What is it that you do?

An InterVarsity staff worker’s primary task is to invite to students into intimate relationship with God and His church, His bride. Inherent within that task are the gerund responsibilities of

Knowing and Engaging: being familiar with the campus and students and their strengths, weaknesses, character, and needs. Not only knowing the campus, but actively seeking out ways to engage the campus through its own culture.

Translating: taking the gospel to the campus in a language that it can understand and relate to, without sacrificing or soft-peddling gospel truth. This involves careful listening, quality communication, and cross-cultural sensitivities, all the while connecting the gospel truth.

Inviting: constantly working to extend the kingdom through invitation and action.

Teaching: passing on words of truth to the students; increasing their knowledge of the kingdom through words and example.

Guiding: leading the students in Christian living, both through words, discipleship, and example. Most importantly, this involves walking with students in their lives. Again, the metaphor of the shepherd’s staff is applicable, as sometimes guiding pressure is laid on the sheep to direct it in the way in which it should go.

Affirming: welcoming the wanderers back into the fold, affirming the gifts and callings of the flock, loving the sheep, and reminding students of their identity in the fold.

Challenging: refusing to let the flock wallow in fallow or well-worn ground. Calling them to grow in their relationships with each other and with God. Making sure that they are connected to the church body.

Exemplifying: demonstrating Christian leadership, including in our weaknesses and failures. Being transparent in our dependence on Christ for our salvation and for grace to live the lives to which we are called. Living out community.

Training: equipping student leaders to be effective members of the body, the church, and effective witnesses in their spheres, whatever those are or will be.

Praying: constantly interceding for transformation of the campus, the students, and the faculty.

Hoping and Expecting: seeing the campus and students with kingdom vision. Believing that God can and will do mighty things and dreaming of how things can and will eventually be.

While all of these are elements of the role of an InterVarsity staff member, none of them are achieved every day by any of us. If the Shepherd is not present, then the staff does very little good. My job title as InterVarsity staff member can be boiled down to seeing the campus with Jesus’ eyes and loving it as he does; speaking the gospel in a language that students can hear and understand; sharing my life with students, sinful as it is, in confidence of God’s grace reflected through me; pointing to the cross; and challenging the body to grow kingdom-bound. I am a staff in the hands of the shepherd. My task is to invite children of the King into the banquet feast, in fellowship with God and each other, and to provide directions and guidance on how to get there.

**excerpts from a paper which I recently had to write.