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Ministry website- www.campuslive.ch
Student population - 275,000
Cities with university students - 12
Cities with staff teams - Zurich and Bern
Cities with students team who do ministry - Basel, Lucerne, Lausanne, Mendrisio
Number of staff in SLM - 4 Staff, 1 Team
Religion/Faith statistics - 61% Christian, 31% no faith, 5% Muslim, 3% other
Other interesting info - Switzerland has 4 official languages. German, French and Italian are used frequently and also within the academic community. However, most students are comfortable conversing in English.
About Switzerland
About Switzerland
Our Student Movement encompasses about 50 active students spread over 6 cities, most of them currently involved in Zurich - Switzerland’s largest city, hosting about a third of all Students in Switzerland. Our SLM Team of four staff is located in two cities and closely connected and serving the three main movements in Basel, Bern and Zurich, while coaching the other three. In two cities - Lausanne and Mendrisio - we have local, dedicated volunteers pioneering campus ministries.
The Level of Higher Education in Switzerland is rather high - only about 30% of the population have a degree in higher education, so it is no surprise that at university level, rationalism dominates. While there is no legal oppression for christians to meet, organise and express their faith, initiatives by christian student groups are often disapproved, because they’re “not confessionally neutral”. There is a noticeable scepticism towards religious activities in general. We often experience that in surveys or street evangelism. Basically anytime students feel that a conversation isn’t motivated by genuine interest but comes with an agenda, they react very reserved. However, if conversations are more relational, or happen spontaneously in the wake of an event, we experience that many students are very open and interested.
Hence, our ministry needs time to develop, much happens through relationships and moments of trust building. And therefore, we see great opportunities for short term projects in September, when all the freshers stream onto the campus, open to find new friends and looking to get to know what student life has to offer. The more different projects for interaction we can do, the better. We have great tools to connect with students, offering help in one of their most apparent needs (studying effectively), but sometimes lack the manpower to invite to this event, as there is little help from the University for spreading the word. We also see great opportunities in long term investment, as more time allows to develop relationships and truly invest in discipling students by sharing your life with them.
Receiving Needs/Desires
Describe your need for receiving labourers and/or teams, both short and long term.
Switzerland needs short term teams for projects or specific tasks:
Fall term, around mid-September to connect with fresher’s and newly motivated students and invite them to the different events and projects we’re doing.
Switzerland needs long term team to serve in your country:
Switzerland is a small country with a small SLM Team, but a great overall national Cru-movement. Because our team is small, we have little capacity to reach and teach all key students on our campuses. Because Switzerland is small, it’s easy to commute to all major University cities from almost anywhere. So because we have great and diverse resources at hand, but few people, long term labourers are greatly welcome.
Sending Opportunities/Desires
What sending is happening right now from your country? (Short term, long term, etc)
Currently, Switzerland is doing projects with Albania (Short term) and plans for a collaboration with GAiN and a project in Greece are made. There are currently no long term projects going on.
What are your dreams and vision for sending in within the next two years?
Our dream is to do at least two projects per year, with at least 10-15 students participating, accompanied by 1-2 staff.
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