Campus Partnerships Open Opportunities for the Gospel at U of Oregon

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 20:57:20 +0000

Gordon Govier

Campus Partnerships Open Opportunities for the Gospel at U of Oregon

Gently used clothing, water bottles, school supplies, and other items can find a new home through the University of Oregon (UO) Student Sustainability Center’s Free Store, which popped up on campus several times during the past semester. The Center is a part of UO’s Erb Memorial Union, and coordinator Zaida Hatfield hopes that the Free Store will soon become a year-round institution that will help students affordably (as in free) find things that they need.

The Free Store originally came about several years ago through the UO ��ñ�� chapter’s 21 Day Project, which challenged students to live sustainably by wearing only 21 items of clothing for 21 days. “We partnered with the Student Sustainability Center because we thought they would enjoy being involved in the sale of student surplus items,” said Zach Schwartz, ��ñ�� Campus Staff Minister at UO.

Zach said the chapter seeks to partner with other student organizations on campus because they share similar values in terms of caring for the campus, the campus community, and God’s creation. Students in the UO ��ñ�� chapter intentionally seek involvement in other campus organizations as a way to find opportunities to share their faith.

“Partnering with student organizations has helped our own reputation as a Christian organization that really cares about the campus,” Zach said.

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The Beginning of the End

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 04 May 2018 14:44:54 +0000

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York Moore

The Beginning of the End

��ñ�� loves faculty, students, and staff, but we love Jesus even more! That’s why the changes that are happening across America give us hope for even better years of ministry than the 77 years behind us.

One would have to go back to the late 1940s to find a time in American history where there have been this many new Christian organizations. There is a virtual explosion of new student movements, and while some are small or regional, several have catapulted to a size and influence on campus that is staggering.

Times are good for us in ��ñ�� too. We’ve never seen so many students come to Jesus in all our history. We continue to add new staff at an unprecedented rate. We are planting new chapters in new places like never before.

That’s good news but what’s even better is that we are not reaching students and faculty alone. We are living in what I believe are just the very first days of a mighty move of God on our campuses. I believe we could see a soul harvest in America in the coming days that will rival the Jesus Movement of the 1970’s. It is not business as usual.

As an additional sign of how the world of campus ministry is changing, Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) and ��ñ�� USA have entered into our very first nation-wide partnership. The partnership initiative, Every Campus, seeks to accelerate planting new ministries throughout the country on the 50% of college campuses that currently have no Christian witness! The hope is to mobilize churches, organizations, and networks to establish Christian communities where there are none. Every Campus is now becoming a coalition of multiple organizations committing with Cru and ��ñ�� to get to the unreached campuses of the U.S. in the coming years. God is definitely doing something in our time.

This is the end of college ministry as we know it, for at least five reasons, and that is a good thing.

For starters, there are more churches and new organizations reaching more places than ever before. And we need every one of them, and many more. If you add up the campuses all eight of the largest, historic campus ministries are on, 50 percent of American colleges still have absolutely no Christian ministry.
We are entering a new era of trust and partnership. As the National Director of Catalytic Partnerships for ��ñ��, I’ve never before seen such a willingness to partner as I’m seeing now. Leaders all over are sensing a new, sweeping move of God, and there is a strong belief that God is calling all of us to partner together to see great things happen.
We don’t own the campus or campus ministry. This is a humbling and sobering fact but a fact nonetheless. The needs of the college campus in America far outstretch the resources of any ministry. ��ñ�� has staff, financial resources, training, conferences, camps, and great leaders but combined these are but five loaves of bread and a couple fish. In the hands of Jesus, however, the resources can be multiplied.
There is a confluence of vision and dreams for revival among leaders. Nearly across the board, campus ministry leaders are sensing God calling their organizations to partner and pray for a mighty revival in our time. Because of this, the old, normal way of just putting our best thoughts and practices in play for the campus isn’t good enough. We need a supernatural move of God!
Finally, it is the end of small things. Over the course of my preaching career, I’ve led over 16,000 people to Jesus. That’s pretty awesome and I’m humbled every time I think about that. I’m even more humbled, however, when I learn that many more college students are coming to Jesus each year through new, young ministries. At campus events, concerts, conferences, and in the streets, God has raised up a new and powerful generation of fire-eyed evangelists who are leading more to Christ in their first years than I’ve seen in over two decades! This gives my heart joy but I still believe this is just the beginning of something yet to come.

Prayer will be a critical part of our future ministry, just as it has been for the past 77 years. I invite you to join with us in regular prayer for our campus mission by signing up for our monthly Intercessor email. At this critical time, please be praying for our ��ñ�� leadership as they develop long-range plans for partnership and mission.

York Moore is a National Evangelist, and National Director of Catalytic Partnerships for ��ñ��.

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