When’s the last time you heard someone use that word? If it’s not what you say after a sneeze, what is it?

indigenous - originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native.

So why do I think you should care about the word indigenous? It’s the word I use many times as I describe our Campus Life leader team. Did you know that 7 of the 11 leaders are former Campus Life students? They are leaders who started in Campus Life as students, went to college, and then returned to be leaders. Why? They want to love teens toward Jesus like they were back in the day. This takes into account the “originating…” part of the definition. Indigenous leadership is a sign of a healthy ministry ….. disciples who made disciples who come back to make more disciples!

But, something really cool happened in 2019. We’ve tweaked the term of indigenous leaders a bit this last semester. Instead of it referring to students who come back to lead, we now have a team of leaders who are still IVC students, the “…occurring naturally….” part of the definition.

These are high school student leaders who not only lead by example with their peers, but who are actively leading our middle school CEC Campus Life students! We now have disciples making disciples who are making disciples in real time!

1 Timothy 4:12 “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Pray right now for this indigenous AND growing team of incredible teenagers!

Rick & Meg