Hi my name is Vicky Earll, I’m 24 years old and am currently leading the team who are beginning to plant a church into student culture at Royal Holloway University in Englefield Green, Egham. I work part-time as a Care Assistant for Surrey County Council in Homecare and part-time as a Networker for Fusion (A Christian charity that resources churches to work with university students.) I also do a bit of piano teaching - so I’m quite busy - but I enjoy it!
Just to give you all some background on myself. I originally come from Grays in Essex and I was brought up in an Assemblies of God Church there where my Dad was part of the leadership team. I became a Christian when I was 6 and have never turned back!
I came to Royal Holloway University in 1998 through clearing to study Medical Biochemistry after failing to get the grades to do medicine. During this time at university myself and other Christians on campus saw God move in great power. There was an outpouring of the Spirit on the Christians which resulted in a deep hunger for God and a great passion for our friends who didn’t know Jesus.
We saw God plant something of his heart deep into us which still remains and there is fruit all over the country. We also saw people saved, healed and delivered!
During my second year God began to speak to me about giving my life to see God come in revival power on the campus and to see a church planted specifically into student culture. Now at that time the concept was foreign to me but I responded to God’s call and made a promise to him to fulfil what he had asked me to do.
A few months later I was introduced to a couple who had just got married: Phil Simcock and his wife T. (now part of the team). During a conversation with Phil who was on a gap year from his degree at Loughbourough University he began to share with me about the church he went to in Loughbourgh which was a student church plant called Openheaven. He also began to tell me about Ness Wilson. I realised that what they were doing and the journey that they had walked was very similar to what God was talking to me about.
As a result I was introduced to Ness Wilson and became friends with her and got to know about her vision and journey.
Over the next few years for various reasons (primarily God’s timing!) this vision lay dormant. Then at the beginning of 2003 God began to stir up the vision in me again and prompt me that now was the time to begin to run with it. The biggest prompt from God was when he said to me “If you don’t run with this I will pass you by.” I thought to myself did God really say that? Then a little while later the preacher said that God had been talking to him about how if he didn’t obey him he would pass him by. This was a great confirmation for me that this was God’s word to me.
However as always the journey of obeying him is not always easy and there are many obstacles to overcome. I had to make some very painful choices to be free to run with this vision and that resulted in me coming to a place in September 2003 of being free to run with the vision but there only being me! But as soon as I had finally made the decision and come to that place bit by bit God began to connect me with like-minded people and so now here we are in September 2004 with a small team all pumped with vision and a church who are releasing us into it.
So what exactly is this vision?
In general terms the vision is to explore how we can be and do church in a way that will relate to the thousands of post-modern, post-christian, broken students who desperately need Jesus. We feel that the heart of this is to build community
The plan for this term is as follows:
1. The House: the team of 4 of us who are leading The Journey are renting a spacious house in Englefield Green. The house is open for students to drop in throughout the week.
2. The Gathering: We will have a gathering every Sunday from 1 to 3 at the house. We eat for the first hour and the second hour we have story sharing, worship, teaching and prayer. Myles is helping us out with the worship at first with a view to get others involved particularly developing students. We are aiming for the teaching to be interactive and are going to be studying Acts.
3. The Social: each Sunday evening at 7:30 we will be meeting in the local student pub - Monkey’s Forehead. The aim of this is to build community with not only the Christians but their non-Christian friends.
4. The Cells: we will be running fusion cells which are led by students and based up on the campus. You can check this out at www.fusion.uk.com. We will also have community cells for those of us who aren’t students.
5. The Layby: this will be a monthly creative worship event with opportunities for members of The Journey Community to lead each other in various styles of worship. We also see it as an opportunity for prayer and ministry.
We will also be taking students on the Regenerate (Christian Union) weekend away in November and the team will be helping with the cooking. We are also taking those who have cell leadership potential on a Fusion Cell Leader Weekend over at the YWAM base in Harpenden.
I hope this gives you a brief overview of The Journey and I look forward to meeting you all over the next few months and talking in person about this.
God Bless
Vicky Earll