Overseas Christian Fellowship Australia
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The Overseas Christian Fellowship Australia (OCF Australia) is a parachurch Christian organization which ministers to overseas students studying in Australian universities and colleges of higher education. OCF Australia is inter-denominational and evangelical in its doctrinal stand. Historically, members of OCF mostly consists of students from South East/East Asian countries, such as Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea, as these form the bulk of overseas student population in Australia since the 1950s. OCF also ministers to students from other countries, most notably those from island nations near Australia, such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga. In recent years, students from mainland China have gained prominence, reflecting the influx of mainland Chinese students.
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[edit] History
In the 1950s, there began an influx of Asian students into the capital cities of Australia. Christian overseas students were meeting independently almost unknown to one another in a few cities, starting with Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne.
OCF Sydney took the initiative of inviting other Christian overseas students in Melbourne and Adelaide to their Easter Camp held in 1958. That meeting provided great encouragement to the ministries and that friendship paved the way for the inauguration of OCF (Australia) the following year. OCF Melbourne was officially formed immediately after the Sydney camp, and OCF Brisbane followed suit a few months later.
It was decided that meeting together annually was a profitable activity that would mutually encourage one another. OCF Melbourne volunteered to take responsibility of organising a conference the following January and during the Convention held at Cowes, Victoria, the body known was Overseas Christian Fellowship (Australia) officially came into being after much prayer and discussion.
With this, overseas university students at the Cowes Convention laid the foundation for OCF Australia, and gave it the vision and aims upon which all future OCF chapters (called "centres") based their activities. They were joined by Christians in Perth, Western Australia in the following year and by 2005 had covered six states and one territory, spanning some 24 centres [1].
Currently OCF Australia's official website is located at www.ocfaustralia.org.
[edit] Vision
The vision of OCF (Australia) is
To reach out to all overseas students in Australia,
build them up to be Christ's disciples,
and send them back to their home countries as disciple-makers (OCF Handbook 2005)
The mission of OCF centres on reaching international students in university campuses across Australia with the intention that they will be built up and sent back as disciples of Christ to their respective home countries, where they will continue to challenge and build others up.
[edit] Network
Currently OCF Australia exists in university campuses across six states and one territory.[2] Most of these centres are affiliated with their respective university student unions and operate as official clubs on campus.
| State | Centre | University | Campus(es) | Year of Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Australia | Perth | University of Western Australia | 1959 | |
| Murdoch | Murdoch University | 1988 | ||
| Curtin | Curtin University of Technology | 1990 | ||
| South Australia | UniSA | University of South Australia | 1997 | |
| Adelaide | University of Adelaide | City | 1958 | |
| Flinders | Flinders University | 1986 | ||
| Victoria | Berwick | Monash University | Berwick | 2007/8[3] |
| Carlton | RMIT University, University of Melbourne | City (RMIT), Parkville (UniMelb) | 1982 | |
| Caulfield | Monash University | Caulfield | 1990 | |
| Clayton | Monash University | Clayton | 1958 (as OCF Melbourne) | |
| Frankston | Monash University | Peninsula | 1995 | |
| Geelong | Deakin University | Waterfront, Waurn Ponds | 1980 | |
| Parkville | University of Melbourne, Monash University | Parkville (UniMelb, Monash) | 1958 (as OCF Melbourne) | |
| Swinburne (formerly OCF Kew) | Swinburne University of Technology | Hawthorn | 1989 | |
| University of Melbourne | University of Melbourne | Parkville | 1990 | |
| New South Wales | Sydney | University of New South Wales, University of Sydney | 1958 | |
| Australia Capital Territory | Canberra | Australia National University | 1983 | |
| Tasmania | Hobart | University of Tasmania | Hobart | 1967 |
| Queensland | UQ (formerly OCF Brisbane) | University of Queensland | St Lucia | 1958 (as OCF Brisbane) |
| Griffith | Griffith University | 1995 |
There are also non-functional centres, which were either officially dissolved or closed temporarily due to declining membership levels. There is however a possibility for them to be reopened, God willing, in future. They include:
| State | Centre | University | Campus(es) | Year of Affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Victoria | La Trobe | La Trobe University, RMIT University | Bundoora (La Trobe and RMIT) | 1958 (as OCF Melbourne) |
| Tasmania | Launceston | University of Tasmania | Launceston | 2003[4] |
| New South Wales | Armidale | University of New England | Armidale | 1984[5] |
| Wollongong | University of Wollongong | 1987 | ||
| Newcastle | University of Newcastle | 1977 | ||
| Queensland | QUT | Queensland University of Technology | 1989 |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ (OCF Handbook, 2005, 7th Ed.)
- ^ The OCF Handbook 7th Edition lists the year of affiliation for all centres up to 2005. This table is updated as of the 37th Annual General Meeting held at Rawson Village, Victoria, 2006
- ^ OCF Berwick went on trials throughout the second half of 2007 and was officially established as a club on campus in the Berwick Campus of Monash University, Southeast Melbourne at the end of the year, starting their first official operations in 2008.
- ^ OCF Launceston was granted provisional affiliation at the 45th Annual General Meeting in Devonport, Tasmania, 2005. Unfortunately numbers were too low to sustain the formation of a full-fledged centre.
- ^ OCF Armidale was officially dissolved in 2000.
[edit] References
- Overseas Christian Fellowship (Australia) (2005). Overseas Christian Fellowship Handbook, 7.
