Campus Ministries Changes: Covid-19 and Beyond

LOCALLY SOURCED

Campus Ministries Changes: Covid-19 and Beyond

Nate and Laura (and baby Asher) Amodio bring us up to date with their ministry with InterVarsity.

This first question is a bit broad, but what were some of the effects of the pandemic on InterVarsity (IV) and its campus ministry? How did IV cope with all the shutdowns and students being sent home? The abruptness of the shutdowns was jarring. Seniors had a particularly tough end to their time in college; there was a lack of closure, grief, no in-person good-byes. As widely recognized, the limited social interactions and a lack of community from the pandemic have led to a decline in the mental and physical health of Gen Zers and college students across the country.

InterVarsity staff had to adapt quickly to each campus and its unique restrictions and timeline. A lot of collaboration and resource-building took place in figuring out how to make Zoom gatherings hospitable, lifegiving and spiritually stimulating. Also, IV’s national department put together resources and events for students (such as weekly, high quality live-streamed events).

In addition to the students, IV made sure its staff was cared for with “distress days,” which were no questions asked days off to help navigate anything from childcare responsibilities to health concerns, racial trauma and so on. Staff was also provided personal retreat guides, Paraclete Groups and other spiritual resources.

There were also some highlights as we did ministry during the pandemic. We met interested students at 33 unreached campuses (just in Indiana and Illinois) this year thanks to digital ministry. A staff planting at Chicago State had a 15-member Bible study over Zoom that started solely through direct messages over Instagram. At Indiana University, a student from Hong Kong, spent his first semester taking online classes while still in Hong Kong. Every Tuesday, he’d wake up for a 7 a.m. Zoom Bible study with the InterVarsity students. Now on campus, he already has a community of believers. A chapter for students with disabilities that had been meeting at College of DuPage blossomed into a nationwide movement as these students gathered online and reached new students through social media.

It’s good to know that the shutdown didn’t shut down IV’s ministry. But the two of you have moved into new roles with IV. What are they? We both now work for the Indiana and Illinois region of InterVarsity. Nate is starting his third year as ministry partnership development coach, mentoring and coaching staff during their fundraising process. Laura is a field operations director, working to improve the systems and events that support regional staff and students. She is in her second year in this role.

IV often uses the term “formation.” Can you describe it for us, and what does it encompass for new staff? First, new staff attend formation classes led by senior leaders in our region their first two years on staff. The hope is to help staff thrive in their relationship with God and others as well as develop professionally. The modules covered in Formation classes are: Character and Calling, Relational Adeptness, Chapter Building, Cross-Cultural Ministry and Evangelism.

Describe IV’s commitment to staff training. Why is this crucial to campus ministry?Working in campus ministry, while exciting and impactful, can also be tiring and difficult. InterVarsity wants to develop staff who can invest in campus ministry for the long haul, so they put a lot of energy into staff development through formal training and cohorts as well as less formal collaboration and mentorship. We want staff to grow holistically as disciples of Jesus, not just in raw ministry skills.

What’s the best thing about training new and returning staff? What are some of the challenges? Our staff come from and minister to all sorts of backgrounds. We have staff who became Christians during college, staff from rural backgrounds, staff born in other countries, staff of various ethnic backgrounds, Boomer/Gen X/Millennial/Gen Z, etc. And some of these staff members are ministering in specific contexts such as commuter schools, international students, Greek students (fraternities and sororities) and so on.

Perhaps the best thing for us, is how invigorating it is to be in a room with ministers from diverse backgrounds. Even the food and snacks we share allow us to enter each other’s “homes” and cultures.

And that’s also the challenge: training such a diverse room of staff means conflict is inevitable! Different teaching styles are needed, on-stage representation matters, lots of prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit’s guidance is crucial.

What do you miss about working directly with students? The teachability and openness of students. Something about us grown adults tends to become so stubborn and slow to change. But students are flexible, open and eager to learn and implement new things. We miss directly discipling and developing student leaders. It was a unique, fun challenge to work with students’ giftings and broken pieces and help them become missional leaders who advance God’s kingdom in their spheres of influences.

As things are open in Illinois and Indiana, how will campus ministry look post-pandemic?The pandemic accelerated some of the learning and adapting we were already doing as a region as we think about contextualizing the gospel to the current generation of students. We had to try new things quickly and with lots of agility and adaptability. We hope the creativity, flexibility and collaboration throughout the movement will continue. Also, many of our campuses will continue to improve our online presence while re-gathering in-person.

Even before the pandemic, New Student Outreach (NSO) was changing. When students gave us contact info, we would often knock on their doors to invite them. That has become far less effective and nearly obsolete. Trust needs to be built virtually first before they will come to in-person meetings. Instagram outreach is the new normal. We also think that students will feel a strong need for community. We also predict they will feel the brokenness around them more deeply, which will be a great onramp to the gospel of God’s kingdom coming!

Ministry and parenthood—how is that going for you? Overall, so far so good. We were blessed with a month of paternity leave and three months of maternity leave, which really helped us settle in and feel ready to get back to work. IV has been super flexible in allowing us to adapt and make our schedules work so we can both continue to work with IV as much as we desire. With both of us working from home, the transition to parenthood has been much easier and life-giving. It’s quite special to take a short break after a video call and get to hold a smiling baby (and sometimes a not-so-smiley-rather stinky-baby).

Finally, how can College Church pray for you?

• Pray for IV staff to thrive spiritually, so there are less barriers to students encountering Jesus.

• Pray for us to rest, balance our responsibilities well and have life-giving relationships at church.

• Our budget has increased due to increased job responsibilities and needing family insurance with the baby. We would love for people to become prayer and financial partners. If you would like to be on our prayer letter list, email Nate at nate.amodio@intervarsity.org to give towards God’s work in college students throughout Indiana and Illinois.

Thanks for updating us, and we would love to meet Baby Asher.