Chi Alpha at the University of Oregon

Chi Alpha Campus Ministries History

Chi Alpha Campus Ministries had existed since 1951 as a church youth group on campus. Although there were some exceptions, it was primarily an inward-looking ministry. In the late 1960′s, Rick Howard, the national director of Chi Alpha, began to speak prophetically about the direction of the ministry. He said that college ministry needed to look outward and consider the campus as a mission field. Dave Gable, the next national director, gave legs to the vision that Howard had set forth. In the mid 1970′s, he began to bring leaders together to strategize about the opportunity on campuses nationwide.

In 1977, Gable called together six representative campus leaders to define what campus outreach could become, and come up with a call to action. They met in a scorpion infested camp outside of San Antonio, Texas, later being known as the “San Antonio Seven.” The names of the seven were: Dave Gable, Herschel Rosser, Dave Argue, Jim Hall, Dennis Gaylor, Brady Bobbink, and Harvey Herman. A varied group, they were made up of ex-hippies, and people who had grown up in church, Bible college, and secular college backgrounds from every region of the country.

During their time in San Antonio, they asked one question: What were the central qualities that defined the first century church? The result of their Scriptural search was a four fold philosophy. The principles that emerged from their study of the book of Acts was that the church was defined by a ministry of worship, fellowship, discipleship, and witness. More recently, prayer has been added to the ministry philosophy. This understanding became the foundation for a renewed ministry outreach that has grown nationwide and around the world since 1977.

Before the meeting of the San Antonio Seven, Chi Alpha existed on about 40 campuses across the United States. As the new philosophy has been communicated and implemented, students (and staff) have caught the vision and given their lives to pioneering and developing new ministries. By the end of the 1990′s, there were close to 250 Chi Alpha chapters across the country, and Chi Alpha had spread to most of the continents. In 2000, a world Salt conference was held in Los Angeles with 2,400 students in attendance from close to 50 nations.

Since 1977, students have been mobilized for campus outreach, and thousands of students have started following the teachings of Jesus. Students have reached out to international students with friendship and hospitality. Students have given up their spring and summer breaks to serve on U.S. based and overseas mission trips. And students have graduated and gone into the marketplace to continue passing on the philosophy the San Antonio Seven discovered in the Book of Acts.

Chi Alpha Campus Ministries exists to reach the strategic mission field of the colleges and universities of the world. As a missions arm of the Assemblies of God, we are committed to the fulfilling of Christ’s Great Commission on campus. We are a national organization of students in higher education, with sister fellowships in many countries, who unite to express the claims of Jesus Christ to campus communities and call students into relationship with Him.