Conferences

Restored for Restoration

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Tue, 08 May 2018 20:38:30 +0000

Katie Ziegler

Restored for Restoration

As a senior in high school, Adryahna desperately wanted to fit in. Many friends turned their backs on her, and others bullied her. The friends Adryahna did have made poor choices, including bringing alcohol to school to drink together every day.

Lost and hoping for a change, Adryahna left home in San Diego to attend California State University, Long Beach, where she met some students from ��ñ�� who helped her move into her dorm. She ended up attending a few of their large group meetings.

However, Adryahna continued to make choices that chipped away at her well-being. By the end of freshman year, she was depressed and diagnosed with anxiety.

“My main goal was to turn up,” she said. “I was pretty much just partying. It was really unfulfilling, and I got really tired really quickly.”

One night, while Adryahna and a friend were walking home from a party, someone drove by and threw a milkshake at them, calling them horrible names. That moment was devastating and pushed Adryahna to get to know Jesus a little better. She decided to read through the entire New Testament that summer.

A New Family and New Desire

On the first day back on campus as a sophomore, Adryahna ran into an ��ñ�� acquaintance who invited her to get involved with Black Campus Ministries (BCM).

“I went, and I loved everyone. They became like family,” she said.

From that moment on, Adryahna found not only the community she longed for, but the desire to put Jesus at the center of her decisions. Then, at her ��ñ�� chapter’s Spring Conference, Adryahna officially gave Jesus lordship over her life.

Now, Adryahna is finishing her last semester of school where she leads the BCM portion of ��ñ�� on campus. During her time in the chapter, she saw not only her own relationship with Jesus deepen, but also the chapter grow exponentially with those invested in seeing change on campus.

Seeing her campus transform as her own life transformed prompted Adryahna to serve as the student emcee at this year’s Ambition Conference, where she shared vulnerably from the stage, prayed for speakers, and encouraged other students to be bold in following Jesus by carrying his mission on campus.

An Unexpected Leap of Faith

In her commitment to follow where God leads, Adryahna recently made the decision to return home after graduation with no job and no clear career plan. This decision came at the expense of turning down other opportunities, including Teach for America and an internship with ��ñ��.

But God gave Adryahna a vision of restoring relationships with her high school friends and inviting them to study the Bible with her.

“I’ve learned that we’re not supposed to have faith in our faith; we’re supposed to have faith in God,” Adryahna said. “I trust that God will sustain me and that there will be fruit and healing from this huge faith leap I’m taking.”

In the future though, Adryahna hopes doors will open to her ultimate goal—to help reform the prison system. Growing her relationship with God also grew in her a commitment to bring his justice and hope to our broken world.

“God used ��ñ�� to show me the truth of who he is—he is love. He used ��ñ�� to give me the confidence to use my voice and the discernment to know where to invest my time in the future,” Adryahna said.

While moving home feels scary for Adryahna, as though her future plans are on hold, she knows that serving God after college looks different for everyone, and that what she chose is just as important.

Are you graduating from college this year like Adryahna? Your involvement with ��ñ�� doesn’t have to end. Learn about the different ways to stay connected with ��ñ�� by clicking the button below!

Visit the ��ñ�� Alumni Page

News Keywords

Black Campus Ministries

New Staff Meet in Madison

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:00:00 +0000

News

Katie Montei

New Staff Meet in Madison

For almost two weeks every summer new staff come to Orientation for New Staff (ONS) in Madison, Wisconsin. Their time is spent training for their new position with ��ñ�� and connecting with other staff. Every new staff member must complete ONS in their first two years of staff.

Making Connections
Some of the staff who came to ONS this year had been on campus for a year already. But even those who were coming off a year of staff work felt that ONS would help to build their understanding of and connection with the wider movement.

Connecting to other staff workers is an invaluable aspect of ONS. Megan, who is staffing an International student chapter said, “I get excited about taking things away from ONS – getting to know other people are doing the same thing across the country as me.”

Fundraising Anxieties
��ñ�� staff are required to fundraise their own salary. In order for staff to start spending time on campus they must first raise a certain amount of their support.

