There is a new generation on college campuses. Millennials are now growing their careers and families, and Gen Z is here. While we are still learning about Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2012), some of the early data is cause for alarm, particularly in the Church. Among students coming to campus, 43% are “nones” who identify with no religion; by comparison, among Boomers at the same age, 90% attended a religious service at least once per week. While many have no faith background at all, 66% of Christians will stop attending church in college and most of those will never return to the Christian faith. In addition, Gen Z is not well. In her book, iGen, generational researcher, Jean Twenge says, “Gen Z is on the verge of the most severe mental health crisis for young people in decades. On the surface though, everything is fine.” One in three Gen Z students are diagnosed with anxiety disorders, and over two-thirds self-report symptoms of anxiety or depression. Today’s college students are our future leaders, but they are a generation in crisis.  

While these statistics paint a grim picture of the college campus, God is at work there in significant ways. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship ministers on college and university campuses to capture students as they transition into adulthood, and to invite them to consider faith in Jesus as the core determining factor in who they will become as workers, citizens, parents, and leaders. 

As InterVarsity ministers on campus, we are seeing students who are hungry for a place to belong, curious about faith, and open to considering Jesus as One worth following. A few examples from our work in Florida:

• At Indian River State College, an IVCF campus staff was tabling during the first week of classes. As a student passed by, he felt prompted by God to say to her, “Jesus loves you.” The student stopped in her tracks, burst into tears, and approached the table for a longer conversation with the InterVarsity staff.
• As a significant hurricane approached Florida, an FSU campus staff who works with international students came up with the idea of “trunk or treat” distribution of hurricane supplies at an apartment complex where many international students live. One of the first students they encountered, “D”, a non-Christian from a sensitive country, after learning who this group was, asked if he could join, and returned 2 other times that evening with several groups of friends. Three weeks later, more than 30 international students showed up for a Bible study at that same apartment complex.
• In the second week of classes, a Florida Memorial University student took his own life. As grief gripped the campus, the University Chaplain and InterVarsity offered a prayer vigil on campus. During the vigil, the entire football team came forward to accept Jesus as Savior. Later that night, over 50 students showed up to InterVarsity’s first Bible study, hungry to study the Word and be together in community. 

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is one of the oldest interdenominational college ministries in the United States, serving approximately 26,000 students on more than 700 campuses in every state. In Florida, more than 500 students are regularly involved in our communities on 35 campuses, including public universities, private colleges and universities, and community colleges. InterVarsity’s primary strategies for reaching the campus involve creating small group Bible studies, developing students as leaders, and sharing the hope of the Gospel in conversational ways that meet this generation where they are at. We believe that the best people to reach students are the students themselves, so much of our effort is put into recruiting, training, and equipping students as leaders and ministers on their campus. 

The average student is only involved with InterVarsity for a maximum of 4 years until they graduate, however the impact of their involvement often leads to a lifetime of faithful service to their church, their community, their family, and their workplace. In InterVarsity’s 80 years of ministry in the US, we’ve graduated over 1 million students who are serving in every field imaginable, from aerospace engineering to business to pastoral ministry and missions work. 

While students are the best people to reach their campus, they are trained and supported by a team of dedicated people who work with InterVarsity as campus staff ministers. In Florida, we have a team of 22 InterVarsity staff, serving on campuses from Tallahassee to Miami. Most of these staff work on multiple campuses. We provide pastoral care, leadership development, and outreach coordination directly on campus, while also planning and hosting multiple off-campus conferences and events every year. The annual budget to support the work in Florida is approximately $2million, which includes salaries and benefits for employees, materials and supplies for campus ministry (college students love food!), and subsidization and scholarships of conferences and events. Every InterVarsity staff member recruits a team of partners who supports the ministry of InterVarsity in prayer and finances. This ministry is exclusively supported through the generosity of individuals, churches, and businesses. 

As more students enter college with little to no faith background, we must meet them where they are at during the years when they are making critical decisions that will impact the rest of their lives. InterVarsity ministers on the university campus for those who have grown up in the Church to deepen their faith into adulthood and for those who would never step foot in a church to encounter Christ where they live and study. We cannot think of any more strategic place to minister than the college campus. We believe that this perfectly embodies the mission of the Daughters of the King in prayer, service, and evangelism. We hope that you will choose InterVarsity as your Outreach Project for 2025-2026. 

For more information, please visit our Florida InterVarsity website at www.ivflorida.com or our national website at www.intervarsity.org