Press Room

Department of Education Rescinds Regulations Protecting Religious Groups on Campus

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 19:35:39 +0000

Department of Education Rescinds Regulations Protecting Religious Groups on Campus

Washington, D.C.–– The U.S. Department of Education has announced that it plans to rescind regulations which protect religious organizations on public college and university campuses.

“We’re calling on people of every faith background to submit comments in opposition to the Department’s decision," said Greg Jao, ��ñ��’s Chief Communications Officer. “In recent years universities have derecognized Christian, Sikh, Jewish, and Muslim student groups because the groups require their leaders to belong to their respective faith traditions. This should be common sense on campus.” The comment period ends March 24, 2023. The existing regulations in question (34 CFR §§ 75.500 and §§ 76.500) prohibited universities from discriminating against religious student groups and required campuses to permit groups to select student leaders who agreed with the groups’ beliefs.

“We must have leaders who share our faith,” Jao said in 2019 when a federal judge ruled that the University of Iowa violated the law when they kicked ��ñ�� and other religious groups off campus. “No group—religious or secular—could survive with leaders who reject its values.”

Student groups with official university recognition enjoy access to campus meeting space and to a variety of channels of communication with other students. Religious organizations from diverse faith traditions agree they want to maintain their right to choose leaders who practice their religious mission and tenets.

When the regulation in question came into effect in 2020, Ismail Royer, Director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team for the Religious Freedom Institute said it was an important policy for Muslim student organizations. “It allows them to select their own leaders and define their own mission by their faith's principles. This right should be reserved for all student religious organizations, and not usurped by university officials based on their own shifting, unpredictable standards.”

Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israel of America’s Vice President for Government Affairs similarly noted, “Religious groups should be encouraged on campus. It simply defies logic, and undermines their very effectiveness, when religious groups are forced to forfeit leadership policies that better insure adherence to their religious mission, beliefs and practices.”

“After several years of isolation and increased anxiety during the pandemic, students long to be part of a community where they can be known and cared for. ��ñ�� welcomes them into ethnically diverse faith communities,” said ��ñ��’s Chief Campus Ministry Officer, Jason Thomas. ”However, if this proposed change is adopted, tens of thousands of students risk losing access to support that is vital to their holistic welfare and flourishing.”

��ñ�� USA is on over 700 campuses nationwide, hosting weekly Bible studies, prayer and worship meetings, and seeks to serve students, faculty, and the local community, while displaying and sharing the real hope of Jesus.

If you’d like to share why you think religious student organizations on campus should be protected, please submit a comment at campusaccess.us by March 23, 2023.

News Keywords

Campus Access

Registration Opens For Urbana 22

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Mon, 16 May 2022 21:38:07 +0000

Press Room

Registration Opens For Urbana 22

(Madison, WI) – Registration for Urbana 22, ��ñ��’s 26th triennial student missions conference to be held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana December 28-31, is now open at urbana.org/registration.

Since the first Urbana in 1946, God has used the gathering to invite more than 300,000 people to join him in his global mission. Urbana 22 will invite students to Rise Up as empowered, surrendered, and courageous whole-world, whole-life disciples of Jesus.

Some of the speakers who will challenge the more than 10,000 participants to do this include:

Bishop Claude Alexander, The Park Church
Alexia Salvatierra, Centro Latino/Fuller Seminary
And more to be announced

Throughout the four-day conference, Urbana participants will study passages from the book of Acts in both student-led small group Bible study and Scripture exposition. They will learn from first century disciples who lived out their newfound identity and purpose as the first Christians.

At Urbana 22, participants will also hear stories of 21st century disciples whose lives demonstrate whole-life, whole-world discipleship.

“The way of Jesus in this world—the way God creates and calls his followers to be with him and for others—is marked by an empowered witness, a surrendered generosity, a courageous love,” says Ruth Hubbard, VP with ��ñ�� who leads Urbana. “We see this in Acts. We’ll also see it in the diverse gathering of the Church at Urbana 22.”

In the afternoons of the conference, Urbana participants will have opportunities to explore where their gifts, skills, and passions fit into God’s global mission through connecting with others in the Gathering Hall––including coaches, seminar speakers from around the world, and a trained team of prayer ministers. They will also have the opportunity to meet with missionaries and leaders from over 200 missions organizations and seminaries exhibiting at Urbana in the Connections Hall.

