What is 'Presence'?

The first European Student Evangelism Conference was held in 1985 in the Netherlands. The purpose was to raise the awareness among students for the need for evangelism and to encourage students in Europe to take part in the Great Commission at the University and beyond. It was an immediate success. A lot of initiatives have flown out of the evangelism conferences that have shaped and changed national movements as well as individual students. Among many things, participants have been given leadership training, inputs on how to read the Bible, on prayer, and on listening and responding to the trends of our times.This year the conference theme is PRESENCE. Students from 40 different national movements across Europe will reflect on God's presence in our lives, celebrate Easter together and focus on how we can make the most of our presence at the university. Presence will be the 10th European Student Evangelism Conference.

IFES Europe

IFES Europe connects 40 IFES national movements, all with different names and flavours, who exist at the university to share the love of Christ and invite others to follow him. The IFES vision is to see students built into communities of disciples, transformed by the gospel and impacting the university, the church and society for the glory of Christ. IFES stands for International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, and connects more than half a million students in over 160 countries.

Our host

The German IFES movement SMD, Studentenmission in Deutschland is hosting this year's conference. As in other IFES movements, SMD gathers in big or small student groups at university to learn more about Gods word and Jesus Christ to grow closer to Him. They write, ‘We want to transfer this knowledge into our own everyday lives and share life and faith with other students around us. We currently run more than 80 students groups all over Germany and alongside the university program we offer High School ministry and a specialist program for university graduates and professionals. Our motto is "denken, glauben, erleben" - think, believe, experience!’