Hayley writes about her experience with the Nottingham student group

My name is Hayley, at the moment I work as a secretary in the NHS and I attend Soul Survivor church in Watford. I moved back to Watford about 18 months ago, after taking part in The Connect Programme.  I became involved with Navs in my first year of university, whilst studying Theology at the University of Nottingham.

I found out about the Navigators, really as a kind of answer to a problem - I was struggling to settle in to University life, and at Christmas the Youth Pastor of the church at home which I attended, advised that whatever decisions I made, I should 'get God involved' (Psalm 91)...and that suggestion lead me to Nottingham Navs.

Before I went to university, I would have called myself a Christian, I went to church and had made some decisions about Jesus, but with hindsight I would say that that belief didn't affect my life in the way I believe a relationship should.

In my first year at Navs, I went along to a small discussion group for Christian students, and was also privileged to receive one - one mentoring. I then became part of the leadership team, and took on some responsibilities such as leading discussion groups (for Christian Students, to help them continue and deepen their relationship with God, and also for other Students who are interested in exploring what they believe about God and finding out about Jesus.)

I continued to meet with one girl from this group to help her explore more about Jesus. She then joined me on a trip to Tanzania which was part of my Connect Programme. After we both graduated and left Nottingham, I sought to help her continue in her journey towards Jesus and we used email to study the bible!

In the past year, having left Student Navs, a few things have stood out to me about my time with them. Even though the pace of life with God seems to be slower, one thing to note is that my relationship with God is still strong and growing - although I have had to take steps, such as joining a church, to ensure that is the case. Also, I have recently begun to lead a cell group with my church, which has highlighted to me how fortunate I have been to have been equipped by the Navigators with skills of leadership and guiding discussion, that have enabled me to do this.

Posted by Nav Team on 1 February 2010 | 0 Comments