BRUNSWICK

The Christian Fellowship at Bowdoin, a chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA, will be unaffected by the organization’s decision to fire staff who do not agree with the its position on sexuality, said Rob Gregory.

“For us, nothing has changed,” said Gregory. “We’re teaching and we’re practicing and we’re trying to help the students to order their lives around a framework of understanding human sexuality that’s given by both the Old and New Testament and centers on creation truth of a man and a woman, and also focuses on a family and the marriage of a man and a woman.”

InterVarsity has more than 667 chapters at colleges across the country, and Gregory has been a voluntary adviser with his wife to the Bowdoin College chapter for years, first getting involved with the group as a student at Colby College in Waterville.

On Oct. 6, Time magazine revealed that InterVarsity informed groups of its decision in a letter in July, indicating staff who dis- agree with the organization’s newly articulated position on human sexuality were asked to resign, and after Nov. 11 it would fire staff who voiced views that weren’t in line with the national group’s. Views counter to InterVarsity’s position include sexual activity before marriage, no-fault divorce and homosexual relationships.

One InterVarsity staff member interviewed by Time, Bianca Louie, said that she left her InterVarsity fellowship at Mills College after learning of the new policy. She said that she was concerned that in an age of growing acceptance and inclusivity on colleges for LGBT students, InterVarsity’s decision could cause the Christian group to be barred from campus.

“I could see us getting kicked off campus because of this,” she told Time.

The Christian Fellowship at Bowdoin has no fear of being forced to leave campus. That’s because the local InterVarsity chapter has been operating off-campus since 2014, when the group refused to sign a non-discrimination policy with Bowdoin. Similar to the current InterVarsity controversy, the Christian Fellowship at Bowdoin claimed that signing such a document would violate its beliefs about human sexuality. The group moved off-campus to form the Joseph and Alice McKeen Study Center nearby, where they now host their various activities.

Having already lost its official status and located off-campus, the evangelical fellowship has no concerns over how the college will react to the organization’s new policy, unlike other colleges.

“The position of InterVarsity is that this isn’t a change,” said Gregory. “This has been the position of InterVarsity from as long as they’ve had a policy on these matters, or as long as they’ve had a view on these matters, which I assume goes back 50 or 60 years to the founding of the organization. So what’s changing is not InterVarsity, what’s changing is not the orthodox Christian position that InterVarsity holds. What’s changing is culture.”

nstrout@timesrecord.com

Agree or else …

• ON OCT. 6, Time magazine revealed that InterVarsity informed groups of its decision in a letter in July, indicating staff who disagree with the organization’s newly articulated position on human sexuality were asked to resign, and after Nov. 11 it would fire staff who voiced views that weren’t in line with the national group’s.