Many staff noted their anticipation about the fundraising training that takes place during ONS. Given the hard economic times, raising money so that they are able to work on campus is a concern. Almost all of the staff expressed the hope that ONS would help to put some of their concerns to rest about fundraising.

Alicia, a staff worker at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, explained that Michigan is being hit extra hard financially. “I am hoping that I am encouraged with fundraising, and take away some creative ideas,” she said. The staff spend one evening using the phones at the National Service Center (NSC) to fundraise – sharing a phone with one other new staff so that they can support and encourage each other during their phone conversations.

A Bigger Movement
ONS also gives new staff the opportunity to understand that the role of the NSC is to support them and their ministry. ��ñ�� is a large movement that while unified, also has many branches. The NSC connects staff to the rest of the movement and also the wider public.

At ONS the NSC hosts a picnic for the new staff. Afterwards the staff walk through each department, learning about the different roles of the national office. Those who work at the NSC hope the new staff leave the office understanding the role of the national office, and also the breadth and depth of the movement. The day is a welcome break from their busy ONS schedule.

��ñ�� is blessed to have new staff who are excited and motivated by their work. Their dedication brings transformation to students, chapters, and campuses across the country.

News Keywords

Conferences

Calling Out Black Leaders

webteam@intervarsity.org — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:00:00 +0000

News

Lucille Badger, Atlanta 08 Conference Director

Calling Out Black Leaders

“God did an amazing work in my life at Atlanta, and I know the same is true for most, if not all who were there.”
Alexandria Grant, Swarthmore College

��ñ��’s Student Leadership Advancement Conference in Atlanta at the end of December was designed to bring a core of black student leaders from various campuses together to challenge them spiritually, to equip them in ministry, and to commission them in the power and might of the Holy Spirit to transform their campuses.

They were challenged as 21st Century leaders to bring change to the world locally and globally. No matter what the changes and shifts within the black church, leaders should demonstrate concern for issues that will affect not only African Americans and people of African descent, but all people. With the theme Called Out to Call Out, Atlanta 08 challenged undergraduate and graduate students to hear the voice of God for themselves and to respond, “Yes, I’ll Go.”

Dr. Harold Dean Trulear, associate professor of Applied Theology at Howard University, guided students through three days of Bible exposition, examining the struggles and triumphs of the Old Testament prophet Jonah as he responded to the call of leadership.

Additional plenary speakers and the issues they addressed:

Ram Sridharan, ��ñ�� Staff, repentance
Dr. Jeanne Porter, Associate Pastor of Apostolic Church of God and founder of TransPorter Communication, restoration
Rev. Joshua Settles, ��ñ�� Area Director, reconciliation
Princess Kasune Zulu, founder of Fountain of Life, redemption
Rev. Phil Bowling-Dyer, Associate Director, Multi-Ethnic Ministries, commissioning to return to serve their campuses and their communities

On December 31st, approximately 64 students gathered together in prayer for their campuses, for one another, and for the world. They then marched into the dining hall with praise and singing to set the room ablaze—a 21st Century Haystack renewal and revival.

We as staff feel confident that the Father saw their tears of repentance, and heard their response to the call for restoration and reconciliation. We heard their fresh commitments; we believe we shall see advanced leaders who live lives of confession and prayer, pray for their campus, disciple and develop other leaders within the movement, and initiate godly changes within the United States and globally.

Audio from each of the speakers at Atlanta 08 is available on ��ñ��’s Audio Resources page.

News Keywords

Black Campus Ministries

Conferences

FC08 Prize Winners

webteam@intervarsity.org — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

News

FC08 Prize Winners

The integration of faith and vocation, the foundation underlying ��ñ��’s Following Christ 2008 conference, was promoted at the conference in the Bosscher-Hammond awards competition. Twenty-five semi-finalists received free registration to the conference, December 27-31, 2008, in Chicago. Three winners of the award were announced on the final day of the conference.

The winners each offered a unique proposal for expressing their faith through their occupation to the benefit of others.

A team from Baylor University, led by engineering professor Walter Bradley, proposed a plan to develop more economically beneficial uses for the coconut. Noting that coconuts are abundant in many of the poorer regions of the world, the Baylor team believes that the application of engineering, distribution, manufacturing, and business resources can develop markets that will improve the financial yield from the shell, the husk, and the inner parts of the coconut.

