Conference

Registration Opens For Urbana 22

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

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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World Assembly 2019–What’s It All About?

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 16:57:49 +0000

News

Steph Schmaltz

World Assembly 2019–What’s It All About?

Eleven hundred participants made up of college students and campus staff ministers from 170 countries. Seventy seminars. Twenty-two meals together. Thirteen new student movements. And one message of hope to take back to universities across the globe. July 3–11, 2019, this is what 50 staff from across ��ñ��/USA experienced as they participated in a special event that only occurs once every four years: IFES World Assembly.

World Assembly, put on by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, focused its delegates on being messengers of hope to the world around them. It provided a unique place for our movements to break bread, listen to front-line perspectives, learn from exposition on portions of Luke and Acts, form new friendships through daily cross-national small groups, lament, rejoice, and pray with our brothers and sisters across the globe. In addition, affiliated IFES members voted on resolutions, welcomed 13 new movements, and had vibrant discussions on issues facing today’s global church. With no shortage of content, World Assembly delegates went home with much to process.

It’s tempting to let this be a standalone event for those of us privileged enough to attend, but what if we instead catalyzed our experience to improve our own movement and better love our IFES brothers and sisters?

As the USA delegation returns to our roles, here are some points to contemplate and implement across our movement.

Learning from IFES movements to further the 2030 Calling: While innovation and ideas are coming from within our movement, we can also learn from IFES movements who have already faced similar challenges. For example, UESI in India empowers alumni to plant chapters, EvaSUE Ethiopia reaches 45,000 students with less than 50 full-time staff, and movements in Europe are finding new ways to reach students in an increasingly post-Christian society. We have a great deal to learn from our IFES brothers and sisters.

Developing world changers: Not only do we long to see lives transformed and campuses renewed, but we also long to see world changers developed. To do that well, we need to educate our students on global issues and help them form healthy cross-cultural relationships. While we can do some of that on our campuses, what would it look like for chapters or areas to regularly connect with another IFES movement? Students could pray for each other on World Student Day (October 18, 2019), share ideas to reach their friends, visit one another (a possible Global Program), and dream of new ways to support and encourage one another.

Establishing and deepening relationships with IFES movements: As a founding member of IFES in 1947, ��ñ�� committed to seeing a Christian witness not just on every corner and every campus of the US, but also in every country! While each IFES movement is independently led, what are ways we can serve and support our global fellowship? Could areas or regions establish and deepen relationships with other movements by praying with, taking offerings for, or even hosting students and staff? ��ñ�� Link currently has 200+ staffing requests from across the IFES fellowship. Could God be calling some of us to go and serve as staff in another movement?

World Assembly brought forth major topics that will require careful thought and consideration at personal, chapter, regional, and national levels. However, we don’t want these topics to paralyze us or stop us from taking a step in the direction the Lord is leading. We pray that World Assembly will instead be an Ebenezer of remembrance for how the Lord moved us.

To watch talks, hear delegate reflections, and get a better picture of World Assembly, watch videos on the IFES World YouTube channel by clicking below.

Watch World Assembly Videos

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International Fellowship Evangelical Students

Summer Conferences: Refreshed Faculty

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 29 Sep 2017 20:09:15 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Summer Conferences: Refreshed Faculty

A gift that ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries offers to faculty members across the country each summer is the opportunity to meet together with other Christian faculty in an informal setting, to explore connections between their faith and their work. This past summer, professors and their families gathered in Brevard, North Carolina; Kingston, Rhode Island; Santa Barbara, California; and at ��ñ��’s Cedar Campus in Cedarville, Michigan.

Discussion topics were different at each location. In North Carolina, ��ñ�� alumnus Carl Ellis and ��ñ�� Board member John Inazu talked about the unique challenges and opportunities for Christian faculty working in pluralistic environments, and the need to acknowledge differences and model tolerance, humility, and patience.

In California, ��ñ��’s Scripture Engagement Director, Lindsay Olesberg, led a daily, in-depth Bible study of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Presentations by professors Ange-Marie Hancock Alfaro, Talithia Williams, and Francis Su stimulated discussions on cultural issues affecting life, ministry, and work in academia. Artist Molly Zakrajsek guided the faculty in the creation of a colorful mural (seen in background of West Coast conference attendees photo below).

At Cedar Campus, retired ��ñ�� Press Publisher Bob Fryling and his wife, Alice, led sessions aimed at improving the listening process: listening to God, listening to others, and listening to the heart.

In New England the speakers were Alice Brown-Collins, Associate GFM Regional Director, and Robert Chao Romero, a UCLA professor whose grandfather was a leader in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students movement in China.

Faculty who attended the conferences enjoyed a nourishing and enriching time of fellowship and recreation. “It was great to meet other faculty following Jesus, and I treasured conversations regarding faith and work,” one said. Another thankful attendee responded, “I knew I needed to go to a conference that didn’t give me more work to do, but one that gave me the rest and spiritual care that I needed. And I had heard that this was that kind of place. That’s why I signed up to come, and it did not disappoint.”

Deb Clark, Associate Director of Faculty Ministry, said, “These faculty conferences offer a rare and safe space for faculty and their families to engage with a supportive community, and receive significant interaction with Scripture and discipleship topics. This setting is a contrast to the loneliness and isolation often felt both in the university and the church. What a joy to observe how God uses these conferences for healing, encouragement, and restoration.”

A total of 115 faculty, administrators, and scholars attended this summer’s four conferences, expanded for the first time to four regions of the country. Total attendance (including ��ñ�� staff and families of faculty) was around 300.

More than 2,000 faculty were involved with ��ñ�� one way or another on U.S. college campuses this past year. Thousands more are served through ��ñ��’s online publications: The Well and the Emerging Scholars Blog.

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Conference

Registration Opens For Urbana 22

Registration Opens For Urbana 22

About ��ñ���� Christian Fellowship:

World Assembly 2019–What’s It All About?

World Assembly 2019–What’s It All About?

Summer Conferences: Refreshed Faculty

Summer Conferences: Refreshed Faculty

About ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship: