Korea Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship

Overview

Korea Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship is a Christian student mission organization active on university campuses. It is an interdenominational body that does not belong to any particular denomination and brings together members of many denominations. It is commonly called IVF, from the initials of its English name, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship. Members also use the affectionate nicknames "Abep" and "Abeph." It is the Korean member movement of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), which unites evangelical student movements from around the world. Its motto is "The Kingdom of God Movement on Campus and in the World."

Founding and History

Its predecessor, the Korea University Students' Gospel Federation, was organized in 1953. In 1955 Lee Jeong-yun, who had returned from the United States, formed the organization's board of directors, with Byun Hong-kyu as its first chairman. In 1956 the IFES General Committee, meeting in Canada, accepted the Korea University Students' Gospel Federation as a full member, and IVF regards that year as its founding year. In 1958 the organization held the inaugural general assembly of its national federation, and that same year it held its first summer conference at Buyeo Holiness Church in South Chungcheong Province, with some 300 people in attendance.

The organization's name changed several times. It became the Korea Christian Student Association in 1962 and the Korea Christian Student Federation in 1963, and it has used its present name, Korea Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, since 1965. According to its official website, the name was changed to avoid being mistaken for an affiliate of another Christian student movement.

In 1978 IVF began publishing the magazine Gospel and Intellect (Bogeum-gwa Jiseong), and in 1979 Song In-kyu became its sixth general secretary. In 1999 it hosted the IFES World Assembly in Yongin, reportedly attended by some 500 people from more than 140 countries. In 2006 it held its 50th-anniversary conference at Hallelujah Church in Bundang, and in 2017 it hosted the IFES East Asia Regional Conference (EARC).

Principal Activities

• Campus fellowships: Chapters at individual universities form the core of its work. Activities include small-group Bible study, prayer meetings, "one-to-one" meetings in which two people engage in in-depth conversation, membership training (MT) retreats during the semester, and retreats during school breaks.
• Alumni ministry: IVF maintains an alumni association for its graduates and holds alumni retreats. In 1966 an organizing committee was formed to establish a fellowship for medical professionals (Medical Fellowship).
• Publishing: Its publishing division, IVP, translates and publishes books by evangelical authors such as John Stott. By around 2006 it had reportedly published some 300 titles.

Membership and Organization

IVF is not a federation of denominations but a mission organization in which university students and graduates participate as individuals. Consequently, members of various denominations, including Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, and Baptist churches, work together. It is governed by a board of directors and a general secretary, and staff workers support the individual campus fellowships. According to its official description, it is active on some 150 campuses nationwide. At some schools, such as Seoul National University, IVF operates as a student club within the campus federation of Christian clubs.

Assessment

Christian media have credited IVF with raising up Christian leaders in fields such as law, medicine, and education under its banner of "evangelizing the intellectual community," and with helping to spread a Christian worldview through IVP publications. On its 50th anniversary, however, IVF itself acknowledged that its past work had been passive and had failed to reach beyond the campus. It accordingly announced a new direction of expanding its work beyond the campus into society.