Chapter 7 The Christian Faculty/Staff Fellowship

• Purpose
• Structure
• Activities
• Getting Organized
• Meeting Mechanics
• Small Groups
• Events

The Christian university professor or staff member who is serious about having an influence for Christ at his or her institution will quickly realize that to achieve the maximum influence, one must work together with other like-minded Christians on campus. This is the principle of synergy at work -- the simultaneous action of separate agencies that, together, have greater total effect than the sum of their individual effects. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews underscores this point by writing, "And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing nearer" (Hebrews 10:24,25). That the principle is true hardly requires debate; the question is how does one go about initiating cooperative relationships with other Christian professors and staff in the midst of the demands and pressures of daily institutional activity? The answer is the Christian Faculty/Staff Fellowship, which is described in this section.

Purpose

What is a Christian Faculty/Staff Fellowship? I like to think of the fellowship in terms of a think tank or research and development activity through which faculty and staff come together on a regular basis to creatively think about, discuss, and plan how they as Christians can individually and corporately impact students, colleagues and the institution for the cause of Christ. Professors are among the most creative individuals in our society. Unfortunately, most professors focus a significant part of their creativity on their academic discipline. If just a fraction of this combined creativity can be focused on the issue of impacting the university for Christ, much will happen. In addition to this creative function, the fellowship should be the umbrella under which all corporate faculty ministry activity occurs; it should be the initiator and sponsor of corporate faculty ministry on the campus.

What is meant by "regular?" Weekly. Anything less than weekly will not be adequate to develop the level of commitment and depth of relationships that will be necessary to profoundly impact the institution for Christ. Many protest saying, "This is a good idea, but couldn’t we meet monthly or twice a month?" My response is why would you not want to meet weekly? The only legitimate reason one can offer is that the activity just isn’t a high enough priority. For a Christian professor or staff member, this should be a top priority. Each of us will ultimately be required to give an account of our lives and our ministries. I believe that one day I will stand before the Lord and give an account of my life. I believe that He will be considerably more interested in what I did on my campus to influence people for the Savior than in how many refereed journals articles I published. I just don’t think that protesting to the Lord that my research commitments and teaching loads prevented me from participating with colleagues in impacting the university for Christ will wash. So the fellowship should meet weekly.

Broadly speaking, the fellowship should accomplish two purposes. First, it is to be the means by which professors and staff determine how to impact students, colleagues, and the institution for Christ and through which they cooperatively work to accomplish this end. Secondly, the fellowship should minister to the faculty and staff who constitute its membership. In this context, the fellowship should promote and foster deep relationships between and among its members. It should impart vision to its members and equip them for the work of ministry. It should help members to pursue excellence in their work within the institution and within the larger community. And it should support and uplift members when they experience difficult times.

Now, before we discuss how the fellowship accomplishes these important purposes, let me offer a word of caution by stating what the fellowship is not. The fellowship is not a faculty and/or staff Bible study! It’s interesting, when Christian faculty and staff get together and begin to think about having an impact for Christ in the university, often the first thing that comes to mind is a Bible study. We are not talking about a Bible study. This is an important element of the Christian life, but it is not to be the only or primary pursuit of the fellowship. I am aware of no faculty or staff Bible study that has had a significant impact on a university or college, even though some have been existence for decades. I am aware of many instances in which faculty/staff Bible studies have started and slowly faded away. The focus of a Bible study simply is not global or outward enough. The fellowship must focus on the issue of impacting the institution for Christ and equipping its members to accomplish this task.

Furthermore, the fellowship is not to be a substitute for the local church. People have told me regarding the fellowship, "I don’t want to do anything in our fellowship that I can do in my church!" The fellowship should confine its focus to helping its members to (1) become better professors or staff members or (2) become better Christian professors or staff members. If the fellowship confines its focus to these issues, it becomes "the only game in town," that is, the only place I can go to help me succeed as a Christian academic in the university. Thus, if I am at all serious about wanting to be a better professor or staff member or if I want to have an effective influence for Christ in my workplace, I will see the fellowship as necessary in accomplishing these aims and will be committed to it.