“It is exciting to think that this abundant renewable resource has been provided by God to help the poorest of the poor, if we can just see the value that God has put into this fruit and figure out how to get that value out,” their proposal said. “We set out to discover the technology that would allow us to start a triple bottom line company called Whole Tree, Inc. around coconuts, one that would make a profit, make a difference in the lives of people most in need, and be good stewards of our planet.”

Stephanie Gehring’s goal is to write orthodox theology in the form of poetry. “As an artist and a Christian, it is part of my practice of belief not to ask questions as though they have no answers,” she wrote in her application. “The balance between clarity and mystery is one I’m struggling to find.” Stephanie recently received an M.F.A. degree from Cornell University.

A public health initiative in the state of Arkansas focused on working with both white and black churches in an effort to improve information and motivation related to healthier living practices. Two important principles in Karen Hye-cheon Kim’s proposal were, “God cares about your health and we cannot be healthy by our own strength.” Karen works for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and has also won government grants for her initiative.

Each of the winners received a $2,000 prize.

The competition is named after Peter Bosscher, a former professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who passed away in 2007, and Pete Hammond, a former senior staff member and vice president at-large with ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship who passed away in December 2008. Both men committed their lives to the integration of faith, learning, and practice. Bosscher was the organizer of a chapter of Engineers Without Borders on the UW-Madison campus. Hammond founded and led ��ñ��’s Ministry in Daily Life Resource Group, originally known as Marketplace.

Two more reports on Following Christ 2008 are online: Honoring God at Work and Human Flourishing.

News Keywords

Graduate Faculty Ministry

Ministry in Daily Life

Conferences

Human Flourishing

webteam@intervarsity.org — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:00:00 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Human Flourishing

In the midst of a world that doesn’t currently seem to be flourishing, the aspiration to flourish burns even more brightly. As the theme of ��ñ��’s Following Christ 2008 conference (FC08), held in Chicago, December 27-31, 2008, human flourishing was presented as God’s design and desire for humanity.

Almost 1,000 students, faculty, and professionals attended FC08. It was sponsored by ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministry, and ��ñ�� Press.

“God’s new creation not only happens to you, it also happens through you,” said Anglican bishop N.T. Wright, one of the plenary speakers. He added that Jesus Christ, being fully divine and fully human, was the fullest expression of what God intended us to be, the ultimate flourishing human being.

Flourishing varies in context
Attendees at FC08 learned about human flourishing from many perspectives, including from separate discipline-specific tracks that looked at the meaning of human flourishing in the context of the arts, law, business, science, healthcare, etc. In each context flourishing is expressed in its own unique way but has in common God-designed benefits for the individual participant as well as broader society.

Plenary speaker Jeff Van Duzer, dean of the Seattle Pacific University School of Business and Economics, described how business contributes to human flourishing. “The organization exists, from God’s perspective, to serve its employees and customers,” he said, suggesting that the business decisions made solely to maximize profit, which led to the current economic upheaval, were short-sighted and ultimately unsustainable.

Human flourishing sustains.
Those who flourish approach work as an opportunity for expression, and as an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution to society, often in relationship with others. Many people feel a calling from God to work in a specific field; human flourishing acknowledges and supports that call.

“Science contributes to the way we flourish,” said another plenary speaker, Francis Collins, the former director of the Human Genome Project. “It answers our questions and helps solve our problems. Science is a joyful form of worship.” Collins said that he felt that his own success as a scientist was God-given.

“At a great moment of cultural and social upheaval,” human flourishing is now more in demand than ever. “The big dreams of the last 200 years have let us down,” said Bishop Wright. “Now we have the chance of a lifetime to rethink those dreams.”

^{Audio from FC08 plenary sessions featuring Bishop N.T. Wright, Jeff Van Duzer, Francis Collins, and other speakers, can be heard and downloaded at ��ñ��’s audio resources page.}

News Keywords

Graduate Faculty Ministry

Conferences

Honoring God at Work

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 06:00:00 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Honoring God at Work

Pursuing careers that matter was the focus of Following Christ 2008 (FC08), an ��ñ�� conference in Chicago. Students, professors, and professionals attended the conference and dialogued about living their professional lives in a way that is fulfilling to themselves and honors God, their creator and savior.

