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If an outsider – someone from outside the InterVarsity world, I mean – shows up at their triennial Urbana conference, what might that experience “shout” about IV? Would it be accurate?
Of course, like any conference, not all aspects pertain to the ministry “in general”; for instance, it’s rare for a local InterVarsity chapter to draw 16,000+ individuals… But from what I can tell, seeing Urbana provides an immediate and largely accurate window into the world that is InterVarsity. (Not all college ministry conferences are like that.)
So having seen InterVarsity around the country (but still being an outsider, of course), I thought I might reflect on what Urbana reveals about the broader work of InterVarsity.
ethnic diversity
In the session I attended yesterday, the speaker joked at one point about 2/3 of the room being Asian. Students laughed a little bit (since there were plenty more non-Asians in the room), but the fact that such a joke “landed” says a few things:
- The room really was quite ethnically diverse
- Much of that diversity was of Asian persuasion
- Students and leaders all recognize that IV has a large percentage of Asians
As far as I can tell, InterVarsity may be the only national college ministry that can be described as thoroughly multicultural. (And yes, much of that – but certainly not all – comes from Asian students.) IV is also quite clearly intentionally multicultural. Both of those aspects quickly become clear in a trip to Urbana – for example, the high ratio of non-Caucasian faces reveals the former, and the program lineup (in speakers and worship) reveals the latter.
a major campus ministry
Regardless of the state of InterVarsity on your campus or in your region, this ministry is probably the second-most-prestigious college ministry in the U.S. Attending Urbana provides a glimpse of that – there are, after all, over 16,000 people here from an enormous number of different ministries.
As I just described to someone at lunch, it saddens me that our field is so underdeveloped that many of us aren’t familiar with the national scene of College Ministry. Hopefully that will change, and we’ll learn about groups that are prominent – even if they’re not prominent where we happen to serve. But I think coming to Urbana (or even learning its history) might provide a clue that InterVarsity is a major force in our world.
theological diversity
Attending Urbana has also reminded me of how wide the Evangelical spectrum is under the Urbana umbrella. Case in point, the exhibit hall includes booths from Crossway and Christians for Biblical Equality, Duke Divinity and Moody Bible, and, perhaps most surprisingly, Campus Crusade and Navigators and FCA! Of course, this is the missions conference to end all missions conferences, as well as drawing thousands of college students hungry to serve. So it might be a little ridiculous not to show up.
But I feel like each of those booths and the wide-ranging dozens of others fit here, better than they might at a lot of places. I get the feeling – again, Urbana’s crowd simply reflecting what I’ve seen elsewhere – that IV has a wide theological diversity. (Among students who attend IV and Urbana, the diversity is of course all the wider – including, I believe, a number of non-Christians and non-Evangelicals.)
Their teaching-offerings reflect the same thing. This is a missions conference, but scanning the list of seminars provides opportunities to learn about everything under the sun. (You can see the topic categories here.) Think about the spectrum from which InterVarsity Press publishes; that might be a helpful way to think about its sister organization’s diversity of emphasis.
See Part II here, with 3 additional thoughts on how Urbana reflects IV as a whole.
Written from the Starbucks across from Urbana 2009, St. Louis
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If you’re interested in my post-Urbana thoughts – especially how it reflects InterVarsity – start here.
Wild, wild stuff.
Monday began with a determination to get back to work after a much-needed week-long “furlough.” I had a great phone chat with a college ministry pal – Ian Clark from NewChapter – then was all ready for some intense, homebound catching up.
I had tweeted my grumpiness at missing the Urbana conference – logistics and money made it tricky. But then I got a Facebook reply from Eric Holmer, national Greek InterVarsity guy who had been so helpful on Road Trip 13. It turns out he was able to get me a one-day media pass to Urbana – and, in fact, had Facebooked me a week ago to that effect. But the site didn’t push a notice to my email like it usually does – and in my furlough, I’d mostly just watched email for messages.
