Mission Spotlight :: Intervarsity
By Andy Clapp

It started with a few college students who were attending the University of Cambridge in 1877. They desired to reach others for Jesus and the movement spread across the Atlantic Ocean in 1937 and is now present on college campuses all over the United States. It is called InterVarsity and it is impacting college students all over the US through various meetings, evangelism opportunities, and activities. InterVarsity is the leader of campus ministries to all types of students, regardless of race or major.
More than 34,000 students were a part of InterVarsity groups last year. InterVarsity chapters met on 564 campuses with more than 1,000 InterVarsity staff helping to lead the groups.

What do they Offer
One advantage of InterVarsity is the diversity within the groups and the organization. Over 29% of participants are minorities and the diversity is also found in the InterVarsity staff. There are also specialized ministries including Black Campus Ministries, Asian American ministries, and Latino Fellowships.
InterVarsity also offers graduate ministries for graduate students and Nurses Christian Fellowship for nursing students. Last year, leaders reported that 1,572 students gave their lives to Christ for the first time in the various InterVarsity meetings and activities. InterVarsity also offers missions opportunities and camps for the students as well. Last year, over 2,000 students participated in various mission opportunities from Global Urban Trek to Global Mission Projects.

Why do they exist?
The Purpose Statement for InterVarsity states:
The Purpose of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is to establish and advance at 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.

A list of the organization’s doctrinal beliefs can be found on their web site at www.intervarsity.org.

How You Can Get Involved

There are four different ways that you can get involved in InterVarsity. If you feel God calling you to pursue this as a career, you can go to the web site to find out about job openings on the InterVarsity staff.
Another option is to become a volunteer at a local group in your area. The web site has information on becoming a volunteer and all the contact information that you need. A third way to get involved is to donate money to the InterVarsity organization, which can be done online as well.
Finally, you can become a prayer partner. The organization has provided an organized prayer plan, which leads each partner in their prayers for the ministry each week. The plan gives the prayer partner specific names and groups to pray for each week. This prayer plan can be accessed at the web site, under the heading prayer partners.

If you have a passion for college students and a drive for cultivating a group of evangelizing students, InterVarsity is a ministry that is perfect for you, regardless of where you live. They provide an avenue for college students everywhere to stand up for their faith and learn how to share it with other students in order to change the landscape of campuses worldwide.

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