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At first I set out to compare several major college ministries: InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (hereon as IV or IVCF), Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC or CRU), Navigators, Newman Centers (Catholic), and University Bible Fellowship (UBF). There are many more Christian college ministries, both nation-wide and local. For example, Northwestern has over 20 Christian ministries. After reading a 400-page book on a 50-year history on Intervarsity, I decided to focus on just InterVarsity. The aim was to glean some helpful truths from IVCF. The book was written by a 30-year IV staff couple, Keith and Gladys Hunt, called, “For Christ and the University: The Story of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA/1940-1990. I also got more current information on IV from their website: intervarsity.org.

Have you ever heard of InterVarsity, also known as, IV or IVCF? In 2013-2014, IV had 949 chapters on 616 campuses. One staff said they did not seek to be a “super-organization” but simply to share their life with fellow students. Some campuses have more than one “chapter” since they meet in different targeted groups, such as Asian-American Christian Ministry (AACM), Multi-Ethic IV (MEIV), Greek IV (the fraternity and sorority system), or Graduate Student IV. One notable difference between IV and UBF is that IV is a parachurch, which means they do not function as a church with worship services, baptisms, communion, etc. Rather, they encourage participating students to join local churches while at college. There are few staff in IV: 1000 for 40,000 students (i.e. 1 staff per 40 students). They recruit committed Christian students to participate and Christian college professors as well. They are a “student movement” that emphasizes student initiative and student leadership. There are three other significant works of IV: Camps (especially summer 4-week camps for student discipleship and leadership training), InterVarsity Press for Christian books and publications, and big Urbana missions conferences every 3 or 4 years.

Brief History of IVCF

IV began in the U.K. at the University of Cambridge in 1877. Students there met to pray, study the Bible and witness to fellow students. In 1928, British IV sent to Canada a man named Howard Guinness, who started and assisted the formation of evangelical student groups all across Canadian campuses. IV came to the USA in 1938 through the visit of Stacey Woods to the University of Michigan. IV was the founding member of the much larger and more global IFES (International Fellowship of Evangelical Students), which currently has 500,000 students involved in 154 countries. Stacey Woods who was originally from Australia was the first General Secretary of both Canada and the USA at the same time. He was a visionary and a pioneer. An American named Bill Bright founded Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC or CRU). He almost worked with IV. But he felt a call to a different kind of campus ministry. An over-simplified comparison of CCC and IV was that CCC seemed to focus on getting students to convert to Christianity while IV was more focused on discipling Christians. Of course, this was an oversimplification, but this was the general impression of the two groups.

IV’s Purpose, Vision and Core Values

IVCF’s Purpose Statement is as follows: In response to God’s love, grace and truth: The Purpose of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is to establish and advance as colleges and universities witnessing communities of students and faculty who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord: growing in love for God, God’s Word, God’s people of every ethnicity and culture and God’s purposes in the world.

IV’s Vision is stated as: To see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed.

IV’s Core Values are as follows (expounded on their website intervarsity.org): Context—Colleges and Universities. Formation—Scripture, Prayer, Spiritual Disciplines, Community, Christian Reading, and Leadership Development. Expression: Evangelism, Whole Life Stewardship, Ethnic Reconciliation and Justice, Church and Missions.

IV Characteristics

InterVarsity has three characteristics: (1) Chapters of students who evangelize, disciple and do mission. (2) Student initiative and responsibility (IV staff help students to take responsibility for Christian witness). (3) Student mission vs. Mission to students (not a staff church-plant, but grass roots beginning from students).

One staff said, “Each student chapter is autonomous. No one will do it for you. [Christian] students are mature enough to be obedient to God in their present circumstances as students.”

One down-side characteristic of IV was expressed in the book by the following staff quotes: “Lack of appreciative expressions has been one of the hurtful parts of IV history”; “It is often regarded as ‘unspiritual’ to express praise. IV is strong in analytical mode rather than appreciative mode” (my comment: perhaps correction is stronger than encouragement); “…because of Stacey Woods’ leadership, none of us wanted to get into self-pity”; “…our sense of approval [is] from students, alumni or a sense of call or privilege as an IV staffworker.”

Charles Troutman, an early IV staff, said: “Students had an intense desire for holiness not seen in the American evangelical church…Students were seeking God—with a concern for character, to be like Him…pleasing Him…a desire to know Him and to be holy.”

More on IV’s Aims and Characteristics

IV aims to establish student groups of: (1) Evangelism (2) Christian Growth/Discipleship (3) Missions. A 1965 diagram highlights that InterVarsity is “IN” the university, not against it, not at it, not to it, not through it, but IN it. In the 1960s, IV characteristics were as follows (echoed again): (1) Get students into Scripture (2) Emphasize daily personal Quiet Time (3) The Lordship of Christ over every area of life (4) Urge students to meet together and pray for their own outreach (5) Go and Do it!

Note the high level of time commitment and dedication on the part of the student leaders! Some of them spent more than 40 hours involved in the ministry.

Other Ministries

1. Camp Programs, like “Campus in the Woods,” a summer 4-week intensive student leadership and discipleship training program, which all student leaders were expected to attend. They call these camps the “Second heart” of IV work. The “First heart” is student work.
2. Spring Break evangelistic outreaches (e.g. Florida beaches). A staff would give a message on the beach while IV members gather around and interact with onlookers who seem interested.
3. InterVarsity Press (in Downers Grove, IL): excellent Christian evangelical literature.
4. Urbana Missions conferences: IV spends much time and money to promote missions, not their own since they don’t send missionaries, but other ministries’ and churches’ missions! Thank God for InterVarsity ministry!

Conclusion

God has used IV to shape thousands of students’ lives. Beginning with only a few staff covering the whole country and a world war breaking out, IV grew beyond their expectation. From Urbana conventions to Friendship Evangelism to in-depth inductive Bible study, from Nurse fellowships/ministries to promotion of missions to creative use of media, IVCF became a multi-faceted ministry (which we also are). There have been setbacks in IV as part of any human endeavor will have. But God has worked through a handful of people who in turn influenced others who influenced others who influenced others for Christ. Thank God for our fellow brothers and sisters in IVCF! May we all be inspired and motivated to have faith in God for campus evangelism and discipleship all the more!