| Our movement began with students at the University
of Cambridge, England in 1877. There, a group of Christian students
began to meet together, in spite of the disapproval of some University
officials, to pray, to study the Bible and to witness to fellow
students. Soon, similar groups sprung up on other campuses. Eventually,
they formed the British Inter-Varsity. (Hence our name, inter -
meaning between, varsity - the British term for college level students.)
From the very beginning they had a strong concern to take the gospel
to those all over the world who had never heard it - a concern that
continues in InterVarsity today.
 In response to a plea for help, British InterVarsity sent Howard
Guinness, a medical school graduate and vice-chairman of the British
movement, to Canada in1928. Students helped raise the money to provide
one-way passage to Canada. Between bouts of seasickness, Guinness
led his cabin mate to Christ during the crossing, As God supplied
the funds, he slowly worked his way across Canada, starting up and
assisting evangelical student groups.
By 1937 the Canadians began to hear requests for help from students
in the United States as independent evangelical student groups began
springing up. In 1938 Stacey Woods, the Canadian InterVarsity 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.
By May of 1941 InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA was an official
organization, with three staff on loan from Canada and Stacey Woods
at the helm as Secretary General. In 1947 InterVarsity USA became a
founding member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students,
a federation of national Christian student movements. The other charter
members are Australia, Britain, Canada, China, France, Holland, New Zealand,
Norway, and Switzerland. (To see which 143 countries are currently members
of IFES go to www.ifesworld.org)
By 1950 there were 35 staff serving students in 499 InterVarsity
chapters across the country. InterVarsity Press had been started
to supply quality literature suitable for the campus. And the Urbana
student missions convention had begun the tradition of calling every
student generation to consider global missions. By the early seventies
there were more than 200 staff.
Today, there are more than 1000 InterVarsity staff serving more
than 32,000 students and faculty nationwide. In addition we produce
training materials, camps, books, and media tools which serve both
the Church and campus. Our work touches every kind of student including
graduate students and faculty. We are seeking to build witnessing
communities on the campus which are bold, broad and ethnically diverse.
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