USA (MNN)–You’ve seen the movies–frat houses and sororities are often depicted as populated by over-the-top indulging young people.
The stereotype has created an interesting dichotomy for those involved in outreach. Over 750,000 students are nationally involved in the University Greek System. Of these, para church ministries are only reaching a very small minority of the students.
Intervarsity Christian Fellowship’s Andy Dalton says, “Fraternity and sorority students in the United States are typically pretty untapped because, for a number of years now, the greater church has viewed them as more the ‘pagan-type’ students on the college campus, those that wouldn’t be interested in much beyond just the party scene.”
And yet, once they get involved, Dalton says the ministry carries its own momentum. “What we’ve found is if we can come along and show them the fact that their brothers and sisters, their friends are actually lost, that they don’t know Christ and don’t have a future, that their hearts actually change, and [they] get excited about reaching their friends with the Gospel.”
While many do experience a type of ‘peer pressure’ harassment, they don’t usually give up. Dalton says the terrific part about ministry is the direct connection with a national network of fraternity brothers and sorority sisters.
Intervarsity is holding a special conference aimed at both informing students about this special ministry, and encouraging those who are already involved.
Indianapolis Greek Conference 2005
Dates: Feb 4-6, 2005
What: InterVarsity Greek Conference 2005
Who: Fraternity and Sorority students across the US
When : February 4-6, 2005
Where: Indianapolis, Indiana
Why: To experience Christ’s love for us and learn how to share that within the Greek community on campus.
For details, go to: http://www.intervarsity.org/greek/conference