While the conference is designed specifically for current undergraduate and graduate students, more than a third of conference participants—including ��ñ�� staff—are from other generations.

Watch the video below for a preview of what participants will experience at Urbana 22. For more information, please visit urbana.org.

About ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship:

One of the largest campus ministries in the United States, ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship ministers to students and faculty on over 700 campuses and has over 1,000 chapters across the nation, from Ivy League schools to community colleges. For over 80 years, ��ñ�� has partnered with hundreds of college campuses to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed. ��ñ�� is dedicated to establishing and advancing witnessing communities of students and faculty on college and university campuses.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Jeff Bunch, Urbana

jeffrey.bunch@intervarsity.org

(509) 270-0119

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Terumi Echols Named President and Publisher of IVP

AD-2503 — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 19:02:47 +0000

Press Room

Terumi Echols Named President and Publisher of IVP

WESTMONT, IL—��ñ��/USA has named Terumi Echols as president and publisher of ��ñ�� Press (IVP). Echols succeeds Jeff Crosby who recently became president and chief executive officer of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), the trade association of Christian publishing. Before coming to IVP, Echols worked for nearly two decades at Christianity Today International, with roles including chief publishing officer and publisher of Christianity Today.

“Terumi Echols was a key contributor and visionary to many, if not most, of the advances ��ñ�� Press made during my time as its publisher,” Crosby said. “As IVP’s new president and publisher, she brings vision, a passion for sustained growth, and a deep understanding of the Press’s mission to the university, the church, and the world. I believe very bright days are ahead for IVP under Echols’s leadership.”

“By selecting someone with Terumi’s business savvy, we are making a clear statement: ��ñ�� Press intends to invest in growth,” said DeeDee Wilson, ��ñ��/USA’s chief financial officer. “While she was at Christianity Today, Terumi championed new product lines, diversified the list of contributors, and increased revenue. We expect her to lead with that same entrepreneurial vision. We want more authors to reach more readers and more bookselling partners to serve more customers.”

Echols, who currently serves as IVP’s director of finance and fulfillment operations, assumes the role with five initiatives launching: the new IVP Kids imprint; Every Voice Now, which supports and amplifies voices of color within publishing; the Disruptors podcast, hosted by IVP author Esau McCaulley (Reading While Black) and coproduced with Christianity Today; the Seminary Now digital learning platform; and the IVP Signature Collection, which provides refreshed bestselling backlist titles from across ��ñ�� Press’s seventy-five year history.

“��ñ�� Press invites the church to be more biblically rooted and culturally engaged,” said Tom Lin, president for ��ñ��/USA, who chaired the selection process supported by CarterBaldwin Executive Search. “It respects the church’s heritage and points to the church’s future, which will be more global and more multiethnic. Terumi’s life, as a woman of color and publishing veteran, reflects those values.”

“For nearly seventy-five years, ��ñ�� Press has changed the way the church thinks and believes,” said Greg Jao, ��ñ��/USA’s chief communications officer, who served on the search team along with Wilson and Lin. “It introduced Americans to British leaders like John Stott and J. I. Packer and to cultural critics like Francis Schaeffer and Os Guinness. It trained millions to study Scripture inductively through LifeGuide^® Bible Studies, to distill biblical scholarship through the IVP Bible Dictionary Series project, and to mine the church’s history through the Ancient Christian Commentary series. More recently it invited people into spiritual formation with authors such as Suzanne Stabile, Sharon Garlough Brown, and Ruth Haley Barton, and it elevated diverse voices such as Esau McCaulley, Soong-Chan Rah, and Sheila Wise Rowe. Terumi has the experience and insight to build on this legacy so that the gospel reaches more deeply and more broadly.”

Echols said, “I am humbled by the opportunity that this role creates and for what it represents in the world of Christian publishing. The church is painfully divided and spiritually hurting in this season. ��ñ�� Press, with strengths in spiritual formation, justice, cultural analysis, and academic and multiethnic publishing, has a vital contribution to make in a disillusioned world. It is my desire to strengthen our commitment to these foundational areas while developing additional pathways for IVP. J. I. Packer once said, ‘Other publishers tell you what to believe. IVP helps you to believe.’ I intend to invest so that a more globally, generationally, and ethnically diverse group of readers are helped to believe.”

