. . . but totally in a good healthy way that I think will transform our fellowship. So don't worry, I am not going anywhere. In fact, everything happening at Oregon State, actually everything across the Northwest for that matter, makes me want to stick around for a while.
So what is this change? Well, recently InterVarsity did a bunch of research and experimenting with finding out how small chapters (like ours) and new chapters can grow and see breakthrough. I was not a part of this team but their findings have been made known. I, along with the other staff in Oregon, was given the "Chapter Planting Manual." As I read through it, my eyes were opened to all kinds of new ideas and possibilities. I discovered that much of what our ministry looked like was not entirely appropriate for a fellowship our size. There are certain things that are necessary for a group as big as ours to grow.
So after some reflection, I decided it was time to change things up a bit and try on a few ideas from the manual. So far, so good. One thing that stuck out to me was how small fellowships need to create structures that allow as many students as possible to participate in what the fellowship does. They need to not be just spectators, but people who help put things on. Students need to see how the things they do effect the fellowship. That way, they take ownership of what we are doing and that helps them get more involved and committed.
Armed with this explosive new insight, I changed how our weekly large group looked. Instead of just having worship and a talk, I changed it into a meeting where we all planned an outreach to the campus. I gave people the option of working on taking care of certain aspects of the outreach. To my surprise and delight, almost everyone chose to help out. Two weeks later we put on the event (which I will describe shortly) and it was really great. They all got to participate and see their work contribute to the quality of the event.
Outside-Inside-Out
That was the name of the event we put on. One of our students recently got extremely passionate about fighting human trafficking. (The three students quoted in the article are all InterVarsity students!) She helped put on a week's worth of events and we decided that it would be good to deal with the spiritual aspects of the issue. How does Jesus respond to evil and injustice in the world? How should we respond? We put on a great event and I gave my thoughts on the subject and I invited people to become followers of Jesus. No one was ready to do that yet, but a few people stood up to commit to a few weeks of really trying to figure Jesus out. I look forward to meeting with them. Pray that God reveals himself to them and they decide to give their lives to him!We are going to evaluate our event and see what we learned from it this week. That way, next time we try something, we can do it better and more effectively. I also hope that the students who took part in this will want to commit to being a part of what InterVarsity is doing on campus in the future.
Pray for us as we embark on this new journey. I am very excited about it and so are the students.
Thanks for all your support and encouragement! Have a great spring!