Alec Hill, the president of ��ñ��, welcomed attendees to FC08. “It is my hope that this conference will encourage you to integrate your faith and work at a much deeper level than you had ever imagined,” he said.

“Almost all of the people I interviewed said that they want to integrate their faith into their work one way or another,” said Michael Lindsay, the author of Faith in the Halls of Power, How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite. “Ninety three percent of them said that that’s important.”

Speaking in one of the opening lectures of FC08, Lindsay said that the way Christians express their faith at their job varies widely. Doing business in an ethical manner is one basic expression. But many go beyond that. The number of corporate Bible studies has ballooned in the past decade, after former President Clinton signed a 1997 federal order declaring that religious expression in the federal workplace was an issue of free speech.

Lindsay, a professor of sociology at Rice University, said that his research suggested to him that the church needs to do a better job of helping people think more strategically about integrating their faith into their work. One of the questions he asked was “how often has your pastor come to visit you in your workplace?”

“I interviewed 360 leaders in government, business and culture,” he reported. “Only one said that their pastor had actually visited them in their workplace.” Lindsay said that the man recalled with great precision what was discussed that day, what they did, and even what they were wearing. “I say to my pastor friends, if you want to have an influence in your community, get out and pay pastoral visits to the workplace.”

Almost 1,000 students, professors, and professionals attended FC08, which was sponsored by ��ñ��’s Graduate and Faculty Ministries and ��ñ�� Press. In addition to hearing from plenary speakers they participated in over one dozen career-specific tracks in fields such as law, the arts, business, natural sciences, and education. FC08 ran from December 27-December 31, 2008.

The audio from Michael Lindsay’s presentation, as well as FC08 plenary sessions, is available on ��ñ��’s audio resources page.

News Keywords

Graduate Faculty Ministry

Conferences

Following Christ 2008

webteam@intervarsity.org — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 06:00:00 +0000

News

Following Christ 2008

The worlds of academia, business, the courts, government, the media, medicine, religion, and science are where many people invest their time, earning a living to provide for themselves and their family and utilizing the skills that God gave them.

God gave us occupations to serve others, to support ourselves and our families, and to allow us to express ourselves through our gifts and talents. His purpose is for each of us to flourish in our occupation as we interact with one another. Are you flourishing?

Human Flourishing
Human Flourishing is the theme of ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship’s Following Christ 2008 conference (FC08), which will be held in Chicago, Dec. 27-31, 2008. The purpose is to invite professionals, academics and students to explore more deeply, in the context of their profession, the questions, “What is human flourishing?” and “Does it matter what I do?”

The conference has a very practical purpose, to explore how each of us can serve God through our life’s work. FC08 challenges us to contemplate, in the words of conference director Jon Boyd, “What would Jesus do if he worked in your job?”

Twelve discipline-specific tracks are featured at FC08, which will offer attendees opportunities to explore with others who have similar interests the faith-based implications of their careers. Each track features Christian leaders in a specific discipline who will offer thoughtful and challenging ideas about what it means to follow Christ in their profession. In addition, FC08 features three interdisciplinary tracks, plus Day Ahead events with nationally known Christian leaders who will provide further topical focus.

Plenary Speakers
FC08 also features plenary talks by world-class Christian thinkers and practitioners in a range of disciplines:

Anne C. Bailey – Associate professor of history, SUNY—Binghamton, and dedicated to the study of African American history and African Diaspora Studies.
Carmen Acevedo Butcher – Associate professor of English and Scholar-in-Residence, Shorter College, and author of works on medieval literature, Christian mystics, and linguistics.
Francis Collins – Former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health and head of the Human Genome Project.
Andy Crouch – Editorial director of the Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today International and author of Culture Making (��ñ�� Press 2008).
MaryKate Morse – Professor of leadership and spiritual formation and the director of strategic planning and special programs at George Fox University Seminary.
Jeff Van Duzer – Dean of the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University and associate professor of business ethics and business law.
N. T. Wright – Bishop of Durham and former Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey; taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities

Following Christ 2008 is focused on nurturing our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength. Over the holiday season in a downtown hotel in Chicago hundreds of Christians will come together with the intention of changing the world, not by calling a news conference or starting a protest movement, but by seeking God’s will to be expressed in their professions. Shouldn’t you be among them? For more information on FC08, and to register, go to www.followingchrist.org.

