The last words Jesus spoke to his disciples emphasized that they would be a witnessing community. He had spent hours teaching and demonstrating principles by which his friends were to live and serve. As he was about to leave and ascend to heaven, he said to his disciples, “You will…be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth” (Acts1:8).
Jesus expected that their lives would be imprinted by the things they had seen and heard while they were with him, and he knew the potential of their changed lives. The book of Acts and the rest of the New Testament give us a picture of Jesus’ disciples as a witnessing community. We are told what they did, how they did it, and how it changed the world.
However, long before Jesus’ final words, God’s people were a community of witnesses. Isaiah describes a series of cosmic courtroom scenes in which God himself is on trial. The nations are gathered to consider if God is really God. In a daring move he calls his people as witnesses. “ ‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘and my servant whom I have chosen’ “ (Isaiah 43:10).
We often talk about witnessing as if it is something we can choose or not choose to do. Christians have many choices to make, but this is not one of them. Once we are God’s, we are members of a witnessing community; God has chosen for us. God chose his people. Jesus chose his disciples, and they were witnesses simply because of their association with him. In other words, the foremost reason that the Israelites and Jesus’ disciples were witnessing communities was not any activity on their part, but was their relationship with God.
The surprise in Isaiah is that we are witnesses for our own sakes. “ ‘You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord,… ‘so that you may know and believe me’ “ (Isaiah 43:10). Elisabeth Elliot Leitch said at Urbana 76, “A witness is someone who has seen something.” Being a witness is primarily about knowing God, seeing his steadfast love, experiencing his work in creation, hearing his voice. Both Isaiah and Jesus speak about the irony of people who claim to be witnesses but, having eyes, do not see and, having ears, do not hear. God’s witnessing community is to pay close attention to God’s work and Word in the world. Jesus encourages us to be his witnesses when he says, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” (Mark 4:9).
InterVarsity focuses on witnessing communities because we want university students and faculty to pay attention to God. And we want people to be changed by the power of God. There is something so powerful about God’s character that it is impossible to get near what he is doing without being imprinted by it. There is something so powerful about God’s Word that it is impossible to listen without being transformed. The more we look and listen, the more profound the transforming imprint. The disciples became transformed people, and the officials realized that these people had been with Jesus. Hearts and minds focused on God and his Word will be changed.
Students and faculty on the university campus grow in their knowledge of the world. Often students are taught to carefully observe nature, and they hope their skills will help them get a —good paying—job to earn bread. But when Jesus was in the desert and Satan tempted him with bread, Jesus responded, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”(Matthew 4:4).
In order to live well, humans need to see and hear God; students need to be studying not only the creation but the Creator. The wisdom of today’s university often misses the importance of the knowledge of God. We mistakenly believe that by our own knowledge we can make our world a better place. We desperately study for human tests. We are bombarded with advertising images seductively whispering, “Look at me.” “Pay attention to my words.”
God’s message in the university environment and beyond is that we are his witnesses; we have ears to hear his words, and they are the words of life. But how do students, or any of us, hear from God with the mountains of ideas competing for our attention? We help one another. The one thing in creation that is not good is for one to be alone. Deep inside us is a desire to be in relationship. In the Bible, when God calls Abraham, it is to make from him a great nation. Moses does not come out of Egypt alone. The Old Testament story constantly refers to the people of God, as a community. Jesus chooses twelve disciples. Together, Jesus’ followers make up his body, his church.
Community is more than a Christian ideal—it is essential for our growth. Members of a community provide accountability and a sounding board for us to hear the rich and full harmonies in God’s voice. We need the perspectives others offer. People who are different from us see and hear God differently. We are dependent on their perspective to gain a fuller knowledge of God. In the book of Revelation we see another image of God. He is the host of a great banquet who invites people of every ethnicity and nation to share his feast.
Being in a witnessing community transforms us individually, and the community as a whole is a testimony to the truth of God. The world is watching and our name, Christian, makes us witnesses to the world. Our testimony is evidenced by the words and actions of our changed lives. The world needs the lives of those who are close to God. They are the light that shows the way to the truth of God. Unfortunately, witnesses who say they know God, but don’t pay attention to him, contribute to a tragic situation, the hypocritical image many have of Christians. But those who know God’s voice have life-giving testimony for a watching world.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, Peter preached in Jerusalem to Parthians, Medes and Elamites, to residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia. The early Christians lived among the Greeks and the Romans. Again and again, it is the experiences non-Christians have with Christians which draws non-believers to Jesus. Almost everyone who makes a decision to become a Christian has had an encounter with a witnessing community. Unfortunately, many who make the decision not to be a Christian do so because they have seen people identified with Christ living unfaithfully. God in his grace continues to cherish us as his witnesses even when we mess things up, but those who really watch and listen for God have a testimony that can call others to God.
Why does InterVarsity establish and advance witnessing communities? So student and faculty will know God, and become transformed by God, and so transform the world. Witnessing communities are part of God’s plan to restore all of creation. God’s people play a central role in God’s plan. They are the evidence of God’s work. Scripture tells God’s story through his people, so we can learn about him. How do we know God’s love is steadfast? We can look at the story of God’s people. How do we know God keeps his promises? We can see his interaction with his people in the Bible. How does the world hear about God’s salvation? God’s witnessing community declares the testimony of his saving grace through Jesus. The testimony of God comes to us from the written pages of Scripture, but what makes that testimony alive? It is the way in which written words are confirmed over and over again in the lives of witnessing communities.
“The biggest mistake many young Christians make is to try to go it alone in college. To stand against the inevitable temptations and challenges, they need to join a campus Christian fellowship and a Bible-believing church.” ^ – University of Texas Professor J. Budziszewski, author of How to Stay Christian in College (NavPress), Associated Press news article, August 19, 2005^
