The Australian Student Christian Movement (ASCM), formerly the Australasian Student Christian Union, is a
Christian group with an
ecumenical focus working with
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
students.
History
Described as a "university within a university", the ASCM was formed in 1896, and is one of the oldest student groups in existence in Australia. Originally named the Australian Student Christian Union
[ (or Australasian Student Christian Union?), the group was established at a meeting in Wyselaski Hall, ]Ormond College
Ormond College is the largest of the residential colleges of the University of Melbourne located in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is home to around 350 undergraduates, 90 graduates and 35 professorial and academic residents.
H ...
, University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...
, in 1896, 14 years before the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference
The 1910 World Missionary Conference, or the Edinburgh Missionary Conference, was held on 14 to 23 June 1910. Some have seen it as both the culmination of nineteenth-century Protestant Christian missions and the formal beginning of the modern Prot ...
that is commonly considered to have inaugurated the modern ecumenical movement
Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
. At the time Australia had only four universities, which were strongly opposed to any religious activities taking place on their secular campuses. Yet those who created the ASCM fervently believed that Christian students could be agents of change in the university, the nation and the world.
The name changed gradually during the period between the wars to reflect the idea of movement rather than organisation. The title ASCM was formally adopted in the early 1930s.[R. Howe, A Century of Influence: The Australian Student Christian Movement, (Sydney: UNSW Press, 2009).]
The ASCM was involved in the formation of the National Union of Students, the Overseas Service Bureau and the Uniting Church in Australia
The Uniting Church in Australia (UCA) was founded on 22 June 1977, when most congregations of the Methodist Church of Australasia, about two-thirds of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and almost all the churches of the Congregational Uni ...
.
Ethos
ASCM fosters liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
and progressive religious and social views and has been associated with the social gospel, Christian socialist
Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe cap ...
and environmentalist
An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...
movements and is generally part of the Christian left
The Christian left is a range of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel.
Given the inherent diversity in international political thoug ...
.
The ASCM sees itself as:
*Open … encouraging spiritual growth through understanding and tolerance of others’ viewpoints.
*Ecumenical … welcoming and affirming members from all denominations and valuing the rich diversity of Christian traditions and those of other faiths, while seeking unity in prayer and action.
*Active … seeking God’s desire for peace, justice and liberation from oppression throughout the Bible and life of Jesus, and responding to God’s call for conversion of self and transformation of society.
*Critical … taking the learning of students seriously and looking to theology, the sciences and the humanities to provide new perspectives on faith and a deeper understanding of truth and life.
Activism
The ASCM has had a long history of activism, which led to the movement being monitored by the Commonwealth Investigation Branch
The Commonwealth Police (COMPOL) was the federal law enforcement agency in Australia between 1917 and 1979. A federal police force was first established in 1917, and operated under different names and in some periods as multiple organisations. In ...
(CIB) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated vi ...
in the 1940s and 1950s, worried about the ASCM's work with refugees and the pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
and conscientious objection
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecti ...
of some of its members.
During Australian involvement in the Vietnam War
Australia's involvement in the Vietnam War began with a small commitment of 30 military advisors in 1962, and increased over the following decade to a peak of 7,672 Australian personnel following the Menzies Government's April 1965 decision to u ...
, the ASCM was involved in subverting the draft and providing support for so-called draft dodgers
Draft evasion is any successful attempt to elude a government-imposed obligation to serve in the military forces of one's nation. Sometimes draft evasion involves refusing to comply with the military draft laws of one's nation. Illegal draft ev ...
.
After the 1965 Freedom Ride through regional New South Wales by Aboriginal activists and students, which exposed racism in Australia
Racism in Australia comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in Australia, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and actions (including ...
and the racial segregation
Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
practised in regional towns, ASCM's journal ''Crux'' ran a special issue on "Aborigines". This included a guest editorial entitled "No genteel silence" by Ian Spalding on the significance of the Freedom Ride.["No genteel silence"]
/ref>
Today the ASCM is involved in the struggles for the liberation of women and of gay, lesbian and bisexual people, in the work against racism against both migrant and Aboriginal people and the exploitation of the people and lands of the Asia-Pacific region. This is reflected in the history of the ASCM with their explicit support for Gandhi, the equality of women and their activism for changes to the White Australia policy
The White Australia policy is a term encapsulating a set of historical policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians (primarily Chinese) and Pacific Islanders, from immigrating to Australia, starting i ...
which reached its climax in the 1960s with the Sydney branch leading the way.[ ASCM are still politically active and continue to offer opportunities for students to be involved in Human Rights and a world wide recognition of women's rights in differing cultures. ASCM is seen to promote a mature faith of intellectual engagement.
