A Shaky Start
1930-1939. A Shaky Start
The first decade for the SUEU was a turbulent period, attended with both deflating failures and remarkable successes, reflecting the instability of an organisation as yet without a tradition or culture, as well as the creativity and flexibility that goes along with such a situation. The challenge for the group was to settle down without freezing up; to gain in maturity without losing the vitality of youth.
The first move in this direction was the Annual General Meeting held at the end of 1930, with 25 present, where a constitution for the group was passed which set out both its objects and tone. As well as endorsing the Executive and General Committee structure, the stated purpose of the union was "to stimulate personal faith and to further evangelistic work amongst students by upholding the fundamental truths of Christianity, including ...", after which followed a 9 point doctrinal statement, which the SUEU borrowed almost directly from the British IVF.
Evangelism and edification were thus the driving forces of the SUEU, and probably the former more so than the latter. Public Meetings were held each week, as well as occasional special meetings taken by prominent evangelical speakers, which sometimes became full scale missions. There were a number of these held in the early 30's, however, it is the last mission for this decade, held in 1935, which was most dramatic, and formative, for the SUEU.
The SUEU decided to invite Rev. W. P. Nicholson, a fiery Irish evangelist, to speak at the University in 1935. Two hundred and fifty students, friends and supporters attended a prayer meeting for the mission held on the weekend prior to it, where "a vote of no confidence in the flesh was carried unanimously". During the mission week itself, which was the first time the Union Hall had been booked every day for a week, Nicholson spoke on the Monday and Tuesday to "noisy but orderly" audiences. However, on Tuesday night, the mission report records, "Ian Holt, the President, was given a message from God to speak at the meeting the next day", and in fact on Wednesday, Nicholson was taken ill. "God directed us not to call in another Missioner, but to carry on ourselves", and so Holt and Harry Doran, a former President, spoke on Wednesday, Lindsay Grant, the recently resigned Travelling Secretary for the Evangelical Unions and Crusader Unions of Australia and Tasmania, spoke on Thursday, and Marcus Loane spoke at the final meeting. The Wednesday meeting was "very rowdy", reported Honi Soit. Throwdown firecrackers, sneezing powder, and organised coughing and stamping rendered the young speakers practically inaudible. As he was closing in prayer, the runner-carpet was pulled from under Ian Holt, at which point a Methodist clergyman in the audience dealt vigorously with some of the agitators. Such an impression did the whole ruckus make that it was written up at length in the University paper, and even made it to the Sydney Morning Herald, under the heading 'Evangelical Disturbances'. When two of the disturbers were fined by University authorities, the SUEU showed their good faith by paying the fines, a gesture which was publicly reported and appreciated. Throughout, daily audiences of 450 heard the gospel preached, then about 20% of the entire day student population.
The defining moment for the SUEU came at the end of the decade, with the defeat of the sinless perfectionists. With this, the Union was established independently of particular personalities, and had laid its foundations deeply in both evangelical theology and experiential religion, but not one to the exclusion of the other. This was an extremely painful battle, during which friendships were broken, and enemies made as a radical group within the SUEU insisted upon a heretical reading of some key biblical texts and the belief that true Christians would live sinlessly after a special blessing of the Holy Spirit. Although it had been brewing for some years, it was in the SUEU Annual General Meeting elections on 25th September, 1940 that it came to a head. Eighty-six members were present, all but a few of the SUEU"s membership, and two opposing tickets were run: one representing the perfectionists and the other the conservatives. For each position the voting was the same - about 65 for the conservatives, and 20 for the perfectionists - with the result that John Hercus was elected President and Donald Robinson, Secretary. The perfectionists, led by Lindsay Grant, who in 1936 became the first General Secretary of the newly formed Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF)1 , were defeated. Having survived its most serious challenge, the SUEU was set for the long haul.
This battle highlights the relationship of the SUEU with its evangelical cousins in the wider scene. The SUEU has always needed friends, and has needed to choose them carefully. Throughout the decade the same names recur as the speakers of first, and often last resort - Principle Morling, Marcus Loane, Howard Guinness, the Reverends Babbage, Begbie and Delbridge, Paul White, and especially after he was appointed Principal of Moore College in 1935, T.C. Hammond. "TC", as he was known, took particular responsibility for the theological health of the SUEU throughout these years, and would have "squashes" in the Principal's house each month, at which he would answer any questions put to him, including one in 1939 addressing the topic of sinless perfectionism. In this way, relatively unformed and vulnerable students were anchored theologically, and were enabled to hold fast in the face of opposition.
1. Despite these rather shaky beginnings for the IVCF, it spread rapidly around the country so that by 1945 groups were established in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, as well as Sydney. In 1973 the IVCF changed its name to the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) and continues to flourish to this day; the SUEU remains an active affiliate.