News Keywords

IVP

Leadership

Religious Freedom Upheld at University of Iowa

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 20:53:48 +0000

Press Room

Religious Freedom Upheld at University of Iowa

WASHINGTON – In a unanimous win today in ��ñ�� v. University of Iowa, the federal court for the Eighth Circuit told University officials it was “hard-pressed to find a clearer example of viewpoint discrimination” than their discrimination against religious student groups, marking the third time religious groups successfully prevailed against discriminatory university administrators in recent months. The victory today and similar wins in ��ñ�� v. Wayne State and BLinC v. University of Iowa make clear that universities must not discriminate against religious student clubs—and the Court warned that university officials who “make calculated choices about enacting or enforcing [such] unconstitutional policies” should be on notice that they are not entitled to qualified immunity but instead will be held personally accountable for their actions.

“Schools are supposed to be a place of free inquiry and open thought, but the school officials here punished opinions they didn’t like and promoted ones they did—all while using taxpayer dollars to do it,” said Daniel Blomberg, senior counsel at Becket. “The good news is that they’ve been held accountable, and school officials nationwide are on notice. We are optimistic that in the future, colleges will pursue policies of accommodation, not discrimination, when it comes to religious exercise on campus.”

In 2018, the University of Iowa deregistered ��ñ�� Graduate Christian Fellowship and numerous other religious groups—including Muslim and Sikh groups—because of their common-sense requirement that their leaders agree with their religious beliefs. As in the Wayne State and BLinC cases, the University justified its targeting of religious clubs by accusing the clubs of “discrimination” for wanting their leadership to share their values—even while the schools permitted other organizations (such as sororities, fraternities, and political or activist groups) to consider criteria such as a student’s sex, race, or ideology in the selection of club leadership and membership. Today’s victory will bring all campus religious student groups lasting protection from religious discrimination by officials at public universities.

The Court encapsulated the situation—and the unconstitutionality—neatly:

What the University did here was clearly unconstitutional. It targeted religious groups for differential treatment under the Human Rights Policy—while carving out exemptions and ignoring other violative groups with missions [the University] presumably supported. The University and individual defendants turned a blind eye to decades of First Amendment jurisprudence or they proceeded full speed ahead knowing they were violating the law.

Religious student clubs like ��ñ�� provide a valuable place for students to meet, pray, study, and worship. They also help students serve the community, mentoring at-risk youth, raising funds to combat global poverty and cleaning up local neighborhoods. Religious student groups provide a way for students to take time from their studies to focus on their faith and on helping others. And religious groups rely on their student leaders to keep that focus strong.

“Religious groups should be able to have religious leaders. Government officials don’t get to tell Christians, Muslims, or Sikhs who will lead their prayers or their worship,” said Blomberg. “That’s not just bedrock constitutional law, it’s also common sense. And now the University of Iowa knows it.”

For more information or to arrange an interview with a Becket attorney, contact Ryan Colby at media@becketlaw.org or 202-349-7219. Interviews can be arranged in English, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

Additional Information:

Order in Intervarsity Christian Fellowship v. University of Iowa
Case page for Intervarsity Christian Fellowship v. University of Iowa (press releases and legal documents)
Media Kit for Intervarsity Christian Fellowhsip v. University of Iowa (photos and b-roll)

Becket is a non-profit, public-interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free expression of all religious traditions and has a 100% win-rate before the United States Supreme Court. For over 25 years, it has successfully defended clients of all faiths, including Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Native Americans, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians (read more here).

��ñ�� Christian Fellowship Releases Gen Z Survey Assessing Christian Students’ Viewpoints and Ministry Needs Amid Pandemic

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 19:56:32 +0000

Press Room

��ñ�� Christian Fellowship Releases Gen Z Survey Assessing Christian Students’ Viewpoints and Ministry Needs Amid Pandemic

(MADISON, WI)––��ñ�� Christian Fellowship released a survey today assessing Christian higher education students’ well-being and attitudes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, their viewpoints on social issues, their discipleship resourcing needs, and more. Representing 316 current ��ñ�� students on 127 college campuses, the findings reveal racial justice and climate change as the most important social issues, and isolation, lack of community, and/or a lack of social interactions as the primary factors in a decline in mental health.

“Generation Z is the most connected generation yet, with an unprecedented online presence and digital connectivity,” said Tom Lin, President & CEO of ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship. “However, the findings of this survey show just how important community and fellowship are to students’ overall well-being and how important it is to maintain and cultivate these on college campuses.”

