Additional Resources and Relationships
In addition to staff workers and faculty, a number of other resources and relationships can enrich your chapter’s life. Delegate particular chapter members to develop and maintain links with these resources — your chapter will be healthier for it.
Administration
A recognized student group enjoys many practical benefits. Access to campus facilities, meeting rooms, audio-visual equipment, and even student activities budgets may become available to your chapter.
If a group fails to go through the proper channels or breaks university policies, whether by ignorance or intention, the group can be barred from campus. Diplomacy is important!
Another reason for constructing bridges to the administration is that you can minister to the president, provost, or dean through your visits. Thank the administrators for their work. Inform them of the IVCF group’s presence and activities. Offer them the help of chapter members and ask for their prayer requests. Perhaps more administrators would be led to Christ if more chapters developed these relationships.
The president of the University of Maine was so impressed with the IVCF chapter that he took time to communicate that to IVCF headquarters. He complimented the group’s positive contribution to campus life. His confidence in the chapter was so high that whenever he learned of a lonely student, he asked the members of the IV chapter to visit that student.
Alumni
Graduates who were chapter members are potentially rich resources. Find the names of past chapter members still living in the area. Continually update these names and their addresses. Occasionally, college alumni offices will assist. A semiannual letter to alumni can keep them involved in the chapter, and solicit their prayers and financial support for scholarships to camps and conferences. Alumni also form a reservoir of potential speakers for dorm talks or chapter meetings. They can draw on their own knowledge of the campus.
Other Christian Groups
Many campuses today have two or three, perhaps even a half-dozen, different Christian fellowships. While they worship and witness to the same Lord, they usually have their own distinctives and personalities. As Paul wrote, “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?” (1 Cor. 12:17)
God has given each of us special gifts and talents, different from those of anyone else. We are to use these to His glory and for the benefit of the whole body. It would be tragic if we were all the same. Campus groups have varying ministries and strengths, and it’s important that they maintain their individual identities.
The unity of the body of Christ is also an important Biblical principle. Unity reflects humility and love more than sameness and organizational singularity. Seek such spiritual unity in prayer and practiced relationships. Wherever possible, seek Christian fellowship and cooperation with other groups.
Possible paths to pursue include: semiannual joint fellowship meetings; a shared speaker at a joint large group meeting; a meeting of leaders each semester to talk and pray together about their plans; or co-hosting a campus-wide evangelism event. These efforts will exhibit and enhance unity without undercutting the integrity of a group’s identity.
While a group’s occasional participation in the larger Christian fellowship is good, over-involvement can be distracting. Groups may stray from their main purposes. If a group overextends itself, efforts in evangelism and discipleship may be overlooked. Student leaders need to keep turning to God in prayer, seeking the affirmation of their purposes.
IVCF chapters should feel free (after responsible prayer) to say “no” to an invitation from other groups. In the same way, they should also feel free to collaborate in other opportunities. With each possibility, appraise the chapter’s strengths, purposes, energy, and time.
IVCF Chapters at Other Colleges
Relationships with other chapters can be forged at camps and conferences. These are wonderful opportunities for encouragement, exchange of good ideas, and prayer support. In large urban centers with several IVCF chapters, city-wide gatherings could be arranged (e.g., a Concert of Prayer). If the schools play one another in football, a joint Friday evening fellowship meeting could be arranged. However, because of the effort needed, I don’t recommend you try to maintain close contact with more than one or two other schools.
If there a campus near yours has no IVCF group, your fellowship could help plant a witness to Christ on that campus. A small group or several individuals could pray, make regular visits, search out Christians, and even start a Bible study or small group.
Former Exec Members
In my staff work at Harvard and the University of Wisconsin, I’ve seen several students serve as strong Exec members during their junior year. Yet, for one reason or another, they were not on the Exec in their senior year. So, what did they do? What role did they play in the chapter?
It is too easy to overlook former Exec members. They can easily fade into the backdrop and cease to make a vital contribution. This is a shame, because you lose the valuable resource of a proven leader.
Exec committees blessed to have former Exec members still in the chapter should make strong efforts to tap this resource. Thank these people for their past contributions and encourage them to continue. Delegate a particularly responsible task or ministry to them. Help these people stay involved in the chapter.
Ray, an Exec member as a junior at Harvard, became even more influential in the life of the chapter as a non-Exec senior. With the blessing of the Exec, he masterminded and led the distribution of 3,500 New Testaments on campus. As an Exec member, he had other time-consuming responsibilities. But as a senior, he was still able to contribute significantly to the campus witness.
Parents
Some IV chapters design special events to inform parents about the fellowship. Banquets, parents’ weekend receptions, or a special brochure for parents can be tasteful and effective. A natural witness to non-believing parents is extended in this way. You may also gain prayer and support from Christian parents. Many Christian parents are often excellent candidates for speaking on topics such as the family or getting along with parents.
Your chapter may function well on its own. But there are many resources to help you make it even better.
Paul’s messages about the body of Christ tell the importance of different parts working together for the benefit of all. Think of your chapter in this light. Consider the many persons outside the chapter who could add to its ministry and benefit from their involvement.