Skip to content

Vision, strategy, structure

Vision

Experience God. Live out your faith. Change Austria.

We want to meet with and experience God. These experiences shouldn’t, however, remain only theoretical and private, as we want to live out our faith - personally, as Christians in our studies, as well as within student groups. The way we want to achieve the latter is through making the Christian faith a socially relevant theme at the universities. Our desire is that students become life-long disciples of Jesus. Through young men and women who love Jesus, and are ready to recognise their responsibility in the church and society, we want to see individuals, and consequently all of Austria, changed.

Mission-Statement

Our task is, in the community of students, who authentically live out their faith in Jesus Christ and see themselves as the prolonged arm of the churches at their universities, to invite our classmates to this personal faith and a life with Jesus Christ.

 

Strategic Goals

  • Formación: ÖSM wants to equip students and make them consistent followers of Jesus.
  • Mission (Evangelisation / World Mission): We want to make the Christian faith a theme at universities and invite our classmates, teachers and friends to get to know Jesus Christ.

Structure

Groups, Leadership Teams and the Student Leaders Network

The most important part of ÖSM are the city groups. These are organized in a variety of ways, each according to their needs and strengths. Based on their size, they may divide into smaller groups and teams.
Each student group has at least one leader, or, usually, a leadership team. It is in this way that the students are taking up responsibility. All leadership teams across Austria form the national Student Leaders Network (in German: Studentenleitungskreis, or ‚SLK‘). This committee, which meets once a semester, makes decisions about strategic, nationwide steps of action and is a platform for exchanging experiences and for mutual support.  The ‘SLK’ is led by an SLK-Leader or an SLK-Leadership Team (i.e. the “Leader of Leaders Team”).

Full-Time Employees

The groups and leadership teams are supported by full-time employees, the so called “travel secretaries”. They coach, train and accompany the students (English: “ÖSMer”; German: “ÖSMler”) in their respective city. When there is no travel secretary in a particular city, the leadership teams are supported by group tutors (usually ex-ÖSMer). The overall responsibility for the work nationwide is carried by the General Secretary.

Society

"ÖSM-Christen an der Uni" is a legally recognised society with a board. The board represents the ÖSM to third parties, and is responsible for the ÖSM's employment of full-time employees, the budget and the theological direction.
The board is made up of volunteers: typically the SLK leadership team and graduates (usually previous students, who were active in the ÖSM when they studied and still identify with the goals and work of ÖSM).

Funding

The ÖSM is financed through donations from graduates, churches, students and all of those who think the work of ÖSM is worth investing in. Most of the donors are from within Austria. If you would like to support the ÖSM, you can find our donations account here.