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Among the mysterious forces on this earth is the migration-like regularity of alumni returning to their alma maters every fall. And judging from the recent announcements in various college and university alumni magazines, this year’s homecomings promise to perpetuate the traditional hoopla.

During homecoming week, there’ll be parades and parties and, of course, the football game, and a lot of palling around with former classmates. There’ll be showing off the photos of the kids, or grandkids, exaggerated stories and confessions, and too much eating and drinking . . . again. And on the trip home, the hearty ones will swear that they had had a good time and say, “Let’s do it again next year.”

But let’s face it. These annual alumni homecomings can be as mysterious as the migration cycles of Canada geese. The reasons why people return to their former colleges or universities probably reside deep within their hearts, where now and then a yearning seems to awaken and arise with a single-minded purpose—to reconnect with something now lost but still remembered. And when that connection is made, well, it’s like receiving an unexpected gift.

Alumni are thankful for campus ministry

For ��ñ���� alumni that gift is deeper than the joy of reconnecting with old friends. “I can’t tell you how often ��ñ���� alumni have told me that our campus ministry has been a gift to their lives,” said Doug Nickelson, ��ñ����’s director of the Alumni department. “The alumni of our campus ministry frequently tell us that they feel appreciation for how ��ñ���� helped their lives mature and helped set a good trajectory for their futures. Years after their graduations, they still come to our reunions and support our ministry financially because they feel gratitude. And we’re grateful, too. Because God is using this ministry to transform people’s lives.”

This past summer about twenty-five ��ñ���� alumni who graduated during the late sixties and early seventies from colleges and universities in North Carolina gathered in Durham for a reunion. Roger Anderson, ��ñ����’s national field director, attended. He said that he was inspired by the stories of appreciation for our campus ministry that he’d heard from these alumni.

“What greatly impressed me,” said Roger, “was the thankfulness these alumni expressed about how ��ñ���� had helped to transform their lives and how our ministry had taught them to integrate their discipleship to Jesus into every part of their lives.”

Teaching students how to integrate their Christian beliefs into their everyday lives is one of our core values. And encouraging our campus witnessing communities to respectfully integrate their Christian values into the life of their college or university is one of our methods of evangelism.

Engaging the campus is a hallmark of our ministry

“We love and respect the campus,” said ��ñ����’s president Alec Hill. “Our ministry’s mission field is the campus. So our students and faculty advisors engage their schools with the gospel to help transform individuals and renew their campuses.”

Engaging the campus with the gospel has brought ��ñ���� into relationships with college and university administrators. “We have the respect of college administrators,” said Doug Nickelson. “��ñ���� is listed as an official affiliated group on campus in many schools’ homecoming publications. In fact, colleges have invited our students to work with the administration to produce successful homecoming events.”

��ñ���� alumni may feel drawn to their school’s homecoming events as much as any other former students, but for alumni who attend our campus ministry’s reunions, the motivation for their attendance is usually appreciation—a heartfelt gratitude for how ��ñ���� has contributed to their lives.

Do you have an ��ñ���� alumni story to share? Our Alumni department is always interested in hearing how God is working in your life these days. If you’d like to share your story with us and other alumni through our publications, please contact Sarah Kirk at alumni@intervarsity.org or at (608) 443-4557.