Intervarsity Christian Fellowship

Intervarsity Christian Fellowship is an inter-denominational, multi-ethnic group of UC Davis students who, in response to God's truth, grace, and love, wish to establish a witnessing community who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord. They are dedicated to grow in love for God, God's Word, God's people of every ethnicity and culture, and God's purposes in the world.

The vision for the Davis Chapter is: to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed.

Intervarsity is the oldest campus spiritual fellowship organization at UC Davis (1950) and is part of a large national organization with chapters at a majority of college campuses. Intervarsity USA has its own publishing arm and is part of a larger international group called "International Fellowship of Evangelical Students" (IFES). Prospective attendees may wish to peruse the publications of InterVarsity Press to get an idea of the values espoused by Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.

The five core values of the Davis chapter are as follows:

1. Scripture: We follow the inductive method, treat the Bible as expert, and learn how to study it for ourselves! Not only preach the Bible but study it critically and live it out in the context of discipleship and community. 2. Justice: Learn about and apply Biblical justice/righteousness and unity/diversity integration. We seek after Jesus's heart for the poor and oppressed by ministering to our society's marginalized through words AND action. 3. Discipleship: We model after Jesus's peer-to-peer action-oriented discipleship which tackles root issues instead of skimming the surface, challenging us to ask hard questions. 4. Witness: Relationally by building friendships and inviting those into our community to experience the love and truth of Jesus Christ. We also have opportunities to interact over scripture, allowing the Word of God to answer questions and speak to hearts. 5. Community: This purposeful and outward-looking community strives to support one another, serve the greater Davis community/world, study scripture, disciple one another and keep each other accountable, and witness to others.

Starting with the 2007-2008 school year, the campus group will be meeting on Thursdays at 7:30 pm. The night usually begins with worship and announcements followed by a talk by a staff member or guest speaker. Frequently people can ask for prayer when they feel prompted to do so. The group excels in leadership training through coaching bible study leaders and conferences. There are many conferences designed for freshmen, graduating seniors, minority groups, and the fellowship as a whole. They host bible study groups on campus for freshmen in different dormitories, and off campus for upper division students on varying days of the week.

Intervarsity hosted a talk on Faith vs. Science on January 26, 2006 with chemistry professor Dr. Enderle examining whether one can simultaneously be a scientist and a person of faith. This talk was hosted again recently with Dr. Enderle on January 31, 2007. A recording of the talk can be found here.

http://www.urbana.org

Intervarsity has won awards for club of the year (religious and spiritual area). This is may be to due to the friendliness and concern for the community their members have when tabling at the qaud for causes such as 1000 wells (raising money for wells and clean water in sub-saharan africa in Spring Qaurter; including 2 weeks of sacrafice where members pledge to drink only water for two weeks starting at picnic day and donating those dollars that would've been spent on drinks). They have also raised money to help fight child prostitution in Thailand.