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Well hello again folks! Here's a little update for the start of the year.
We started the term with a real buzz.
We put in a classy appearance at the freshers' fair, and someone even managed to find that old sparkley blue fusion banner we must have had at least 8 years(!). There were lots of keen freshers, lovely conversations with atheists who stopped because we gave them sweets without asking them to listen to any “pitch”, and importantly, SO many signups that we almost lost count! Even the colleges where there've been no cells for a year or so, or where numbers have been dwindling were all well represented. Some colleges even got caught slightly unawares, like when all the sign-ups swelled the Caius and Trinity Hall cell from 6 members to 47 (on paper).
The Call, on October the 9th was awesome: King's chapel is always an exciting venue, and it’s good when some of "the establishment" welcome us with open arms. The Chaplain in particular did just that, and we are really grateful that even after 4 years of (on and off) hosting the Call it makes he's still so for us, and genuinely inspired by the freedom and passion for God he sees in us. The night was very well attended, especially by freshers and other newcomers, which is always good. Better still, most of them came to the bar and hung out afterwards.
What is Fusion Cambridge?
The last hub of term got our internal networker Annie thinking...
“I had an awesome time at the Hub a few weeks ago. We got together and worshipped, and Tim Anderson, (the leader of City Life Church), talked about the history of Fusion... but actually it was more like a story of people with crazy faith that doesn't give up (more here). And then I talked about the so-called Fusion network.
Which was really about how what God's doing in Cambridge is all linked together, and definitely bigger than any one of our cells, and how if we forget to look beyond out cell we've missed the point, not because we're a network on paper (who cares?) But because we're interdependent; because things get amazing when we start getting to know each other and talking. Because we suddenly have help and new ideas and don't run out of steam, and vision. (And the notes are here).
And then we prayed our socks off for Emma, who were hosting, just to do something really unselfish and bless them, and then we went to the pub and had dinner together.
Since then, I've had this niggly sense that actually that night was exactly what Fusion is about.
Its not just the sum of what's happening now, but being in a new chapter in a story where cool things happen because new people keep getting bitten by something unstoppable and start being sure something they've never seen before can happen and God wants it. Even if it isn't happening now and circumstances are saying the opposite.
And Fusion's foremost, only about relationships; about people. About choosing to make new friends with the people who we've ended up in this with, enjoying random links with people on the other side of town and their cell and learning from them and loving them... But not for what we can get, just because people matter.
Because being a one-man, one-cell army is daft, too. Because I am who I am because of the people who are and have been my friends and led me and challenged me and prayed for me.
Because the transformation of student culture means the transformation of students. And the transformation of students, of me and my friends, is something I can get my head around. (And its also about worship, and intercession, and reaching out, and about food, and loud music and beautiful people dancing!)”
The network
We've been trying to help everyone in Fusion feel more a part of the network as well as their cell group.
What God's doing in Cambridge is always bigger than one college, one group, one church. On bad days cell might not feel like all that, but as the conspiracy theorists say, there's a lot we don't get told about. Three minutes walk away there'll be cells going from strength to strength, God really inspiring people, freshers who were afraid they'd not find God at university growing beyond recognition... a group reaching out and bringing a breath of fresh air to their college, people to learn from and encourage us... you get the idea. We've been working on making the website all nice and friendly: there's probably everything you've ever wondered about Fusion Cambridge on there. Also, we're trying to get most of the content coming from the people in cells groups (its awfully easy to edit your area and chat about your ideas). Find out more and get involved at www.fusioncambridge.com
There's the facebook group (naturally), and a choice few, top-quality events to bring everyone together. This term we had the Call, the national weekend away, joined in the awesome 24/7, and hosted a crazy Christmas party.
  
The party even had Santa. And a glitter table. And here's Rachel at the National
weekend away.
Watch this space for more exciting events, kids!
The Cells
The count stands at, well... eleven and a half: King's/Trinity/John's, Catz/Corpus/Queen's (now well and truly planted out of King's), Emma/Peterhouse, Newnham/Robinson/Selwyn/Clare, Caius/Trinity Hall (nearly two cells), Jesus/Sidney/Magdalene, Speak, Fitz/Churchill/St Eds, New Hall (Murray Edwards), and two cells in Homerton. Awesome. There's really good stuff happening everywhere - go and find them on the website – but here are some selected highlights and deleted scenes.
Homerton
Scott's cell Scott had to start leading on his own part way through term, and is doing an awesome job and growing loads through this experience of leadership. The 2 new freshers have fitted into the group brilliantly and the cell are currently using Rob Bell's Nooma DVDs to spark their discussions.
Sarah's cell This is an all-female cell, regularly attended by 4-7 people. There is one fresher who has fitted in well, and the group features a couple of very experienced fusioners. They've had some amazing in-depth Bible studies, focussing on the Old Testament, led by their wonderfully organised leader, Sarah.
In general, they've seen huge answers to prayer in the way that some cell members in particular are growing amazingly and getting really stuck into cell, and church.
Caius/Trinity Hall The cell is lead by old hand Dan McDuff and fresh-faced Matt Ralph. The group is large, the members really committed and involved, and they're somewhere in the process of multipliying into two cells to give the members more chance to be heard and contribute. They're an incredibly caring and inclusive group who are very engaged with their colleges and the other Christian groups there. They have been on regular expeditions to give sandwiches to homeless people in the city, and they also managed to make a Christmas card for every undergraduate in college and then delivered them at 3am! There is a lot of potential for the group, as several key people (in addition to the leaders) are significantly responsible for the life of the cell, organising meetings and outreach, and discipling and praying for other members. Meetings this term have involved Bible studies on the minor prophets and big theological discussions, so a challenge is to keep a dynamic and format that remains safe, comfortable, and welcoming for a very diverse group... but where there can be real personal growth and stuff people can really engage with and be changed by.
King's/ Trinity/ John's Tom Peach has taken over leadership of this cell group (under the beady eye of Mr Ward), and is really getting into it and generally doing very well. They have had quite a few new faces attending this term – including the first people from Trinity and Johns to get involved in fusion for two years (awright!) They have been getting stuck in to looking at the gifts of the Spirit. At the end of this term, the cell managed to put a cracker in everyone's pigeon hole as a festive surprise for people as they left to go home for Christmas. (Phil: Some kind of witty line involving a cracker-based pun? Annie: no.)
Catz/Corpus/Queens' Having been fully planted out from Kings, the guys from Catz and Corpus have been joined by a new member from Queens', (which is amazing!) so they now have a whole two female members and two freshers, as well as a good number of older hands. The cell continues to thrive, with the members committed and involved, despite a number of cell legends graduating last summer. Luke Dalby and Jonny Mullin are leading, and next term they are really wanting to look for more of God, and get involved in more outreach.
Emma The cell now is now led by Hannah Fleetwood, John Hildred and Eric Lui, with Rachel having taken over as associate. The four of them work very well together and have got everyone in the cell stuck into helping lead the meetings. A lot of freshers came initially, and although the cell worked very hard to integrate them, most of them moved on after the taster cells. There are normally about seven people there, and they've been having a really good time working through Hebrews. They are big on community and the leaders all hang out together outside cell, which creates a really friendly and welcoming atmosphere in the meetings.
Jesus/Sidney/Magdalene This cell feels much smaller and much more girlie than it did last term, but the new group are enjoying getting to know each other, eating lots of tasty dinners and studying Paul’s shorter letters. Having a theologian in the group means that they get to know some clever facts! People have already started bringing their friends along to get in on the action so the group might not be small for long...
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