Key findings include:

Almost half (47%) of students reported that their mental and emotional health has been negatively impacted as a result of the pandemic. Of these students, 71% contributed this to isolation, lack of community, and/or a lack of social interactions.
60% of students are hungry for even more resources on Scripture study and 52% want more guidance on prayer; nearly half (47%) of students are looking for resources to provide guidance on dating and marriage.
Top issues of importance to students today are: racial justice (39%); climate change (29%); foster care, adoption, and orphan care (28%). Jobs and the economy (14%); immigration (10%); and serving refugees (8%) were ranked the lowest.

“I’m deeply encouraged that the top areas Gen Z students want to grow in are in studying Scripture and developing a deeper prayer life. Scripture study and prayer are central to how ��ñ�� is addressing the loneliness and isolation Gen Z students have experienced this year, and they are the lens through which we understand and engage social issues,” Lin said.

Greg Jao, Chief Communications Officer at ��ñ��, added: “Emerging from the past year of racial unrest, we’re seeing how the social issues that our nation reckons with are also at the forefront of our students’ minds. As a campus ministry, it’s crucial for us to help students navigate both these issues and how to live out their faith from a Biblical perspective in real time on college campuses.”

The survey results are now available to read and download at https://pinkston.co/2021-Student-Survey.

For more information, contact ��ñ��@pinkston.co.

About ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship:

One of the largest campus ministries in the United States, ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship ministers to students and faculty on 769 campuses and has over 1,100 chapters across the nation, from Ivy League schools to community colleges. For over 75 years, ��ñ�� has partnered with hundreds of college campuses to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed. ��ñ�� is dedicated to establishing and advancing witnessing communities of students and faculty on college and university campuses.

News Keywords

Racial Reconciliation

racial justice

climate change

��ñ�� Welcomes Stronger Protections for Religious Student Groups

AD-2503 — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 19:01:15 +0000

Press Room

��ñ�� Welcomes Stronger Protections for Religious Student Groups

September 9, 2020

(Washington, D.C.) — Diverse religious organizations today welcomed a new Department of Education regulation that strengthens campus non-discrimination and inclusion policies. The new regulation encourages public colleges to treat all campus groups fairly, allowing each group to select leaders who agree with their groups’ religious beliefs.

This regulation arose because public colleges sometimes discriminated against Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh and other religious clubs based on their religious expectations for their leaders. For example, in 2018, the University of Iowa derecognized multiple religious groups, including Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Jewish, and Hindu student groups because their faith traditions require that religious observances be led by people from their faith.

“This regulation was unfortunately necessary because some universities would give official recognition only to certain faith-based groups, while rejecting others,” said Greg Jao, Director of External Relations for ��ñ��. “What made the student groups who were denied recognition different? They expected their student leaders to agree with their religious beliefs. The recognized groups did not. Universities should welcome all religious groups equally, in order to encourage tolerance, pluralism and religious diversity.”

“This new regulation is an important policy for Muslim student organizations because it allows them to select their own leaders and define their own mission by their faith's principles,” said Ismail Royer, Director of the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team for the Religious Freedom Institute. “This right should be reserved for all student religious organizations, and not usurped by university officials based on their own shifting, unpredictable standards.”

“Jewish groups operate widely on campuses across the country and contribute positively to Jewish students’ university experience, creating a home environment that is familiar and supportive to them,” observed Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israel of America’s Vice President for Government Affairs. “Religious groups should be encouraged on campus. It simply defies logic, and undermines their very effectiveness, when religious groups are forced to forfeit leadership policies that better insure adherence to their religious mission, beliefs and practices.”

“Faith traditions uniquely support and sustain students of color on campus,” said Jimmy McGee, President of the Impact Movement, a Christian campus ministry focused on Black students. “Our beliefs are not interchangeable or negotiable. Universities that want to support students of color need to support their religious traditions.”

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��ñ�� Leads Christian Ministry Letter in Opposition of International Student Visa Policy

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 18:44:33 +0000

Press Room

��ñ�� Leads Christian Ministry Letter in Opposition of International Student Visa Policy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

(Madison, WI) — ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship today led a group of Christian ministries to urge the Trump administration to forgo a rule that could force international college students to leave the U.S. this Fall if they only take distance learning online courses. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Monday, July 6 that international students who attend college in the United States on visas will be barred from staying if their school's classes are entirely online. Many colleges and universities across America are switching to distance learning in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The letter was sent to Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf, and signed by leaders of the following Christian ministries: Cru; China Outreach Ministries; Council for Christian Colleges & Universities; National Association of Evangelicals; National Latino Evangelical Coalition; and World Relief.

