[Welcome, First-Time at UNIST?] Student Clubs In-depth “UNIST IVF”

《Editor’s Note: The spread of COVID-19 has brought significant changes to college campuses worldwide, forcing virtually all universities in South Korea to switch to online education. UNIST has been conducting non-face-to-face lectures since the first semester of 2020. However, with the recent decline in cases, many expect that campus life will soon return to normal. In order to help new students adapt to university life, the UNIST News Center and the Student Affairs Team plan to produce the ‘Welcome, First-Time at UNIST?’ series.》

The UNIST Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVF) is a nationwide Korean Christian Student Association that has been active since 2009.

The term IVF is an abbreviation for “Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship,” which is also known as the Korea Christian Student’s Council. The group aims to create meaningful community among students on campus where they can explore, discover, and deepen their faith, develop friendships, and make a difference.

As a member of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), we are engaged in activities on more than 150 campuses nationwide and interacting with 170 countries.

Our motto is the “Movement of Kingdom of God on Campus and the World”. IVF was originally founded in 1953 as the Inter-Varsity Evangelical Student Fellowship and it has continued its existence since 2009 at UNIST. The main activities of IVF include Dawn Prayer Meeting, Book Meeting, Large Group Meeting (LGM), and Quiet Time.

The term DPM stands for Dawn Praying Meeting, which starts by waking up early in the morning to read the bible and praying together for the day. Anyone can participate willingly and have breakfast together with other crew members.

At Book Meeting, one can solve common problems through books with other friends. Through this, we aim to create meaningful community among students on campus where they can explore, discover, and deepen their faith by sharing what they read, such as “The 30-Minute Bible” and “An Atheist Journalist Inquires of a Christian Scientist”.

The term LGM stands for Large Group Meeting, which refers to an activity where all club members gather once a week. During this time, we do various activities together, such as worship of God or study of the Bible, inviting graduates for opinions, and conducting LGM alliance with other IVFs.

During Quiet Time, we reflect ourselves in the bible to see where we are in the faith for about 15 minutes and share our thoughts together. This is the most-favored-time for members to share their faith worries and life stories to make deep companionship and sympathize each other. It is also the main activity of UNIST IVF and is held both online and offline at 10 p.m. every night.

We also hold a regular individual session of Christian spiritual activities, such as worship of God with other Christian groups at UNIST. Through these, we interact with Christian professors, employees, and graduate students, helping them create bonds of friendship and love.

In addition, during the summer and winter vacation, we hold a Christian camp with other IVFs and conduct discipleship training. We also go out for a picnic, playing board games, and singing songs together.

One of the strongest features of UNIST IVF is that we share our lives and share our worries, and the strong bond that comes from the support of our seniors. We can assure you that you will never regret about joining UNIST IVF.

Sincerely,

UNIST IVF