InterVarsity Christian Fellowship

{{For|the Canadian organization|Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship of Canada}}

{{Infobox organization

| name = InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA

| image = The_logo_of_InterVarsity_Christian_Fellowship-USA.png

| caption =

| founder =

| type = Christian Fellowship
Social Club
University Student Society
Non-profit 501(c)3 organization

| location = Madison, WI

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| origins =

| founded_date = {{Start date|1941}}

| key_people = Tom Lin, president

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| focus = U.S. college and university campuses

| method =

| affiliations = Chicago Agreement: Unity in Mission

| revenue = $107M (2017–18)

| endowment =

| num_volunteers =

| num_employees = 1,669 (June 2019)

| num_members =

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| homepage = {{URL|www.intervarsity.org}}

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}}

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA (IVCF) is an evangelical Christian student movement with affiliate groups on university campuses in U.S.. It is a member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students.

It is a collective campus ministry found in hundreds of American colleges whose collegiate members involve themselves in Christian student activist movements.{{Cite book |last=Herrick |first=James A. |title=Scientific Mythologies: How Science and Science Fiction Forge New Religious Beliefs |publisher=IVP Academic |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-8308-2588-2 |location=Downers Grove, Illinois |pages=4 |author-link=James A. Herrick}}

Organization

InterVarsity is governed by a board of directors. Tom Lin became the eighth president of InterVarsity on August 10, 2016. The president works with a team of five Executive Vice Presidents.{{cite web |date=28 December 2024 |title=Executive Team |url=https://intervarsity.org/about-us/leadership |access-date=December 28, 2024 |publisher=InterVarsity}} InterVarsity is a tax exempt organization under the provisions of Section 501(C)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. In the fiscal year ending 30 June 2018, InterVarsity had $107M in revenue (with over 70% coming from charitable donations) and $106.6M in expenditures.

InterVarsity is a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), and uses more than 85% of its revenue for staff-worker salaries and other on-campus work. InterVarsity was rated 4 stars (out of 4) by Charity Navigator for eight straight years.{{cite web|url=http://www.intervarsity.org/about/our/financial-info |title=Financial Info - About |publisher=InterVarsity.org |date=June 6, 2010 |access-date=February 16, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.charitynavigator.org |title=America's Largest Charity Evaluator | Home |publisher=Charity Navigator |access-date=February 24, 2012}} Michael Thatcher, the president of Charity Navigator, [http://intervarsity.org/about/our/financial-info reported]: "Only 3% of the charities we evaluate have received at least 8 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA outperforms most other charities in America." In 2019 InterVarsity slipped just below the cut-off for the four-star rating, and based on the latest available IRS Form 990 data (for Fiscal Year 2020) is currently rated at three stars by Charity Navigator.{{cite web|url=https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/362171714 |title=InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA|publisher=Charity Navigator |access-date=February 16, 2023}} However, InterVarsity continued to maintain a 100 percent score in Accountability and Transparency.

InterVarsity strives to maintain the highest level of accountability with its ministry partners and is also rated by sites such as [http://www.guidestar.org/profile/36-2171714 Guidestar] and [https://web.archive.org/web/20160822022833/http://www.ministrywatch.com/ministries/ministries.aspx?ministry=InterVarsity MinistryWatch]. InterVarsity (as of 2018) met 18 of the 20 Better Business Bureau's "Standards for Charity Accountability".{{cite web|url= http://www.give.org/charity-reviews/national/religious/intervarsity-christian-fellowship-usa-in-madison-wi-40945 | work = Charity Review | title = InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA |publisher= Better Business Bureau |date=April 2015 |access-date=November 21, 2018}}

History

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA became an official organization in November, 1941. But the organization traces its roots to a movement of British university students, starting at Cambridge University in 1877. The movement spread to Canada before reaching the U.S. In 1938 Stacey Woods, the Canadian Inter-Varsity director, met with students on the University of Michigan campus. As an immediate result of that visit, students formed the first InterVarsity chapter in the United States. InterVarsity's first three staff members came on loan from Canada, and Stacey Woods served as the organization's General Secretary (CEO). In 1947 InterVarsity USA became one of ten founding members of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, a federation of national Christian student movements. By 1950 there were 35 staff workers serving students in 499 InterVarsity chapters and by the early seventies, the on-campus staff had grown to more than 200.

