Luke Hammond
Hi, my name is Luke! The heart of what I do is to try to minister the wonderful gospel of Jesus to the whole person so that they can live the whole of their lives speaking for him. Those people happen to be students at AUB, BU and Winchester, and the situation they find themselves in is living and studying alongside other students who are freshly able to explore Jesus for themselves having moved out of the family home. They share a home, life-stage and all the same challenges together at the same time, so the opportunity for living and speaking compellingly for Jesus is immense as they share meals, relax together and stay up into the night chatting or trying to finish that last assignment. The name of the charity I work for is UCCF (Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship).
The CU typically meets each week to explore the Bible together and get equipped for strategic, culturally-informed, gospel-motivated mission in the every day. Sometimes I'm speaking and sometimes I'm not, but have always worked to help students to plan and recruit relevant speakers for themselves who understand the mission and goal the CU is on, so there's a logistic component and a leader development component to the job. I also help the students to plan and deliver evangelistic events which show them they can create environments where their friends are able to explore Jesus with clarity, wisdom and insight in a way that seems relevant to them. In addition to speaking from the Bible at regular meetings I'll also speak in these evangelistic settings.
Outside of my 'patch' I have a few regional and national responsibilities. Each month we meet as a regional team for a couple of days to be trained in some relevant area of theology, culture, mission, or Bible-handling, as well as completing a personal study programme and planning termly regional conferences together that we take students on to equip them for leading CUs (I'm often also running training seminars at these too). They include The South East Big Weekend Away (to envision whole CUs for mission), Forum South East (to equip new leaders for CU leadership), Word Alive (we don't plan this one, but do take students and personally disciple them each year), Forum National (to envision leaders for another year of evangelism) and The Farm (to refresh tired CU leaders). I have a particular responsibility in leading the planning of this last one.
The last few years have been challenging in many ways as we've faced family challenges, the odd student who has made life very hard, and various personal health obstacles. I'm pleased that many of these are receding as it feels like an enthusiasm, mental clarity and physical energy for gospel work is coming back!
In my spare time I love to read, surf in the south-west, and get outside into the beautiful Dorset countryside. I’m married to Libbi who is an absolute star and would love to get to know you all and works for The Wave Project (look them up!). You can find out more about me by signing up for my prayer letters (chat to me on a Sunday or send me an email – lhammond@uccf.org.uk) and if you want to support my work – I have to fundraise towards my role – you can do so here: https://give.uccf.io/support/luke-hammond”