The full letter is below:

Secretary Wolf,

We write to you in regard to Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s temporary final rule, announced on July 6, which would require international students attending colleges and universities which are meeting only online in the Fall to leave the country or to transfer their enrollment to another institution. This student visa decision is unnecessary, lacks compassion, and falls short of American ideals. We call on Acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf to reverse this decision and we ask fellow Christians to pray and to express their concern to their Congressional representatives.

We are a broad coalition of student ministries who seek to welcome, serve, and love international students and scholars; Christian institutions of higher education; churches; and other ministries. We believe the proposed temporary student visa rule violates tenets of our faith to “not mistreat the foreigner” (Lev. 19:33) but to love these neighbors as ourselves (Lev. 19:34, Matt. 22:39).

The modification to the temporary exemptions breaks an implicit promise made to these students. The United States issued them student visas, which traditionally allow students to complete their degree programs. In reliance on those visas, they made significant financial and relational sacrifices to come to the United States to study. While here, they have paid their tuition, secured housing, progressed in their studies, and contributed positively to their campus’s experience. Through no fault of their own, their universities and colleges have moved exclusively to on-line courses this Fall to restrain the spread of COVID-19. International students should not be expelled from the country or forced to change institutions because of a change driven by current public health needs.

While health and security concerns rightly factor into visa decisions, there are no new health or security reasons to justify this proposed student visa rule. These students were vetted and legally admitted to the United States to continue their studies, many who have been here for years at college. They arrived before the pandemic began, and they carry the health insurance required by their institutions. We recognize that student visas traditionally are not given for online-only degree programs. However, students who were admitted to in-person degree programs before the pandemic should not be penalized because of a temporary change of their institution’s pedagogy.

This proposed student visa rule also exposes students to significant costs and risks. If they try to stay, they face significant educational disruption if they transfer to another institution, as well as the financial and relational disruption of moving to an unfamiliar community. If they cannot stay, they face significant costs and the difficulty of returning to countries whose borders may be closed to people from the United States.

The proposed student visa modification also robs our country of the significant contribution these international students make. American students benefit from exposure to global perspectives and friendships. American universities benefit from their scholarship and from their tuition revenue. Most international students pay full tuition and do not receive financial aid. Some studies indicate that our U.S. public universities generate nearly 30% of their yearly tuition revenue from international students despite the fact that foreign students only constitute about 10% to 15% of the student population. When allowed to participate in Optional Practical Training internships as college graduates, these students contribute their expertise and insights to American companies. When they return to their home countries, many serve as unofficial goodwill ambassadors for our nation as they bring back a network of relationships and experiences of their time in our country.

International students who have already arrived in the United States and who are enrolled in degree programs should be allowed to complete their courses of study in this country without further disruption. This is reasonable, compassionate, and consistent with our national interests.

Thank-You

Tom Lin, President, ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship

Marc Papai, Director, International Student Ministries, ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship

Ward Ballard, Director, International Student Ministry, The Navigators

Trae Vasek, Executive Director, Bridges International

Richard Mendola, CEO, International Friendships, Inc.

Brian Lee, President, Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX)

Shirley V. Hoogstra, President, Council for Christian Colleges & Universities

Walter Kim, President, National Association of Evangelicals

Rev. Gabriel Salguero, President, National Latino Evangelical Coalition

Scott Arbeiter, President, World Relief

Rev. Daniel Su, President, China Outreach Ministries

Russell D. Moore, President, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

Chris Palusky, President & CEO, Bethany Christian Services

For a downloadable version of this letter, click here.

About ��ñ��

��ñ�� Christian Fellowship is a college ministry that has 1,119 student and faculty chapters on 772 campuses across the US, from the Ivy League to community colleges. ��ñ�� serves and ministers to students in a variety of ways, including planting chapters that reach every corner of campus, mobilizing students for cross-cultural missions, serving the larger Christian Church through producing resources for thoughtful discipleship and award-winning books and videos through its publishing arm, ��ñ�� Press.

