Our History

In 1961, while Newcastle University was still a campus of UNSW, in Tighes Hill in Newcastle, Newcastle Christian Students (NCS) was originally called the Evangelical Union (EU) in its infancy. The group had split off from the Student Christian Movement due to theological differences over no longer seeing it as necessary that someone be a “born again” Christian. The group originally had only 12 members! EU was student led and would invite evangelical Christian pastors in Newcastle to deliver the weekly Bible Talks, including from local Baptist and Anglican Churches. Roving AFES staff (then known as Inter Varsity Fellowship) would also visit the group from time to time.

In 1966, having the year before been granted autonomy from UNSW, the University moved to the Shortland campus, which consisted of only a few recently constructed buildings including the (Old) McMullin Building and the Union Building. The EU held weekly meetings with Bible talks, small Bible study groups, and weekend camps for teaching and fellowship. During this time members participated in protests about the Vietnam War and also saw churches become involved in the Charismatic moment but the group didn’t wholeheartedly jump on board nor opposed it, but simply sought to avoid division on the matter. During this time the university also had begun accepting international student enrollments and some of these students would become executive members of the EU committee. During this time the EU began to try to reach out to international students, frequently holding meals to build fellowship with them.

In the 1980s, AFES moved away from a model of roving, regional staff to a new strategy of sending long-term staff to work at individual university campuses. This paved the way for a stronger expression of student-staff partnership. But the gospel and mission remained the same: the Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen again, and our only Saviour. Having dedicated Newcastle staff allowed for greater continuity of teaching, training and pastoral care. This is now expressed in one of AFES’ core values: “AFES values students leading our mission through partnership with long-term, campus-based AFES staff.” AFES staff workers set up the foundation for a consistent program of in-depth teaching, discipleship, and mentoring of student leaders. Having a staff worker also relieved the students of some of the administrative burden they had previously carried alone.

In the 1990s NCS provided insightful and illuminating Bible teaching, thoughtful training, and encouraging students in evangelism through dedicated AFES staff in Newcastle. In 1989 David Miles launched “Exposé” as a Sunday gathering for uni students. A few years later this became “Unichurch”, out of which Hunter Bible Church grew.

Staff members of the AFES team were simultaneously running NCS and pastoring Hunter Bible Church. The emphasis on evangelism and clear Bible teaching continued, and both NCS and Unichurch grew considerably. Some other staff in this period also divided their time between AFES and HBC. Due to the increasing need to minister to international students at Newcastle University, in 2007 the first specialist international students worker was appointed. Several decades ago AFES discovered that a specialist ministry was required in order to best minister and provide for the particular needs of international students, who were arriving on Australian shores from overseas. FOCUS Newcastle is the international student ministry started in Newcastle to serve international students studying at the University of Newcastle. In God's kindness, this ministry has engaged with hundreds of international students from all around the world and from a large variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. Most of them had never learnt about Jesus or read the Bible ever before. Many of these students have become Christians through God's kindness and have taken the Gospel to places far beyond Newcastle. Also during this time Ourimbah Christian Students (OCS) began in 2001 when a small group of Christians from the Ourimbah Campus of Newcastle University, under the leadership of David Miers (student president), saw the need for a Christian group to regularly meet under God’s word to encourage one another and to spur one another on to share the good news about Jesus with others on Campus.

Over the last decade God has continued to raise up staff to serve in partnership with the student leaders of NCS. One feature of this period has been the growing partnership with numerous evangelical churches in the region.

The present staff team are members of many different local churches in Newcastle and the Central Coast, and the students of NCS come from around thirty churches in the surrounding area. NCS now gathers students across four university campuses (Callaghan, City, Ourimbah, and Gosford) Bible Talks, NCS stalls, engage groups, training groups, one-to-one Bible reading, and manuscript discovery all form part of our repertoire of teaching and training centred on the Bible.