Structure

A schematic diagram of the faculty/staff ministry in a university or college is shown in Figure 7-1. The focal point of activity for any faculty ministry should be the weekly fellowship. The major goal of the fellowship, as we have discussed, is to impact students, faculty, staff, and the institution for Christ. A necessary secondary goal is to engage faculty and staff in the fellowship. This is done in a number of ways as shown in Figure 7-1. The most obvious way is to identify Christians among the faculty and staff and challenge them to become a part of the fellowship. Persistence is a virtue here. I am aware of one individual, a very committed Christian, who observed our group with detached interest for five or six years before ever seeing the benefit or value of joining with us. Another way to engage individuals in the fellowship is to reach them through various "filter" events that communicate a Christian message to the faculty and staff of the institution at large, i.e., various outreach activities. Thus, the general idea shown in Figure 7-1 is to move individuals from the population of All Faculty/Staff to the population of Christian Faculty/Staff to the population of Weekly Fellowship.

Notice from the diagram that Small Groups are a part of the faculty ministry. These will normally be ad hoc groups set up for a variety of purposes that will be identified and described later. Obviously, to undertake such a ministry in an institution of higher learning, there must be a core of leadership committed to the philosophy of impacting the institution for Christ; this core is shown in the diagram as Key Leadership and may be an actual group that meets to oversee the ministry. Or it may simply be the collection of individuals who give leadership to the ministry. One or more of the key leaders may chose to formally affiliate with Christian Leadership Ministries as a Faculty Affiliate. More on the advisability of having an actual planning or steering committee later.

Activities

Recall that the fellowship is intended to function in a research and development role; it is to be a think tank. While it is true that research and development activity tends to be serendipitous, it is not recommended that the fellowship be allowed to float willy-nilly along. In fact, a fairly well-established set of activities has been identified that will give the appropriate focus to the fellowship. This set of activities is shown in the diagram as the Generic Schedule and for a semester institution would include the following:

It should be emphasized at this point that these will not necessarily be the only activities of the fellowship, nor are the recommended number of sessions hard and fast requirements. This is a good basic mix of activities that will interest Christian professors and staff and that are fairly easy to put together into a semester program. In fact, I would suggest that a mix of activities is superior to concentrating on any one thing for very long for a practical reason. Suppose, for example, you decide to schedule a six-session sequence on creation/evolution (this happens to be a popular subject for most faculty and staff). If I happen not to be interested in this topic and I’m not absolutely committed to the group, I’ll just drop out for a while and stop coming. Once that happens, it will be difficult if not impossible for you to get me back in the group. It should also be obvious from these suggestions that the agenda is not to be a Bible study.

Each of the activities in the Generic Schedule will now be described in a bit more detail.

Planning Sessions. (Two Meetings Per Semester.) Now let’s address the issue of whether to have a planning or steering committee. Often, when faculty initiate an activity or program of some magnitude, such as a faculty ministry, a steering committee is proposed to oversee things. I would advise against this approach for two reasons, both learned from actual experience. First, a steering committee requires time; it has meetings. You will be asking every member of the steering committee for several hours of time each semester -- if you can accomplish the planning function without this investment, you’re way ahead. Furthermore, when working with busy people, it is usually difficult to find a time when they can all meet. Second, when a steering committee comes up with a program for an organization, any organization, it is the steering committee’s plan; it’s difficult to engender ownership by the rank-and-file membership of the group.

Both of these important objections can easily be overcome by doing the planning activity within the context of the entire group -- the entire fellowship. By devoting two weekly meetings a semester to the planning function, you obviate the need for a steering committee and the program that emerges is everyone’s program -- you don’t have to sell it to the group. Now this might not be quite as effective as a planning committee, especially at first, but I can assure you based on 20 plus years of experience, it works, and it works extremely well. However, if you insist on having a steering committee, go ahead -- just know that you are adding a significant overhead burden to your activity.

First Meeting. Attend to basic organizational details; i.e., mission statement; meeting dates, location and times and introduction of members. Allow most of the time for members to suggest topics for future meetings and volunteer to be coordinators (invite speaker, prepare book review, prepare position paper, etc.). The goal for this planning time is to generate a list of potential topics for the following semester and to fill any holes in the schedule for the present semester.

Last Meeting. Firm up the schedule for the following semester; i.e., the last meeting in the fall is when you set the schedule of topics for the spring.

Remember, when selecting topics one, or both of the following criteria should be met:

1. Topics will help members become better professors or staff.
2. Topics will help members become better Christian professors or staff.

