International Fellowship of Evangelical Students

The International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) is an association of 170 evangelical Christian student movements worldwide, encouraging evangelism, discipleship and mission among students. The headquarters is in Oxford, England.

International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES)
Founded1947
TypeChristian Interdenominational student association
Location
General Secretary
Tim Adams, since 2021
Websiteifesworld.org

History

In United Kingdom, the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, founded in 1879, was a founding member of the Student Christian Movement of Great Britain (SCM) in 1892.[1][2] Then in 1928, students left SCM due to differences over liberal positions and founded the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.[3] This movement was established in Canada in 1928 and in the United States in 1941.[4]

In 1947, the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students was founded.[5] Representatives from Australia, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, France, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the United States came together in Boston (USA) to strengthen evangelism, discipleship and world mission among students all over the world.

Programs

Group meetings are held each week to discuss the Bible in universities.[6] These groups are Evangelical, but not attached to any particular confession.[7]

Organization

Representatives of all the member movements gather once every four years at the "World Assembly", where the General Committee meets to conduct official business of the fellowship.[8] IFES's General Secretaries have included:[9]

  • Stacey Woods (1947–1972)
  • Chua Wee Hian (1972–1991)
  • Lindsay Brown (1991–2007)[10]
  • Daniel Bourdanné (2007–2019)
  • Jamil Chabouh (acting, 2019–2020)
  • Tim Adams (2021–present)[11]

Publishing houses

Christian literature distribution is also a feature of this ministry. InterVarsity Press (USA), Inter-Varsity Press (UK), Presses Bibliques Africaines (Francophone Africa), Harmat (Hungary), Andamio (Spain), and Ediciones Certeza (Latin America) are examples of regional publishing houses.

References
  1. Brian Stiller, Evangelicals Around the World: A Global Handbook for the 21st Century, Thomas Nelson, USA, 2015, p. 17
  2. Chris Cook, The Routledge Companion to Britain in the Nineteenth Century, 1815-1914, Routledge, UK, 2014, p. 128
  3. Erwin Fahlbusch, The Encyclodedia of Christianity, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, USA, 2008, p.207
  4. Randall Herbert Balmer, Encyclopedia of Evangelicalism: Revised and expanded edition, Baylor University Press, USA, 2004, p. 357
  5. Samuel Escobar, The New Global Mission: The Gospel from Everywhere to Everyone, InterVarsity Press, États-Unis, 2013, p. 24
  6. Mark Woods, The Bible study method that helps small groups really work, christiantoday.com, USA, 25 August 2016
  7. Sébastien Fath, Du ghetto au réseau: Le protestantisme évangélique en France, 1800-2005, Édition Labor et Fides, France, 2005, p. 370
  8. IFES, IFES WORLD ASSEMBLY, ifesworld.org, UK, retrieved 9 April 2020
  9. "Collection: Collection 640 Records of International Fellowship of Evangelical Students". Archives of Wheaton College. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  10. "Lindsay Brown". Urbana Student Mission Conference. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  11. "Our Next IFES General Secretary". IFES. Retrieved 2 January 2021.

Bibliography
  • Douglas Johnson, A Brief History of the International Fellowship Of Evangelical Students, Lausanne, Switzerland, IFES, 1964.
  • Pete Lowman, The Day of His Power, Leicester, Inter-Varsity, 1988. ISBN 0-85110-794-X
  • Alice Poynor, From the Campus to the World: Stories from the First Fifty Years of Student Foreign Missions Fellowship, InterVarsity Press, 1986. ISBN 0-87784-947-1
  • David M. Howard, Student Power in World Missions, InterVarsity Press, 1979. ISBN 0-87784-493-3 (Brief history of North American students in mission beginning with the Haystack Movement through the SVM to the SFMF.)
  • C. Stacey Woods, The Growth of a Work of God, InterVarsity Press, 1978. ISBN 0-87784-741-X (Early history of InterVarsity/USA)
  • Keith & Gladys Hunt, For Christ and the University: The Story of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship of the U.S.A./ 1940-1990, InterVarsity Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8308-4996-3
  • Lindsay Brown, Shining Like Stars - the Power of the Gospel in the World’s Universities, Inter-Varsity Press, 2006. ISBN 1-84474-167-2 (Spanish translation: Brillando Como Estrellas, Andamio. ISBN 84-96551-28-8, ISBN 978-84-96551-28-2
  • A. Donald Macleod, C. Stacey Woods and the Evangelical Rediscovery of the University, Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8308-3432-7
  • Luke Cawley, "Campus Lights: Students Living and Speaking for Jesus Around the World", Edinburgh: Muddy Pearl, 2019. ISBN 978-1-910012-73-4

See also
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