By Nan Thomas, Spiritual Formation Coordinator for InterVarsity’s Faculty Ministry

When InterVarsity staff think about faculty, we do not automatically think about their needs. Instead, we think of their "expertise" — and assume that they already know everything. Certainly, they are the experts when it comes to the subject in which they were groomed. However, on many topics they are not experts, and they need the insight and guidance of others, even of InterVarsity staff.

Often our role with faculty is to remind them that God desires good in their professional and personal lives and that the regular practice of spiritual disciplines increases their longing for God and prepares them for the challenges of each day. Many faculty members deeply desire to follow Christ in the academic world. Yet, the pressures upon them, either external or self-imposed, often lead to a daily pace that crowds out time set apart for the pursuit of God through the practice of spiritual disciplines.

In The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer states, "Wasted time, temptations, listlessness in our work, indiscipline in our thinking very frequently have their cause in neglect of morning prayer." We can help faculty understand that in the silent listening of prayer the core issues and most relevant ideas often rise to the surface; this in turn will make their teaching and writing more focused and possibly more relevant. With the daily practice of prayer, they will be more focused on the present, more patient, less hurried, and more willing to receive good ideas from God, the author of all truth. Prayer will also focus their attention on others, making them more accepting of others and better able to make accurate judgments about others’ work, either of their students or colleagues. We can help faculty to see that the practice of prayer touches all areas of academic life.

Ideas for Incorporating Spiritual Formation into Your Faculty Symposium

Pray for the Campus

Here are prayers for the campus that you may want to consider offering in pairs or collectively at your Faculty Symposium:

• Give thanks to the Lord for his faithfulness to the university for many decades. Thank him for the Christians on your campus at this time.


• Seek the Lord for the peace of the university; the flourishing, wholeness, justice, harmony, truth, and leadership of higher education; and other issues of immediate concern on your campus.


• Ask the Lord to renew the truth of vocation among his people in the academy, helping them to see its foundational place in the life of discipleship to the Lord Jesus.


• Ask the Lord to empower Christians to be a redeeming influence among the people, ideas, and structures of the university.


• Seek the power of God to overcome the spiritual barriers of insecurity and self- exaltation, inconsistent self-discipline and sloppiness, haughtiness and self-protection, anger and self-centeredness, over-controlling and a lack of trust, and fear and disbelief.


• O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, and in quietness and confidence shall be our strength; by the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (From The Book of Common Prayer)

Build Community

Consider ways to build community within the academic life. Create opportunities for building relationships that allow for deepening conversation about spiritual growth and practice and faith and learning.

During the symposium:

• Intentionally articulate the need and opportunity for developing a relationship with one person with whom you can have further conversations (email/phone) regarding spiritual growth and practice. Often a long-distance relationship that connects less frequently provides an opportunity for deeper learning, remembering, and reflecting than more frequent chats.


• Provide faculty testimonials that describe the benefits and feasibility of maintaining a relationship with another faculty who shares similar faith and life issues.


• Create conference structures to promote community building and being "others focused" such as assigning each conference participant a person to pray for during the conference, possibly within discipline=specific small groups.

Assign Prayer Partners

Assign prayer partners during the day. Depending on the size of the gathering, you may give each participant a name of another participant and ask them to pray for that person at a designated prayer time (10 minutes) in the morning. At lunch, you may identify the person through place cards and then encourage them to ask for more specific requests. After lunch, at the designated time, they can pray again for that person according to their requests.

Include Reflection Time

Incorporate reflection time into schedule even if it is for 20-30 minutes. Reflection will give faculty the opportunity to find the significance in what they have learned.

Include Scripture Readings

Consider beginning with a scripture reading that turns their minds toward the greatness of God. Give them an opportunity to be reminded of how good God is and how he longs to be gracious to them. (Is. 30:18)

Make Spiritual Formation Resources Available

Regardless of your topic, make spiritual formation/discipleship resources available for them. Consider materials that promote seeking God at a deeper level in a way that doesn't provide more information for faculty to sift through and process but instead encourages them to "pull away" and draw near to Christ in a new way. The Faculty Ministry website has a spiritual formation booklet available for downloading. Have a few printed copies available.