GLOBAL CONNECT
International Student Ministry
Global Missions – Local Ministry
WHO ARE INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?
WHY A SPECIFIC MINISTRY TO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS?
INTERNATIONAL MINISTRY IN OUR BACK YARD
The Institute of International Education reports there were 572,509 international students from more than 180 countries enrolled in US colleges and universities in 2003-2004. Fifty-seven percent of these students come from Asia, 13% from Europe, 12% from Latin America, 7% from Africa, 6% from the Middle East, 5% from North America, and 1% from Australia and Oceana. The top five “senders” of international students are: India, China, Korea, Japan, and Canada. Students come to the United States for all levels of education. Business and Management is the most popular course of study for international students at 19% of enrollment. This is followed by 17% in engineering, 12% in mathematics and computer science, 10% in social science, and 8% in applied and life sciences. Often, these students are the very best their country has to offer. Most international students (75%) are funded by sources (family, personal, government, etc.) outside of the United States. These students are most often the “cream-of-the-crop” from their respective countries; they are children of politicians and diplomats, they are future political and business leaders; often, they are considered to be the “future” of their country. In many cases, the governments of their home countries may be financing their studies in the United States. However, the international student population varies with the college or university. In developing ministry for these students, it is critical that these differences be kept in mind.
International Students are often caught in-between targeted groups for ministry: They have characteristics that make them like other groups in the church and community, yet they are different enough from each of these groups to be left without a clear space in which ministry takes place. There are two key groups to which these students may belong, both denoted by the title “International College Student.”
On one hand, they function much like American college students. They live in the same dorms and apartments, they have similar schedules, they eat at the same places, they attend classes. Yet, they have unique needs that make them very much unlike American college students. Most often, their families are far away, they may or may not plan on remaining in the United States, they face visa and immigration issues, and the operate on a day-to-day basis in a foreign culture.
Understandably, most of these differences stem from the first part of the label, “International.” This categorization immediately distinguishes these students from the American student. (It is worth noting also, that even students from other “Western” nations will experience a significant level of cultural difference.) As with any international visitor, international students will need help navigating cultural traditions, communicating in a foreign language, securing transportation and housing, and in adjusting to a new place.
Yet, these International students do not fit neatly into current ministry frameworks for Internationals. Their English is (at least on paper) quite good; they are not necessarily looking to become permanent residents in the United States or a specific community; they are often separated from their family; and they may be significantly younger than other international populations. Therefore their acculturation and assimilation experiences will be necessarily different from immigrants or refugees.
For centuries, Christians have heeded the words of the Great Commission and they have sent countless people to spread the Gospel to the ends of the Earth. Early Protestant missionary efforts focused on replicating Western Christian culture and traditions in other parts of the world. They planted, built, and pastored churches—Western in every way save (perhaps) language, location, and weather.
Gradually, these efforts gave way to indigenization, where local converts were trained to do the work of the church. Yet, these local leaders were ministered to and trained from Western world-views. The work was simply transferred from white missionaries to local Christians.
Then, a third stage in missiology emerged—contextualization. In this mode, missionaries and local Christians worked within the cultural context of the host country to introduce Christianity, thus creating Christian communities that often looked very different from one another and especially from a “traditional” American church. (One wonders, though, if contextualization isn’t equally essential to the American church—surely a rural church in Alabama will have a different feel from an urban one in Chicago, yet surely both can be authentic Christian communities.) So, from the process of contextualization, we realize that cultural difference is neither inherently good nor bad, and from there we can move to embrace and celebrate diversity among a body of believers.
But what happens when the diversity we celebrate abroad also exists across the street, around the corner, or in our own church? Do we embrace it there as well, or do we assume those who are different from us will find a home in language churches, mission churches, or simply somewhere else? International College Students can provide American churches with a unique opportunity to blend foreign and domestic mission fields.
Rather than sending Americans out into the world, ministry to these students affords American Christians the opportunity to establish relationships here with the knowledge that many international students will return to their home countries where they are intimately familiar with the culture, language, and traditions, and may thus have an immediate advantage in sharing Christ with others in their country.
Recently, we’ve been hearing a lot about the 10/40 Window (the area of the world from 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator, stretching from West Africa to Japan), where approximately 4 billion of the world’s 6 billion people live, and where 97% of the world’s “least-evangelized” people live. Many of the areas in this window are some of the most closed areas to mission work, and only 27% of Christian missionaries work in the “Window.” However, demographics tell us that up to 66% of international students in the United States come from the 10/40 Window. This is an amazing opportunity to reach populations that may not otherwise be reached. For those with eyes to see and ears to listen, we can be totally open to what God’s divine purposes may be.
INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
Beyond Community
International Ministry
INTERNATIONAL MISSION TRIPS
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