InterVarsity is called to share and demonstrate the good news of Jesus Christ on campus through witnessing communities. In 2007, we began a five-year plan to reach thousands more students and faculty on more campuses across the country. We also launched the 2020 Vision Campaign to secure additional financial resources to reach future generations of students. The Campaign has a total goal of $20 million: $10 million in current gifts and the remaining $10 million in identifying deferred or planned gifts. Today we are less than $320,000 away from our goal for current gifts.
We praise God that we have exceeded the original goal of $10 million for planned giving. We are encouraged by the way so many alumni and friends of this ministry are making planned gift arrangements for future generations. Because of their encouragement, we have increased our goal to $15 million for planned gifts and we are currently less than $400,000 from this new goal.
The 2020 Vision Campaign primarily focuses on the four areas of our Strategic Plan that will help us increase the number of students and faculty participating in our witnessing communities every year by several thousand. These four areas are:
Nurturing New Spiritual Life Through Evangelism
Trusting God to increase the number of new believers every year, we have begun several new evangelistic strategies. (The number of new believers recorded by InterVarsity staff over the past five years has increased by 68 percent.) One such example is the Price of Life Invitational at Ohio State University. During such strategic events, the compassion of Jesus is revealed to college students, and His care about current issues is made known. Students learn that biblical truth is relevant to their concerns and are encouraged to be advocates for Jesus on their campus. InterVarsity is also investing in cutting-edge evangelism resources and training materials and developing staff with gifts in evangelism. To learn more about how God is using our evangelism efforts, please click here.
Growing New Witnessing Communities
InterVarsity aims to plant 100 new chapters and see substantial growth in our current chapters by 2012. Sixty-two new chapters have been planted, 17 are being planted this academic year followed by up to 21 in the fall of 2011. Chapter growth strategies are being shared, and 25 faculty volunteers are being trained to establish new faculty witnessing communities. Our staff are receiving high-quality training, mentoring, and start-up funding to ensure the success of these strategies. To learn more, click here.
Developing New Leaders
Strong, well-trained leaders will help guide InterVarsity to fulfilling its mission on campus through the end of this Campaign and beyond. Through The Daniel Projects, we are investing in Greek, International Student Ministry, Women, and ethnic minority staff. We are preparing men and women to take on senior leadership positions, and we are enhancing our ability to serve InterVarsity students, staff, and guest groups at our four training centers.
Extending a New Call to Global Missions
Since 1946, God has used the Urbana Student Missions Conference to call students to His purposes in the world. In December, 2009, over 15,000 students, faculty, and ministry workers participated in Urbana 09 in St. Louis, where 2,676 people made two-year or more commitments to serve in cross-cultural missions! This is the highest number in the past three Urbanas. Click here to find out more about the work of God’s Spirit during Urbana 09.
Praise God with us for the success of the Campaign thus far. Please pray for this significant and historic opportunity for InterVarsity. To participate financially in the 2020 Vision Campaign click here. Thank you for the investment you are making in the lives of students and faculty.
If you have questions regarding the 2020 Vision Campaign, please contact Vision Campaign Director Joshua Hall by email through this link, or by phone at 608-274-9001.
If you are interested in more information about including InterVarsity in your estate plans, please contact Gary Kopan by email through this link, or by phone at 608-443-3685.
