InterVarsity students learn that following Jesus will transform their lives, sometimes turn their values upside down. InterVarsity recently partnered with Campus Crusade, Baptist Collegiate Ministries, and local churches to introduce college students to Jesus at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington and Illinois State University in Normal. The students shared the gospel with non-Christians on campus through a week of events they called Upside down Jesus week.
At the beginning of the week, Christian students gathered to worship. They prayed that non-Christian students and faculty on both campuses would be open to studying the truth claims of Jesus in Scripture during the coming semester. Students wore bright red T-shirts that had the name Jesus printed upside down and backwards on the front. A website address was listed on the back of the shirts, so that students could find more information about InterVarsity and the week’s events. In dorm lounges and classrooms, InterVarsity students shared their stories of how they had accepted Christ into their hearts and lives. Leaders wanted non-Christian students to hear how Jesus changed the lives of real people.
The following Monday, college students packed into the ballroom of the student center at Illinois State University to hear about Jesus. On Friday, several new students at Illinois Wesleyan University heard a similar message during their InterVarsity meeting. After both presentations, staff answered students’ questions and prayed with people. “I prayed with a young freshmen woman who was struggling with being openly Christian with her friends and roommates. She was being strongly tempted and pressured to become active in the college party scene,” said Aaron Mallehan, serving InterVarsity students at Illinois Wesleyan University.
Invitations to Jesus Week activities have led many non-Christian students to ask questions about Jesus and Christianity. InterVarsity staff and students wanted to show the campus community how a life with Jesus is better than life on our own.
