The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is 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 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 ...

student movement with affiliate groups on

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

campuses in Australia. It is a member of the

International Fellowship of Evangelical Students The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) is an interdenominational association of 180 evangelical Christian student movements worldwide, encouraging evangelism, discipleship and mission among students. The headquarters is in O ...

History

The young English evangelist,

Howard Guinness Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for i ...

, toured Australia in 1930 to encourage university students in evangelism. He helped form campus student groups starting in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, then

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

and

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

, including Sydney University Evangelical Union (SUEU) and Melbourne University Christian Union, which celebrated their 75th anniversaries in 2005. Guinness returned in 1933-1934 and founded groups in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

.AFES website
accessed 28 February 2009 These groups, led by the SUEU and the MUCU, joined together to form a network in 1936 as the Australian Intervarsity Fellowship or IVF, which later changed its name to the AFES in 1973. It had over 2000 members by 1959 and today has groups in over 50 campuses across the country in every state and territory, and employs over 100 staffworkers who look after the students on their various campuses. In 2005, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first student groups in Australia, AFES ran a "Year of Tertiary Evangelism" involving coordinated events on university campuses throughout the country and the printing of 40000 copies of

Mark's Gospel The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the burial of his body, and the discovery of his empt ...

to be freely distributed throughout the year. The theme of the year was "For Christ's Sake", a phrase normally used in swearing, though used here to promote the Christian message itself. Besides the events on specific university campuses, the AFES ran various evangelistic rallies with many Christian groups from different universities attending.

Muriel Porter Muriel Lylie Porter (née Carter, born 15 May 1948) is an Australian journalist based in Melbourne, Victoria. She is a frequent contributor to ''The Age'' newspaper and ''The Melbourne Anglican'' diocesan newspaper, for which she mostly writes ...

suggests that AFES is the "predominant student Christian organization across Australian universities," since the demise of the Student Christian Movement and the decline of diocesan-funded university chaplaincies.

Activities

AFES groups run a variety of activities, such as regular public Bible talks, smaller Bible studies, prayer groups, mid-year conferences and evangelistic outreach events. These activities are organised and run by both staff and students. Each year in December, the AFES runs a National Training Event (NTE). This consists of a four- to five-day training conference, followed by several days of mission. The most recent NTE conference was hosted at

Exhibition Park in Canberra Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) is a 70 hectare showground and multi-building venue for exhibitions, conferences, and events located in the suburb of Lyneham, Australian Capital Territory, Lyneham (though commonly listed in the adjacent Mit ...

(EPIC), and was attended by up to 1400 students from around Australia. The mission aspect of the NTE takes place in conjunction with churches around Australia. As an Australian movement, AFES is noted for using

Biblical theology Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, Biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define. The academic field of biblical theology is sub-divided into Old Testament theology and New Testament theology. Academic ...

in the way its students approach the Bible. In groups, students have been encouraged to let the Bible "speak for itself, whether or not we knew what to do with it in the end." This has been compared to approaches encouraged by the Swiss theologian

Karl Barth Karl Barth (; ; – ) was a Swiss Reformed theologian. Barth is best known for his commentary '' The Epistle to the Romans'', his involvement in the Confessing Church, including his authorship (except for a single phrase) of the Barmen Decl ...

who encouraged a kind of re-discovery of Scriptures, what he called the "strange new world of the Bible."

Staff

The national director of AFES is Richard Chin. He was preceded by Kerry Nagel. Staff are employed through AFES for the particular university campuses. Each staff member must raise his or her own financial support, which is sent to AFES by supporters and paid out to staff as a salary. (Many supporters of AFES staff are former AFES students who are now in paid employment.) Staff usually are Staffworkers and Trainees, who usually work for a two-year "traineeship". After completing the traineeship, they may move to theological education and a more senior position.

Publications

AFES publishes a biannual magazine called ''Salt''.

Criticism

Melbourne based journalist

has argued that AFES is an "outreach of Sydney Diocese in all but name" and "a

Trojan horse In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse () was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer, Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending ...

for Sydney Anglican teaching around the country" though she admits that she is "obviously not able to report on Sydney objectively and even-handedly." Porter suggests that AFES is also spreading "Sydney-style

opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comedy ...

to women in church leadership" in the

Anglican Diocese of Melbourne The Anglican Diocese of Melbourne is the metropolitan diocese of the Province of Victoria in the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese was founded from the Diocese of Australia by letters patent of 25 June 1847Churches of Christ The Churches of Christ, also commonly known as the Church of Christ, is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations located around the world. Typically, their distinguishing beliefs are that of the necessity of baptism for salvation ...

. She notes that students converted by AFES are bringing their "newly-acquired conservative stance into parish life."

References

External links

AFES website
{{Authority control Evangelicalism in Australia Christian student societies in Australia Christian organizations established in 1930 Student organizations established in 1930 Evangelical organizations established in the 20th century Student religious organisations in Australia 1930 establishments in Australia International Fellowship of Evangelical Students National Fellowships