###

Friday, July 10, 2020

Contact: D.J. Jordan

703-915-0897

Collegiate Day of Prayer Unites Prayer for Revival on Campus

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 21:31:30 +0000

Press Room

Collegiate Day of Prayer Unites Prayer for Revival on Campus

For Immediate Release

(Madison, WI)— ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship partners with 30 other ministries to promote the annual Collegiate Day of Prayer (CDOP), Thursday, February 27, 2020, uniting prayer for students and faculty on 4,944 college and university campuses across the country.

We are inviting people to adopt a specific campus to pray for and to ask God for national revival and awakening.

Last year, in 2019, all 4,944 college campuses were adopted and prayed for on CDOP. As the year continued, many of those campuses were also prayer walked, as part of the EveryCampus initiative involving ��ñ�� and more than 50 other ministries, uniting behind the vision of seeing witnessing communities of believers established on every US campus.

��ñ��’s participation in CDOP and EveryCampus is part of our 2030 Calling, a longing for revival that encourages us to catalyze movements that call every corner of every campus to follow Jesus. We know that the goals that we have set are impossible without the work of the Holy Spirit in partnerships like CDOP and EveryCampus.

“A growing list of leaders, inside the church and outside, see our country in desperate need of revival,” said ��ñ�� president Tom Lin. “We should take every opportunity we can to unite our prayers, seeking God for this much-needed out-pouring of his Holy Spirit.”

A live CDOP simulcast will be hosted at Yale University at 8:00 p.m. EST, on February 27, as the day winds down. The simulcast provides another opportunity to come together before God to pray for God’s renewing work on campus, today as in years past. In the early nineteenth century, Concerts of Prayer for Colleges were regularly featured on many campuses, including Yale.

��ñ�� Christian Fellowship has 1,119 student and faculty chapters on 772 campuses across the US, from the Ivy League to community colleges. ��ñ�� is a founding member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

For more information:
Gordon Govier
608/628-8609

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Collaborative Effort Sees Almost EveryCampus in US Prayer Walked

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 27 Jan 2020 18:47:07 +0000

Press Room

Collaborative Effort Sees Almost EveryCampus in US Prayer Walked

For Immediate Release

(Madison, WI) – ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship partnered with a host of other ministries, churches, and individuals during 2019, in an ambitious attempt to prayer walk every US college campus, all 4,948 of them. The EveryCampus collaboration was initiated, “seeking God for revival by making gospel communities on every campus a possibility” with prayer laying the foundation as the first step.

At the end of 2019, about 3,650 of the 4,948 US campuses had registered at least one prayer walk. “Our hope is that people start to experience what we in campus ministries see every day, that Jesus is alive and well on every single campus in the country already,” ��ñ�� Vice President Jon Hietbrink said. ”We don’t bring God to those campuses. God is already at work in those places, we’re just joining Him.”

More than 50 ministries have joined the EveryCampus coalition initiated by ��ñ�� and Cru campus ministry in 2017. Leaders of 30 of those ministries joined almost 1,500 ��ñ�� staff and volunteers gathered in Orlando, Florida, at the beginning of 2020 for ��ñ��’s triennial National Staff Conference, to pray together under the theme of the conference, Longing for Revival. (Photo above)

Coalition partners together with ��ñ�� staff are focusing on preparing for the next steps that will lead to transformational campus ministry at more US colleges and universities. One of those steps includes new Adopt-a-Campus resources that ��ñ�� staff, students, and ministry partners can use to plant new chapters.

Many of those who have prayer walked campuses this year have unique stories to tell. ��ñ��’s North Texas Area Director, Benzi George, worked with a local church to plant a Bible study on a community college campus. When the effort started to falter, Benzi and several volunteers from the church prayer walked the campus. As they gathered in a circle for final prayers, they were surprised to find themselves joined by the college president, who encouraged them to continue their efforts.

Montana Area Director Kristin Wright took a 3,290-mile road trip to prayer walk 12 campuses in Montana last June, along with local volunteers at each location. She is excited that the EveryCampus initiative is part of ��ñ��’s 2030 Calling, to catalyze Christian community on every US college campus by the year 2030. “I don’t want to miss out on being a part of something only God can do,” she said.

