Form Tomorrow’s faithful leaders today
Learn About The Campaign

Students

University of Wisconsin--Madison

GEN Z DESPERATELY NEEDS JESUS

42%
are likely to battle depression and hopelessness.
Walton Family Foundation study (2022)
18%
say they might be better off dead.
Walton Family Foundation study (2022)

THE NEED IS URGENT

36%
of Gen Z are Christians.
Ryan Burge (2021) “Gen Z and Religion in 2021” Religion in Public
66%
of young adults raised in the church will abandon their faith by the time they graduate from college.
Lifeway Research (2019)

But there is hope

56%
of Gen Z report being “very/extremely” curious about Jesus and/or the Bible.
American Bible Society, “State of the Bible 2023”
82%
of Gen Z Christian teens think it’s important to share their faith.
Barna, “The Open Generation: United States” 2021

our proven model-

InterVarsity’s Student Leadership Pathway

For over 80 years, our Student Leadership Pathway has moved students from exploring and growing their faith to becoming leaders who live out the Gospel in the world.
  • INVITED INTO
    COMMUNITY
  • ASKED TO MAKE
    LORDSHIP
    DECISIONS
  • DISCIPLED THROUGH
    SCRIPTURE
  • TRAINED AS A
    LEADER
  • EQUIPPED TO
    DISCIPLE
    OTHERS
  • .
    SENT
    INTO THE WORLD
DOWNLOAD CAMPAIGN CASE PDF

A NOTE FROM InterVarsity’s PRESIDENT

My heart breaks for Gen Z college students who are lost, lonely, and living in a time of deep anxiety and social isolation. But I have hope.

In our next Strategic Plan, InterVarsity is focusing on developing student leaders, planting more witnessing communities, and the structures needed to support those efforts. Faithful student leaders are the key to reaching more students and more campuses. 

We are trusting in God’s faithfulness for this incredible undertaking. Continue learning about the plan and see how you can partner with us to form tomorrow’s faithful leaders.

My heart breaks for Gen Z college students who are lost, lonely, and living in a time of deep anxiety and social isolation. But I have hope.

With two Gen Z daughters of my own, I am concerned by the challenges this generation faces. They know crises caused by rapid changes in culture and technology, political polarization, and global conflict. They are aware of the leadership crisis in the Church and in our country. But at the same time, they are curious about Jesus.

Almost two million US college students attend a campus with no Gospel ministry. I long to see Jesus made known among these students. With the same fervent passion we have had for decades, we enter the next season of our 2030 Calling. Starting in 2018, InterVarsity’s last strategic plan guided our ministry in areas of greatest opportunity and clearest need. Some of you were a part of this work through your support of the Real Hope Campaign — the most successful campaign in InterVarsity history. Initiatives funded by that campaign enabled us to reach more campuses and learn about and adapt to the unique challenges of ministering to Gen Z. We asked, “How do we equip an un-churched generation into Christian leadership — especially one that struggles more deeply with mental health than any other before them?”

In our next Strategic Plan, InterVarsity will focus on developing student leaders and continuing to plant on more campuses. We will also execute strategies to accelerate ministry. In 2024, we are launching the Forming Faithful Leaders Campaign to fund these initiatives. I am eager to share in the following pages how we will grow a new generation of faithful leaders and what financial investment this will require.

As we seek to raise $78 million dollars ($46 million in current and $32 million in legacy gifts), will you pray for Gen Z and prayerfully consider joining us with a gift to Forming Faithful Leaders? We are trusting and relying on God's provision, wisdom, and faithfulness for this incredible undertaking.

READ FULL LETTER —>

Our Strategic Plan for 2024-2027

develop students leader 1

Develop Student leaders

Goal

Through investing in high-quality leadership development and training events that prepare students to confidently share their faith, 12,000 new student leaders will reach over 200,000 students with the Gospel.

IMPACT

  • Sent to campus – InterVarsity-trained student leaders long for their classmates and friends to find new life in Jesus. They invite peers into communities that love them and create spaces where they can encounter a God who accepts and loves them even more.
     
  • Sent into the world – InterVarsity-trained student leaders go out into every sector of society to become leaders of organizations, serve as pastors and missionaries, and more. They are strategically positioned to change the culture and the world.

Cost

$11.5M

Strategy 1 Details

Learn More
plantmore

Plant More Witnessing Communities

GOAL

Currently 2 million students do not have a witnessing community on their campus. In partnership with EveryCampus, InterVarsity is seeking to plant 240 new witnessing communities while making sure current communities remain strong and thriving.

Impact

  • Reach priority campuses – Establish witnessing communities on overlooked campuses like HBCUs, HSIs, Tribal Colleges, and community colleges.
     
  • Resource ministries to thrive – Create resources to already established chapters to help them grow and be sustained long-term.

Cost

$10.6M

Strategy 2 Details

Learn More
accelerateministry

Accelerate Ministry

GOAL

Create and fund new systems and training to develop more leaders and plant more witnessing communities – improved staff recruiting, fundraising, and volunteer infrastructure.

Impact

  • Recruit and send out more harvest workers – Hire and train more campus ministers and send out more alumni volunteers to disciple and plant.
     
  • Strengthen our infrastructure – Use new technology to engage more deeply with donors, alumni, volunteers, and create new revenue streams of $3 million per year.

Cost

$9.2M

Strategy 3 Details

Learn More
DOWNLOAD CAMPAIGN CASE PDF

INVEST IN faithful LEADERS

CAMPAIGN BUDGET

$78M

Strategic Plan Initiatives

Cash funding to develop student leaders, planting witnessing communities, and accelerate ministry.

$32M

Annual Funding

Cash funding to provide grants to Field Staff and Fundraising, Technology, and Software Licensing.

$14M

Legacy Gifts

Planned giving through wills, trusts, retirement assets, real estate, etc.

$32M

See exact figures and full financial information by downloading the full campaign case. DOWNLOAD CAMPAIGN CASE PDF

Forming faithful student leaders for generations

image

Tim Keller

The transformative influence of an InterVarsity student leader on the world.

READ TIM’S STORY —>

Emily

Confidence to lead others towards Jesus.

InterVarsity staff minister Barbara Boyd’s love for the Word overflowed to every student she ministered to. Boyd trained thousands of students to study the Bible and apply it to their lives. Generations of students have been deeply influenced by the Bible study training program she developed.

One of her students at Bucknell University in the 1970s was the late Pastor, Tim Keller. For Keller, Boyd’s method always seemed to yield new insights. Reading the Bible this way would become second nature to him.

Keller also attended a month-long InterVarsity conference as a student where Boyd gave a sermon around the topic of the lordship of Christ. This talk greatly impacted Keller so much that he continually came back to it throughout his life, and it became a keystone of his ministry.

Tim Keller faithfully followed the Lord for decades. He founded Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City in 1989, which eventually became a network of churches across the city and led to the creation of the global church planting organization City to City. He also authored over 30 books, many of which were New York Times Best Sellers.

The life and ministry of Tim Keller has deepened the faith of millions of Christians. And his story serves as an example of the transformative influence an InterVarsity student leader can have on the world.

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