While feedback and responses on the impact of the Urbana 06 Student Missions Conference and previous Urbana conferences continue to arrive in our mail, we have already begun to develop the Urbana 09 program. Since 1946 InterVarsity has been providing a place for college students to see, hear, and respond to God’s global mission at Urbana conferences. These five-day events have served as catalysts for missions for over 60 years.
How can one conference be so consistently life-changing? See for yourselves what students have said about Urbana.
I came to Urbana 03 expecting just another retreat. Did God ever surprise me. It was the most amazing experience I had ever encountered. I have found my calling. – Jimmy
We went to Urbana 96 as a newlywed couple asking God “What can you do with a Ph.D. in Pharmacology overseas?” By the end of Urbana that year, “tentmaking” and “Japan” came up. We attended Urbana 2000 looking for contacts in Japan and worked out details of our move. This past January (2002) we moved to Japan as tentmakers. – Ray and Tracy Price
Instead of the answers I sought, God gave me a burden for campus revival. On the last night, I happened to sit down with the two other University of Colorado-Boulder students that came. After that, I got connected with the InterVarsity chapter at CU. A week later I was asked to lead a Bible study with InterVarsity’s area director. A month later, I was invited to be the chapter president. I have been simultaneously empowered and broken for use in God’s kingdom. – Michelle
I attended Urbana 2000 at the prompting of my missions teacher. God really confirmed a calling to cross-cultural ministry during that time. Within six months I was living in Mexico, learning the language and also a lot about life. After a year there, I returned home, and my wife and I have been working with the local Hispanic immigrant community ever since. I can’t stress enough how much that year abroad opened my eyes to God’s missionary heart. – Trey
Many students spend months raising money to pay for Urbana, but unfortunately, many others never come because they cannot afford this life-changing event. That is why we are inviting all who are passionate about building up the next generation of students in missions to give to the Urbana 09 Scholarship Fund.
All contributions to the scholarship fund will go directly to lowering the cost for individual students who would not otherwise be able to afford to go to Urbana 09.
In a time when large gatherings of North American Christians are relatively common, we believe that Urbana stands apart as the one event that consistently challenges participants to address the spiritual and physical needs of the world and connects them to opportunities to meet those needs. To help broaden and deepen students’ understanding of God’s mission and their role in it, give to the scholarship fund at www.urbana.org/go/donation.