For more information:
Gordon Govier
608/443-3688

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International Student Ministry Opportunities Continue to Grow

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 20:20:02 +0000

Press Room

International Student Ministry Opportunities Continue to Grow

For Immediate Release

(Madison, WI) --- The 1,095,299 international students studying in the US during the 2018-2019 academic year set a new record. Last year was the fourth consecutive year that this group of students surpassed one million, according to the 2019 Open Doors report of the Institute of International Education.

“��ñ�� has been promoting friendships with international students as a part of our ministry since we began, 78 years ago,” said Marc Papai, Director of International Student Ministry (ISM). In the mid-1950s, staff were inviting international students to International Houseparties, a chance to get away from campus during holiday vacations. Houseparties were held at many different locations, particularly at ��ñ�� camps, like Cedar Campus. And the tradition still continues.

In 1959, ��ñ�� published a Guide to International Friendships by then ISM director Paul Little. It reported that the US international student population at the time was 90,000. Today’s Friendships with International Students booklet carries on this legacy of encouraging and equipping students and volunteers to connect across cultures.

“Today ��ñ��’s 2030 Calling is focused on calling ‘every corner of every campus to follow Jesus,’” Papai said. “That includes international students, who are now a part of the student body at the majority of US campuses.”

At some campuses, ISM is the only ��ñ�� presence. “Part of our ministry is to help US students gain a deeper appreciation for God’s people of every international ethnicity and for God’s purposes in the world,” he said.

During the 2018-2019 school year, 3,846 international students were regularly involved in 499 ��ñ�� undergraduate and graduate fellowships. Sixty of those fellowships were specifically for international students.

The IIE Open Doors report also announced that the number of US students studying abroad continues to increase. During the 2017-2018 academic year numbers were up 2.7 percent over the previous year.

��ñ��’s Study Abroad ministry, now in its seventh year, helps students get involved with Christian community in other countries, connecting them to local campus ministry, discipling them through video conferencing, and challenging them through short pilgrimage experiences. Study Abroad also offers semester-long justice-focused programs in Rwanda and Ecuador. Last year 620 students participated in ��ñ�� Study Abroad, and another 125 engaged with Study Abroad resources.

Another long-standing ��ñ�� tradition encourages local community members to invite international students into their home for Thanksgiving Dinner. Students get to learn about and experience a traditional American holiday, making new family connections while they are a long way from home.

News Keywords

Press Room

Department of Education Rescinds Regulations Protecting Religious Groups on Campus

Department of Education Rescinds Regulations Protecting Religious Groups on Campus

Registration Opens For Urbana 22

Registration Opens For Urbana 22

About ��ñ���� Christian Fellowship:

Terumi Echols Named President and Publisher of IVP

Terumi Echols Named President and Publisher of IVP

Religious Freedom Upheld at University of Iowa

Religious Freedom Upheld at University of Iowa

��ñ���� Christian Fellowship Releases Gen Z Survey Assessing Christian Students’ Viewpoints and Ministry Needs Amid Pandemic

��ñ���� Christian Fellowship Releases Gen Z Survey Assessing Christian Students’ Viewpoints and Ministry Needs Amid Pandemic

About ��ñ���� Christian Fellowship:

��ñ���� Welcomes Stronger Protections for Religious Student Groups

��ñ���� Welcomes Stronger Protections for Religious Student Groups

��ñ���� Leads Christian Ministry Letter in Opposition of International Student Visa Policy

��ñ���� Leads Christian Ministry Letter in Opposition of International Student Visa Policy

Collegiate Day of Prayer Unites Prayer for Revival on Campus

Collegiate Day of Prayer Unites Prayer for Revival on Campus

Collaborative Effort Sees Almost EveryCampus in US Prayer Walked

Collaborative Effort Sees Almost EveryCampus in US Prayer Walked

International Student Ministry Opportunities Continue to Grow

International Student Ministry Opportunities Continue to Grow

About ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship:

��ñ�� Christian Fellowship Releases Gen Z Survey Assessing Christian Students’ Viewpoints and Ministry Needs Amid Pandemic

��ñ�� Christian Fellowship Releases Gen Z Survey Assessing Christian Students’ Viewpoints and Ministry Needs Amid Pandemic

About ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship:

��ñ�� Welcomes Stronger Protections for Religious Student Groups

��ñ�� Welcomes Stronger Protections for Religious Student Groups

��ñ�� Leads Christian Ministry Letter in Opposition of International Student Visa Policy

��ñ�� Leads Christian Ministry Letter in Opposition of International Student Visa Policy