What is God’s invitation to you? As a spiritual director, I have loved this question and use it often. Yet I never imagined that God’s invitation for me would include partnering with him to plant faculty ministry. This has been a journey of listening and responding to God’s invitation. God is already present among faculty – I got to see what he was already doing and then join in!
Five years ago, when I started serving with GFM in Chicago, I knew of one faculty member at Illinois Tech who led a weekly prayer gathering for students, staff, and faculty. I knew of no other campuses where Christian faculty met together regularly to pray. This fall, faculty are praying together on 3 campuses and I expect to see faculty prayer meetings start on another 3 campuses later this year!
What did I do? I started meeting with Christian faculty whose names I received from InterVarsity staff or students. I went to their offices, asked them about their work, listened to their stories, and prayed with them. I always left amazed at how God was working in and through them – faithful witnesses in the academy.
Then, at the Univ. of Chicago I met with a medical school faculty. He told me that a Christian faculty in the med school had committed suicide the previous year and how much this devastated him. He wanted to do something to bring Christian faculty together to encourage one another and to be a stronger witness together. He asked me to co-lead a lunch to gather these faculty. I said yes and asked if I could invite the faculty I knew. Between the two of us we invited 15 faculty – and 10 showed up! Two others wanted to come but had scheduling conflicts. One faculty who couldn’t come gave us the name of another Christian faculty in his department. We were excited at the response and looked forward to what God would do.
On the day of the lunch, I gathered resources: faculty conference postcards, Bible study bookmarks, and The Well bookmarks. I was grateful that my faculty partner had reserved a meeting room on campus and ordered lunch for everyone. As people arrived, we started introductions and one faculty shared that 15+ years ago he gathered with 2 other Christian faculty on campus. The three of them were the only Christian faculty they knew. As he described these other faculty, we discovered that the person sitting next to him was one of the 3! They hadn’t seen one other in over a decade, even as they continued to work on the same campus! I silently committed to make sure this much time didn’t pass before our next gathering.
I led the meeting with the questions Kathy Tuan-Maclean used when starting the Boston Faculty Fellowship: What have you seen God do on campus? What would you like to see God do on campus?
The faculty shared amazing stories – of walking with a student after the death of a parent and discovering that the student got baptized shortly after graduation, of student leaders in a fellowship caring well for one another, of God providing Christian colleagues and challenging medical school faculty to be more bold in their faith.
When we talked about what they would like to see God do on campus, one faculty shared that he had attended daily liturgical prayer meetings at a university in the UK. He offered to start a weekly prayer gathering for faculty in the fall. Others were interested and later this fall, the prayer gathering will begin on Monday mornings.
I didn't do much to bring these faculty together. I just responded to God’s invitation to follow his lead. This fall, I’ll meet with a key faculty at Illinois Tech to co-host a similar lunch for Christian faculty on that campus. Mickey Sanchez, GFM staff at Northwestern University, is planning an event to gather Christian faculty on that campus. God is moving among Christian faculty!
What is his invitation to you?
Potential next steps:
- Pray – Ask God what his invitation is for you! What is he already doing with faculty and how could you follow his lead?
- Get faculty names from students: Ask your Christian grad students who the Christian faculty are on their campus. Look them up online and start a list of Christian faculty. Make plans for when you could meet with them.
Partner with InterVarsity colleagues on the undergraduate ministry area team: Our GFM team met with undergrad staff colleagues to prayer walk on campus this fall. After the prayer walk, we shared for an hour about the opportunities for partnership with faculty on campus. Undergrad staff left excited to partner with faculty to see God’s Kingdom grow in the university! The new faculty ministry bookmarks were a helpful resource.- Meet face-to-face: Set a goal to meet with two Christian faculty on your campus this year. Ask if you can meet them to hear their stories and pray for them. Bring an IVP book and GFM resources (The Well bookmark, faculty conference postcard, etc.). Meet faculty in their office, ask them why they love what they do, and pray for them right there where they work. Invite them to the next faculty ministry event near them.
- Host a faculty lunch: Find a missional Christian faculty who is open to co-hosting a faculty lunch gathering. Use the “faculty gathering in a box” resource that will be available soon through the Staff Store.
- Get Referrals: Ask missional Christian faculty if they know other Christian faculty on their campus or on other campuses in your area. Keep a list of these folks and invite them to faculty ministry events, conferences, etc.
Update since initial publication:
In just one week, the following advancements have occurred through this group:
- Monday I met with a North Park University faculty who teaches sports medicine. She is using aspects of the teaching in the IVP book “The Common Rule” in one of her classes on wellness.
- Wednesday I got an email from an IV alum at Loyola University who is emailing colleagues to gauge their interest on starting a prayer gathering. This is a campus without any current InterVarsity ministry! Undergrad IV is planning to plant there in the winter.
- This morning I got an email from a North Park University faculty member that they are starting a weekly gathering to discuss issues of teaching for vocation - with a free book and lunch!
We would love your prayers for God to continue to open communication and bring opportunities for ministry to the faculty at Loyola University and North Park. Thank you!