]
Affiliations
It is affiliated with the World Student Christian Federation
The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements (SCM) forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement. The Federation includes Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, ...
and has close ties to the National Council of Churches in Australia, the Christian Conference of Asia
The Christian Conference of Asia is a regional ecumenical organisation representing 15 National Councils and over 100 denominations (churches) in New Zealand, Australia, Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, ...
and to the World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most ju ...
.
It participated in the 37th General Assembly of the World Student Christian Federation in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
, Germany, in 2022.
ASCM is part of the World Student Christian Federation Asia-Pacific Region with a biannual Regional Committee Meeting and the Pacific Sub-region (Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand with Fiji and Papua New Guinea not active.
Publications
ASCM published a jounral called ''Crux'' in Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
between 1961 and 1972. It was bimonthly until 1970, and then quarterly until the end of its run. As of 1965, the journal editors were John and Margaret Howe.[
]
Conflict
There is at times conflict with conservative evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
Christian groups on campus, such as the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students
The Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students (AFES) is an evangelical Christian parachurch organisation that aims to encourage university students to believe in and follow Jesus Christ. It is affiliated with, and in 1947 was a founding mem ...
(affiliated to the parachurch
Parachurch organizations are Christian faith-based organizations that work outside and across denominations to engage in social welfare and evangelism. Parachurch organizations seek to come alongside the church and specialize in things that indiv ...
International Fellowship of Evangelical Students
The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) is an interdenominational association of 170 evangelical Christian student movements worldwide, encouraging evangelism, discipleship and mission among students. The headquarters is in O ...
). While the formation of the ASCM was inspired by the charismatic American evangelical ecumenist, John R. Mott, from the beginning the Australian movement had a tense relationship with evangelicalism, deciding not to adopt Mott’s watchword of “the evangelisation of the world in this generation”. The ASCM refused to hold American-style university missions; encouraged liberal Biblical interpretation; and supported the modernist side in the modernist-fundamentalist controversy of the 1920s. In 1930 the Evangelical Union split off from the ASCM; a division that has never been healed. While this split was seen as a catastrophe, by no longer feeling the constraint of conservativism, ASCM had the flexibility to explore liberal issues in a more consistent and concise way. The areas of engagement included science, psychology, humanism and Communism amongst many others.[
In the early years of the ASCM's history, conflict was often over issues of ]theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
and biblical interpretation
Biblical hermeneutics is the study of the principles of interpretation concerning the books of the Bible. It is part of the broader field of hermeneutics, which involves the study of principles of interpretation, both theory and methodology, for ...
. In later decades the conflict was often over social issues, including sexuality. Since the 1990s, the ASCM has promoted itself as queer- friendly and has supported gay, lesbian and bisexual Christians who have felt hurt by their treatment within conservative Christian groups.
Notable members
See also
*Christian ecumenism
Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...
* National Council of Churches in Australia
*World Student Christian Federation
The World Student Christian Federation (WSCF) is a federation of autonomous national Student Christian Movements (SCM) forming the youth and student arm of the global ecumenical movement. The Federation includes Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic, ...
Notes
Further reading
*Boyd, R. (2007) ''The Witness of the Student Christian Movement: 'Church ahead of the church ATF Press, Hindmarsh.
*Howe, R. (2003) A Movement of Influence: The Australian Student Christian Movement in the 1930s, Spirit of Australia II Religion in Citizenship and National Life, pp. 86–96, ATF Press, Hindmarsh, South Australia
*Howe, R. (2001) The Australian Student Christian Movement and Women's Activism in the Asia-Pacific Region, 1890s-1920s, Australian Feminist Studies, Vol 16, No 36, pp. 311–323, Carfax Publishing Limited, Abingdon, United Kingdom
*Howe, R. (2001) "The SCM is Going to Hell" the Australian Student Christian Movement and the Emergence of the Evangelical Union in the Early 1930s, Proceedings of the Uniting Church Historical Synod of Victoria, Vol 8, No 1, July 2001, pp. 27–42, Uniting Church Historical Society, Synod of Victoria, Elsternwick, Victoria
*Howe, R. An Analysis of the Contribution of the Australian Student Christian Movement to Universities, Social and Political Movements and Internationally, Australian Research Council Small Grant
*Howe, R. (2009) ''A Century of Influence: The Australian Student Christian Movement 1896-1996'' UNSW Press, Sydney.
External links
*
{{Christianity in Australia
Christian organisations based in Australia
Student societies in Australia
Student religious organisations in Australia
Christian education in Australia