Students looking to talk about faith, spirituality, or some of life’s other big topics can find a place to do so through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a faith-based organization expanding its programming at Camosun College this year.
InterVarsity operates on campuses across Canada; InterVarsity campus minister Alan Thorimbert says students don’t need to be Christian to participate in its programming.
“We’re rooted in the Christian tradition, but we’ve always tried to create spaces where people from different faith backgrounds can be in those spaces,” he says.
Thorimbert says that describing InterVarsity as “faith-based” can make the organization more approachable for students who may be hesitant about participating in something explicitly religious; also, whenever possible, the group tries to meet in familiar, open campus spaces such as cafeterias rather than behind closed doors. Thorimbert says entering a private room for an explicitly spiritual or religious activity can be intimidating for some students.
“Often on campus, to say you’re religious or to say you’re Christian is an immediate turnoff,” says Thorimbert. “But there’s something in our brain that when we hear the word ‘faith-based’ or ‘spiritual,’ it’s a little more chill. It feels more welcoming, which I think is good.”
InterVarsity has been running lunch discussions at Camosun for the past four years, with much of its programming intended to be student-led. Lunch discussions typically begin with three to five questions before participants are allowed to take the conversation in their own direction. Topics can include, for example, identity, relationships, the nature of humanity, religion, and how people understand suffering.
“We guide the conversation in some way,” he says, “but it’s more for the sake of having a good conversation, less of, ‘I want the topic to go in this direction.’”
InterVarsity also tries to create an environment where participants can question religion rather than feeling they must accept a particular answer.
“We’re not scared of critical analysis of the faith. We see that as useful and important,” he says, “so we’re not scared of questions or doubts or fears.”
That approach extends to the group’s Bible studies, which they are working toward starting, at the Interurban campus. Thorimbert says InterVarsity uses methods similar to historical, critical, and literary approaches to studying other texts, allowing students to engage with the Bible regardless of how familiar they are with it.
“We try to do our Bible studies in a way that is practical, accessible, but also intellectually rigorous,” he says.
Creating a space for students from different backgrounds requires more than simply inviting them into the room, according to Thorimbert.
“No matter what we’re doing, InterVarsity staff and students are always thinking about, even if it’s only Christians in the room, how would we lead this in such a way that someone from any background could [not just] come and feel like they belong, but feel like they could actually offer something into the space,” he says.
Thorimbert first became involved with InterVarsity as an undergraduate student in Kingston, Ontario. He was drawn to a community that allowed students to engage with questions surrounding issues such as poverty, alcoholism, and racism, as well as InterVarsity’s emphasis on mentorship. Now working with students himself, Thorimbert says one of his favourite parts of the job is being present while students wrestle with questions about their identities and futures.
“I love what I do because so often it feels like I just get to be a sounding board for the big questions that students are asking,” says Thorimbert. “Who am I? What do I want my life to be about? How do I relate to other people?”
Thorimbert doesn’t believe students need to find immediate answers to those questions.
“Sometimes those questions can feel so anxiety-inducing. It can feel like you have to answer them immediately,” he says. “So it feels like a gift to have the opportunity to be in the process of thinking about those big life questions with students in a non-anxious space.”
Email icfclub@camosunstudent.org for more information on InterVarsity.