News Keywords

Conferences

Integrating Faith in the Academy

webteam@intervarsity.org — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:00:00 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Integrating Faith in the Academy

Ernie Balajthy teaches students how to be teachers. He is a professor of education at the State University of New York at Geneseo. But he also believes it’s important to help Christians to be “salt and light,” as Jesus instructed, in the field of public education.

“I have a long standing interest in looking at how Christians can interact with and benefit from—and be a benefit to—public education, both at the public school level and at the public university level,” he said. Ernie is the chair of the Education track at ��ñ��’s Following Christ 2008 (FC08) conference in Chicago, December 27-31.

FC08 Education Track Director
The Education track at FC08 will attract people with a wide perspective on education, from parents facing a decision on whether to send their young child to a public school or a private, Christian school, to teachers in elementary or secondary schools or graduate students preparing themselves for a career as a college professor. And Ernie plans to address this wide range of perspectives.

“On a day-to-day practical level, I want track participants to think through issues of the spiritual development of children,” he said. “I also want to deal with issues of how Christians can function in a liberal, pluralistic, multi-cultural school or university setting. On an academic level, relating to research and theory, I hope that people will come away with a better understanding of the role that scholarship can play in integrating faith in the academy and in the public and private schools.”

Ernie is excited about the perspectives that will be presented by his fellow track participants, Tom Baskin and Shanna Pargellis. Tom is a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He will be describing the integration of faith with the academy by discussing his research into teaching forgiveness to reduce violence among urban youth. Shanna is a founder of The Mustard Seed School, an innovative, urban Christian school in Hoboken, New Jersey. She will discuss treatment of spiritual issues in education through arts and social awareness, as well as how educators can achieve their personal, Spirit-guided visions for professional growth.

Ernie himself will address practical issues pertaining to the Christian’s role in public education, based upon his experiences as a public school teacher and a professor at a public university. “My view of public schools is that it shares many of the same goals that we have as Christians,” he said. “We need to think through how we can function in a way that is seen as partnering with public schools and universities, as opposed to fighting them. It’s our responsibility as Christians to bring peace and grace to the public sphere.”

Faculty Adviser
The ��ñ�� chapter at SUNY Geneseo has had Ernie as its faculty adviser for more than 20 years. It’s a role that he relishes, not only because of the interaction with students on spiritual matters, but also because of the voice that it gives him with fellow faculty members.

The recent appearance of Tony Campolo on campus, presenting a lecture sponsored by a local inter-faith ministry, stirred up a lot of talk among students about spiritual issues and the social implications of the Bible. The professors couldn’t help but notice and discuss the students’ interest.

“My association with students, as faculty adviser, gave me the ability to speak out more forcefully than if faculty perceived my ideas as simply being my own,” he said. “I would strongly advise any Christian faculty member who wants to have a say for Jesus in the public university to get involved with the Christian fellowship. College and university is not about us, it’s not about faculty members, it’s about students.”

��ñ�� Veteran
“My first day of undergraduate school at Rutgers in 1969, I went to my first ��ñ�� prayer meeting, and I have been active in ��ñ�� ever since,” Ernie said. After graduation he joined the Central New Jersey ��ñ�� Alumni Association while he started his teaching career. As a graduate student he was active in a small group led by an ��ñ�� staff member.

Then as a faculty adviser at Geneseo, he chaperoned some students attending a conference and found a new attraction to ��ñ��. “I brought a group of students to the Bible and Life weekend, which was in Buffalo; and that’s how I met my wife, Janet,” he said. Janet was the Bible teacher at the conference. She is currently serving as national field director for the Northeast.

The Christian faculty fellowship at Geneseo, which Ernie participates in, meets sporadically but keeps in close contact through email. The ��ñ�� chapter at Geneseo has a stable group of about 125 students. Ernie meets regularly with staff member Scott Ashley. “That’s a key component of what I do,” he said.