Prayer and Fellowship. (One Meeting Per Month.) One meeting each month should be devoted to building relationships among the members of the fellowship and praying for the university administration, campus concerns and requests of members. To accomplish these objectives, it is suggested that members introduce themselves to the group and briefly share pertinent personal information. Some light discussion on topics of general interest can also be used to build relationships. A prayer list should be developed and maintained for the group, and it should be used to guide the prayer time. As you probably know, many prayer times devote most of the allotted time to sharing prayer requests with very little time actually spent praying.

Training. (Two Sessions per Semester.) At least two sessions per semester should be devoted to equipping members of the fellowship in ministry and/or professional skills. Ministry skills include testimony preparation, learning to share one’s faith, how to have an effective devotional life and prayer life, etc. Professional skills include time and life management principles, teaching effectiveness skills, research skills, etc. Christian Leadership Ministries is in the process of putting together a Core Curriculum that defines a spectrum of capabilities one should acquire as one grows toward Christian maturity. The Core Curriculum is shown in Figure 7-1 as an input to both the Weekly Fellowship and to Small Groups, for example, a discipleship group.

Faculty/Staff Testimonies. (Two Per Semester.) Every Christian professor and staff member needs to be equipped to share his personal testimony in a formal situation, i.e., classroom or meeting environment. An effective way to ensure that the members of the fellowship are thus equipped is to periodically have a member share his testimony with the fellowship.

Position Papers. (Two Per Semester.) Every Christian professor needs to have thought through his academic discipline to determine how the Christian worldview impacts the discipline or to identify the tension points between the discipline and Christianity. This thought process then needs to be formally developed as a white paper or position paper. Each semester, professors who have been engaged in this process should be encouraged to present the results of their assessment to the fellowship for consideration and feedback.

Book Review. (One Per Semester.) Many Christian professors and staff are not well informed of the battle being waged in the university today. I routinely ask how many participants in my seminars have read some of the key books that should be required reading for Christian professors; the vast majority have not. Having a member of the fellowship review a relevant book each semester is a good way to challenge members to begin to read some of the important works. A few suggested titles are:

1. A Christian Critique of the University. Charles Habib Malik, Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1982.
2. The Soul of the American University. George M. Marsden, New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
3. The Closing of the American Mind. Allan Bloom, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987.
4. Impostors in the Temple. Martin Anderson, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1992.
5. Reason in the Balance. Phillip Johnson, Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1995.

Christian Student Ministry Update. (One Per Semester.) Many faculty members are not informed about what Christian students are up to and up against in the institution. It is pretty difficult to know how to impact students for the Savior if you don’t know what they are experiencing spiritually in the environment. One of the best ways to become informed in this context is to have the directors and student leaders of the various evangelical student ministries come to brief the fellowship periodically on their activities. Students are usually so enthusiastic about their endeavors that their enthusiasm spills over and infects the fellowship members. Having students share about a summer mission project or an evangelistic meeting in a fraternity or sorority can be challenging to members who might never think about getting out of their comfort zone. The number of evangelical student groups varies from campus to campus -- one large Midwestern campus has 55 such organizations.

Legal Issues Update. (One Per Year.) Christian professors and staff need to understand the responsibilities and prerogatives of academic freedom as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Many professors and staff do not understand these issues, and as a result, many Christian academics do nothing for fear of offending. An effective way of equipping fellowship members in this arena is to have a First Amendment lawyer periodically discuss constitutional rights of academics and to summarize national/regional/local cases. Christian Leadership Ministries also has an excellent video workshop in the legal issues area that is available through its Dallas headquarters.

Pastor’s Briefing. (Once Every Other Year.) Pastors are usually uninformed as to what it’s like to be a Christian professor or staff member in a secular university or college. As a result, they frequently encourage academics in their congregation to minister almost exclusively within the church and fail to realize that for the Christian academic, the campus should be a primary place of ministry. The Pastor’s Briefing is a wonderful venue for addressing this problem. Each member of the fellowship invites his pastor to the weekly meeting. The program for that week relates what it is like to be a Christian professor or staff member in the secular university -- the pressures and the opportunities.

Open Session. (One per Semester.) An open session each semester (usually midway into the semester) needs to be left in the schedule to allow flexibility to respond to various opportunities. From time to time things will happen on campus that require a response from the fellowship and necessitate discussion and deliberation. Occasionally, one or more members will suggest that the fellowship explore a particular opportunity, for example, an evangelistic outreach event, and the group will need time to discuss and plan appropriate actions.

