Resolve for a New Year

On college campuses across this nation, the red plastic cup is the most popular container for party drinks . . . like beer.  But on numerous campuses this past fall, an empty red cup was used by InterVarsity students to illustrate people’s thirst for God’s love. 

During the fall semester, InterVarsity students set up red cup displays on campus to initiate conversations about our thirst for love, purpose, and meaning.  Students responses to the interactive display often provided opportunities for InterVarsity students to share the gospel.

At UCLA, more than 1,300 conversations took place in one week; and later at their first InterVarsity Large Group meeting of the academic year, forty-seven students stood to make first-time decisions or recommitments to follow Jesus.

The red cup outreach campaign was also successful at other colleges and universities.  At the University of Chicago, 250 students visited the red cup display and twelve students later committed their lives to Jesus.  And at Weber State University in Utah, “Almost everyone who went through the display heard the gospel and was prayed for,” said InterVarsity Campus staff  member Mac Smith. “We had 161 students show up to Large Group, and seven students became Christians.”

This month we hope to continue the success of the Red Cup Campaign through a new interactive display called Resolve. During January, when people make and sadly break new year’s resolutions, the Resolve display will help facilitate conversations with students about their desires for renewal—in their personal lives, on their campus, and around the world.

Students who visit the display will have opportunities to talk about their New Year’s resolutions and their hopes for change.  InterVarsity students, trained in evangelism, may illustrate the love of God by sharing the story of a leper healed by Jesus and invite inquiring students to consider how God can change their lives.

Many students thirst for new life; they desire change but lack resolve.  InterVarsity students believe that God transforms our lives through Jesus Christ. 

InterVarsity is committed to sharing the good news of Jesus with students of every ethnicity and cultural background.  This new year we will proclaim to more students the unconditional love of God through Jesus and tell of his power to change us and our world.