InterVarsity is a trans-denominational Christian ministry of 859 witnessing communities on 589 college campuses throughout the United States. Our vision is to see students and faculty transformed by the love of God through a relationship with Jesus Christ, campuses renewed through the influence of our student-led witnessing communities, and increasing numbers of Christian students and faculty dedicated to changing this world for the better.
Sure, it’s an ambitious mission. But we never expected to do it alone. Every day we rely on the partnerships of students, faculty, volunteers, and donors to accomplish our calling. And for our partners’ dedicated work and financial support, we’re deeply thankful.
Grateful Hearts
Our thankfulness for our partners finds its source in our gratitude to God.
We’re grateful for God’s love. Our Purpose Statement says it plainly: “In response to God’s love, grace and truth: The Purpose of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is to establish and advance . . . witnessing communities of students and faculty who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord. . . .”
That’s why we’re evangelical. We believe that the biblical story of redemption must be told to each generation. Our response of gratitude to God compels us to reach out to people with the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
- “Through InterVarsity I learned that Jesus is God, and I learned to study the Bible,” said J. Rodriguez, a graduate of SUNY College in Buffalo, New York.
We’re relational too. Gratitude for God’s love opens our hearts to partner with other Christians and cooperate with non-Christians to improve this world through practical missions projects. So when sharing the story of God’s redemption on campus, we cooperate with various Christian churches, denominations, and organizations; and when demonstrating the gospel’s relevance to ordinary life, we invite non-Christians to join us in missions projects that improve people’s lives.
Because we affirm the diversity of the body of Christ, we cooperate in ministry with Christians who come from different denominations. Because we believe that all people are created in God’s image, we honor people from every ethnicity.
- “I’m incredibly grateful for the amazing relationships that were fostered through my involvement with InterVarsity during my college years. I was challenged to grow more than I thought possible by the strong Christian community at USD,” said J. Hill, a graduate of the University of San Diego.
And we’re missional, as well. We’re outwardly focused on God’s mission in this world. In gratitude to God, we develop in students and faculty a missional lifestyle that sees the needs of others and reaches out to them in love.
After graduation, alumni of InterVarsity witnessing communities often become leaders in their local churches and continue their missional efforts to change the world.
- “I’ve received letters from InterVarsity alumni,” said InterVarsity’s President Alec Hill, “who are now missionaries outside the United States or are ministering within the poor neighborhoods of our nation’s cities and they tell me that it was at InterVarsity’s Urbana Student Missions Conference that they first heard God’s call to global missions. Take Sharon Cohn Wu, for example. Urbana 1991 helped define her call to missions. And in subsequent years she became more and more intentional about ministering to people who’ve suffered social injustice. Today she is the Senior Vice-President of International Justice Mission.”
We’re grateful for how God is using us on campus and for all our partners in this ministry.
If you would like to partner with any one of InterVarsity’s campus ministries, please visit our Contact Us webpage for a list of ministry departments, email addresses, and phone numbers. We’ll be delighted to explain how you can be a part of InterVarsity’s campus ministry.
