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By 
Luke Smith2025-12-02T14:34:00+00:00
Despite sharing the same vision to see students encounter Jesus, Fusion and UCCF’s relationship has long been one defined by tensions and territorial disputes. Fusion’s Luke Smith reflects on the mistrust that stifled their unity, and the prayer, communication, and reconciliation that have begun to build it
Source: Do It Again Prayer
For as long as they have existed, Fusion and UCCF have prayed for students to meet Jesus. We have sown into the same mission field. We have gathered in the same harvest.
But the reality is that the history between Fusion and UCCF has been difficult. We haven’t seen eye to eye. Those of us who have been in the game a while have felt the strain. It has been very different and at times territorial. Our differences divided us.
Some of these differences were theological or stylistic. Others were cultural. Above all, we lacked relationship. We didn’t understand each other. When you don’t know someone, it’s very hard to trust them.
Over the last couple of years, however, we began to meet, leader to leader. As I sat on the train to Leeds on the way to that first meeting, I was afraid. I didn’t know what I would find. But what I found there was humility and warmth. A different posture to that to which we’d become accustomed.
Something surprising happens when you make a habit of sitting around the table with those you once viewed with suspicion. You begin to see how similar we all are, underneath it all. Same heart. Same longing. Made in the image of the same God. Driven by the same desire to see students come home to Jesus.
As we continued to meet, we prayed together. And as we prayed together, we found forgiveness, both offered and received. We named what had caused pain. We addressed misunderstandings. We left nothing unspoken between us. We cried. And we laughed. And somewhere along the way, we laid our history to rest.
The future looks like friendship. That friendship has revealed what was true from the start: Fusion and UCCF are co-labourers in the same kingdom. Neither of us are gatekeepers of campuses or guard dogs of cities – we are both gardeners of the student mission field. We look different. We sound different. We work in different ways. That’s ok. We bring complementary offerings to the altar.
Through these conversations, we fought for something new: unity. It was hard-won. But it was worth it.
Unity doesn’t erase our differences, nor should it. Unity celebrates that each of us has a unique contribution to make to the kingdom. God weaves our different threads into his tapestry. Each thread makes a difference.
Out of this unity grew a prayer partnership that drew together student mission organisations, churches, and students into 13 prayer nights running concurrently across the country. Different cities, same cry: Lord, send revival to our universities. We called it ‘Do It Again’ and we contended, shoulder to shoulder, in partnership, for a move of God in this generation.
When you make a habit of sitting around the table with those you once viewed with suspicion, you see how similar we all are, underneath it all.
That was last January. This November, the Fusion and UCCF teams gathered in the same room for the first time. Ever. We shared stories together. We sat round the table and broke bread together. Well…pizza. We laughed together. We knelt in surrender and declared a new chapter in the story of student mission.
We discovered that prayer is the language of unity. It is the common tongue of friends who trust one another and God. Competition and comparison have no place in prayer. Instead, prayer is a place of communion. Of conviction. Of consecration. Of contending.
This January, Do It Again is happening again. But this time, we will not run it as partner organisations. This time, we will pray as friends. This time, we will pray in just under 30 different locations with doors open wide. All God’s people from all corners of the church will lift their voice as one. Young and old will stand together for the sake of this generation. Whoever you are, you are invited. As a friend, will you stand with us?
For more information visit doitagainprayer.org
A note from my friend, Matt Lillicrap, CEO of UCCF:
When Jesus calls his first disciples to the business of making disciples he does it through a fishing lesson! As Luke tells the story in his gospel, a detail flashes by so quick we might miss it. The miraculous catch is so big Peter’s boat can’t handle it alone. He calls his mates in the other boat and together they just about haul it in.
Much has been said about the spiritual hunger of today’s students. They’re profoundly open to encountering Jesus. So, we don’t need to do anything different: keep throwing out the nets. But this catch needs friends to help haul it in. That’s just one reason I’m rejoicing that we can stand together in prayer as we cry out “Jesus is Lord” and invite every student to follow him.
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