Faculty and students understand that there are different social-cultural minority groups on campus. Ernie believes it’s important for Christians to have a voice like any other group. “To some extent we have to earn that voice,” he said. “We also have to overcome our own preconceptions that we can live in an isolated Christian subculture that has no important role to play in society.”

The Education Track at FC08 is designed to help participants consider their preconceptions about education and come away with a clear biblical vision that encourages and guides Christians to become leaders in the field of education.

News Keywords

Conferences

Flourishing in the Meantime

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:00:00 +0000

News

Jonathan Rice

Flourishing in the Meantime

The human desire to flourish is as old as the biblical story of creation. The creation story in Genesis, you recall, records that God instructed Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. But the Fall changed everything.

After the dreadful sin of Adam and Eve, the human family was exiled from the garden and excluded from enjoying the Tree of Life, the source of all flourishing. The couple left Eden with nothing but their bloody garments of animal skins and their melancholy memories of what flourishing had promised.

Now as they stumbled forward in a still beautiful but now harsh world, ashamed of their loss, aghast at their violence, afraid of their own altered natures, they never forgot God’s promise that one day a Redeemer would restore to them the gift of flourishing. Since those initial days of exile, we descendents of this couple from Eden have yearned for the same redemptive promise, and through desperate ages we have philosophized about what life should be like in a flourishing society.

As our memory of God’s promise of flourishing passed from generation to generation, a tradition of patient hope arose among the Israelites that came to be expressed in one word – Shalom, a precious word, a sacred word that to this day describes the most sacred of blessings, the blessing of well-being.

Simultaneously among other peoples on other continents, thinkers speculated about an Edenic society and envisioned religious/political cultures that would somehow ensure a new age of flourishing. In the West, by the early fourth century BC, human flourishing was commonly understood as personal, good behavior. According to Aristotle (384-322 BC), the means and the ends of all our behaviors must be good; and the good, desired for its own sake, will bring us happiness.

From a Christian perspective, it’s not hard to see that the good life of Aristotle is essentially egoistic—obviously a person’s reason for choosing particular actions derive less from a desire for good than from a pursuit of one’s own happiness. This self-centered notion of flourishing has passed down to us through generations so that today we can most evidently see it in the excessive consumerism of Western cultures.

But striding alongside this consumerism are critics with prophetic insight into the spiritual implications of our Western culture’s obsession with the personal pursuit of happiness. Political, economic, and religious critiques of capitalistic cultures have renewed inquiry, particularly among academics, into the meaning of happiness and the nature of human flourishing. Within the church, Christians are also contemplating the phenomena of human flourishing by asking questions from a biblical perspective and by remembering the meanings—and promises—within the Judeo-Christian tradition about Shalom.

As a gift from God, Shalom is more than personal happiness; it is well-being that is manifested through what Christians call the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22, 23). A Judeo-Christian understanding of human flourishing, then, is different from the secular, popular notion of personal happiness.

Indeed, biblically informed ideas about human flourishing express distinctively Christian meanings that are different from the materialistic or psychological or pseudo-religious notions of human flourishing. Such distinctively Christian meanings create conversation about both what Shalom could look like in the world today and what in the kingdom of God human flourishing is not.

u>Some Limits of Human Flourishing

Christian human flourishing is not self-centered but is God-centered. We do not define our value as human beings by the degrees of our personal happiness. (But this, by the way, is how some Christians mistakenly define their lives: by founding their personal worth, their value as humans on the blessings of God. Hence, the Christians who manifest the most blessings must be the most righteous, intimate, and dear to God. Some Christians use this notion to measure the worthiness of individuals, communities, and nations, particularly the United States.)
Christian human flourishing is not merely spiritual. God’s human flourishing begins in our present lives. As such, human flourishing is holistic: It embraces every aspect of our persons—physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.
Christian human flourishing does not draw false distinctions between the individual and the communal by advocating the superiority of the one and the inferiority of the other. Both the individual and the community should flourish.
Christian human flourishing is not dependent on a person’s, a community’s, or a nation’s financial prosperity. Christian human flourishing, like Shalom, is not a message of exclusively financial wealth; it is a message of holistic well-being.
Christian human flourishing does not devolve. Rather, it is a state of well-being that may be seasonal, manifesting periods of lack and times of abundant harvest. But neither condition defines the flourishing of a Christian life. As such, Christian human flourishing does not romanticize any type of poverty or voluntary aestheticism as a spiritually superior position or as the primary means to greater spirituality.

