InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA, an evangelical campus ministry, has announced it will dismiss employees who do not uphold the evangelical belief that marriage is a Biblical covenant between a man and a woman starting on November 11.
Despite swift demonization and cyber-bullying against InterVarsity, the parachurch ministry’s policy is not a witch hunt for same-sex marriage supporters among its staff. According to Time’s Elizabeth Dias, who first broke this news (if we can really call it news), only staff who come forward to disagree with God’s design for marriage and sexuality will be placed on a two-week termination period. Dias reported:
Staffers are not being required to sign a document agreeing with the group’s position, and supervisors are not proactively asking employees to verbally affirm it. Instead, staffers are being asked to come forward voluntarily if they disagree with the theological position. When they inform their supervisor of their disagreement, a two-week period is triggered, concluding in their last day. InterVarsity has offered to cover outplacement service costs for one month after employment ends to help dismissed staff with their résumés and job-search strategies.
InterVarsity’s written policy is an admirable reaffirmation of fidelity to orthodox Christian teachings on sexuality and marriage. I am grateful for the parachurch ministry’s faithful witness. But proponents of the new morality and “gender progressivism,” as I heard Institute on Religion and Democracy board member Dr. Graham Walker phrase it, will unleash tyrannical backlash. Presumably, InterVarsity is already receiving hostile blowback, prompting the ministry’s social media outlet to issue this response:
1/8 Sadly @elizabethjdias’ @TIME article is wrong. We have no policy on employee views on civil marriage. https://t.co/Uktr1GAgUL
— INTERVARSITY USA (@INTERVARSITYusa) October 7, 2016
2/8 We lament that LGBTQI people have experienced great pain, including much caused by Christians.
— INTERVARSITY USA (@INTERVARSITYusa) October 7, 2016
3/8 We also know that we ourselves each need Jesus’ grace daily. So we attempt to walk humbly in this conversation.
— INTERVARSITY USA (@INTERVARSITYusa) October 7, 2016
4/8 We do hold to an orthodox view of sexuality and Christian marriage, as you read in our Theology of Sexuality Doc at bottom of article.
— INTERVARSITY USA (@INTERVARSITYusa) October 7, 2016
5/8 We believe Christlikeness includes embracing Scripture’s teachings on human sexuality—uncomfortable and difficult as they may be…
— INTERVARSITY USA (@INTERVARSITYusa) October 7, 2016
6/8 AND Christlikeness demands we uphold the dignity of all people, because we are all made in God’s image.
— INTERVARSITY USA (@INTERVARSITYusa) October 7, 2016
7/8 Some will argue this cannot be done. We believe that we must if we want to be faithful followers of Jesus.
— INTERVARSITY USA (@INTERVARSITYusa) October 7, 2016
8/8 Within InterVarsity and elsewhere, some LGBTQI people agree with this theology, at great personal cost. We are learning together.
— INTERVARSITY USA (@INTERVARSITYusa) October 7, 2016
In the days to come InterVarsity will be under tremendous pressure to apologize and reverse their position. However, this isn’t solely an InterVarsity problem. One astute InterVarsity staff member I follow on social media tweeted, “dealing w/ this issue is 100% coming for *every* parachurch ministry eventually. Cru, Navs [Navigators], Young Life, etc. Buckle up.”
Indeed, the crushing pressure for Christian ministries, small business owners, and individuals to capitulate to a hostile culture where sexuality and marriage have no boundaries is intense and increasing. Mark Tooley, President of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, previously stated, “All traditional Christian groups operating in the current Zeitgeist face an impending Winter of secularist hostility. But religious groups that surrender their core convictions almost always are diminished and become irrelevant.”
Now is the moment InterVarsity deserves our gratitude and support. Whether through your phone calls of encouragement, financial support of their campus ministry, or your prayers for staff navigating the expected fallout, please let InterVarsity know their brothers and sisters in Christ appreciate their faithfulness.
May God bless InterVarsity’s witness and ministry to over 40,000 students across 667 campuses across America.
Comment by the_enemy_hates_clarity on October 8, 2016 at 9:53 am
I am well acquainted with Intervarsity’s work, and I support it financially. I have had some concerns about where they were going.but I am thrilled that the organization remains committed to Christian orthodoxy. Well done!
In Christ,
The enemy hates clarity
Comment by JP on October 8, 2016 at 12:00 pm
We need to make the case against homosexual “marriages”. These are fake marriages because you must have a husband and wife to have a marriage. Only a man can be a husband and a woman a wife. This is why these are fake marriages.
Comment by DLF on March 24, 2018 at 10:01 am
I thank God for IV and your faithfulness to the orthodox Christian faith. These are difficult and dark days we live in but you shine brightly with the light of Christ. Jesus is Lord! Amen and Amen!