In September 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa ruled that the University of Iowa violated the First Amendment when it expelled the group from campus for requiring its leaders to uphold Christian beliefs.{{Cite web |last=Parke |first=Caleb |date=2019-09-30 |title=University officials held 'personally liable' for discrimination against Christian student group |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/iowa-university-christian-group-lawsuit |access-date=2022-03-07 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}} A similar ruling was issued against Wayne State University in April 2021.{{Cite web |title=InterVarsity Christian Fellowship v. Wayne State University |url=https://www.becketlaw.org/case/intervarsity-christian-fellowship-v-wayne-state-university/ |access-date=2022-03-07 |website=Becket |language=en-US}}

Statement of Faith

In 2016, InterVarsity clarified its requirements for staff, asking that they affirm traditional, orthodox views of sexuality that are shared by most evangelical denominations.{{cite web |url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/october-web-only/intervarsity-asks-staff-to-choose-stance-on-sexuality.html |title = InterVarsity Asks Staff to Choose a Stance on Sex... {{!}} Christianity Today| date=7 October 2016 }} Staff are asked to affirm a twenty-page document which affirms the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament sexual ethic that limits sexual expression to marriage between a man and a woman.{{cite web |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/326684433/InterVarsity-Christian-Fellowship-Theology-of-Human-Sexuality-Paper#from_embed |title = InterVarsity Christian Fellowship: Theology of Human Sexuality Paper {{!}} PDF {{!}} Marriage {{!}} Wife}} However, this change in policy has prompted controversy, especially from LGBTQ Christians and their supporters.{{cite news |title=Top Evangelical College Group to Dismiss Employees Who Support Gay Marriage |author=Dias, Elizabeth |url=https://time.com/4521944/intervarsity-fellowship-gay-marriage/|newspaper=Time Magazine |date=6 October 2016|access-date=10 October 2016}}{{cite news|title=InterVarsity's Move on Gay Marriage|author=Merrit, Jonathan|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/campus-ministry-a-culture-war-outpost/503426/|newspaper=The Atlantic|date=7 October 2016|access-date=10 October 2016}}

Ministries

=College ministry=

File:Urbana 2012.jpg

Of the 772 campuses where InterVarsity is present, many have multiple chapters which might focus individually on Greek life students, international students, nursing students, graduate students, athletes, artists, and members of ethnic minorities, or be more generalized depending on the campus.{{Cite news|url=https://intervarsity.org/our-ministry|title=Our Ministry|date=2016-03-10|work=InterVarsity|access-date=2017-12-20|language=en}} These include 71 ethnic-specific chapters ministering to Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, Filipinos, and Latinos. Of the 34,750 active InterVarsity students, 15,198, or 44%, identify themselves as ethnic minority or multiracial students.

Nurses Christian Fellowship (NCF) is unique among the ministries of InterVarsity; it is a professional organization as well as a student ministry. In addition to campus ministry, NCF offers continuing education courses and the professional publication, [http://journals.lww.com/journalofchristiannursing/pages/default.aspx Journal of Christian Nursing], to practicing nurses.

=Bible study=

Bible study has always been an important part of InterVarsity's campus ministry. InterVarsity staff worker Paul Byer is credited with developing the Manuscript Study method of inductive Bible study,{{cite web|url=http://madden.customer.netspace.net.au/history.html |title=History |publisher=Madden.customer.netspace.net.au |date=1986-10-27 |access-date=February 24, 2012}} a useful tool for inductive Bible studies.{{cite web|url=http://www.intervarsity.org/bible-studies/inductive-bible-study-hints |title=Inductive Bible Study Hints - Bible Studies |publisher=InterVarsity.org |access-date=February 24, 2012}} After graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in architecture, Byer became one of the leading forces in InterVarsity, as both a campus staff worker and as the West Coast Regional Director, and was the developer of the Manuscript Study method.[http://regions.ivcf.org/training/318] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050305201813/http://regions.ivcf.org/training/318|date=March 5, 2005}} Through his innovative approach to Bible Study, extensive mentoring, and long tenure he helped shape the theology and culture of the entire movement. The Manuscript Study method continues to be used heavily by InterVarsity as one of many tools to help students investigate and learn from the teachings of the Bible.{{cite web|url=http://bibleseo.com/bible-study-methods/manuscript-bible-study-method/ |title=Manuscript Bible Study Method | Bible Study Lessons | Free Inductive Study Guide, Topics & Tools |date=5 November 2008 |publisher=Bibleseo.com |access-date=February 24, 2012}}

