#14: How InterVarsity/USA Ministers to University Students

Welcome to another edition of the College Faith podcast, sponsored by Global Scholars This is the first in a series I’m doing on campus ministries. Over the next six months or so I will be interviewing a leader from each of the major campus ministries, asking them the same questions so that you can have an “apples to apples” comparison of the different ministries’ Missions, emphases, distinctives, approaches, and cultures.

I’m beginning this series by interviewing a leader with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. My guest is Mr. Greg Jao, Executive Vice President–Communications & Mobilization. Greg has over two decades of experience with InterVarsity. He is a former colleague of mine, and I count him as a good friend.

In this podcast we discuss:

• How InterVarsity/USA began, and the sustaining values that resulted
• The Mission, Purpose, and four Values of InterVarsity
• The centrality of small group bible studies in InterVarsity chapters
• InterVarsity’s core distinctives: ethnic diversity, commitment to global missions, and discipleship of the mind
• Why InterVarsity groups tend to look different regionally and even on the same campus
• The challenges this differentiation presents, and how InterVarsity responds
• Why InterVarsity has been forced off a number of campuses in recent years
• Core elements of InterVarsity’s Statement of Faith, who must affirm it, and why
• Whether InterVarsity is on the conservative or progressive end of the theological spectrum
• Some of the “heros of the faith” InterVarsity holds up to students
• The four things InterVarsity believes students need to flourish during their university years
• Why InterVarsity puts such emphasis on developing a diverse community
• InterVarsity’s current strengths and weaknesses
• InterVarsity’s national strategies to improve on current weaknesses
• How InterVarsity helps students develop habits to walk with Christ for a lifetime
• Core spiritual disciplines InterVarsity encourages students to practice
• Why the “life of the mind” is so important to InterVarsity
• How students are taught to engage culture with biblical truth
• How InterVarsity engages racial and justice issues
• How InterVarsity sees the relationships between biblical justice, “social justice,” and the gospel
• Why InterVarsity see community as central to their ministry

Resources mentioned during our conversation: 

• Greg Jao, Your Mind’s Mission
• The Urbana Student Missions Conference
• InterVarsity/USA’s Website
• InterVarsity/USA’s Statement of Faith
• The Emerging Scholars Network
• Don Everts and Doug Schaupp, I Once Was Lost: What Postmodern Skeptics Taught Us About Their Path to Jesus
• James Chong, Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out
• J.I. Packer, Knowing God
• John White, Daring to Draw Near: People in Prayer
• Gary Haugen, Good News About Injustice: A Witness of Courage in a Hurting World
• Stan W. Wallace, “How Should Christians Understand Critical Theory?”
• A listing of all campus ministries at every university: EveryCampus.com