The 2030 Calling
In my 40+ years on InterVarsity staff, I have not seen us as an organization develop anything like the 2030 Calling that’s currently animating our mission. I have gladly embraced it, along with the GFM Leadership Team. Here’s what I like about it:
- It is hugely visionary, even audacious (2500 total campuses with all their “corners” in view);
- It focuses us on big goals that will require time (a decade or more), innovation (new ways of working), and partnership (e.g. volunteers, cooperation with other organizations)
- It purposefully centers on God: we are looking for signs of God breaking out in power (revival) and we are deepening our dependence on God (Sabbath-keeping, prayer)
- It balances mission (exponential planting of campuses and corners), partnership (mobilizing others to join us in the ministry), and care for staff (thriving as an organization of thriving people)
Do I have any cautions about this Calling? A few, all of which my senior leadership peers share:
- That we not pursue rapid expansion at the cost of qualitative ministry and sustaining existing fellowships
- That we not let our short-term strategic focus on planting new campuses inadvertently eclipse our long-standing Purpose and Vision, which includes robust discipleship and contributing to renewal on campus.
- That we not succumb to any form of organizational self-aggrandizement
- That we not go too fast in our ministry expansion and organizational change, but wisely pace ourselves.
The GFM Strategic Plan 2018-2022
I am proud of the GFM Leadership Team for the way we developed our new four-year strategic plan. We stretched ourselves in vision and constrained ourselves in light of capacity; we did careful thinking and exercised prayerful discernment. By late September we could say, echoing the leaders in Acts: “It seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit” to commit ourselves to five Major Goals with accompanying Strategies, Actions/Projects, and Desired Outcomes (organized under the three initiatives of InterVarsity’s national strategic plan). Here are the five Goals and a sampling of desired outcomes:
Initiative I: Plant exponentially and grow fruitful communities
Major Goal 1: Plant witnessing communities on new campuses and new corners that, along with existing groups, long for revival as they shape whole life disciples and seek the shalom of the campus
Key outcomes: 90 new fellowships, at least 35 on new campuses; start faculty missional prayer groups on 25 campuses per year
Initiative II: Mobilize partners to do ministry
Major Goal 2: Identify, engage, and mobilize our campus staff and partners to advance the GFM mission
Key outcomes: 44 new campus staff ministers; 19 new Area Directors or Ministry Directors; TBD increase in Volunteers
Major Goal 3: Strengthen partnerships within InterVarsity, especially with Undergrad Ministry colleagues
Key outcomes: 80% of GFM staff engaged in fruitful partnership on campus; all GFM staff engaging faculty and calling them to the Faculty Four Loves
Initiative III: Become a thriving organization of thriving people
Major Goal 4: Develop GFM staff as flourishing leaders on flourishing inclusive teams through spiritual formation and organizational culture
Key outcomes: Culture of rest, joy, and generosity; most staff have teams of intercessors; all GFM staff benefitting from ongoing training in cross-cultural skills; BSAP Director in place
Major Goal 5: Partner to fully resource GFM staff through a multi-faceted best practices approach to MPD
Key Outcomes: All staff annually execute a solid MPD plan and have access to ongoing MPD training/coaching; all staff inviting 80+% of graduating students to be alumni partners to chapter account; innovation around communal fundraising mindsets and models.
Each of these major goals affords an “all play” opportunity for us as GFM staff:
- What can I do from my position to invest in planting new corners and campuses?
- Who can I enlist as a partner in our 2030 Calling and our GFM mission?
- With whom can I build a mutually supportive partnership within InterVarsity?
- How can I keep growing in my cross-cultural dexterity for the sake of effective ministry on campus and good colleague-ship on my team?
- How can I get better in my MPD skills and practices and teamwork?
Another way to summarize this plan: enlisting more “co-laborers” to serve more grad students and faculty on more campuses more effectively with deeper dependence on God and greater support from ministry partners—all for the sake of revival that brings God glory and increases the shalom of campus and culture.
Will you join me, the GFM leadership and your teammates in joyfully pursuing this Calling and these Goals together over these next four years?
First Fruits
In this November 2018 edition of Inside GFM you will find four stories that reflect the spirit of this new season in our mission: Kathy Tuan-MacLean on partnership with the Florida undergrad region to serve faculty; Jamie Noyd on securing a major grant to reach more corners and campuses in greater Cincinnati; Scott Filkin on God opening doors to plant GFM at Boise State; and Susan Park and Jeff Barneson on launching missional faculty prayer groups on Boston area campuses.
