Chapter Planting with NCF in the Central Plains - 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

NCF in the Central Plains by Kathy Schoonover-Shoffner

The Campus

We do not focus on “one” campus but the broader campus we’re trying to
reach is all nursing schools in a four-state region: Kansas, Missouri,
Oklahoma and Arkansas. We also try to have NCF Nurse Groups for nurses in
the community.

The Challenges

For NCF groups, the challenge is time! Finding a time for students and
faculty to meet is probably the biggest challenge NCF groups face. Students
in different semesters are on campus at different times.

Ministry Contacts and Opportunities

Our primary contacts are faculty, although we try to maintain contact with
student leaders. We also try to have a retreat for NCF volunteers every
year or two; this year we’re meeting over a weekend in Arkansas at the
SkyVue Lodge for R&R.

What We Are Doing

Different campuses do different things. All groups do Bible study and most
try to do outreach events such as taking on a need in the community,
providing service at a health fair or offering food at finals. Some groups
do a kick-off event every fall like a Bagel Breakfast or have a table at
orientation to allow students opportunity to learn about NCF. One group
hosts a Resurrection Breakfast and they offer free hot breakfast and
information about the resurrection.

Go to this download page on NCF’s website and look at “Framework for
Developing NCF Groups Ideas-Activites”:
http://ncf.intervarsity.org/publications/groupresources/toc.html

We also meet regularly to pray for the ministry; I pray with Genie Ford by
phone (not as often as I’d like!). Ruth Snapp and I pray bi-weekly for the
ministry.

The Vision

Our vision is to have an NCF group with a faculty sponsor at every school
of nursing (SON) in our four-state region. This is 100+ schools!

For example, in Kansas there are 22 SONs and we have groups at 12. In
Oklahoma there are about 37 SONs and there are NCF groups at 10 schools.
This has grown from one group about three years ago to ten now! Missouri
has 4 NCF groups.

It is a huge encouragement to contact a student or faculty who found NCF
via the website or saw us at a convention and nurture them as a new group
forms!

God is Working

We started exhibiting at the State Nurses Association conventions (part of
American Nurses Association) first in Kansas and now in Oklahoma. We’d love
to do this in Missouri and Arkansas but aren’t there yet! This is a way to
be exposed to nurses throughout the state and connect with students,
faculty and nurses. The growth of NCF groups in Oklahoma is directly
attributed to exhibiting at ONA convention in recent years. We also try to
hold a breakfast event at convention. Through the exhibits and breakfasts
we have prayed with nurses and students; one student came to Christ at a
breakfast. I have lots of great stories from convention experiences!

Another way God is growing this ministry is through nurses and students
finding the NCF website. They look for Christian nursing and find NCF; then
we start communicating with individuals whom God is calling to begin NCF
groups. The NCF volunteer staff in Oklahoma, Genie Ford, learned about NCF
via the web and we started corresponding. She started an NCF group at Rose
State College and now she is on staff! (

We also see Nurse Fellowships growing in the communities (for nurses who
have graduated). There are now five in Kansas and a new one started
recently in Tulsa. We offer programs, continuing education, fellowship, and
some do outreach events.

Help Needed

. Although we do not do big events like other InterVarsity groups and we don’t count numbers in the same way, the ministry in this area is significant! Sometimes I feel what we do isn’t considered as big a deal as what larger IVCF groups do because we don’t “look” big, and large numbers of students don’t come to Christ. But we have a strategic ministry with about 26 student groups who are averaging 10 in attendance (some groups have five to six; some have 25-30!) and are meeting bimonthly from September through May. One group might seem small but often a lot is going on. Many of the groups do outreach by inviting seekers to meetings or holding special events. Two groups went to help in the Hurricane Katrina areas over winter or spring break. We have only three staff in a four-state region for 100+ schools, so we don’t have a campus worker for each school, yet we see God moving and working. This is a different model that doesn’t focus on the size of the group or one particular location, but the work needs to be acknowledged. . I would love to see free, downloadable, Bhort bibles studies on the IVCF website that we could direct faculty advisors and student leaders to. Generally, the more we could use the web as a resource the better because we don’t have regular physical contact with the NCF groups in the four-state area. . Would it be possible for faculty advisors to have access to special resources (like IVCF staff) and be able to purchase materials at the staff discount? . You can probably guess I love field ministry and could do it full- time. But my primary job is JCN. Pray with me to hear God’s voice and be obedient in all areas of life and ministry.
—Kathy Schoonover-Shoffner is the editor of Journal of Christian Nursing
and NCF field staff in the Central Plains area.

Chapter_Planting_Targeted_NCF_Central_Plains.doc