Fruitful Conversations on Campus
(Madison, WI) – InterVarsity Christian Fellowship students are starting the 2015-2016 school year by quizzing fellow students about their bucket list. Conversations about goals and aspirations are not new among students on the college campus but InterVarsity’s queries are aimed at helping reveal deeper motivations.
At the beginning of this semester, on more than 100 campuses across the country, InterVarsity students are asking, “What’s on your bucket list?” (Watch the video here.) These conversations are taking place around what InterVarsity calls Proxe Stations, artistic displays designed to encourage deeper conversations about spiritual topics. Students who are interested in further discussions about purpose and meaning in life will be invited to participate in small group Bible studies, a hallmark of InterVarsity’s campus ministry.
Campus conversations can be trivial. They can also be life-changing. This past year, many InterVarsity chapters engaged in conversations and activities as a part of the national dialogue in response to events that have highlighted social and systemic issues affecting the Black community. InterVarsity values racial reconciliation and multiethnicity, and as we deal with questions that students have, students open up to spiritual change in their lives because they want to make a difference in the world.
In a major study released ten years ago by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, 75 percent of responding students said they were “searching for meaning and purpose in life” and they expected their college education to help them with their emotional and spiritual development.
InterVarsity’s experience in the past year has been that more students than ever are finding meaning and significance through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A total of 4,269 first-time professions of faith were reported by chapter leaders in 2014-2015, up 21 percent from the previous year and up 172 percent from the same number ten years ago. InterVarsity has more chapters (985) on more campuses (649) than ever before.
Jim Lundgren, InterVarsity’s interim president, noted, “College students are the leaders of tomorrow. We hope that they will lead with the skills they gain in college, but also with a purpose that comes from discovering Christian values that aren’t always taught on campus.”
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship has been active on U.S. college and university campuses for 74 years. InterVarsity is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, ranked as a 4-Star Charity with Charity Navigator, and a founding member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.
For more information:
Gordon Govier
ggovier@intervarsity.org
608/443-3699