Who We Are
IDENTITY: We are EvaSUE, a fellowship of students and graduates who are dedicated to follow and witness Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
We are a fellowship.
We are a Fellowship of Students and Graduates who are dedicated to Follow and Witness Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We have fellowship with each other since we have “fellowship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ”, both individually and communally. Our individual fellowship with Christ, which has begun with our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, has made us part and parcel of the universal, time-transcending Christ-community, bound to the Triune God in communion.
The universal fellowship is demonstrated through the local as well as time bounded fellowships. In this regard, our fellowship is established by a historic reality of our individual involvement in schools and colleges as evangelical students. EvaSUE had its beginning in 1963 as a small group of students who were dedicated to bible study, prayer, fellowship with each other, sharing their faith to their friends and worship God at Addis Ababa University. Currently it comprises of students’ and graduates’ fellowships in Ethiopia and abroad.
We “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit”, so as to make our relationship authentic by speaking the truth in love to one another , as it helps us “grow in all things into Him who is the Head, that is Christ”. We also make every effort so as to advance the redemptive work of the Kingdom of God by utilizing our entire God given gifts as it is the principal purpose of our fellowship
Students
“Students” in EvaSUE, refers to the evangelical students who are in Secondary Education Institutes (High Schools) and Tertiary Education Institutes (Colleges and Universities) in both private and government owned institutes.
Graduates
“Graduates” in EvaSUE refers to those who are former students in universities and members of students’ fellowships in their respective universities. The fellowship among graduates is the extension of the fellowship which had begun while they were students and would continue in their life time. However, the fellowship is also open for graduates who came to Christ after their graduation to be part of this fellowship. Member graduates of EvaSUE are considered as Associates5 of EvaSUE, when they begin to be actively involved in one of the different ministries of EvaSUE.
Follow and Witness Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Jesus Christ is our Savior, who saved us from our sins and the wage of sin which is death. Jesus Christ is our Lord; following Jesus Christ as Lord includes being transformed with the renewal of our mind to be like Him, setting Him as our model in our life and imitating His life style, as well as serving His purpose.
A personal encounter with Jesus leads to conversion and witnessing Him. The fact that we are witnesses is displayed by our proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ by word and demonstration of this gospel through our acts of love and kindness to human beings as well as our care and stewardship for the rest of creation by the power of Holy Spirit.
Follow and Witness Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
Jesus Christ is our Savior, who saved us from our sins and the wage of sin which is death. Jesus Christ is our Lord; following Jesus Christ as Lord includes being transformed with the renewal of our mind to be like Him, setting Him as our model in our life and imitating His life style, as well as serving His purpose.
A personal encounter with Jesus leads to conversion and witnessing Him. The fact that we are witnesses is displayed by our proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ by word and demonstration of this gospel through our acts of love and kindness to human beings as well as our care and stewardship for the rest of creation by the power of Holy Spirit.
WHY WE EXIST
CORE PURPOSE: Advancing the Kingdom of God by serving students
God’s Purpose is our Core Purpose that is: ‘We exist to advance the Kingdom of God by serving students’!
“The plan of God, which He set forth in Christ at the fullness of time is to unite all things in Him, things in Heaven and things on earth”6. God is advancing His Kingdom to reign and rule over His creation through Jesus Christ. Since we all are part of this grand purpose, our purpose is to advance the Kingdom of God by reaching and equipping students to influence first their universities, the nation and the world as their sphere of influence.
Domain of our Core Purpose is: ‘Students’!
We believe that our purpose would be achieved through our domain of ministry, which pertains to students. Changing students means changing the world. We keenly identify with the claim of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship that states “The way students spend their time in college lays the foundation for the next 40 years of their lives”
Expression of our Core Purpose is: ‘a transformed society’!
Our purpose, ‘advancing the Kingdom of God’ is expressed by social transformation in which we aspire to see a society having a culture which values the values of the Kingdom. Our big purpose is conveyed through our work of evangelism, discipleship, and leadership development.
Main Task of our Core Purpose is: ‘serving’!
Our purpose, ‘advancing the Kingdom of God’ could be achieved well when we serve which is best modeled by Jesus Christ Himself. Every activity that we are doing demands an attitude of humility “by considering others better than oneself”8, and love by “looking not only to self-interest but also to the interest of others”9. With this, we serve one another, we serve the society and we serve the world for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
OUR COMMITMENTS
We are committed to the work of:
EVANGELISM
Reaching campus students with the gospel, the saving message of Jesus Christ
DISCIPLESHIP
Helping Christian students to be well formed and with the Word of God and to grow into Christ-likeness
MISSION
Equipping and mobilizing students to the global mission of the Church
LEADERSHIP
Equipping students with leadership skills and practices so that they reflect Biblical leadership values and become effective leaders in their local churches and in every position they are placed to lead
OUR CORE VALUES
What We Stand For
We believe in the centrality of the Word of God
We believe in the centrality of the Word of God for Christian living and transformation. We affirm the Scriptures as the revelation of the person and will of God, which culminated in the self-revelation of God in history and in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Christ is the incarnate Word of God, as confessed and anticipated in the Scriptures, which are central and authoritative to EvaSUE’s ministry and community life.
We are student focused
EvaSUE is for students and about students; its main and primary business is concerned with serving students with the goal of advancing the Kingdom of God. We uphold the centrality of serving God by serving students in all that we do.
Our fellowship transcends denominational, ethnic and economic differences
We strongly believe that through our belief in Christ we are called to a fellowship which transcends differences of denomination, economy, language, and ethnicity. This transcendence of differences, however, is without diminishing or overriding particularity. We, as a community, are ready to grapple with the tension of unity as rooted in Christ and particularity as an affirmation of our respective rootedness in space and time, and subsequent cultural, linguistic and relational structures.