The prospect of putting together a weekly program for a 15-week semester computes to a lot of work in the minds of most faculty members. However, as the blank schedule in Exhibit 7-1 shows, when you use two sessions for planning and three sessions for prayer and fellowship, there are only 10 slots left to be filled. A couple of training activities, a couple of testimonies, a couple of position papers, a book review, a ministry update, and an open session, and the schedule is booked. An example of a semester schedule that follows this scheme is also included in Exhibit 7-1.

Getting Organized

Most universities don’t have a formal process for faculty and staff to follow to obtain official university recognition -- it’s like if you decide to be an official university group, you are. Even so, it is probably a good idea to check with the people (usually in the Office of Student Affairs) who supervise the process for student organizations. They might ask you to fill out some paperwork and might request something on the order of a statement of purpose. A copy of our statement of purpose from the University of Alabama along with our statement of faith is included as Exhibit 7-2 -- you may use these materials or modify them as desired for your organization.

One word of caution at this point. On very rare occasions, overzealous administrative minions have attempted to make things difficult for faculty/staff groups attempting to get organized. In general, there is very clear legal precedent for Christian groups to have the same access to university and college facilities as non-religious groups. This includes access to meeting rooms (subject to availability, of course), campus mail, electronic mail, and the campus telephone system. If your institution accords access to these facilities to any student or faculty group, it must grant the same access to all groups. If by the remotest of circumstances you should encounter such opposition, a courteous, but firm letter to the person’s superior with perhaps a copy to the University Legal Counsel should ensure smooth sailing.

From an organizational standpoint, very little is needed in terms of officers, job descriptions, etc. A fellowship can function effectively with only a few dignitaries. You will need a leader or director; this will be the person who keeps everything going. Thus, he or she should be absolutely committed to the fellowship and see it as a very high priority. The leader is ultimately responsible for the weekly program, although by farming out responsibility for individual meetings to interested members, this turns out not to be a very difficult task. I directed our group at the University of Alabama for 20 plus years and rarely spent more than about 30 minutes a week keeping things on track. You will need someone, preferably with some financial skills, to keep track of the fellowship’s money. As we will see, most of the special events that the fellowship undertakes require financing; it is not uncommon for a fellowship to have an annual budget amounting to several thousand dollars per year. You also need someone to be responsible for communication with members each week, i.e., reminding them of the meeting. Good computer skills are helpful here. And finally, you will need someone to oversee student newspaper ads that will normally be done on a semester or yearly basis. If these four or five people will commit a few minutes a week on a consistent basis to attend to their duties, the fellowship should run smoothly.

Meeting Mechanics

The meeting time and place for the fellowship are important considerations. Most successful fellowships that I am aware of meet during the lunch hour. Most professors and staff members take a break for lunch, so the habit of spending the lunch hour with colleagues is attractive as a way of accomplishing two purposes at once. I would suggest that you pick a day of the week when most of your people are available and stick with that day on a permanent basis. If your people always know that the fellowship meets on a certain day, say Wednesday, they will begin to block that time out automatically and commit to the meeting even as one would a civic group or other group that meets on a specific day. I am aware of groups that have tried to shift the day around from semester to semester to accommodate most of the members -- I am convinced that all this accomplishes is to foster a lower level of commitment from the members. What we want to happen is for the members, over time, to accommodate their schedules to the fellowship. Several years ago, one of our members called me the first week of the semester, and in a bit of a dither he explained that his department chairman had scheduled him for class at noon on Wednesdays that semester. "Could we change the fellowship this semester to Thursday at noon?" My response was, "I’m really sorry, but the fellowship meets on Wednesdays; it has always met on Wednesdays and will continue to meet on Wednesdays." We lost him for the semester, but he spoke to his chairman and rearranged his schedule to have Wednesday noon open.

For a noon meeting, a centrally located meeting place preferably with dining facilities is needed. Many fellowships meet in the University Center or Student Union so members can pick up something to eat on the way into the meeting or pick up a drink for a brown bag lunch from home. If you can get the same room semester after semester, it will help the consistency of your group. It helps in this regard to know the person who makes room assignments; our fellowship has met in the same room for many years, thanks to a staff person who is supportive of what we are trying to do. We send her a thank-you note from time to time to express appreciation for her help.

For large, geographically dispersed campuses, finding a convenient location might be virtually impossible, and even if one is available, parking can be a problem. In such cases, having smaller fellowships in more than one location might be indicated. I am very reluctant to advocate multiple fellowships. On most campuses, it is a real challenge to get past the critical mass of people necessary for a vibrant group; multiple groups only exacerbate this difficulty. I would go along with a separate group perhaps for medical centers/schools where the environment is very different from the average university or college campus, but, in general, I recommend one fellowship per campus.