u>Flourishing in the Meantime

“All people can contribute to human flourishing, if only in the humblest acts of care for others.” observed John Terrill, Professional Ministries Director. “Christian human flourishing is about growing as individual disciples of Christ and about helping people see God’s opportunities for them. We can contribute in extraordinary, even unique ways to human well being. As stewards of God’s creation, the works we do with our hands can be good for everyone; they can be as God’s hands in this world.”

The signs of flourishing always evidence Life. The qualities of living creations are growth. This outward sign of Christian human flourishing is the fruit of the God’s Spirit. Are we bearing the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Flourishing is the state of all things in the kingdom of God. We live in a limited world, a world in which the kingdom of God is truly present but not yet complete. How, then, may we flourish in the meantime?

u>Flourishing—More Than a Hopeful Inquiry

Reflections about human flourishing tend to lead us into inquires about the most significant questions about human existence. That’s why the Graduate & Faculty Ministries department of ��ñ�� believes that the subject of human flourishing merits the attention of over 1,500 delegates and scores of speakers and presenters for the span of four days at a conference called Following Christ 2008, December 27-31, 2008, in downtown Chicago.

The theme of Following Christ 2008 will challenge participants to consider this vision of Christian human flourishing and to seek God’s help in beginning to prepare for it in our families, neighborhoods, workplace communities, and nations, even as, in the meantime, we wait for God’s ultimate fulfillment of our human flourishing through the final coming of Jesus Christ. This conference will gather people active in the powerful institutions of the world—academia, business, government, the media, medicine, the courts, to challenge and encourage them to live as Christ’s followers.

In plenary sessions and discipline-specific tracks, delegates will draw connections between human flourishing and their daily work, research, and study. The conference will include the hallmarks of ��ñ�� events—solid biblical exposition, musical worship, Bible study, prayer, and multi-media from twentyonehundred productions—all centered on the theme of Human Flourishing. Additionally, Following Christ 2008 will offer a Juried Best Practices Competition to encourage the integration of faith, learning, and practice, and demonstrates how the academic disciplines and professions contribute to human flourishing.

For more information about the conference, please visit the Following Christ 2008 conference website or call Jon Boyd, the Conference Director, at 773-321-8161.

___

This article is based on the document: Human Flourishing—A thematic overview, revision January 25, 2008, printed by the Graduate & Faculty Ministries of ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship.

News Keywords

Graduate Faculty Ministry

Conferences

Clarity of Vision and Unity of Purpose

webteam@intervarsity.org — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:00:00 +0000

News

Jonathan Rice

Clarity of Vision and Unity of Purpose

“Staff Conference was truly a blessing. God’s presence was with us, focusing our mission for ministry on campus and unifying us in love for one another,” said Alec Hill, president of ��ñ��.

��ñ��’s triennial Staff Conference, January 2-6 at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri, combined an emphasis on evangelism with a closer look at our Fellowship’s Doctrinal Statement. The conference’s theme was based on Romans 1:16, which reads: “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. . . .”

Katie Montei, ��ñ�� staff in the Advancement department, said, “Leading up to Staff Conference the Intercessory Prayer team at the National Service Center diligently prayed every week that the conference would be characterized by joy.”

During the five days of the conference, the joy of the Lord deepened day by day as speaker after speaker testified to the power of God for salvation. The first evening’s program began with a photographic rendering of our Fellowship’s history of proclaiming the gospel, and afterwards a celebratory recognition of the sixtieth anniversary of ��ñ�� Press.

The conference culminated in a Saturday evening celebration and a Sunday morning worship service and commissioning that challenged us to perform our various ministries with ��ñ�� unashamed and in the power of God’s Spirit.

The unity of our Fellowship was apparent in the joyful spirit of this conference and in the unity of staff members’ hearts with one another. Indeed, God unified our hearts through times of worship, conversation, celebration, and prayer.