So there I was, with a chance to explore the biggest college ministry conference of them all. Only it was in St. Louis. And I was in Dallas. It had started on Sunday. And it ended Thursday.
What’s a college ministry explorer to do?
I asked Jesus, thanked Jesus, and got online.
I combed through my options (quickly), decided on Southwest Airlines over my more common mode of transport (which could perhaps be called Pathfinder Groundlines), and arrived in St. Louis at 10:30 last night. I’ll be enjoying Urbana to-the-hilt today, but I’m staying in St. Louis through Thursday morning. (Who knows what other STL adventures God might want to bring?)
If you’ve been following my excursions for any length of time, you know God has provided some pretty phenomenal college-ministry-exploring adventures, including exciting out-of-the-blue opportunities. For instance, you might remember that Road Trip 12 “came up” only two days before I left. And, long before I began blogging, Road Trip 2 – to visit revival that had broken out at Asbury College – had much the same timing. Plenty of other glorious Providences have occurred within the trips I’ve taken over the last few years.
So while I’m surprised at this week’s turn of events, I’m not too surprised at being surprised. God continues to allow me to explore the amazing world of collegiate ministry in some really amazing ways, all in hopes of helping our field grow stronger and stronger in 2010 and beyond. Today I’m so thankful that, out-of-the-blue, I get to add the BIGGEST college ministry conference of them all. Thankful to the Lord of wonders, and thankful to InterVarsity for the chance to see their pinnacle.
about Urbana, and how to follow
InterVarsity’s 22nd Student Missions Conference (a.k.a. Urbana 09) is indeed the most well-known of the college ministry conferences. It’s clear that individuals both inside and outside the InterVarsity world have been deeply motivated toward the cause of missions.
A couple of months ago, I highlighted three key entities those interested in college ministry should be well aware of. Here’s what I wrote about Urbana:
In the future, when we have glorious things like college ministry history books, the triennial Urbana conference will be a major fixture – maybe even its own chapter. … A blurb from their web page (urbana.org) points to a glorious past and a vision that continues today:
“Since 1946 InterVarsity has been providing a place for college students to see, hear, and respond to God’s global mission at Urbana conferences. If you want to see the world in a whole new light, come to Urbana 09. You’ll learn about critical global issues from dynamic teachers, worship with thousands in one of the most diverse gatherings in North America, and hear missional students and recent graduates testify to God’s faithfulness to the ends of the earth.”
As someone noted recently, Urbana is so clearly connected to the heart of InterVarsity that understanding this conference really does help one understand its parent organization. But for us in the wider world of college ministry, it’s also important for us to realize that this conference is a rich part of our history. It clearly is, even today, the King of Collegiate Conferences. And not nearly all who attend Urbana are IV students and leaders; it’s wide open to any interested in learning of God’s global call.
Want to follow along? I’ll be Twittering fairly heavily today – which is, as of now, the day I’m able to attend. Meanwhile, you can see other Twitter-flections on Urbana right here (hashtag #urbana09).
And look for some sort of reflection on the blog tomorrow, too. If you feel like praying for a valuable experience, that’d be awesome, too.
[I spent two posts reflecting on what Urbana reveals about InterVarsity's campus ministry work as a whole: See those posts here and here!]
Written from Motel 6, St. Louis, Missouri
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The last 48 hours have been pretty exciting, in large part because I’ve gotten to spend some great time with some great people. And I noticed that I happen to have encountered three groups that can truly be considered major, important, even historic elements within the field of College Ministry.
These groups are not “hidden gems” within the field of college ministry. They’re well-known, well-established groups that have had a major influence on the field of college ministry. But as I’ve found time and time again, we are often not familiar enough with even these major aspects of our vocation. So if you’re less familiar with these groups than you’d like to be, I encourage you to take a look – and even dig in deeper on your own.
