What is UESI
Union of Evangelical Students of India is an active student movement that seeks to evangelize and enrich college students to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. The ministry is committed to transforming college campuses with the good news of Jesus Christ and equipping a generation of youth that serves the church and society. UESI is interdenominational, inviting youth from all backgrounds, supporting them in their spiritual walk and raising them to be leaders in the Lord Jesus.
Inception and Growth
Formation of the National Movement: Prof. H. Enoch was involved in the students’ ministry in Visakhapatnam Medical College from 1931-1949 through Student Christian Movement. He believed and taught that Bible is the Word of God though SCM had a stand that Bible contains Word of God, meaning that the entire Bible is not the Word of God.
When he joined Presidency College, Madras in 1949, he decided not to continue with SCM. He shared his concern with students and senior friends from different churches in the city and they began to pray together seeking God’s will regarding the formation of a student movement which trusted the Bible as the Word of God. Dr. T. Norton Sterret, then a teacher in a Bible School at Jhansi, U. P. came to Madras at the initiative of Bro. Bhakt Singh to help the new fellowship. He had connections with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) and was quite keen in pioneering evangelical student witness in India.
During the same period, groups of believing students were meeting for prayer in the Christian Medical College (CMC) in 1948. Dr. John Moody from Australia joined as faculty in C.M.C., Vellore in 1950. He had been actively involved with IVF-Australia during his student days and he could give effective leadership to the prayer group in C.M.C., Vellore
D. Jayapaul, and H. S. Ponnuraj, who were associated with Madras ICEU joined Government College of Technology (GCT), Coimbatore in 1949 and 1950 respectively. They initiated an evangelical prayer group in their college.
The groups from Madras, Vellore and Coimbatore got in touch with each other and they met together at Katpadi near Vellore on 18 September 1954 and Union of Evangelical Students of India (UESI) was born with a vision to reach the university students of India with the gospel of Jesus Christ. They emphasized the importance of the study of the Word of God and the need for new birth for one’s salvation. They had a strong faith that God will meet their financial and other needs. Eventually they got associated with evangelical student movements in other countries and became a member in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.