Partners

Faith Challenging Partnership in Uganda

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 18:18:02 +0000

Gordon Govier

Faith Challenging Partnership in Uganda

��ñ�� is partnering with a growing number of organizations in order to better reach every corner of every US college and university campus. But partnering works in many ways. This past summer an Athletes ��ñ�� group went to Uganda to serve in a refugee camp in partnership with the nonprofit organization ChildVoice and learn about ChildVoice’s anti-poverty programs.

Athletes ��ñ�� National Director Maghan Perez had dreamed of taking a team to Uganda after her first visit 10 years ago introduced her to the needs of young women who had been traumatized by years of conflict in Uganda and South Sudan. Now, as a Board member of ChildVoice, she saw an opportunity to help athletes develop leadership skills through their participation in the work ChildVoice is doing to address global issues such as racism, tribalism, and the refugee crisis.

Her 20-member team was made up of athletes from Temple University in Philadelphia and Ugandan college students, as well as Maghan’s husband and twin three-year old sons. Much of their time was spent at the ChildVoice Center in the small village of Lukodi, in northern Uganda, where vocational skills are taught to young women in a holistic program that focuses on their relationship with God and with their community.

The college athletes learned that poverty is not merely a lack of resources. “Our definition of poverty was expanded to understand that roots of poverty exist because of the broken relationships between God, between others, within us, and with creation,” Maghan reported. “We wrestled with our own poverty. We learned how much the vulnerable and poor have to teach us.”

The team also traveled further north to the Imvepi Refugee Resettlement Camp, filled with refugees from South Sudan, primarily women and children. The team distributed donated sports equipment and helped launch a sports and movement program designed to complement the educational programs.

“At Imvepi, we watched as people who have lost everything were still able to worship and praise God in the midst of so much pain,” Maghan reported. “This challenged us to the core, realizing our own spiritual poverty, because much of our faith and worship in the US depends on our circumstances. We also saw a pure joy in playing. No matter what the age, if you have a ball, jump rope, or Frisbee, there was something universal about the joy of playing that allows for healing and laughter, no matter what your surroundings, if only for a moment.”

��ñ��’s summer Global Programs offer students the opportunity to put their faith into practice. The student athletes who went to Uganda saw their faith challenged, stretched, and strengthened through the experience.

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Developing Partners in Campus Ministry

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 30 Aug 2018 16:42:43 +0000

Developing Partners in Campus Ministry

Katie Mentzer was in her second year on staff before she was sure that she was called to campus ministry. Up to that point she had thought that God was calling her overseas as a missionary, and she had looked at campus ministry as part of her preparation.

Katie was helping plant a chapter at Fairmont State University in West Virginia as she was keeping her options open. But then as she attended an ��ñ�� staff conference, and several other events, she had a sense that campus ministry was where she belonged for the long term. “Things kept pointing in that direction with the opportunities that I had that seemed like a good fit with my personality and skills,” she said.

The chapter plant at Fairmont State was challenging and did well for several years despite high turnover. But the eventual loss of some key student leaders ultimately led to the closing of the chapter. At the same time, though, a group of students at West Virginia Wesleyan College (WVWC) announced that they wanted to affiliate with ��ñ��. That opened the door to a new experience in teamwork.

WVWC was an hour away from Katie’s home in Fairmont. “I realized if we really hoped to see what we wanted to happen I needed to get other people who are local involved,” she said.

Some pastors who were working with the WVWC students connected Katie with local churches and other venues where she was able to appeal for volunteers. She ended up with a team of 18 volunteers, including 6 core leaders. The team members include pastors and youth ministers, WVWC faculty and staff members, a business person, an engineer, a stay-at-home mom, and a teacher.

“I’m investing in the volunteer partners and they’re investing in the students,” Katie said. “The students are going to minister on campus. This helps me with my limited amount of investment to have a big impact and to empower people with the gifts that God has given them to work on campus.”

Katie meets with her core team once a month and does individual coaching on a weekly basis. The core volunteers are united by their desire to reach college students with the gospel message and they appreciate the opportunity for training in the tools and techniques that come out of ��ñ��’s expertise in campus ministry.

Figuring out how to work with volunteers and develop them took a lot of time at first. Some of the challenges that Katie addressed included working with people who have a variety of commitment levels and a variety of skills as well as figuring out who has transferable skills that are useful in campus ministry and what skills need to be taught. “Pastors have a lot of transferable skills, but they might not be contextualized for the campus,” Katie said.

She also discovered the importance of partnering with volunteers, offering them investment and ownership, and not just delegating to them. “We’re the body of Christ working together,” she said. But there are others who can only volunteer a little bit here and there. “We need all of them,” she added.

Katie is hoping what she’s learned about calling and equipping volunteers will help other staff find ways to multiply their efforts, as ��ñ�� seeks to expand to hundreds of additional campuses through our 2030 Calling. Alumni, faculty, pastors, and local community members can all play key roles in campus ministry.

