By Heather Hedlund and Tom Shaw

At our November meeting, the J&RR team welcomed guest speaker Chelir Mule-Kivindyo, the Associate Director of Student Development for InterVarsity's National Black Campus Ministries (BCM) Department. She also oversees the InterVarsity campus ministry at Texas Southern University, a historic Black university. InterVarsity ministers to college students around the nation with evangelism, Bible study, Christian community, and leadership development. Chelir has planted InterVarsity chapters at several HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) in the Red River Region (Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas).

Chelir shared many helpful insights on the trends she's seeing among the current generation in their engagement with Christianity and the church. She observed that as "the Covid generation" current college students crave community but don't always know how to do it. They also have a strong desire for Christian leaders to uphold the values they preach, and they don't have much patience when leaders have moral failings. Chelir also stressed the importance of testimonies. Our personal stories of how Jesus is making a difference in our lives and is leading us through hardship are what give students hope.

While some of the needs of university students are common to all ethnic groups, Chelir focuses on strategies to reach and disciple Black students at her school and region. Black students from the four-state Red River region gathered for a special retreat held in Houston. Christian speakers from the Black community, worship, and workshops focused on the unique challenges and interests of black students. Plans are in place to make this gathering an annual event.

While Chelir's insights on students were fascinating, it was a comment she made about funding that grabbed our attention. When we asked about ways to act, she shared with us that much like missionaries, InterVarsity staff members raise their own support to fund their salaries. She pointed out that this has made it very difficult to recruit and retain Black leaders because their networks of family, friends, and churches tend to have fewer financial resources than the networks of their White peers.

To probe more deeply, Tom reached out to his friend Beau Crosetto, an InterVarsity Director in Louisiana. Beau wrote, "We have a tremendous need for black staff to be on our teams and on the campus. But funding them can be challenging as most come with limited networks. Some are the first to go to college in their family and the idea of coming on staff with us and having to fundraise a full budget is not appealing or practical. So, we are doing all we can to raise money for grants. We need and want black staff on campus and we do not want financial constraints to bottleneck calling." A fund has been set up to provide grants to Black Christian InterVarsity staff in Louisiana.

During our Just Neighbors sermon series last year, we learned that systemic injustices like redlining and racially restrictive covenants were key contributors to the racial wealth gap that is still present in our nation today. As we reflected on Chelir's comments about funding, we realized that the racial wealth gap is even impacting the spread of the gospel on college campuses.

The Justice and Racial Reconciliation team was awakened to the needs of these key campus leaders. We can support the work of InterVarsity to Black students by volunteering at their regional events, prayer, and financial support for ministry leaders.