Chapter Planting at Portland State University - Ministry Exchange (MX)

This document is part of a larger cluster of articles about InterVarsity
chapter planting at https://www.intervarsity.org/mx/page/chapterplanting

Portland State University By Vikki Leung

The Campus

Portland State University is a diverse urban campus of 24,000 students in
the heart of the metropolitan area of Portland, OR. Most of the students
are commuters, which makes it difficult to organize and maintain a viable
campus ministry. Portland is known to be generally hostile to religion,
God, and any organized anything. The Northwest is said to be the most un-
churched region of America.

The Challenges

Commuter ministry involves several different realities. The first is that
there is a very different demographic of students in terms of age, stage of
life, expectations, etc. Also, we have found that our ministry may involve
students who are not all from the same school. Our students’ closest
friends and community are not from the school but in their families, their
neighbors, or closest friends. So our group is about 75% PSU students, with
a sprinkling of their siblings, friends, a sister’s boyfriend and a
spouse. We are working on reaching more of the campus and making the gospel
relevant not only to PSU students, but to the community everywhere.

Campus Contacts

PSU has had an InterVarsity chapter off and on since the 1970s, but the
undergraduate chapter has not been either self-sustaining or consistent.
The ISM group (International Student Ministries) is doing very well due to
consistent staff influence over the years.

PSU is a typical commuter ministry struggling to get a handle on campus
community, involvement, and how to retain students. It has been a difficult
place to have a sustaining core community.

When my husband, Birch, and I came to PSU as staff this past year, our
understanding was that a previous staff had been planting there for two
years already. We inherited three student leaders (brand new) and a couple
of fringe students. We moved two blocks away from the dorms and began to
build community with the students. The dorm bible study grew until people
were spilling out of the dorm room, a good mix of Christians and non-
Christians. They seemed always ready to hang out at a moment’s notice.
People at PSU are often feeling isolated and unable to find friends. Our
small attempts to create community were drawing all sorts of people.

What We’re Doing

Last January we started a large group, hoping to reach other people who
would not have access to a Bible study in the dorms. Unlike the few other
Christian groups who met in the student center, we decided to meet in a
café where we could be more casual and disarm stereotypes about what
Christian groups look like. The Portland area has a reputation for
godlessness and hostility to organized religion, but this is not what we
have experienced. Two women committed their lives to Jesus last quarter,
and another two men are very close to the kingdom. We have around 25
students every week at our large group (called FUSION), and people are
being transformed in their faith and their perspectives. We are having the
time of our lives with these students!

The Vision

We hope to have PSU be the core ministry that builds momentum to start
reaching out to the surrounding community colleges by having a common large-
group meeting held at PSU. There are so many similarities between the
schools-commuter, transfers-that it would benefit the momentum of the other
plants if we did it all together. We also want to grow a value for outreach
and pioneering in our students, so we will begin an evangelism training
team at PSU next year. The students will get trained and do contact
evangelism at Pacific Community College (only eight minutes away) once a
week. They will grow a love and ownership for the campus, and also grow in
their personal boldness in evangelism on their own campus. Our students are
really excited for the new ventures!

God is Working

Marcela, an exchange student from Miami, came to PSU not knowing why she
would leave all her family and friends to go to a city that she knew
nothing about. But after the first week at school, she started to come to
our Bible study in the dorms. At our fall conference, she gave her life to
Jesus. As she prepares to leave for Miami this summer, she is certain that
God knew what she needed when he opened the doors for her at Portland, and
led her to our community of faith in her dorm. She is getting baptized
before she leaves and hopes to return to Portland for her graduate degree
when she finishes school in Miami.

We have seen four conversions this year, and all of them are certain of how
God has destined them to find him at PSU. We feel so excited for this new
culture we are creating-where we pray and believe that our community is
both Christians and non-Christians, and that God is always transforming
people.

Help Needed

I’d like new ideas to build a culture and do evangelism in the Northwest. I
need help articulating the values and philosophies I want in the ministry
that will last beyond my time there. I also need encouragement to stay in
the game, because there are so many failures and try-agains with planting
ministry.

Chapter_Planting_4yr_Lrg_Portland_State_U.doc