ABSTRACT
I spent a term studying oKo and also a number of other Christian student groups operating at oulu University between September and December 2007. More broadly I was able to speak to many different students during this period and found that a large minority were originally from relatively close to oulu. In the case of oKo, however, it was very difficult, for reasons that I will discuss in more detail below, to produce any kind of meaningful sample of group opinion. As such, this method had to be abandoned and, as I will argue below, the very fact that this was so difficult allowed me to understand a great deal about the nature of the organisation. During my time with oKo there appeared to be around three or four regulars who attended all of the meetings. I was not made an honorary member or anything of the kind. Indeed, most of the students to whom I spoke at the meetings were often not actually paid up members of the group themselves. All that the group asked of those present was that they wrote down their name in the group’s book. They could also be placed on the group’s email list if they so desired.