Urbana
In the future, when we have glorious things like college ministry history books, the triennial Urbana conference will be a major fixture – maybe even its own chapter. It was exciting to get a great tour of the national offices on Tuesday from national staffmember Eric Holmer – but all the more exciting because Urbana approaches! (Several employees are focused solely on Urbana during this time.)
A blurb from their web page (urbana.org) points to a glorious past and a vision that continues today:
Since 1946 InterVarsity has been providing a place for college students to see, hear, and respond to God’s global mission at Urbana conferences. If you want to see the world in a whole new light, come to Urbana 09. You’ll learn about critical global issues from dynamic teachers, worship with thousands in one of the most diverse gatherings in North America, and hear missional students and recent graduates testify to God’s faithfulness to the ends of the earth.
As someone noted recently, Urbana is so clearly connected to the heart of InterVarsity that understanding this conference really does help one understand its parent organization. But for us in the wider world of college ministry, it’s also important for us to realize that this conference is a rich part of our history. It clearly is, even today, the King of Collegiate Conferences. And not nearly all who attend Urbana are IV students and leaders; it’s wide open to any interested in learning of God’s global call.
You can read more about Urbana – even plenty about its great history – at urbana.org. Yes, it was historically held in Urbana/Champaign – but Urbana09 will be the second one held in St. Louis. Yes, you can still go. And I’m thinking about it myself…
Ivy Jungle Network
Many of you are well-familiar with IJ but, alas, I run into plenty of college ministers who aren’t. And their intro on the site (ivyjungle.org) really says all there is to say:
Welcome to the Ivy Jungle Network, a loose association of men and women who minister to collegians. We exist to serve church-based college ministers, para-church campus workers and college and university chaplains. If you work in campus ministry, then you should be part of the Ivy Jungle Network.
And you know what? It’s true.
Yes, it’s a loose association – the major “thing” to Ivy Jungle has simply been annual or biannual conferences over the last several years. But many college ministers also know the value of being on the monthly email list, and other items – like the large-scale Campus Ministry Survey – continue to inform.
But there is no better connection these days to the world of Evangelical college ministry than Ivy Jungle. It was a blast to sit down with Director Evan Hunter yesterday to hear more as IJ looks to the future – and continues to hope to advance the field of college ministry.
Great Commission Ministries
As far as I know, Great Commission Ministries is the one U.S. ministry with widespread work in collegiate church planting, and they’re on a whole bunch of campuses. Here’s one way they describe themselves on their site:
GCM mobilizes missionaries to serve in U.S. churches that are missional in nature: churches that do extensive outreach to the unsaved and unchurched, in a culturally relevant way. Our missionaries serve in churches that otherwise could not financially support their own staff.
While GCM certainly has some non-collegiate-oriented churches, collegiate church planting is a major pillar of what they do. The group has an interesting history; like some other things born in the zealous times of the Jesus Movement, it has had bouts with unhealth – which the group publicly acknowledges. But under what appears to be largely a second generation of leadership, GCM continues to plant churches and work to impact students all over the country – and some of their collegiate church plants have gotten really, really big. (I got to chat with Mike Filicicchia yesterday, who’s fundraising right now to join the staff of one at UMichigan.)
While I couldn’t find a full list of GCM campus churches, there’s a fairly good chance that any collegiate church plant on your campus is GCM – so you can always ask. The ones I’ve probably heard the most buzz about are New Life Christian Fellowship at VA Tech and New Life Church at University of Michigan (which I’ll be visiting this weekend). (They’re not all called New Life.)
written from the McCords’ in Palatine, IL (one of my great homes-away-from-home)
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Road Trip 13: Days 31 & 32 recap
recap: Chicagoland, including fun with friends and great chats with college ministry people
T-shirts: the Bulldog tribe of Louisiana Tech and the Cobbers of Concordia College, Moorhead
thursday: finishing up in Chicago, then on to Ann Arbor! (see all explorations so far)
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