InterVarsity president Alec Hill was among about 75 InterVarsity/USA staff attending the World Assembly of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, held July 11-19 in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. About 600 representatives from 140 countries, representing movements reaching 400,000 students, attended the World Assembly. Just before his departure to visit Global Projects in Asia, Alec discussed his experiences at his second World Assembly. You can read the interview here or listen to it as an mp3 file on InterVarsity’s Audio Page or InterVarsity’s podcast.
InterVarsity.org: This World Assembly offered a look into the window of sister organizations that exist in cultures that are completely different from the United States. Did you get any insights or ideas about student ministry in other countries that were helpful or intriguing to you?
Alec Hill: Well, in a conversation with a fellow from one Asian country, I learned they had 250 students become Christians last year. That’s in a fairly closed system and culture. In an unnamed Middle Eastern country, they had 25 students become Christians. It was exciting hearing stories about other places where it’s difficult for the Gospel to go forward but where student movements are progressing.
InterVarsity.org: Did you have a lot of one-on-one time where you got to ask people questions about what’s going on in their country?
AH: I did. I had my schedule arranged for maximum time for floating around. I spent a lot of time with the former general secretary for Ukraine, so I learned a lot about that part of the world. My roommate was Korean, so I got to know him well, and his staff. I got around.
InterVarsity.org: What are some of the things you’d like to stress about the experience you’ve just been through?
AH: There were several threads. The first is what they call pioneering and what we call planting. IFES is a planting movement. Evangelism continues to be very strong around the world.
And then there’s the area of Formacion, what we call spiritual formation or discipleship. Like InterVarsity they don’t separate the proclamation of the Gospel from the doing the Gospel. So we talked about AIDS; we talked about climate change; and we talked about racial reconciliation at the World Assembly.
InterVarsity.org: You did an interview during the World Assembly that went out through the Associated Press where you talked about the USA becoming a mission field for foreign evangelists. What was that about?
AH: When you look at countries like South Korea and Brazil and certainly African nations, Europe is already receiving them. It’s a mission field. While the U.S. is clearly not in the same position, I think the tipping point is coming or has been reached, particularly where it pertains to Latino or Nigerian populations. There are huge populations of immigrants. Missionaries are being sent to reach those populations, but I think there’s recognition in many of these countries that they need to send more missionaries here. I think that’s going to increase, and I welcome it. We certainly are no longer the center of the universe in terms of the Christian world.
The new General Secretary of IFES is from Francophone Africa, a French-speaking former professor, Daniel Bourdanné. This was not a North American Missions Convention; we were in the minority. And it was obvious and wonderful.
InterVarsity.org: What implications does that have for the InterVarsity movement here in the U.S.?
AH: Well, thankfully 20 to 25 years ago we began to seriously move towards a multiethnic approach, because we will continue to become more diverse with refugee and immigrant populations coming and going. That’s always been America’s story. I know some people like that and some don’t. But that’s a reality.
Then you have the reality that we are so challenged linguistically. You go to these conferences and meet people who speak four languages. The chairman of the (IFES) board is from Brazil, but he’s German descent. So he speaks those two languages; he speaks Spanish fluently and English. The world is coming to us. Either we’re going to react in a Gospel way, or we’re going to be caught off guard.
InterVarsity.org: Daniel Bourdanné is the new general secretary. You’ve met him a number of times, what is your take on him?
AH: Well I love Daniel. He’s very tolerant of my pidgin French. We’re both former faculty members; his dissertation was on millipedes. He had the pulpit the last night of the assembly, and I tell you the man can bring a message.
Daniel is a passionate leader. I think he has a good sense of strategy. Look at what’s happened in Francophone Africa over his tenure. They had three staff when he started, I think they now have 80. He’s four inches taller than me, and I’m tall. But he’s gentle. And that gentleness comes through.
His challenge to us was to really believe in students, to not become too staff centered, and to really focus on the University. He used the same illustration that I use: he talks about the lake, and we love the lake and not just the fish that is the students in the lake. I know it wasn’t original with me. It was really nice to hear that he loves the university.
I think this is a huge thrill for the French-speaking parts of the world. There’ve been only three general secretaries of the IFES: the first one was Australian, the second was Singaporean, the third one was Welsh. And now the fourth one is African, French speaking.
InterVarsity.org: You’ve been processing this experience since you left the World Assembly. Is there anything else that you’d like to mention?
AH: One of the things that I’m most pleased about is what has happened in Mongolia over the last five years. Tom and Nancy Lin, our staff, went over and partnered with South Korean staff. They planted a movement there that is self-sustaining, and now they’re back. This is a replication of what happened in the Philippines years ago, and what more recently has happened in some other countries.
I think what I saw at World Assembly was that we as American InterVarsity have played a critical role in world missions and in the development of world changers. But at the same time, and this is a very important point, there was an appropriate humility among the American delegation. We were not front and center. We were very much in the service mode. I was very thankful for the combination of being mission minded and also being very humble. I’m speaking of other people, not myself.
Link staff, who were there, were giving all the credit to the national leaders. At a time when being an American is probably at an all-time low, in terms of the global scene, I would say that we were loved and cared for. And I would also say that our relationships with IFES have never been better at so many levels. I think we have 50 open spots that our peers at IFES would love to have our staff go and fill.
One final word, about Poland. I had time with the general secretary there who I have known for some time. I really like her. About 15 years ago Poland was a great movement. Their funding model is different and now, Eva, the general secretary, told me that for the last two years she hasn’t taken any pay at all because she wants her staff to get paid. That breaks my heart. If there are any chapters out there who would like to twin, my appeal would be twin with Poland. It’s a fabulous country. I spent a summer there, and they are great people. Or if there are offerings that people are taking at camps for IFES, remember Poland.
InterVarsity.org: Did you have any role in terms of the World Assembly itself?
AH: Other than speaking to our guest program, I had no role. In fact, I went in this morning for a doctor’s visit and my blood pressure was 110/62. I have not seen the downside of 80 in my life, so I’m relaxed. It was such a joy to be with these people.
You know my mom was a foreign language teacher and my dad spent a third of his life in Asia, so anything international I just sop up. For me it was like a taste of heaven, and friendships were so rich and deep. It was just fabulous.
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You can make a direct financial donation to support the work of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Poland by following this link.