Currently a lot of volunteer activity in campus ministry exists at two extremes: those who occasionally bake cookies for the local chapter and those who are official full-time volunteers. “We haven’t found that nuance in the middle,” Katie said. When more options are identified, it’s possible more people with a greater variety of skills and abilities will be able to find a place to fit, such as mentoring, coaching, helping at events, leading a meeting, etc.

When there is no local campus ministry staff, volunteers offer the possibility of stability and better connections with the community. “How do we connect to the people who love the campus even more than we ever will because they are there, they are connected?” Katie wonders. “It’s been really refreshing and life-giving to work with people who are of a similar mindset and I know will be around longer. We’ve seen the ministry blessed as we’ve opened the doors to other people coming in and investing in the students.”

This year, after the annual regional staff conference, volunteers were invited to a partners conference. There they prayed for all of West Virginia’s campuses and received further training from other ��ñ�� staff. “It was a good time for staff and partners to network, be encouraged, and learn from each other,” Katie said. “We are planning to do it again in the coming years.”

Jesse Roselius, Katie’s supervisor, has been observing her faithful and bold discipleship ever since she transferred as a student to West Virginia University (WVU) and helped reestablish the WVU ��ñ�� chapter. “She steps up to the challenges even when she is faced with new obstacles,” he said. “Katie has hit her stride developing leaders, seeing folks come to faith, starting work among Greek students, faculty, athletes, and internationals. Most recently, her work in partnership development with volunteers has been stellar.”

Katie likes seeing people discover God in new ways. That can happen a lot in campus ministry. It also happens when working with volunteers.

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West VIrginia Wesleyan College

Fairmont State University

West Virginia University

Arts Partners Mentor the Next Generation

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 19:18:33 +0000

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By Henry Lucey-Lee, National Director of Arts Ministry

Arts Partners Mentor the Next Generation

As an arts student, Daniel never expected to walk through an art gallery accompanied by an experienced scholar and writer like Walter Hansen. He was even more surprised when Walter asked for his opinion on the stimulating art that surrounded them. Walter was genuinely interested in Daniel’s work, and his ability to listen well to young creative people was the motivation behind this meeting. Their relationship and friendship continued to grow through similar conversations.

The arts influence culture in a profound way, and young artists need to learn more than just trade skills in their media. Our arts schools often prepare students to be proficient at pursuing their art work, but leave them unprepared emotionally and spiritually for life after graduation.

Furthermore, arts students with irregular, demanding, and performance-oriented schedules often find it difficult to fit into traditional ��ñ�� communities. They face high expectations to succeed academically and live with pressure from studio professors who tell them what to do. For these reasons, connecting students like Daniel with mentors like Walter is significant.

The Making of the Arts Partners Group

The ��ñ�� Arts Partners Group is a group of professional Christian artists who volunteer their time and resources to develop young Christian artists so they may flourish both as experts in their work and as influential culture-changers.

Karen Mains, a writer and former ��ñ�� Board Chair, spearheaded the creation of the ��ñ�� Arts Partners Group out of her love for discipleship, along with the help of many friends of former Arts Ministry Director Dick Ryan. These friends enthusiastically volunteered themselves to mentor Arts Ministry students in order to create opportunities for students to engage in conversations about life and art.

For the past five years, ��ñ�� Arts Ministry has connected members of the Arts Partners Group with students in Chicago’s School of the Art Institute (SAIC), Roosevelt University, and Columbia College. These connections motivated a variety of activities with the volunteer Arts Partners. Every few months, members of the group host dinner meetings for students in their homes in downtown Chicago. One member, a professor of music at Northwestern University, hosts monthly prayer gatherings in his studio. Another member hosted a festive Christmas party. Many of the professional artists have attended the students’ musical performances or gallery showings.

All of these events have a bottom line commonality. They all create a Christian community for the students in which their well-being and development is encouraged. These spaces provided by the Arts Partners allow students to engage in conversation about how art, life, and faith intersect. In addition, these volunteer mentors understand the students because of their shared identity as Christian artists. This spiritual support system inspires students to break beyond the technical mold and step into their arts departments as the salt and light of Jesus.

The Next Generation of Leaders

Dick Ryan observed, “I believe we are in the beginning of a revolution across the country. Arts communicate feelings and a sense of well-being. God wants to send art students out into the world to talk about His truth and beauty and justice.”

We want to be a part of God’s revolution in the arts. Our vision for ��ñ�� Arts Ministry is “to develop serious artists, with a serious faith, to lead witnessing communities inside their art department or art school, and then go on to be influential leaders in the arts world.”

By successfully connecting arts students and volunteer arts professionals, the Chicago model is a template for other top arts departments nationwide. In line with our vision, we hope that similar relationships and communities can develop future generations of influential arts leaders within the Christian community.

Next Steps

Interested in becoming an Arts Partner? Contact Henry Lucey-Lee, National Director of Arts Ministry for the next steps.

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