Greg, you strive to lead culture change at Brown University in Rhode Island. Define that.
Along with the national ministry of InterVarsity, our region is seeking to change culture in many of our fellowships, and I’m specifically focusing on the multiethnic fellowship of 45 students at Brown. I hope to see them move from being self-protective and inward-focused to outward and mission-focused.
What did you learn about leading culture change this year?
Changing an existing culture is much harder than creating a new one. At Brown, this effort has felt like running a spiritual and emotional marathon with important mile markers, as well as aches and pains as I challenge students by emphasizing witness and outreach as spearhead values. Many staff throughout Rhode Island and New England share my experience.
What obstacles do you encounter as you try to change the culture of your fellowships?
We definitely bump into the inertia of “We have always done it this way.” But the big obstacles are emotional and theological.
Students’ emotional fear of not getting their own needs met—the concern for “being fed”—comes up a lot. Students find it hard to be at college and hang on to their faith. They have all these issues in their lives and they crave spiritual food. They come to InterVarsity to get their needs met and to be fed.
I’ve heard students say, “I didn’t come to Brown to be a missionary, but to get an education” and “We don’t feel comfortable inviting new people because we don’t know each other. We need ‘in reach’ and then we can reach out.”
I think the theological mistake students make is hidden in this very idea of seeing a dichotomy between evangelism and discipleship, between spiritual growth and mission. The belief that they can grow spiritually without being part of Jesus’ mission to do evangelism is the error.
How are you attempting to overcome these obstacles?
I don’t think these students are totally off base. They are right about the importance of community, developing people and spiritual formation. So I’m trying to address the sweet spot: In reality, there is no dichotomy between evangelism and discipleship. Both are key pieces of the Great Commission. Spiritual growth and mission happen together. Mission is the ideal place to disciple students, and when you help them grow spiritually, Jesus will help them grow missionally.
From a pedagogical standpoint, we are coming to believe that the evangelization of the campus is actually the most effective context for lasting, life-changing discipleship. When we look at Jesus, his discipleship was in the context of Kingdom proclamation. The twelve disciples exercised their feet.
The best discipleship involves praxis, a combination of missional activity and theological reflection. As students actively take risks in witness and experience watching God work they will most radically grasp their calling in God’s plan for the world after they leave college, when they are in the workplace, when they are in their neighborhoods.
What are the important “mile markers” at Brown in terms of the fellowship beginning to change its culture?
The mile markers were students experiencing mission rather than studying it or hearing me talk about it.
Early in the 2008 spring semester, a student at the University of Rhode Island gave a call to faith and there was a big response—25 students came to faith. We played the mp3 of this testimony at our Brown U. leadership meeting and just talked about it, how it goes against all our beliefs that conversion cannot happen. This was a turning point for those who thought, “This could never happen.” It was an important moment in the life of the chapter. Students became more open to risk.
The other huge marker was our second spring break Urban Relief Urban Plunge (URUP). We took a diverse group of students on a Katrina Relief project to spend our days building houses and our evenings exploring what Jesus says about social justice. The Brown URUP group was weighted toward seekers and skeptics. It was not only diverse spiritually, but also ethnically and internationally.
The group met several times before the trip to build community. The students showed up because they were told they had to come. They learned about the details of the trip and one another’s backgrounds and spirituality. The group included students from all over the world like China, India and the Middle East. Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims were among the group. The cool thing is that they liked each other.
On the trip, we had amazing Bible studies. These were big manuscript studies in large groups. We used Group Investigating God (GIG) passages from Luke. We had four nights of content and then a celebration on the last night where students were invited to share their experiences. One woman had been looking for proof that God existed. People were excited to get their first Bible. We had some conversions.
The Katrina project was like a GIG with a call and our students got to experience the thrill and the excitement of being missional.
Tell us a little more about the “push back” students have shown in their concern that the Christian community does not become neglected when evangelism is strongly emphasized.
The NE Region did training on people’s response to change. It was really helpful for our staff to recognize that one response to change is to be overwhelmed. When people are overwhelmed by change they don’t know how to get on board or they don’t feel able to make the change. So they may respond by kind of disappearing. This happened to some of our students; we were surprised some weren’t there.
Another response to feeling overwhelmed by change is to be proactive. Some of our students started their own Bible studies to fill the void they were feeling; we had three or four indigenous studies that sprang up. Some students went to those but wouldn’t come to what we were doing, and others attended both.
A third response to the change we were creating was resistance. A few students wanted to be in the conversations we had, but wanted to be the voice for people that were not missional. They wouldn’t bring their friends to outreach events. They wanted to have Large Group, but only for Christians.
I had some emails expressing concern and I spent a lot of time talking with students.
How are you feeling about staffing Brown this fall?
This summer Jesus reminded me that he wants me to love my students. I can develop and disciple them and help them engage with Jesus in the midst of a change process. But I need to let them know I love them, affirm what I can, and not guilt them. I’m keeping the door open.
We live in this beautiful tension between people and mission. You can’t have mission at the expense of people, because people are the mission. Even non-missional students are his mission. Jesus wants to see conversion in them too. At the same time, you can’t really love people though without leading them on his mission.
I met one on one with students this summer. I called them back at home, checking in and praying for them. I worked on building trust to help them overcome their fears. Chapter camp in August was a good place to soothe fears, build community, and grow theologically while thinking about the mission as part of their spiritual growth. We studied John 1-4 together and learned about how we are fed as we do the mission.
I’m praying Jesus will meet students and give them a new paradigm. Some of the students are “there” and some need a mini-conversion.
Val Gordan, my supervisor, encouraged me to reflect on the year and on what God was saying to me. The lessons I learned this year about how to hold faith and mission together were learned through pain and suffering. I won’t forget these and they are the foundation for my future ministry. | 
