InterVarsity, the evangelical campus ministry, stands in full support of #BlackLivesMatter, issuing a call this week for the nearly 16,000 attendees at Urbana to support the movement, reports Religion News Service.

Urbana is a yearly conference put on by the biblical and social justice-minded InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. At the main evening session on Dec. 28, featured speaker Michelle Higgins — director of a faith advocacy group and active member of #BlackLivesMatter in St. Louis, Mo. — challenged students to listen to the movement and to have conversations about racism, even if such conversations cause discomfort. The worship team on stage wore #BlackLivesMatter tshirts in support.

More than 40,000 students around the country are involved in InterVarsity. The campus ministry has always been social justice minded, but many on Twitter are expressing surprise — and relief — that the group is so strongly backing #BlackLivesMatter.

According to Religion News Service,

What InterVarsity did last night was more than a nod to current events or the need to oppose racism. It was a full-throated, unapologetic call to support #BlackLivesMatter. Higgins ... placed support of #BlackLivesMatter squarely in the mission of God. “Black Lives Matter is not a mission of hate. It is a not a mission to bring about incredible anti-Christian values and reforms to the world,” Higgins said. “Black Lives Matter is a movement on mission in the the truth of God.”

Read more here, and follow the conversation on Twitter at #Urbana15 #BlackLivesMatter.