Volunteering time and talents in order to serve others has always been a way for students to get away from the day-to-day grind of college life.

Students who want to combine their Christian faith with service opportunities will be able to explore a wide variety of options at the FaithWorks missions fair.

FaithWorks will be held Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

Throughout the day, 30 Christian missions organizations from all around the Midwest will have informative displays about the various opportunities available for volunteer work.

Most of the organizations will have representatives available to answer questions and to discuss their own experiences in missions.

At 7:30 p.m., five of the representatives will discuss the advantages for Iowa State students who volunteer.

Students who have spent time serving others will also talk about their experiences.

An open discussion and small-group question-and-answer sessions will follow the speakers.

FaithWorks was born out of a vision that Lori Adams, campus minister at Collegiate Presbyterian Church, brought back with her last January from the Urbana Missions Conference.

The Urbana Missions Conference is held every three years at the University of Illinois.

“I’ve been told that many Iowa State students pursue an experience in the Peace Corps because they have the desire to serve,” Adams said.

“I realized that there are many missions organizations who can give students the same type of experience, but this is one where they would not be constrained from expressing their faith.”

Adams presented her idea to the Campus Ministers Association (CMA) in April, and immediately found strong support.

FaithWorks was developed by the CMA as “a way to help students understand their options” in the area of service, Adams said.

FaithWorks began as a dream, and Adams attributed that dream’s realization to the efforts of “campus ministers who desired to work together for the benefit of students.”

Adams stressed that even students with career plans can find volunteer service options that fit with their lifestyles.

Unlike in the past, many missions organizations have changed their structure in order to provide more opportunity for service on a short-term basis.

“It is important that students understand that a life of service can be incorporated into a career, as opposed to the all-or-nothing choice people have had to make in the past,” Adams said.

She also said college is an optimal time for students to explore their options in missions.

“It is very difficult to change the way you see the world without a cross-cultural experience,” Adams said.

“Your college years are an ideal time to have a cross-cultural experience, which can lay a foundation for a life of service,” she said.