New Student Outreach

Boba Jesus—Creating a Visual, Invitational Witness for iGens

AD-18513 — Mon, 17 Feb 2020 19:50:16 +0000

Nathan Peterson

Boba Jesus—Creating a Visual, Invitational Witness for iGens

“Jesus, what bubble tea would you drink?”

Even though this sugary, tapioca-pearled blend of milk and tea (often just called “boba”) was invented long after Jesus walked the earth, students really want to know what his favorite flavor would be. Honeydew? Strawberry? Or maybe something more unique like cotton candy or crème brûlée?

With dark brown skin, a welcoming smile, and a cup of bubble tea in hand, the image titled Boba Jesus prompted these unusual questions. And wherever Stephan Teng has set up this cardboard cutout on Cornell University’s campus, students have been quick to follow.

Contextualized Creativity

Not only is Stephan the creator behind Boba Jesus, he’s also a prolific artist, burgeoning T-shirt designer, and ��ñ�� campus minister. Growing up on a steady dose of Lego-building and out-of-the-box thinking, he originally created Boba Jesus for a T-shirt design competition. Though he didn’t win, the encouraging feedback he received prompted him to keep toying with the image.

During New Student Outreach in the fall of 2019, the Boba Jesus image resurfaced in Stephan’s mind. He was struggling. As he tried engaging with more students, they walked straight past him, often dodging his questions. He needed a way to grab their attention.

Given iGen students’ passion for visuals, Stephan suspected Boba Jesus might be just the thing—and inviting enough to help them overcome their anxiety about in-person conversations. This resonates with what researchers and journalists like New York Times writer Laura Pappano are discovering about the new generation on campus: “They are not always good at live social interaction, but they crave it.”

Invitational Witness

Inside Cornell’s dining hall, Stephan had just finished setting up his new Boba Jesus Proxe, including a board with a speech bubble asking, “If Jesus wanted to sit down and drink bubble tea with you, what question would you ask him?”

It didn’t take long for a student to walk by. She froze, her head swiveled back toward Boba Jesus, and she started backpedaling.

“Would you mind if I shared why I made this?” Stephan asked, continuing after the student nodded. “I designed this because I believe Jesus loves Cornell students. He would want to spend time with you, to drink bubble tea and hear about your life, what you’re going through. That’s what our organization is about. We make space for you to come with all your questions—no matter what background you’re from—and get to know who this Jesus is who wants to know you.”

As the young woman nodded and walked away, more students started coming up, grabbing Boba Jesus stickers and taking selfies next to the cutout. Many of them appreciated the image’s darker skin tone, saying it seemed more historically accurate. And even if students didn’t stop to chat with Stephan, he often overheard them ask their friends what they’d talk to Jesus about over some boba.

Many students took the time to jot down their questions on sticky notes. Besides his bubble tea preference, they wanted to ask him things like, “Why did I have to get sick?” and “What would you say about our current political climate?” A cafeteria worker even came up to check out the display and shared with Stephan that she was a Christian. “Why did my child have to die?” she wrote.

In the weeks that followed, word of Boba Jesus spread across campus. More than once, students came up to Stephan saying, “I came all the way across campus to get one of those stickers!”

“I think iGen students are very aware about how they represent themselves to the world,” said Stephan’s supervisor, Carrie Moorhead, an Area Ministry Director in New York. “Boba Jesus is a way to declare something about incarnation—Jesus came to identify with us in our humanity. It points to something greater.”

Building Trust

“Most people at Cornell are really kind. They don’t want to offend anyone,” Stephan observed. “So they say they trust Christians or are curious but just not curious enough because of busyness.”

This new Proxe has started breaking through that busyness to stir up genuine curiosity. Around campus, Stephan’s Asian American ��ñ�� chapter has become well-known for the Boba Jesus stickers, generating more openness and positive rapport.

“My hope is that Boba Jesus actually [portrays] an image of Jesus who wants to meet with everyone from every background and faith,” Stephan said. “The fact that I’ve seen Christian and non-Christian, Asian and non-Asian [people] like Boba Jesus opens that homecoming invitational door. So when they see our fellowship, see our invitation, they go, ‘Okay, maybe I can come check this out too.’”

And even though students may never know Jesus’ favorite bubble tea—this side of heaven—Boba Jesus is helping them learn just how inviting and approachable he is.

Find an AAM Chapter

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Nurturing Crucial Relationships

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 12:26:00 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Nurturing Crucial Relationships

While many college students have spent part of the summer diligently pursuing Pokémon, now is the season when they arrive on campus with a similar determination to seek and find new relationships. The people met on the first days on campus typically define a new student’s relationships for the next year, four years, and sometimes a lifetime.

That’s why relationships are crucial. And Crucial Relationships is the name of the new ��ñ�� outreach tool appearing on many campuses across the country as the fall semester begins.

Crucial Relationships is an artistic display called a Proxe Station, set up along campus walkways. ��ñ�� students and staff use the display to initiate conversations about the desirability of relationships. The students they talk with are invited to upcoming ��ñ�� events on campus and, in some cases, invited to begin a relationship with Jesus.

The first three days the display was set up at San Diego State University (SDSU), two students made decisions to follow Jesus. “This Proxe is bringing people right into awareness of a core need for relationship with God,” said SDSU campus staff member Julie Day.

At Shepherd University in West Virginia, four students made decisions to follow Jesus the first day the display went up on campus. At the University of California–Merced two students responded positively the first day to invitations to begin a relationship with Jesus.

At Macomb Community College in Michigan, a woman walked up to the display and said she wanted a spiritual connection as her crucial relationship. “She had never read the Bible before and loved hearing the story of the four friends who brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus,” reported ��ñ�� area director Ann Beyerlein, who prayed with the woman. “She kept thanking me for telling her the story and explaining the gospel to her.”