If you elect to meet at noon, you might try scheduling your program to occur from 12:15 to 12:50. This way people know they can get through a serving line or arrive a bit late from an 11 o’clock class without missing any of the program, and those who have 1 o’clock engagements can slip out a bit early without missing much other than possibly some Q&A at the end of the meeting. The time from noon to 12:15 turns out to be a good time of fellowship and informal interaction, as does the time at the end of the hour; several people usually hang around past 1 o’clock to interact on various issues.

Since professors and staff members are busy people, you will need some kind of reminder system. Campus mail is effective in this regard, but can be time-consuming if weekly announcements are sent to every member of the group. Electronic mail is an easy way of communicating with members to remind them of the meeting time and place, as well as the specific program offering for the week. As many of us do our weekly planning either on Friday afternoon or Monday morning, a Friday noon announcement probably is the most effective. Unfortunately, many faculty members stay chronically behind with email or they delete messages without reading them. Thus, the most effective way of staying in touch with the group is probably with telephone reminders. For a number of years, we hired an undergraduate student to make weekly calls -- for a very modest financial investment, you get the reminders out and help a needy student at the same time. The best option is probably a combination of email and phone calls.

As a final comment under the heading of meeting mechanics, I would suggest that you not try to meet during the summer. Most people are on and off campus so irregularly during the summer that attendance will be difficult to maintain. You might try to have a social event to keep people in touch, but give your folks a break; it will be good for them.

Small Groups

From time to time, it will be necessary to use small groups to accomplish specific functions of the fellowship. Two generic uses probably cover all the specific instances: task forces to superintend various events and groups set up for training or discipleship purposes.

As we will discuss in the following paragraphs, the fellowship will undertake several activities and events each year to impact the institution. These include such things as bringing in a speaker, hosting a lecture series, placing an advertisement in the student newspaper, and putting on a workshop. In all such instances, a subset of the entire fellowship should be used on an ad hoc basis to do the necessary planning and coordinating.

One of the purposes of the fellowship is to help equip members for ministry and for their work within the institution. This purpose can often be accomplished in smaller training or discipleship groups that meet at a separate time from the weekly meeting of the fellowship. For example, a group might be established for a semester to focus on time management principles or to learn how to share the Gospel with students and colleagues. Christian Leadership Ministries is developing a Core Curriculum that addresses the question, "What is a mature Christian professor or staff member?" This document will define the training opportunities that may be undertaken in small groups or in the weekly fellowship.

One final possibility for small groups relates to prayer. In many cases, members will be impressed to pray on a regular basis for campus issues and concerns. It is suggested that a small group be established for this purpose. The prayer group should meet at a time other than the weekly fellowship meeting. Obviously, there shouldn’t be small groups for prayer, but commitments being what they are, the small group is the way to serve this function. The small group might actually grow into a formal event such as an annual prayer breakfast.

Events

A number of outreach activities have been developed and used by Faculty/Staff Fellowships to impact their institutions. These outreaches are necessary for the vitality of the fellowship. No matter how effective a fellowship is with the weekly meeting, unless the group is reaching out to students and colleagues on a regular basis, it will lose its zest, its reason for being. The outreach activities will be briefly described below with detailed descriptions including how-to instructions later in this section.

Tenure Workshops. Possibly the most effective way we have of reaching out to colleagues involves the Tenure Workshop. The workshop, which is sponsored by the Faculty/Staff Fellowship, presents a detailed and comprehensive strategy for earning tenure. The presentation may be done by a local member of the fellowship or by a speaker from another university. The formal presentation includes a brief challenge to develop in all areas of life (physical, intellectual, social, and spiritual), in addition to the pursuit of tenure objectives. After the formal presentation, professors from the fellowship share insights that relate to individual colleges and departments, as well as to their own tenure experiences. All new faculty are invited to this annual event.

Newspaper Strategies. One of the most effective ways we as faculty and staff have of impacting our campuses for Christ is by identifying ourselves publicly as Christians. One of the most effective ways of accomplishing this is through regular advertising in the student newspaper. These ads are usually half- or full-page ads, strategically placed, that play on a particular theme, e.g., Christmas or Easter; identify the members of the fellowship by academic or staff titles; and indicate availability to counsel interested students and colleagues. Christian Leadership Ministries has engaged an advertising agency to develop attention-getting ads for the ministry, and these are available from ministry headquarters.

