A letter to parents from Josh Harper, National Coordinator for Urban Projects

I honor your concern for the safety of your child. As parents ourselves, my wife and I want to know that the agency our child is volunteering with has considered basic issues of security and safety and has taken appropriate precautions toward that end.

At the same time, we acknowledge that ministry in neighborhoods that have been affected by poverty and crime does involve inherent risk. While it's true that these risks tend to be blown out of proportion at times, nevertheless we take them seriously. View our commitment to appropriate risk management on our urban projects.

For more than 25 years now, InterVarsity has sent thousands upon thousands of students into America's inner cities to demonstrate the love of Christ (currently more than 1500 per year), to seek the transformation of those neighborhoods, and to be themselves transformed in the process. Inner city agencies and churches ask for our students every year, because they make such an incredible difference in a relatively short period of time. Perhaps even more significantly, our students experience the kind of equipping and transformation that affects the rest of their lives as well. They become world changers, the kind of people marginalized neighborhoods are crying out for, and the kind of people that make their parents proud.

I encourage you to support your son or daughter as they prepare to go on one of our urban projects, a next step on their journey of faith. If you have questions about any aspect of their experience, please feel free to contact us!

Warmly in Christ,

Josh Harper
National Coordinator for Urban Projects
559.497.8739

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