At Chapman University in Orange, California, where the ��ñ�� chapter is just in its second year, ��ñ�� campus staff member Daniel Allen said, “We have seen more students engage with this Proxe than any Proxe I have previously been involved with."

When a student at California State University–Fullerton was asked which of the many relationships illustrated on the first Proxe panel he was most wanting, he responded, “Honestly, I would take any of these if I could have just one friend.” Now he has a dozen new friends in an ��ñ�� Bible study.

On other campuses, such as the University of California–San Diego and the University of Utah, creative staff have also been using Pokémon Go to connect with new students and invite them to ��ñ�� activities.

Becoming a follower of Jesus is the beginning of a journey. Helping students learn how to grow in their faith is another important part of ��ñ��'s campus mission. A new resource for new believers has been developed, called GROW: Learning to Follow Jesus.

Some relationships that begin on campus last longer than a lifetime.

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Relationships

Proxe Stations

New Student Outreach

Millennials Who ARE in Church

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 27 Aug 2013 13:54:06 +0000

Press Room

Millennials Who ARE in Church

^{For Immediate Release}

(Madison, WI) -- Millennials have received lots of attention in recent months for drifting away from the Christian faith. Yet ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship is experiencing one of the strongest growth periods in the 72-year history of its campus ministry.

Earlier this year, a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life indicated that the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans had jumped from 15 to 20 percent over a five-year period, and that the youngest adults surveyed were leading the trend. A CNN blog post by Rachel Held Evans provoked many responses to her reflections on why Millennials are leaving the church.

��ñ�� is experiencing just the opposite in its work on campus. In the midst of a growing numbers of students and faculty, more than half its participants report consistent church attendance, an activity that ��ñ�� deeply values.

��ñ��’s record participation includes 909 chapters on 590 campuses and more than 38,000 “core” students and faculty (those who participate in more than 50 percent of all activities). Multiple thousands more are involved with investigative Bible studies and other outreach activities.

Jim Lundgren, ��ñ��’s Senior Vice President and Director of Collegiate Ministry, believes that college-age people will respond to the gospel when they see its relevance. “Too often young people are not challenged with the understanding that the gospel message addresses issues they care about, such as justice and compassion,” he said. “��ñ�� has developed tools that help connect Millennials with the 2,000-year old mission of the church.”

What’s happening right now in ��ñ��?

��ñ�� staff and students are involved in New Student Outreach events across the country, from Ivy League universities to community colleges. Students and faculty are provided with creative opportunities—such as The Fake Campaign—to talk about the values they hold most deeply, and respond to the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ.
��ñ�� is preparing to host one of the largest outreaches in its 72-year history, the Price of Life Invitational, October 1-12, in New York City. This outreach will include over 80 events on 10 campuses. Five hundred students will be trained to engage their peers with the love of Christ through the lens of human trafficking.
��ñ�� has introduced a new ministry focusing on U.S. students who are studying abroad.
��ñ�� continues to engage with public and private colleges and universities on the issue of religious qualifications for leadership of Christian campus organizations.

��ñ�� is affiliated with the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), and is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).

_{For more information:

Gordon Govier

ggovier@intervarsity.org

608/443-3688}

NOTE: For deeper reflections on Millennials and campus ministry, we invite you to read this column by ��ñ�� staff member Tish Warren.

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Price of Life Invitational

News Release

New Student Outreach

Meeting the New Students

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:29:08 +0000

News

Alec Hill, President of ��ñ��

Meeting the New Students

Last week, I had the privilege of chatting with Lauren Anderson, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As a chapter leader in my home town, I listened to her with rapt attention.

When asked how much time she allocated to the chapter over the summer, I was surprised by her response — an average of 10-20 hours per week. Her assignment? Preparing the chapter for New Student Outreach this fall. What a commitment! As she laid out her team’s plans, I felt my heart racing with excitement.

Back on Campus

Of 80 returning core students in the chapter, 27 have chosen to live in freshmen dorms. Since upperclassmen generally avoid less mature first year students, this represents a major sacrifice. Their intent is to build authentic friendships, open up conversations about the Lord and launch small group Bible studies.

“The first 72 hours on campus are critical in setting the trajectory of a freshman’s four years,” Lauren observes. Part of the chapter’s strategy is to have “welcome teams” help freshmen move into dorms and to provide free lemonade (with contact information on the cup). Freezie-pops will also be distributed — a tradition that goes back five years — on what is typically a hot move-in day.

In preparation for the new year, the chapter’s website and Facebook page have been overhauled — complete with lots of new photos. Prior to placing a single foot on campus, several freshmen are already making solid steps to become part of the community.

Over the next month, the chapter will host several outreach events — including a root beer kegger, salsa dancing and a bonfire gathering. Large group also will commence.

Student Leadership

Lauren’s enthusiasm touches me deeply. Having just returned from IFES World Assembly in Poland, I am passionate about student initiative.

During World Assembly, I was repeatedly struck by just how much responsibility our 150 sister movements assign to student leaders. In Ethiopia, for example, a student team leads a chapter of 2,000. An itinerant campus staff member checks in with them periodically.

In the United States, we are blessed to have staff serve as mentors and coaches to our student leaders on a much more intimate basis. In doing so, however, we must be vigilant to strengthen student leadership.

Lauren Anderson represents just one of our 7,907 chapter leaders. If she is typical of the rest — and I believe she is — ��ñ��’s future is very bright. This is true even if staff access to campus becomes more restricted. May their light shine brightly across the country this fall and throughout the year.

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New Student Outreach