Since we send out Inside GFM only three times a year *, I always have more thoughts to share than would be helpful to put down. This time, I am going to offer three snapshots from my last two weeks, with some embedded challenges. And then some brief closing reflections.
*This could change as we are rethinking our whole communications approach now that Matt Sally’s in place, which is why it will be so helpful if you would respond to the recent survey you received from your RD plus invite a number of your students and faculty to respond to this separate survey. Thanks for supporting our efforts to listen well.
Snapshots
GFM Leadership Team meetings
The ten of us met mid-month in Minneapolis, hosted by the Christian study center near the University of Minnesota. We worked on our three “big rock” goals for this year:
- Taking next steps in our multi-ethnic growth aspirations for GFM
- Seeking greater fruitfulness in our witness on campus
- Pressing into the challenge of seeing all of our GFM staff fully funded
In each case, we have practical steps to take—creating learning communities for staff directors in ME, hosting six opt-in E-Calls for staff around evangelism topics, increasing our training/coaching for staff in MPD—but we were struck most deeply that breakthrough progress in any of these areas will not come by plans and strategies alone.
We believe more than ever that across GFM we need to sustain an earnest level of prayer, of hopeful dependence on God. As a team, we will do our best to lead the way. We chose as our team’s spiritual foundation for the year: “Your face, Lord, we will seek.” (Psalm 27). We invite you as staff to join us, in your own spiritual disciplines and through opportunities that will be offered for your team or for us nationally.
Archė Retreat in NYC
I joined the GFM NY/NJ staff team as they hosted a day-long Saturday retreat for new grad students at NYU, Columbia, and other schools. I gave two talks, one on faith and work and one to cast vision for our grad fellowships. What a delightful diversity of students resulting from New Student Outreach. At the end, we gave a three-fold opportunity to respond:
- In light of God’s calling to serve his purposes through vocational stewardship, would you be willing to offer your work this year to God (and receive a prayer of consecration)?
- In light of the four commitments shaping the fellowship on your campus, would you be willing to commit today to joining a small group?
- In light of any fresh insight today into God and his will for your life, would you be willing to step across a threshold of faith, (and step up to pray with one of the staff on the side)?
More than a dozen approached a staff worker for prayer about one or more of these.
I wanted to offer such a response opportunity because the GFM leaders and I want all of us to be more creative and bold in this regard. Last year, across our 193 GFM fellowships, we reported sponsoring only 82 events in which the gospel was explicitly presented and a response invited. Not even one per campus per year. How will we see greater fruit (thresholds crossed, decisions made) if we do not offer more opportunities? I know some respond in conversations with friends, but surely in our small groups, our GIGs, our chapter gatherings, our retreats, our public square programs, we can invite response to some type of presentation at least once during the year. Will you work on this?
Good news of a large grant!
Yesterday, I learned from Jon Eisenberg (the National Advancement Officer most connected to GFM) that we received a $100,000 grant from a NYC foundation. Our proposal focused on helping GFM get even stronger at shaping students as vocational stewards for the academy and wider culture. Among other things, this funds the Vocational Stewardship Project that I announced last June in which 35 staff will get a $500 grant to encourage deliberate attention to this aspect of discipleship. To date, 24 have signed up leaving 11 more slots—you can sign up here. Now that the funds are committed, more details for participants will be quickly forthcoming. Grants or not, we all want to be great at equipping students and faculty for serving God and the common good through our work.
Closing Reflections
I suspect we all feel challenged in one way or another by the temper of our times. I find myself deeply unsettled by the political landscape this year. I am grieved by two more controversial fatal shootings of Black American citizens by police officers in this past week. I got into a somewhat tense conversation with a friend in NYC on how to regard the machinations on campus around race and gender these days. Some of us are feeling the uncomfortable tension as we seek to affirm our alignment with InterVarsity’s stance on human sexuality while feeling the pain of those who disagree in one way or another. (On this last issue, or any other, I am quite willing to have a conversation with any of you who would find that helpful—just contact me).
I long for us in GFM to keep leaning in and staying in on these difficult matters, to be thoughtful listeners, to keep examining ourselves for prejudices (and keep repenting), to hold our convictions with humility, to add our voices on campus with the goal of increasing shalom, to always, always act out of love for every neighbor. May God guide us and guard us.
-Bobby
P. S. I have just begun reading John Inazu’s (law prof at Wash U and InterVarsity trustee) new book, Confident Pluralism, to enlarge my own thinking on the matters above. John will also be the featured speaker at the inaugural Blue Ridge Faculty Conference next June.