Praying together was an important part of this conference. The 24-7 USA leadership team set up an interactive prayer room of staff; a team of prayer ministers was available daily, and prayer was offered frequently during the plenary sessions. Prayer ministers wore colored dots on their name badges to indicate their invitation to pray with people at any time.

Prayer teams were continuously interceding for the national staff during the conference and that the conference participants—from staff to guests to hotel employees—would experience the love and grace of God’s Spirit. And each morning before the first plenary, a group of staff gathered to center their hearts in Christ during a period of silent prayer. Afternoon seminars about prayer were also offered.

The Spirit of God shaped our understanding of campus ministry through inspired biblical exposition, plenary speakers, testimonies, one-act plays, and seminars. One of the seminars offered was The Arrogance of an Exclusive Gospel presented by Rick Mattson, a regional director from Minnesota. Rick offered a short history of the philosophical and cultural changes in Western societies that have contributed to molding postmodernist worldviews. He then taught us how we can witness to postmodern people in caring ways that proclaim God’s love in Christ and demonstrate the unity of our witnessing communities.

“Chapters around the country are taking steps to unify the individual chapters on a campus to work together for the gospel. Our national leadership is also working to more fully experience the unity in Christ,” said Kristine Whitnable, ��ñ�� staff at the National Service Center.

Special guests—��ñ�� alumni, donors, and friends—also attended Staff Conference. “We really appreciate the attendance of our special guests at Staff Conference and at Urbana Conventions,” said Josh Hall, director of the Guest Program. “And they enjoy learning more about our various ministries and hearing the testimonies of lives being changed too.”

During the plenary session on the evening of January 3, Alec Hill spoke to the over 1,300 staff and guests about our campus mission. Alec said that he is thankful that our witnessing communities are continuously proclaiming the gospel on campus, emphasizing that faculty members also are an important part of ��ñ��’s witness to students. “If we’re going to see the campus renewed,” said Alec, “we have to see faculty play a significant role.”

Alec also said that as disciples of Jesus Christ, we staff are obligated to obey his command to make disciples of all nations. We are obligated, therefore, to be a multi-ethnic Fellowship that proclaims the gospel to people of every ethnicity. We are obligated to plant new chapters on more campuses and build more chapters on campuses where we now have witnessing communities. We are obligated to move forward in faith, asking God to bless our 2020 Vision Campaign that will fund new Strategic Initiatives.

Obligated as Christ’s disciples to advance the kingdom of God on campuses, we are to be unashamed of the gospel, faithful and full of hope. “God doesn’t expect us to be great in the world’s eyes; he expects us to be faithful to him,” said Alec.

Shortly after the conference, Tom Boyle, national director of Staff Development and Training, began receiving emails of thanks from ��ñ�� staff across the country. “Staff Conference has revolutionized a few areas of my work, including major donors, spiritual conversations, and student leadership empowerment. I thought all the plenary sessions were uniformly fantastic and the production value exceptionally high,” wrote Greg Fung, a divisional director in Boston.

Carolyn Carney, an assistant regional director, wrote, “This was the best staff conference ever!” She then listed in her email why she was so grateful for the Staff Conference:

God uniquely spoke through each plenary speaker to encourage and challenge us on the theme of “I am not ashamed of the gospel.” They spoke about humility, obedience, listening to and allowing the Holy Spirit to fill and to guide, keeping a focus on reaching the lost and presenting our bodies as living sacrifices.
There was freedom from the platform to share and own our weaknesses and failures, both personally and corporately.
Prayer and spiritual formation were beautifully woven together with evangelism and justice as the tapestry which depicts our life and work.
We were unified in our purpose to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed ,and world changers developed.
God richly and broadly answered prayer. I witnessed more than a few staff shedding tears for the work God was doing in our lives and for how faithful he’d been to us.

On Sunday afternoon, ��ñ�� staff left the conference for our various ministries around this country, knowing that we are called to proclaim the gospel as unashamed witnesses, as people who have seen and experienced the power of salvation, as people who, if they are to be great at all, are first called to be faithful.

News Keywords

Conferences