I’m currently writing a talk on “Hope for the Next Generation in World Evangelization” for over 700 U.S. leaders at a Lausanne Consultation in Orlando. There’s much that gives me hope, but let me start by some encouraging things we’re seeing in just a small slice of the U.S. Church — InterVarsity. We’ve had an explosion in evangelism over the last 5 years, so we just launched a new follow-up curriculum called “Launch”. And here are some encouraging statistics:
- More students have become Christians than during any 5-year period in our 70-year history
- There are 11,767 non-Christians participating in our IV chapters, which a 133% increase in 10 years
- The number of students checking out Christianity in our “Groups Investigating God” grew 27% last year
- The number of students participating in cross-cultural missions projects (e.g. Katrina Relief, Inner-City Chicago, Cairo Urban Trek, East Asia lingua-cultural projects, etc.) each year is more than double the number in the 1990s
And I haven’t even mentioned Urbana ‘09, and the tens of thousands of students who have caught a vision to serve God in impacting this world. There’s a lot to be hopeful about!
Lastly, without going into too much detail about my talk, there are 3 significant contributions (there’s actually more, but I’m going to limit myself to be brief here) that I believe the next generation can make in global missions — Global Engagement, Communal Collaboration, and Entrpreneurial Action. I’ll leave it to your imagination to discern where I’m going to head with each of those topics!
C
Here are a few encouraging statistics:
1. More students have become Christians in the last five years than during any 5 year period in our 70 year history
2. Conversions have grown – 18% for one year; 23% for two; 68% for 5 years
3. 11,767 non-christians are participating in our chapters – 133% growth in 10 years
4. 2,642 new believers last year – 1390 new believers fall semester this year
5. Number of non-Christians in GIGs grew 27% last year
The New York Times profiled last weekend’s Greek InterVarsity Conference, where 475 fraternity and sorority members gathered for mission. Read the full story here.
One of the privileges in leading InterVarsity Missions is hearing reports about students reaching fellow students around the world. One of our sister movements in Great Britain, UCCF, is sponsoring mission weeks in 22 universities across Great Britain this month, engaging university students to think about contemporary issues in relation to God, the claims of Jesus, and their own lives. Click here to see the launch at Oxford University and a playlist of different videos of mission week activities. Enjoy!
I’m officially two weeks into my new role, about to head out on my 4th trip and my first InterVarsity Board meeting. I was encouraged by my initial meetings with Missions Department colleagues, who share a passion for missions and for engaging college students in missions. I also felt like a rookie staff again as I got “oriented” to my new office at our National Service Center (where I had not stepped foot into since the mid-1990s)!
I’ve also been inspired and encouraged by my leadership team, of whom I’ll share more about in a post next month. Thanks also to many of you who have shared their URBANA and IV Missions testimonies with me. In one evening alone, I received 25 Facebook responses/messages filled with testimonies! Several wrote posts such as:
- “[After decades], I still keep my laminated Urbana Decision Card in my purse.”
- “Urbana permanently changed my view of the world and myself.”
- “I don’t think I would be serving in this ministry now, if it weren’t for [Global and Urban] Projects.”
- “I still use things I learned [through IV missions training] in my relationships with both friends and strangers. And especially at work!”
*LEADING A MISSIONS MOVEMENT THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
During the summer of 1991, my perspective on God’s love for the city was transformed through an IV Urban Project in Chicago. At URBANA ’93, I committed my life to global missions, and became an IV Campus Missionary in 1994. Then in 1997 and 1998, I took my first short-term Asia trips and led a Global Project to Vietnam, which eventually led Nancy and me to serve in Mongolia (under InterVarsity “LINK”, our long-term missions arm). InterVarsity continues to impact tens of thousands of students every year in missions, just like I was impacted!
Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing different snapshots of InterVarsity Missions and the ministries which I now oversee. But in brief, they are those very same ministries that God used to change my life – URBANA, LINK, Urban Projects, Global Projects, and the Global Urban Trek.
Lastly, please pray for the sale of our home! We’ll be putting it on the market in the coming weeks, and we’re in the process of preparing it and cleaning it. (Lots to do!) Pray for Nancy, as she does significant work on the house while I’m away. And pray for a quick and fair sale!
With 45+ staff gathered in Missouri, I gave my last address to my team last month at our Regional Staff Conference. It was an encouraging time of celebrating God’s work in the Central Region, and a meaningful “send-off” for Nancy and me. Some reflections are in our recent Prayer Letter DECEMBER 2010. We also celebrate stories in InterVarsity’s 2009-10 Annual Report. On page 1, one of the chapter plants I supervised is highlighted – Creighton University.Creighton represents our Region’s first foray into Nebraska since 2000, an intentional goal I had as I began my Regional Director role in ‘07. As I now transition into my new role as VP of Missions and Director of Urbana on Feb. 1st, I look forward to working with a new and gifted team focused on the same compelling vision of InterVarsity.
The IV chapter at U of Missouri, Asian Christian Fellowship, was recently highlighted in the campus newspaper with the headline, “Fellowship Group raises money for trafficking victims”. It gave students the opportunity to share the vision of InterVarsity on campus and practically practice mission both to the campus and to the world… Student leader Asha Xu gathered her small group which sponsors a Christian justice project every year. “One of our main goals in Asian Christian Fellowship is to share Christ’s love through community…Our point of view is that Christianity isn’t something that should be there Sunday morning,…It should be everywhere in their lives,” she proclaimed. What a powerful witness! Go Asha!
Beza Threads began after several InterVarsity students from Drake University in Iowa lived one summer in Ethiopia, working with an Ethiopian ministry. I had the privilege of joining the IV students on the project. The idea for Beza Threads arose after we walked through a prostitution district. Seeing the social injustice and abuse of young girls, our students’ hearts grieved for children living in sex slavery. The students devised a plan to help the children… The following school year, they purchased handmade scarves from girls rescued by the Ethiopian ministry and sold the colorful scarves on campus. All the profits they sent back to Ethiopia. Led by our IV alumni, today Beza Threads continues as a successful ministry to vulnerable African children. This is exactly what we yearn to see in our IV ministry — American students whose lives are transformed on campus, who graduate and become world-changers!
(Below: My visit to Addis Ababa in July 2009)
Truth - North Korean Testimony | The Lausanne Global Conversation. INSPIRING! This testimony from an 18-year old North Korean student was by far my favorite testimony in Cape Town, one of only two speakers to receive standing ovations. It’s moving and inspiring (and very challenging). I’ve dedicated the last 15+ years of my life towards developing students, believing that students indeed are tomorrow’s future leaders and greatly impact the world we live in for Christ. This testimony gives confirmation of that, and gives us hope for the future, doesn’t it?
