InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA has been committed to breaking down ethnic barriers from early on. In 1948 the InterVarsity board of trustees formally decided not to hold events at any facility that discriminated against people of color.
In the early 1970’s, four percent of InterVarsity’s staff and students were ethnic minorities. Ten years later, the movement took a giant step forward by creating a vice president of multiethnic ministries and by amending our purpose statement to express a clear commitment to include students of every ethnicity. Today, 17 percent of our staff and 35 percent of our students are ethnic minorities. That compares with 27 percent of all college students who identify themselves as ethnic minorities.
InterVarsity’s commitment to multiethnicity was explored in a CHRISTIANITY TODAY forum called One Lord, One Faith, Many Ethnicities in the magazine’s January 2004 issue.
The INSIDE CT column from the same issue, by editor David Neff, has some additional background information.
To learn more about InterVarsity’s Multiethnic ministries, start here.
