InterVarsity study of Christians at secular schools shows most feel welcome and want to “pursue the common good together.”
Christian college students heading back to school this fall are expecting to talk to their nonevangelical classmates about race, racism, and racial justice. According to a recent InterVarsity Christian Fellowship survey of 316 evangelical students enrolled at 127 secular colleges and universities, they’re ready.
The Christian students rank racism and inequality as a top social concern. Asked to name the three most important issues today, nearly 40 percent said racial justice, about 40 percent said poverty, and another 29 percent named the environment. Caring for children in need (28%) and reducing abortion (26%) followed.
Jessica Pafumi, area director of InterVarsity’s greater Springfield, Massachusetts, area, said she expects conversations about race to pick up where they left off in the spring.
“Racial justice has come up a lot this past year,” she said. “I think it’s prevalent for the environment that they are in, but I also think it’s prevalent for their personal experience.
Pafumi and other InterVarsity leaders say this is part of a broader change they see with the next generation of evangelicals. Gen Z Christians are eager to listen, they want to connect with people on a personal level, and they share social concerns with their peers.
“Students don’t draw hard borders—sort of thick lines, boundaries between one another,” Tom Lin, president and CEO of InterVarsity, told CT. “They are willing to cross them, to interact with each other, to do things together.”
Aneida Molina, a Hispanic, third-year student at American International College (AIC), said she regularly talks with evangelical friends in InterVarsity—some of whom attend other nearby ...
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