As the mid-twentieth century American evangelical renaissance bloomed, a whole host of evangelical ministries intent on engaging the world for Christ emerged. Youth for Christ adopted trendy new methods to evangelize teenagers beginning in 1944, Mission Aviation Fellowship began serving missions in remote locations the year the World War II ended, and Fuller Seminary opened its doors to young ministers-to-be in 1947. Committed both to seeking the conversion of others and engaging the culture, the neoevangelical impulse that birthed these ventures spawned many other cooperative, trans-denominational efforts.
Unsurprisingly, these “new evangelicals” naturally found their gaze drawn towards college campuses. Although less well-known than Bill Bright, his gregarious media-loving college campus counterpart, C. Stacy Woods helped launch the American chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in 1941, a full decade before Bright birthed Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru). Born out of an existing international organization, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship-USA was an international organization from start. Likewise, Woods was an international man: raised in Australia, he ministered in Canada before moving to the United States. As a result, IVCF-USA possessed a global vision from its inception, something Campus Crusade would have to grow into.
Read Full Article »