Welcome students!

Hi there!

My name is Josh and I’m the Student Team Leader at Woodville Baptist Church.

Here’s the deal – God has a mind-blowing plan for every student who comes to university in Cardiff, yes, including you. So at Woody we want to serve the students of this wonderful city and help each one of them discover what God’s plan for their life is. We want to make sure that students are given plenty of opportunities to deepen their relationship with God, form great friendships with other Christians, and feel equipped to share their faith with the people they’re surrounded by at uni. For a bit of info about what goes on at Woody, check out the rest of our website.

Starting university is an incredibly exciting time in your life. It’s an amazing opportunity for you to begin discovering more about God’s plan for your life, as well as begin to live out those plans. But it’s not always going to be easy! There will be times when you don’t feel like getting up for church on a Sunday morning, and there will be nobody there to force you to go. It will be so tempting for you to think to yourself ‘there’s always next week’ – and this gets even stronger when you might have made a few mistakes that make you feel a bit yucky. But those are the precise moments when you need to fight through that barrier, ask God for an extra dose of strength, and stay true to your faith. That’s made a whole lot easier when you’ve got a few Christian friends around you to give you the extra bit of support you need.

And the good news is there are loads of great churches in Cardiff that want to serve students (River City Church, Rhiwbina Baptist Church, Cardiff Vineyard, City Temple, Capital City Church, Highfields, Glenwood Church, and us of course!). We recognise that Woody isn’t going to be where God wants to place every student, so we encourage you to really pray and seek God’s guidance on which church family He wants you to be part of for your time at university, and we always say it’s a good idea to have settled in a church by Christmas.

If you do decide that you want to get involved with the student community at Woody, then get in touch with me, either by replying to this email or via Facebook or Twitter. If you are someone who prefers real-life, face-to-face conversation, then I’d absolutely love to meet up with you for a coffee (or equivalent beverage) when you arrive in Cardiff! Just get in touch.

We want to wish you all the best in your final preparations for uni, and we’re so grateful to have you in our city to make God’s Kingdom known in all its glory.

Huge blessings,
Josh Harding-Jones