Urban Programs and the Vision of InterVarsity
Over the past five years, Program Directors from across North America have worked to articulate the ways that Urban Programs serve and contribute to InterVarsity's vision. This is a summary of the work that has been done from 2005 until 2010. This intersection of Urban Programs and our vision is both a description of what concretely happens and a declaration of what we hope to happen.
URBAN PROGRAMS HELP TRANSFORM STUDENTS AND FACULTY BY:
- Giving participants a vivid glimpse of the gospel at work in circumstances that may have been labeled “intractable” by governing authorities and/or social commentaries.
- Helping to prevent the status quo of a false (comfortable/safe/self-focused) spirituality.
- Expanding participants’ view of God to become more holistic and comprehensive, to include his passion, his anger, his vision for the transformation of communities, and all facets of his character as demonstrated in the Word.
- Intentionally presenting justice as a central attribute of God, which increases participants’ respect for God.
- Demonstrating how the pursuit of justice leads to both redemption and reconciliation.
- Providing pragmatic models of shalom where both individuals and communities experience economic, social, spiritual, and physical well-being.
- Introducing participants to residents who have been dramatically transformed, and to contexts where God is celebrated.
- Clarifying core issues in the Christian faith and helping participants not be sidetracked by peripheral issues.
- Broadening participants’ faith from a focus on personal piety to a comprehensive understanding of systemic justice.
- Helping students understand that welcoming strangers equals loving God.
- Establishing relationships between participants and the marginalized so that Jesus won't say "depart from me, I never knew you." (Matthew 25).
- Enhancing participants appreciation for diverse worship styles modeled in the city.
- Focusing on how justice leads to worship (Isaiah 58).
- Experiencing diverse models of faithfulness in the urban church.
- Dismantling the self-ascribed goodness or superior attitudes of participants (redeeming the redeemers).
- Exploding provincial or limited perspectives on God.
- Helping participants know themselves better through intense contexts and communal experiences.
- Helping students move along the conversion continuum.
URBAN PROGRAMS HELP RENEW THE CAMPUS BY:
- Recognizing that the majority of campuses are in cities and that there is a systemic and symbiotic relationship between campus and city.
- Using experiential discipleship pedagogies.
- Giving students and faculty, both Christian and non-Christian, an opportunity to serve.
- Providing an alternative venue for evangelism and evangelism training.
- Providing a powerful, non-cerebral apologetic for the gospel.
- Helping achieve diversity goals for our chapters.
- Investing in youth programs that become a diverse recruitment pool for the next generation of college students.
- Helping participants see racial prejudice, making them aware of similar inequalities on campus, and creating a sense of responsibility for reconciliation.
- Equipping participants in the mechanisms of justice (relationship, social pressure, mobilization, publicity, community organizing) all of which can be applied on campus when justice issues are identified.
- Improving IVCF's brand – increasing credibility, favor, open doors, and new streams of donor support.
- Creating inroads to faculty in different disciplines (for example, sociology, business, ethnic studies, women's studies).
- Teaching and equipping participants in leadership, initiative, relating across differences, community, and conflict resolution.
- Providing connecting points for service learning programs at universities.
- Demonstrating the power of incarnational ministry and relocation, which establishes the idea of relocation to dorms.
- Equipping and motivating additional small group leaders and exec members.
- Sending students who have emerged as missional leaders back to influence the campus.
- Being a catalytic event which creates momentum for ministry on campus.
URBAN PROGRAMS HELP DEVELOP WORLD CHANGERS BY:
- Equipping leaders who, upon graduation, will most likely end up in cities.
- Helping participants see all decisions holistically, including where they live.
- Teaching participants to ask good questions regarding public policy and global issues.
- Developing a hope that change is possible, and that people make a strategic difference.
- Boosting alumni commitment to multiethnic church membership.
- Creating relationships between program participants and urban practitioners, e.g. being a "farm club" for potential employers in the nonprofit community.
- Re-channeling/redirecting resources, skills, energy, education, and talent toward Kingdom transformation in our poorest communities.
- Providing an accurate picture of the world and its needs (for example, urbanization, globalization, and poverty) in order to change it.
- Graduating more able leaders for the missional church.
- Fostering a prophetic voice that calls the church to renewal.
- Creating a "new normal" where word and action are held in close proximity.
