Cruising For Christians by Melody Marin graphic by Scott Herman To grasp the religious phenomenon occuring here at the University of Virginia, one should look at the number of Christian-affiliated groups currently drawing so many students to their respective organizations. A short list of these religious organizations would include: the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Intervarsity, Young Life, First Year Fellowship, Grace Christian Fellowship, Chinese Christian Students, Tuesday Night, Black Voices, and Jubilate. Such groups center themselves on the promotion and exploration of Christianity and its role in students' lives, a role that is arguably becoming larger at U.Va. Interestingly, the relatively recent surge of Christian group activity at the university has greatly contributed to the overall reputation of U.Va. as a public school possessing a strong and growing Christian community, a feature that is becoming as recognizable as its level of selectivity or Jeffersonian foundations. FCA member and fourth-year student Nicole Rindler cites U.Va., as well as James Madison University, as having strong Christian-friendly reputations among public universities and colleges in both Virginia and the United States. Like other organizations at U.Va., Christian groups serve as meeting places for students searching for others who share similar interests, which in this case include exploring their relationship to God and defining the meaning of their faith. As more U.Va. students seek to find their own niche in a Christian community, more Christian groups are created, and the atmosphere of the university shifts to reflect its most rapidly growing sector. Third-year Scott Long, a team leader for First Year Fellowship, attributes his desire to be a part of the Fellowship largely to his strong involvement with Christian groups at his high school, as well as his family background. More importantly, Long "want[s] to affect college kids" in a decidedly Christian way during his tenure as a team leader for First Year Fellowship. Long credits his organization with helping to ease the transition to college life for first-year students, implying that the best method of aiding adjustment is through the advocacy of Christian fellowship. His efforts have fallen on receptive ears, as First Year Fellowship has grown to be one of the strongest of the Christian groups with over 100 members. These organizations pride themselves on being nondenominational. Aside from religion-specific organizations like the Baptist Student Union and the Catholic Student Association, more and more groups are designed to include all types of Christians. "People who live Christ" is how Scott Long describes members of First Year Fellowship, adding that his organization is not about divisiveness. Undoubtedly, these efforts to reduce factionalizing and to promote unity and inclusion explain much of the widespread appeal Christian groups are enjoying around Grounds. The idea of nurturing almost 40 religious groups seems to promote a sense of freedom among fellow members. Dodd Pine, a member of the Christian Fellowship Council, advocates having as many groups as possible. She claims, "If all different groups come together into one group, it wouldn't meet everyone's needs." By developing groups that cater to different goals and interests, the U.Va. Christian community mirrors reality, purport several Christian group members. But what this "reality" implicitly excludes are Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, atheist, and other groups of students, who are apparently becoming increasingly marginalized at U.Va. Pine, however, interprets this "reality" as reflective of the growing complexity of Christianity and adds that different groups have different outreach systems, which should be given the freedom to execute their goals in their particular styles. For example, the Asian organization Grace Christian Fellowship may come together to pray for a certain country or people while groups such as Campus Crusade and FCA focus their attentions on things happening at U.Va. In addition, many of the fraternities and sororities have created Bible Study groups. While maintaining that there are many benefits to having a large number of religious groups at U.Va., Pine also stresses the importance of unification among the groups. Her organization serves as an umbrella group for all the religious organizations. Pine is amazed at the number of groups attending and participating in CFC -- a fledgling group in its first semester of existence -- as nearly all of the Christian groups have been responsive to it. The need for unity originally incited Pine and others to create an umbrella group. The purpose, Pine explains, is to bring the students from different Christian groups together to share and talk about their respective organizations, thus further solidifying the large Fellowship movement at U.Va. Propagating the idea that people of different faiths can come together strengthens the council as well as the faiths of individual members in a rippling effect. The groups seek to create unity with each other, while highlighting their individual qualities. Often groups form offshoots of larger organizations. First Year Fellowship, for example, is part of Young Life. Within the Fellowship, there are opportunities for members to break into smaller groups, such as discipleships that can be exclusively male or female. These smaller groups allow members to "learn from one another in a smaller setting." The more concentrated the setting, the greater opportunity the members have to interact with each other. In several cases, Christian groups concentrate on pursuing alternatives to the typical meetings and listening to speakers. Jubilate is just one of three singing groups that performs on grounds and in various churches. This group takes its singing ministry beyond Charlottesville, traveling around Virginia and the United States to perform at various universities and churches. photo by Mark Stehle As more and more organizations are established, they become increasingly specialized. Alex Henegar helped create Tuesday Night, a group that strives to reach out within the university and the surrounding community. Henegar, who describes his group as neither a fellowship nor a church-like service, presupposes that attendants of Tuesday Night are not active Christians. He explains, "I wanted to create a place for those who have never been in a church [before]." He adds that his group is one where the "spiritually homeless" can come together, where "people will walk away from the group, and even if they don't believe a word of it, they will feel an undeniable respect for what has just occurred and for what they have just experienced." The members who make up Tuesday Night are diverse. Henegar claims that it is made up of conservatives, progressives, members of fraternities and sororities, and members of student government. Tuesday Night consists of informal meetings where the main focus is on the speaker (Henegar) and the topic of the night, a subject such as love, friendship, fear, vision, wisdom, or loyalty. In the course of the one hour Tuesday Night meeting, a member participates in an "ice- breaker," listens to a talk, and sings a song with "direct relevance [to] the talk." Henegar's mission is to teach, provoke thought and "offer honesty," by "appealing to both the intellect and the heart." Tuesday Night is unique among the other Christian fellowship and outreach groups in its aggressive recruitment of students who would not normally participate in Christian groups. Certainly such an active, aggressive, and relatively successful group could not have materialized without the emergence of so many Christian groups in recent years. It both propagates and propels the growing numbers of active, organizing Christians on grounds. The growing popularity of groups like Tuesday Night and First Year Fellowship is exemplified by the number of students they are attracting. Scott Long recalls the membership of his organization his first year as somewhere in the range of 30 to 35 -- it has since doubled. Tuesday Night's membership has also been growing. According to FCA member Nicole Rindler, there are about 100 members who show up at the meetings. Citing figures could very well illustrate the growing popularity of Christian organizations, but in order to truly get at the heart of their appeal one should ask members why they belong to their respective organizations. Alex Henegar offers an explanation, "I think it is due (at least in part) to the U.Va. atmosphere. This can be a very competitive, intense and superficial place, and as far as I can tell, it gets to people after a while." Groups like Tuesday Night offer a place where GPAs don't matter, where members concentrate on "faith in Jesus, experience, and the words and friendship of others." Dodd Pine credits her organization with giving her some sense of peace and perspective amidst the stress of academia. According to Pine, Christian organizations are offering more and more students a friendly haven where they can return to what they feel is "really important."

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