The Fusion newsletter

It's now been one year since we said goodbye to Gabriel Smy, founder of Fusion in Cambridge and a remarkable man, who passed the baton of leadership over to a new student-led team. Under the headship of these 8 guys - Jonty Roland, Alison Weetch, Luke Bowers, Josh Dalby, Rachel Thorpe, Belinda Sherlock, Jonny Mullin and Ben Ritchie- the network has taken on a new feel as we seek to rediscover our calling to a fresh generation of students. With this first lead team's time coming to an end now, we're excited to announce be able to announce the guys who'll be breaking new ground in 08/09!

St Barnabas has become an official Supporter Church to Fusion Cambridge (thank you Barnie’s!), choosing to support us pastorally, spiritually and financially, alongside the other connection churches: Faith Life, Vineyard and City Life Church. We are excited about the potential this relationship has for seeing more students encouraged and empowered in connecting with their colleges and friends.

King's (Veterans will know it better as Sibuns' cell!) Chris Ward is now in his second year of leading, and does so with patience and finesse. The group has been diverse but fairly consistent for the last two years, mainly 2nd and 4th years currently; a second year engineer has taken the role of intern (what is it about Kings?! In six years they've only had three non-engineer cell leaders!). The atmosphere is chilled, interspersed with weighty spiritual discussions, and the unique wit and charm of Dave Scales! A sense of community and group identity is emerging amongst people in quite different places with God, making for lively discussions and a lot of time spent praying together.

King's/ Catz/ Corpus With the Corpus cell not happening this year, and mushrooming enthusiasm from Catz, (well done Jonny) we've arrived back at this winning combination from 2001-2. Jonny Mullin, under the beady eye of Josh Dalby, is leading an eclectic mix of years and colleges. The group has been strong and consistent for the last three years, seeing members grow almost beyond recognition. People love God, are growing loads, and the leaders are really keen not to rest where they are, wanting more connection with their friends and colleges. Progress can be slow as confidence grows, but all the members are open and caring with each other, and good at meeting up individually outside meetings too.

Peterhouse   This year Richenda, a wonderful 1^st year, has used her commitment to the college and passion for seeing Christian community within its walls to build up a cell from scratch; mainly through spending time with people. This is developing into regular prayer time for the college and for one another as and when others join her to share in the group. So far Richenda stands alone in her vision to establish a full-blown cell, so please pray that her, her vision and her compatriots will flourish.

SPEAK The SPEAK cell is special because it combines the influences of two networks - as well as being part of Fusion and based on cell values, SPEAK is also part of the national SPEAK network, a collection of student Christians across more than 40 universities speaking out against injustice and bringing change to situations such as continuing third world debt, the arms trade and exploitation by multinational companies. The cell was started in 2006 and meets fortnightly for lunch at the Fare Shares Cafe, combining good food with fellowship, prayer and campaigning. The cell values show strongly through their meetings - everyone active, everyone growing, everyone contributing and working to impact the wider Cambridge community. Jenny Auton has led since 2006, and Felicity Loudon is taking over next term. The big thing to pray is they finish this year incredibly well, and that the group remains strong and grows even more full of life into next year.

Jesus and Sidney Sussex The cells teamed up again this year and have had an excitingly eclectic group of people coming, with cell time often developing into theological discussions between atheists, theologians, philosophers…and everyone else! Consequentially, they’ve experimented with cell content and format to allow everyone to express their own faith in different ways, resulting in prayer walks, looking at poetry, sharing meals and ideas. Bel Sherlock is leading, and loves seeing individuals engage with each other, who might not hang out in other contexts. They’ve learned a lot about what unity actually means, as well as the importance of being unique.

Emmanuel Let by Rachel (for 2 years) and Martha (this year), the first thing you notice about these guys is they love each other, and doing cell together. Their associate looks for excuses to attend because they're so much fun to be with, and usually stay around chatting until gone midnight! The community is fairly natural, with people doing the same subjects and hanging out a lot outside cell, which means that as well as having incredible energy, the atmosphere is safe and easy to bring new people into. The Holy Spirit is clearly present in their times together and it seems that the community, which is currently primarily pastoral, has the potential to be a really powerful presence in College.

