Our Distinctives
While InterVarsity is not the only group that seeks to minister to the American college and university world, certain distinctives combine to make us a unique ministry in this sphere. These distinctives give us a special flavor that is rooted in our past, evident in our present, and guided by our dreams and goals for the future.
As you read through some of what makes the InterVarsity family unique, take a moment to reflect on your own chapter. What is its unique flavor? Where has it come from and where is it going? How has its past influenced its present, and how will its today impact its tomorrow?
Commitment to Christ's Lordship
Abraham Kuyper once said, "There is not one square inch of the entire creation about which Jesus does not cry out, `This is mine!'" Christ's Lordship has a profound influence on how we interpret and interact with our world. Christ's Lordship is the cornerstone of our worldview — the lens through which we view the largest events and smallest details in our lives. InterVarsity seeks to teach and demonstrate that all of life needs to be seen through Christ's eyes. We believe that our faith in Jesus Christ should affect our academic pursuits, interactions with the people around us, and the way in which we relate to our college or university as well as the larger global community.
Proclamation
It is this same Lordship that calls us to the proclamation of God's active and imminent presence on the earth. Evangelism on the college campus and a commitment to world missions have been marks of InterVarsity in the United States since its birth 50 years ago. We believe not only in the message of Jesus Christ, but also His own model for sharing it. Through relationships and love-filled interactions, we seek to bring people into their own relationship with their Creator.
Multi-Ethnicity
Christ's Lordship says much about how we should relate to all the different parts of and people within the realm of higher education. We realize that one of the most strategic opportunities in the world for sharing Christ exists on the college campus. Campuses are both international and multi-ethnic in composition. Through our unwavering commitment to cross-cultural and multi-ethnic ministry, we seek to impact every segment of the university community. The difference between various schools and groups within each school may be immense, but we believe that Jesus is Lord of all this diversity.
Bible Study and Prayer
InterVarsity has a strong commitment to serious Bible study and prayer. Our primary responsibility on this earth as followers of Jesus is to do everything we can to strengthen and more fully enjoy our relationship with God. We do this by diligently studying God's Word and obeying its commands (e.g., through inductive Bible studies and quiet times). We also pursue a deeper relationship with our Lord through both private and corporate prayer (e.g., through quiet times, prayer meetings, and Concerts of Prayer). Such prayer gives us guidance, comfort, and the arena in which to more fully worship our Creator.
Developing Christian Leadership
Our ministry calls us to obediently serve the world around us. To help this service occur, InterVarsity develops indigenous leadership among both students and faculty. As "insiders," indigenous leaders have the ability and opportunity to move freely in their college and university communities. Developing leadership potential is absolutely critical to InterVarsity's strategy of witnessing to the entire campus community. It is also our hope that the leadership skills developed in college will translate to each student's Christian involvement (in their church, community, and the world) after their graduation.
Just as God created no two people exactly alike, so no movement of His Spirit, such as InterVarsity, and no chapters within InterVarsity are exactly the same.
What special things has God done for your chapter? What might He be promising to do in the future?