“There are a lot of universities that would prefer to see us off-campus,” shared Alec Hill, president of InterVarsity USA. “But, we have a Lord to obey.”
Peter and I have conducted a grueling number of interviews over the past year. We held long phone calls and consumed copious amounts of coffee as we wrote, rewrote, and rewrote again for our forthcoming book, Mission Drift.
Just a few weeks remain before our deadline. Late last week, I picked up my phone and punched the numbers to Alec Hill’s office, with some fatigue. The call came at the very end of the workday and at the end of a long writing process.
The conversation rattled the fatigue off. Hill stirred my enthusiasm and steeled my resolve.
In Mission Drift, we share stories about organizations like Harvard and ChildFund, two organizations founded by Christians fervent about their faith. Sadly, neither Harvard nor ChildFund resemble the organizations of their founders. They’re not doing bad work. They’re just not doing the work they set out to do.
And this is what makes organizations like InterVarsity so compelling. A group of British students founded InterVarsity at the University of Cambridge in 1877. These bold students prayed, studied the Bible, and shared their faith with their classmates, despite the disapproval of university officials. 136 years later, InterVarsity stands Mission True.
InterVarsity now serves students on over 575 campuses, their leaders’ hearts beating to the same cadence as those who founded InterVarsity. But like the first InterVarsity groups, and just as Alec Hill acknowledged, they face increasing pressures on campuses across the country.
Over the past few years, news outlets like the Wall Street Journal featured the stories, all with the same basic headline: Christian organization expelled from campus. Officials at close to 50 universities—including prominent colleges like Rutgers, Georgetown, Vanderbilt and the University of Michigan—have challenged InterVarsity’s right to exist.
On a handful of campuses, school officials have given InterVarsity the proverbial pink slip. Because InterVarsity requires their campus leaders to be Christians, these schools allege discrimination. Vanderbilt hit national news in 2012 when university officials voted to disallow the organization on campus
Nicholas Zappos, Vanderbilt’s chancellor, outlined the university’s position:
“We… require all Vanderbilt registered student organizations to observe our nondiscrimination policy. That means membership in registered student organizations is open to everyone and that everyone, if desired, has the opportunity to seek leadership positions.”
In short, Zappos believes that a Christian ministry selecting Christian student leaders is impermissible. And the implications of this rationale extend far beyond university campuses. The implications extend to foundations, urban ministries, and missions agencies. And it is in these moments when leaders of faith-based organizations face two options.
The first option? “You can kowtow to the pressure, accommodating culture to be liked and accepted,” stated Hill.
Or you can stand by your convictions, knowing it could hurt. Hill and InterVarsity’s leaders didn’t back down. They doubled-down, refusing to bend their knee to those who demand they change their mission or soften their approach. Softening their approach, they realize, will strip away their very raison d’être.
InterVarsity student leaders at the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York understood the significance of their crossroads when officials asked them to change their club’s constitution to open leadership to everyone. These courageous students knew the implications were high. They knew their “immutables” and didn’t budge on their core.
“We have decided to retain our current constitution,” the students stated with resolve.
It’s more than keeping a constitution. InterVarsity leaders decided to retain their identity. My conversation last week with Alec Hill reminded me why the late-night writing and vigorous editing sessions are worth it. The stories of Mission True organizations like InterVarsity need to be told. Our culture needs vibrant faith-based organizations. And our faith-based organizations need to hold fast to their identity.
“Holding the gospel in humility and grace,” Hill responded. “We will be faithful to our calling whatever the cost.”