors of the Lausanne Covenant in 1974. I ...
; one of Stott's series of talks was subsequently published as ''Basic Christianity'', and Tim Keller. OICCU membership has diminished since the middle part of the century, and now usually stands in the low hundreds — however formal membership is not needed to participate, and as of March 2006 OICCU's group membership on
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exceeded its official membership. The lease on the Northgate Hall was given up in the 1980s, and the Union has returned to the peripatetic existence of its earliest years, meeting in various church and public buildings around the city. Its archives are now held in the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
and it has the use of a small store room at St Ebbe's church and New Road Baptist Church.


OICCU President

*


See also

*
Holy Club The Holy Club was an organization at Christ Church, Oxford, formed in 1729 by brothers John and Charles Wesley, who later founded Methodism. The brothers and associates, including George Whitefield, met for prayer, Bible study, and pious discip ...
* Oxford University Newman Society


References


Bibliography

* ''Born Anew'' John S. Reynolds : Oxford, OICCU Centenary & Executive Committees, 1979. * ''Meeting Jesus at University: Rites of Passage and Student Evangelicals'' Edward Dutton: 2008. Ashgate. * ''Christ and the Colleges'' F.
Donald Coggan Frederick Donald Coggan, Baron Coggan, (9 October 1909 – 17 May 2000) was the 101st Archbishop of Canterbury from 1974 to 1980.
: London, Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1934. * ''The Evangelicals at Oxford, 1735-1871 : a record of an unchronicled movement, with the record extended to 1905, and an essay on Oxford evangelical theology'' John S. Reynolds with J. I. Packer : Abingdon, Marcham Manor Press, 1975. * ''The Evangelicals at Oxford, 1735-1871 : a record of an unchronicled movement'' John S. Reynolds : Oxford,
Basil Blackwell Sir Basil Henry Blackwell (29 May 18899 April 1984) was an English bookseller. Biography Blackwell was born in Oxford, England. He was the son of Benjamin Henry Blackwell (18491924), founder of Blackwell's bookshop in Oxford, which went on to beco ...
, 1953. * ''From Cambridge to the world'': 125 years of student witness / Oliver R. Barclay and Robert M. Horn : Leicester,
Inter-Varsity Press Inter-Varsity Press (IVP) was previously the publishing wing of Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship. It supported the publishing or distribution of well over one million books each year to over 150 countries, including the translati ...
, 2002, .


External links


Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union
website
Oxford University Graduate Christian Forum
website

by Liam Beadle, from the May 2004 edition of ''Evangelicals Now'' {{University of Oxford Religious organizations established in 1879 Evangelicalism in the United Kingdom Christian Union, Inter-Collegiate Christian student societies in the United Kingdom