Favorite Faculty Events. This outreach event involves students from various Christian organizations who are challenged to invite their favorite professor or staff member to a banquet (breakfast, lunch, or dinner work equally well) honoring "favorite faculty." The invitations given by the students to their invitee clearly indicate that the event has a Christian flavor stating something like, "Campus Crusade for Christ and the Christian Faculty/Staff Fellowship cordially invite you to a breakfast honoring favorite professors. Dr. James Wilson, Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will speak on ‘My Search for Significance.’" You might have students introduce their guests, after which Dr. Wilson shares his testimony. Comment cards are used for follow-up.

Lecture(s). Christian Leadership Ministries can suggest a number of academic lecturers available to give evangelistic and apologetic lectures in university settings. These can be effective if planned and advertised well; comment cards are used for follow-up. One particularly effective approach used recently on several campuses is to have a Christian speaker debate an atheist on some topic of general interest, e.g., "Does God Exist?" In some cases, academic departments and campus organizations are beginning to cosponsor these debates and underwriting some or all of the expenses of the debate.

Student Outreaches. A variety of formats are available for enabling the fellowship to reach out evangelistically to various student populations. Outreaches to international student groups using the Jesus film in their own language have been used with success, especially when done around a holiday theme such as Christmas or Easter. Several schools are holding an annual orientation for freshmen at which one or more professors share a brief spiritual challenge, Christian student organizations are showcased, and students have an opportunity to interact with Christian professors on an informal basis.

Faculty Forums. Another excellent campus outreach approach is the Faculty Forum, a series of seminars at which members of the fellowship present talks relating the integration of their Christian faith with their academic discipline. The seminars are open to students and faculty. When the speakers are known and respected on the campus and the topics are judiciously chosen, the forum can attract respectable numbers, both Christian and non-Christian.

The Veritas Forum. The Veritas Forum is a takeoff on the Faculty Forum in which nationally known speakers present a series of seminars usually for four or five consecutive evenings. Lunch presentations and afternoon seminars that relate to the general theme of the forum are also held. The level of publicity used for the Veritas Forum generally causes the forum to be the focus of attention on the campus for the week, generating considerable interest and enthusiasm for the various events. The meetings are usually open to the general public, as well as to the campus community.

Worldwide Web Home Pages. A relatively recent innovation for Faculty/Staff Fellowships is the creation of home pages on the Worldwide Web. These sites contain general information about the fellowship and specific information regarding meeting times, places, and program offerings. Additionally, the sites usually have links to the purpose statement and the statement of beliefs of the fellowship. Perhaps the most powerful attribute of these sites is the linkages they afford to individual faculty and staff who are involved in the fellowship; the individual sites provide biographical information on the individual, his or her Christian testimony and position and/or apologetic papers written by the individual. The fellowship home page concept is definitely a high-tech way of reaching colleagues and students with some heavy information.

Fellowship Potlucks. Fellowship Potlucks are a great way of providing fellowship opportunities to professors, staff, spouses, and friends and to expose prospective members to the Faculty/Staff Fellowship in an informal setting. The potlucks are held on either a semester or annual basis, usually at the home of one of the fellowship members. Invitations to such social occasions should either be by telephone or mailed to the homes of members, never passed out in the weekly meeting with the expectation that they will ultimately find their way into the right hands. Arrangements for food and refreshments for these gatherings should be planned by members of the fellowship and spouses or friends. A light program may be offered but is not absolutely necessary.

Having been involved in a fellowship very much like what is described here for many years, I can say that my involvement was the highlight of my career in academia. Sure, it is difficult to involve busy people. Sure, you might catch some grief from the administration, and you might be misunderstood by your colleagues. For sure, you will attempt things that don’t work -- sometimes you might even have spectacular failures. But you will also have great successes. You will see students and colleagues come to know the Savior. You will see lives changed in the fellowship and in the institution. You will see your own life changed in the process. The university is one of the hallmarks of Western civilization. Can we abandon it? I think the Christian Faculty/Staff Fellowship is perhaps the only hope for impacting the university for Christ and for good. Surely the university deserves our best efforts. Doesn’t the Christian Faculty/Staff Fellowship deserve your commitment?

Now that we have overviewed the concept of the fellowship, including how it functions and what it does, we are ready to describe in detail how to go about organizing some of the outreach events of the fellowship.