This week I have been pondering the importance of international student ministry and how amazing it is to get to be a part of the ongoing ministry to those students here at WKU. Two years ago I had the privilege of serving on the Leadership Council at the BCM (Baptist Campus Ministry) here on campus as the ministry team leader for international students. Looking back, I realize how much I could have done to make that ministry better. At the time, I didn’t fully grasp the impact of the ministry and the potential it had to become so much more. That year a dear friend and sister in Christ, Melissa (who was the international student minister at the time) gave me a book called The World at Your Door that really challenged me and encouraged me in the ministry I was given to lead. The book not only increased my heart for the nations, but also ignited a desire within me to truly invest my life in the lives of international students for the glory of Christ. There were certain things the book outlined that I need to share.
First of all, it is imperative to point out that each year over 120,000 new international students and scholars begin a four-year sojourn in American universities and other institutions of higher learning. While these students come to America with specific goals and plans, most of them are unaware of a personal divine plan from God. As caring and committed Christians come across their paths and offer friendship in Him, they can learn about the greatest friend of all – Jesus Christ. Over half a million students come from around the globe to study in the United States, right in our own backyard. As we develop friendships with these future leaders and executives, we have an opportunity to reach our world for Christ. When these students complete their education and return to their homelands, they assume leadership in international corporations and national institutions. Or, they become political leaders, influencing thousands. Unfortunately, during their time in the U.S., most of these students never enter an American home or visit a place of worship. Statistics prove that among the international students who study in the U.S., historically 70 percent have never been invited to an American home during their stay. More than 85 percent are never invited to an American church or have any meaningful contact with genuine Christians during an average stay of four years.
As believers living in America, we have an incredible opportunity to influence the lives of this world’s emerging generation of influencers. International students sent to America are typically the best and the brightest their countries have to offer. In five to twenty-five years, they will be the leaders of their nations. They will return home to make a difference. The question is, “Will they make a difference for Jesus Christ?”
Over 50 percent of international students come from countries that are closed or less than accessible to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet their future leaders and executives are here. In God’s plan, He has brought these leaders to our door. In many cases, it is difficult or impossible for traditional missionaries to enter these nations. We don’t need to be called by God to a foreign land to be used by Him in His plan for reaching the nations. Consider the life of Jesus. He met the needs of the people everywhere. If they were sick, he reached out and touched them and they were healed. If they were bound up with demons, he touched them and freed them. He met people right where they were at the time. The New Testament book of Acts records in its early pages how men and women were gathered together from around the world. In Jerusalem, these people heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, accepted it, and returned to their countries as ambassadors for God. Today history repeats itself in the U.S., where over 500,000 of the world’s best, brightest, and/or privileged students from every nation are within minutes of a local church.
God has brought the mission field to our doorstep. If only one-half of one percent of all Christians who say they know Jesus as Lord and Savior in a personal way became a friend to an international student, we would have a friend for every international student in the nation! What an opportunity to impact the world for Christ!
So, here’s the challenge – Be a pioneer in this most strategic of all mission fields. Be a foreign missionary on your own doorstep! Love an international, a future leader of our world, for Christ’s sake. Touch someone who will impact others – perhaps a nation, perhaps the world. Reach the unreached while they are here in our country. Join the most reproductive mission in the world – the international student outreach of love and hospitality. Each of us can be such a friend and help reach the nations for Christ!
“My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2-3
No comments:
Post a Comment