In the winter term 1971 I participated in a mission to Durham University where I had studied from 1964-67. It consisted of lectures by the well-known evangelist David Watson who was pastor of a church in York and the author of eight popular books on the Christian life. To attract and engage the students I partnered with Nigel Goodwin in what was called The Traveling Circus. Nigel was an actor who had a unique ministry of encouraging and counseling people in the Media, Arts and Entertainment industries and established the Arts Centre Group in London and the development of Genesis Arts Worldwide. He dressed flamboyantly in bright colored velvet coats and scarves. The program each night was organized by a student group led by Gavin Hewitt who subsequently had a career as a journalist with BCC News and traveled over the world’s hot spots such as during the Iraq-Iran War and Desert Storm, the Iran hostage crisis, Afghanistan under the Soviets, Nicaragua, Ghana, Sudan and Darfur, the Berlin Wall, Zimbabwe, Beirut, the Philippines and the Marcos’s, and New York City on 9/11. He sent us a program for the week.

On Monday the theme would be Underground Screen, when we would show what students were watching and covering in the film and television department and we would provide commentary to provoke discussion of the issues in the context of the Gospel.

On Tuesday the theme would be Our Culture with dramatic music and reading from the Theater of the Absurd. This type of theater starts from the view that there is no creation but all life is by chance. There would be folk singers and poetry to explore the issues of divine purpose.

On Wednesday the theme would be Jesus Christ Superstar  (the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice was showing in London) with records which makes reference to Jesus and a paper on existentialism which was divided into two parts: firstly, the existentialism that ends in emptiness, and secondly, the existentialism that says we must restore our primary relationship with God. We would address the problem with how this can be done.

On Thursday the theme would be And After Mao. We would deal with the challenge of Marxism and revolutions in China, Eastern Europe during the Cold War and South America. There would be readings from Marxist magazines and talk about the political value of capitalism, communism and Maoism and indicate what the Christian alternative is.

On Friday the theme would be Death and Love. Nigel entered with a coffin and dramatic readings about death, mortality, and resurrection hope. I talked about the Christian basis for true love. There was a lot of live music each night led by Gavin’s brother, our good friend, Garth Hewitt, who sang My Girl, at our marriage celebration at All Souls Church in London the year before.

It was a very creative way of addressing the issues of the day from a Christian perspective. We had numerous conversations with students who were asking all sorts of questions about life and faith, philosophy, theology and science. Looking back the issues may be different but are fundamentally the same. Where do we find meaning in life? As Christians we should be doing the same with each new generation. We have to enter into the worlds of thought and feeling of our contemporaries. We have to deal with the major themes of human life, the questions raised in literature, film, podcasts, blogs, politics and art. It is not enough to bury our heads in the Bible without applying its wisdom to the life and struggles of our neighbors and, if we are honest ourselves. Jesus Christ is our Contemporary. What does he have to say to our challenges and priorities today? The world is crying out for relevant teaching and preaching. The churches that are growing major on contemporary personal application of the Gospel that changes lives for good.