It is impressive the amount of foreign students in Colleges and Universities across this nation. According to the Institute of International Education we have in our country over 565,000 foreign students, with 58% of those students coming from Asia alone. India, China, South Korea, and Taiwan are the countries that have most benefited from the foreign student programs our colleges and universities have available. Furthermore, the amount of students coming from the Middle East has also increased having as the major players Saudi Arabia, The United Arabs Emirates, and Israel. Although we have in our colleges campus volunteers from organizations as InterVarsity, Campus Crusade for Christ, and the Wesley Foundation, spreading the message of love and salvation of Jesus, I believe we do not have enough people ministering this international harvest so close to us in America.
Personally, through my involvement with the ministry of Sigue A Uno Internacional / Follow One International, my eyes has been opened to this reality. On November of 2007 the church I pastor was challenged to reach out to the Chinese students at one of the universities at the Florida's Space Coast. My wife got involved and our church help to finance a thanksgiving event, but no body from the congregation, including myself showed up to interact with them. However, during my second trip to China, the Holy Spirit begun to stir my mind about these students that come to our country and they are interacting among themselves in their own ethnic enclaves without a meaningful opportunity of reaching them out purposefully. Hence, last year and this year I have been in the forefront along with my wife, some members of our church, and the leadership of Sigue A Uno Internacional reaching out them with the Thanksgiving dinner, a Chinese New Year celebration, and other events in order to gain their trust, seeking for the right opportunity to share the word of God with them.
However, this is not enough, I believe the best way to reach out a foreign student and share our faith in a personal non threatening way is when we adopt a student in our homes. If you invest time in finding a international student, building a friendship, taking him or her to your home once a month, sharing a meal together, and a constant exchange of emails and phone calls, eventually you will be able to share the story of Jesus. That heart will be open to listen because he or she knows that you really care about them. Once, you have a adopted student in your family, not just the life of that student will be changed, but your own life will be transformed by the experience of reaching out to the world without spending a dime in airplane tickets.
We have an ethnic mission field in the colleges and universities campuses and it is the will of God for us as the church to flood our universities with the love of Christ. I believe the Lord will call us into account for what we have done in this regard. It is my prayer, the Lord rise up people willing to go forth into these places and reach someone for the Lord. This is not just the responsibility of the on campus ministries. After all,this is part of our work as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. This is part of the Great Commission. Thus, if you do not know how to start an outreach to the ethnic mission field in our colleges and universities, please contact us and we will be more than happy to connect you with some organizations dedicated to minister on campus desperately in need of more volunteers. Because at the end of the day, how they would know about Christ if nobody guides them to Him?
In His service,
Jose
No comments:
Post a Comment