Other early staff members laid more of the foundation for InterVarsity's commitment to Bible study. Jane Hollingsworth learned inductive Bible study in seminary and in turn trained staff members in the 1940s. She wrote the first Bible study guide published by InterVarsity, Discovering the Gospel of Mark. In the 1960s, veteran staff member Barbara Boyd developed what became the Bible and Life Training Courses, experienced by decades of students.For Christ and the University by Keith and Gladys Hunt, InterVarsity Press, 1991

=Missions=

InterVarsity, as a member movement, participates in the global student ministry network, the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), by sending staff and recent graduates to work under the authority of local IFES staff in countries around the world.

=Training=

InterVarsity operates several training centers, Campus by the Sea, Catalina Island, CA; Toah Nipi, Rindge, NH; Cedar Campus, Cedarville, MI; Bear Trap Ranch, Colorado Springs, CO; and, until recently, Forest Springs, WI.{{cite web |title=Registration |url=https://chapterfocusweek.com |website=InterVarsity Chapter Focus Week |access-date=30 March 2020}} These camps are used for weekend conferences during the school year, week-long training sessions at the beginning and end of summer break, and faculty and alumni retreats.

InterVarsity Press

File:InterVarsity_Press_logo_New_2019.jpg

In 1947 the InterVarsity/USA Board of Trustees determined that the Fellowship should develop its own publishing arm. With this action, InterVarsity Press (IVP) became an official part of InterVarsity's ministry, overseeing the publication and distribution of books, booklets and Bible study guides in support of the campus work.{{cite web |url=http://www.ivpress.com/title/exc/3369-1.pdf |title=Beginnings The Forties and Fifties |access-date=February 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308221258/http://www.ivpress.com/title/exc/3369-1.pdf |archive-date=March 8, 2012 }}

References

Bibliography

{{Citation | title = Student Power in World Missions | first = David M. | last = Howard | publisher = InterVarsity Press | year = 1979 | isbn = 0-87784-493-3}}. Brief history of North American students in mission beginning with the Haystack Movement through the SVM to the SFMF.
{{cite book | last = Hunt | first = Keith & Gladys | title = For Christ and the University: The Story of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship of the USA 1940–1990 | publisher = InterVarsity Press | year= 1991 | isbn = 978-0-8308-4996-3}}
{{Citation | title = A Brief History of The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students | first = Douglas | last = Johnson | place = Lausanne, CH | publisher = IFES | year = 1964}}.
{{cite book | last1 = LePeau | first1 = Andrew | last2 = Doll | first2 = Linda | title = Heart. Mind. Soul. Strength. An Anecdotal History of InterVarsity Press, 1947–2007 | publisher = InterVarsity Press | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-8308-3369-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/heartsoulmindstr0000lepe}}
{{Citation | title = The Day of His Power | first = Pete | last= Lowman | place = Leicester | publisher = Inter-Varsity | year = 1988 | isbn = 0-85110-794-X}}.
{{Citation | title = From the Campus to the World: Stories from the First Fifty Years of Student Foreign Missions Fellowship | first = Alice | last = Poynor | publisher = InterVarsity Press | year = 1986 | isbn = 0-87784-947-1}}.
{{Citation | title = The Growth of a Work of God | first = C. Stacey | last = Woods | publisher = InterVarsity Press | year = 1978 | isbn = 0-87784-741-X}}. Early history of InterVarsity/USA.