Loving Students on Campus

InterVarsity is all about the love of God and sharing the gospel with students and faculty on campuses across the United States.  Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave so that we might have new life and love for all people through God’s Spirit.  We believe that God calls each of us to love him with our whole person, to love the Bible, to love his people of every ethnicity, and to love his purposes in this world.   In response to God’s love for us, InterVarsity staff, students, and faculty endeavor to serve God by transforming lives, renewing the campus, and developing people who will change the world through Christ.

Lots of students hope to find love in college. Some do, but many, of course, do not.  And many students have stopped looking—it is simply too stressful during four years of academic studies.

College—it really is a tough gig.  And some days, when family is far away and friends just do not understand us, we think . . .I’m so alone.  Who can I love?  Who will love me?

We all need love in our lives.  That is how God made us.  But we can mess up in college by turning to the wrong things to sooth the ache in our hearts.

Marie's Story

Marie’s heart ached for love when she started college.  She was raised in a family that occasionally went to church, but she would not say they were dedicated Christians.  Some of her relatives were even into drugs. 

During her freshman year at the University of Nevada—Reno, she recognized that her heart was not only lonely but anxious and prone to anger.  And sometimes she wondered why God made bad things happen to her, and if God was even real. But that spring semester an acquaintance, who was an InterVarsity student, invited Marie to a Bible study group in the dorms.

“I was hesitant to go but figured I had nothing to lose,” she said.  As Marie attended this Bible study, she learned about Jesus and how he fulfills our deepest needs for love and meaning.  Then one Saturday evening at an InterVarsity conference, she was listening to a leader share her story of overcoming emotional pain and personal sin through God’s love when Marie acknowledged to herself that she wanted to love Jesus.

“Nothing sounded more real or more valuable than the love of God.  And I wanted that love more than anything,” she said.

Since that evening, Marie has continued to grow as a Christian, and now she is training to become a leader herself in the InterVarsity campus community.  “I want to see other people’s lives changed through God’s love and Spirit,” she said.

To learn more about how you can financially partner with InterVarsity’s ministry, please click here.

Read more about Lauren, Niran, and Amy who have also received God’s love and are sharing it with others.