Caius/ Trinity Hall Ben Ritchie, Dan McDuff and Kate Virgo currently lead this cell, whose members are roughly half-and-half first and third years. This year has held the challenge of trying to integrate current members with the newcomers, of which there have been several. It's been especially exciting to have Christians who aren't involved in a church and a few more Trinity-Hall people coming along regularly. This term they have focused on questions and discussions, such as 'What is the Good News?', 'How do you pray?', and on sin and grace.

Robinson/ Selwyn/ Newnham The Newnham ladies multiplied out in spring '07, doubled in size within the month, and the members all loved it so much they went off and had cell t-shirts printed! However, the group left behind struggled without them so they reunited. Growth continues, with at least 14 members, including people from Clare and Wolfson. Sessions centre around Bible studies and discussions, with people feeling safe enough to ask just about anything. Friendships and openness are still developing, and they want to be able to be more real and challenge each other, and engage with God and each other on a deeper level. With all-new leadership some practical things, like managing tensions in meetings, keeping prayer and worship times interesting, etc. have proved difficult, but there's loads of life there and they're learning fast.

Queens' Queens' has fallen off the map, although going back a couple of years they had a strong and lovely cell also incorporating Pembrooke and Newnham folk, characterized by good friendships, silly voices, and doing stupid things to a small bust of Lenin. But never mind! Many current Queens’ students are very committed to the college Christian Union, which is exciting.

Fitzwilliam In autumn '07 they had 2 cells, but one leader got a bit enthusiastic skiing and is still mending, so they merged to make one. There is a strong core of keen and committed folk in a very diverse group (they had a trainee vicar from Chapel attending in Michelmas). Angela Stride is leading with Pete Cross as associate and James Hutchinson as intern. Meetings are lively with active people and going through books such as"The battlefield of the mind". They would really like to see things go deeper with more involvement of the Spirit. The FitzCafe has become a Fitz institution and is embedded in the college community. It is officially run out of the Chapel although it's becoming less overtly Christian. This is of course not necessarily a bad thing but the relationship between FitzCafe and Fusion needs to be considered. There has also been a strengthening of links with the Chapel with the Fusion gang running various Chapel services in the year. It is hoped this will continue when a new Chaplain arrives in the Autumn.

New Hall (two cells) Clare Tailor (a 2nd year engineer) took over cell leadership rather suddenly in January, but having been trained by Ruth Findley she's taken to it like a duck to water! Alison Weetch's cell has a collection of Medic and English finalists who were good friends to start with, and have had some special honest times together. Being finalists they found dreaming big things for college less easy, but this exam term has been a time for finding ways to bless the college. Outreach at the moment is mainly personal because most of them have the same friends. Alison's cell are probably more spontaneous (recent meetings have included a dancing spree!) and Clare is keen to see more Spirit-led meetings, but taking into account younger members of the group! Next year Clare’s intern will take over (Alison’s cell will have moved onto pastures new), so it would be great to pray for a continuation of the life and changes they’ve seen over the last few years.

The New Hall Café has been run for a few years by several Christian groups in college, and this year has seen around 20 regular well-bonded attendees. Management and vision are currently in over-haul and it's set to start up again in October, with Clare's cell working out how to invest in it more and excited about its potential!

Girton This small cell of four boys, led by Pete Hall, have had a great year. They are all good friends, which has made for some good meetings with intensive bible studies covering "highly controversial" areas (Pete wouldn't say what these were!). Meetings are generally fluid with everyone comfortable to contribute. It definitely doesn't all come from Pete but they would still like to give more space for God to move in His Spirit. Despite Pete's best efforts to keep meetings short to allow for work, people love being there so generally stay around chatting for hours! They are good friends with the CU guys and have been supporting their outreach events. With half the cell members graduating the future is uncertain, so lets pray for them!

Magdalene There's an awesome story here; Rosie Wheeler (3rd year), has been trying to establish the group since her first year, but its only really taken off since October. Its backbone is a group of lovely first years, some very committed, some still working out whether to invest their energy in Fusion or the CU. The group is tight-knit, and their strength definitely lies in their friendships and the care they take of each other - inside and outside meetings. They have a lot of fun, and have also helped each other through some very tough times. Rosie has a great intern in another Rosie, and potentially in Mary too, and both have been practicing. Members are busy people, something that could limit the impact of an incredible group on the college community, so the new leaders in first year will definitely be needing prayers over the summer!

Outreach