Stages of Building a Fellowship

What does all this have to do with building an InterVarsity chapter on your campus? Everything!

InterVarsity’s vision has always been to have a group of students and faculty, a body of believers, demonstrate by their life together the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for their campus. This goal must be clearly defined so that we know toward what we are working. Our vision is community. We build groups on college campuses because we are convinced Scripture teaches that fellowship is the vehicle to growth in Christ, providing the motivation to reach out to the world.

Let’s change our focus to the more practical aspects of building an InterVarsity chapter. A chapter goes through many different stages. If you can identify which stage a chapter is in, you can assess its needs and take actions to support its growth.

Emerging Fellowships
An emerging fellowship is a chapter in the pioneering stage. Chapters start in many different ways: a few students on a campus band together; a staff is assigned to a new campus; or churches or individuals from the community begin to reach out to the campus. During this stage, a few people work hard to pull together an identifiable group on the campus. Initially, some individuals are committed to pray, some begin to publicize, and some help lead a Bible study or two. Gradually, the chapter begins to define student leaders, hold regular meetings, sense developing community, and commit itself to prayer and evangelism.

Evangelizing Fellowships
An evangelizing fellowship is a chapter that is consistently seeing new believers come to faith through the influence of their group. The chapter’s focus has changed from inward (“How do we build our group”) to outward (“How do we reach out to the campus”).

At this stage, the chapter has a defined vision with written goals for their Campus. Student leaders have partnered with staff in training and are equipping the chapter in discipleship and evangelism. Chapter members take initiative with each other. They are developing a strong sense of community and ownership of their vision and goals. As new believers come to faith, they are faithfully discipled and integrated into the chapter’s life.

Engaging Fellowships
An engaging fellowship is a chapter with two characteristics: a sense of calling to reach out to new affinity groups; and a growing vision for how their chapter as a community can make an impact for Christ on their campus. Vision for the Gospel moves beyond the context of their chapter and campus — it embraces issues of morality, justice, and reconciliation. Students may be reaching out to minority students, the Greek system, or graduate students. Other students may be grappling with how Christ affects their understanding of the university world and issues of justice (responses to racism, sexism, or the Gay Rights movement).

How would you describe your chapter? In what stage would you place your chapter? What key issues does your chapter need to address in order to move ahead?