Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 2)

Can you imagine the impact of a growing number of Christian faculty on colleges and universities investing deeply in the campuses God has called them to?

InterVarsity’s ministry among faculty is growing and we are putting an emphasis on it in this next season.

Charis Chan, InterVarsity staff at University of Missouri – Columbia, recently sent this testimony. “I was connected to a group of Christian professors last month, and after attending their weekly meeting I invited them to affiliate with InterVarsity. They were so excited about IVCF’s vision for faculty they quickly agreed. They have not stopped calling me their ‘staff worker’ ever since. About 1/3 of this group was influenced by IVCF (as undergrad or grad) but had no idea about faculty ministry. At today’s celebration lunch, they expressed how InterVarsity’s faculty ministry makes them feel seen and understood. They now feel empowered to follow Jesus and be missional on campus as professors.”

Please pray as we develop faculty communities on campus.

In this season it is easy to get caught up in the physical preparations for the holiday and miss time to spiritually prepare to celebrate the coming of the King.

Download this Advent Devotional for a weekly reflection starting on the first day of Advent, December 3rd.

It’s the end of August which means a ton of activity for InterVarsity chapters throughout our region.  So far, groups have had leaders retreats, gone floating, hosted parties, made dinners, gone on prayer walks, participated in school activity fairs and eaten more pizza than you can imagine.

Haskell Indian Nations University held it’s first ever large group, and several students took steps of faith.  Two hundred and eighty-seven international students were lovingly welcomed to the US at Washington University’s furniture giveaway.  Countless student leaders are volunteering many hours during their first weeks of school to begin building relationships with new students on their campuses.

Please continue praying with us for these New Student Outreach efforts.  You can especially ask for strength for staff and students putting in long hours and for openness among the new students they meet.

“I always thought I needed to read the whole Bible and understand the meaning of each Biblical passage before I started to share the Gospel.  However, I realized that is not true. I can start inviting my friends to join International Friends and tell them who Jesus is and what Christianity is about.”Mikayla, an UMSL graduate student from Taiwan, is one of many international students who is venturing into the next phase of life with new skills in sharing their faith.   At Urbana 15, Mikayla felt challenged to try and start a GIG (Group Investigating God) with non-Christian friends on campus and learned a lot from the process.  When asked about her favorite memory from her time in the International Friends community, she mentioned the Thursday night Family Dinner and Discussions. She loved connecting with friends from all over the world, sharing in each others’ cultures and traditional food, and discussing the life of Jesus and the Bible after each meal.  Her time in International Friends will now help her build up believers in Texas where she heads for a new job and wherever life takes her.

Are we grasping for things that do not satisfy or are we embracing the promise of what God has for us? This is the question out of Isaiah 55:1-3 that began our training last weekend. Our focus was increasing partnership for our work and as we often see our heart posture is crucial for this work.

Our staff left with new tools to invite deeper partnership for the work on campus, motivation to do the work, and preparation for the summer ahead. Thanks for your prayers and please continue to pray that God would bring partners to help us reach every corner of the campus in the Central Region.

A Native Hawaiian student, Welina, is taking the first steps to start an InterVarsity chapter at Midland University in Freemont, Nebraska. She’s starting with a Bible study this summer with friends who are still around campus (mostly other Hawaiian students from the wrestling team). The campus is 78% student athletes. Pray for Welina! This is her senior year and she wants leave a legacy.

How can we overcome the network inequality that many of our ethnic minority staff encounter when raising funds for InterVarsity’s work? My work joins many others working on new models for fundraising that makes roles like InterVarsity staff accessible for all.

Why does this matter?

Approximately 36% of the college population, not counting internationals, identify themselves as ethnic minorities. Of the 40,219 active InterVarsity students, 15,060, or 38%, identify themselves as ethnic minority or multiracial students. (website)

We desire to effectively minister in every corner of this diverse student population and increasingly our staff team is representing this diversity. This necessitates us growing in the area of the funding of our staff.

Join us in praying for a new season for our movement and let me know if you would like to help me think through next steps.

Praise God with us for this taste of what God was doing at Urbana15!