Elie Haddad, the president of Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Lebanon, says they are supporting many Sudanese seminary students and graduates at this time.

“Sudanese people are some of the nicest, most gentle people on the face of the earth. It’s heartbreaking to see what’s happening in Sudan right now,” says Haddad.

“We in Lebanon have a lot of experience with crises and wars and stuff like that. It takes a while for things to stabilize and new realities to set in and understand how they’re going to adjust to that…. Now they’re entering into what may end up as a war, maybe a long-term civil war. That’s the fear…. So it’s about safety and making sure that people’s families are safe and people’s church members are safe.”

(Photo courtesy of Arab Baptist Theological Seminary)

These young Sudanese students at ABTS are learning how to advance the Gospel and grow the Sudanese Church. A part of their program also includes peacemaking initiatives.

“Our Sudanese students and graduates, it’s incredible how God has been using these leaders in proclaiming the Gospel and reaching new people groups that no one has thought possible,” Haddad says.

Could this be the generation God has called for such a time as this for Sudan?

Haddad says, “We support our Sudanese students in equipping them and then building relationships with the churches and coming alongside some of the projects…. So we have a very close connection with them. The Church in Sudan is very dear to our heart.

“We are committed to coming alongside them any way we can. We always come alongside them in terms of theological education, the initial formation for the Church. We work with seminaries that are in Khartoum as well. And now we do want to come alongside them in terms of relief efforts as soon as things are figured out and they know what’s going to happen.”

Habil, a Sudanese graduate from ABTS. (Photo courtesy of Arab Baptist Theological Seminary)

For now, many students at ABTS need financial support, including their Sudanese students. You can help sponsor an ABTS student here!

Meanwhile, Haddad encourages, “Let’s keep Sudan in prayer. Let’s keep the Church in Sudan in prayer. The Church in Sudan has done a great job at being open, engaging with the community in very positive ways, [and] preaching the Gospel in meaningful ways. Let’s pray that the Church in Sudan can continue to do this despite the hardship that they’re facing right now.”

Header photo of Habil, a Sudanese graduate, courtesy of ABTS.

Why the Decline?

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship‘s Director of International Student Ministries Marc Papai shares, “I think the concern that many of us have is that our current climate around those from overseas seems to be changing some, and that there’s the concern that there’s been a kind of chilling effect on those from outside our country in terms of the welcome that they’ll be offered when they come to the United States.

(Photo and header photo courtesy of InterVarsity via Facebook)

“I don’t think it’s right to conclude that, but it can be seen as plausible that when, especially from certain countries, there’s been a kind of unwelcome sign put up almost on our shores.”

Papai says the number of international students in the US has increased yearly since these statistics started being tracked. According to the New York Times experts believe this decline could be because of the uncertainty in the US’s social and political climate. But, it’s hard to say for sure.

“I don’t think there’s one explanation alone that would explain that,” Papai explains. “The overall global economy can affect that number. Tuition continues to increase in the United States to go to school, it can become out of reach for some.”

And with the tax reform still in progress in the US, graduate students could face taxes on tuition waivers, making it harder to afford higher study in the US. According to Papai, international students make up a larger percentage of graduate students in the US.

International students might also be looking at others schools in different countries. For example, Canada, Britain, and Australia are being cited as competing countries for international students’ interest.

Do Life With Internationals

Either way, Christians can help the international students in their cities by being hospitable and by inviting these students into their lives.

“While it can seem intimidating to have an international student—what will we talk about, will I be able to converse with them—those are our fears I think we have, but they’re unnecessary,” Papai shares.

InterVarsity’s International Student Ministry seeks to make international students feel welcome. (Photo by InterVarsity)

“But if we’re simply ourselves, if we’re hospitable the way we know how to be, so many of our American families say that ‘we’ve received more from this relationship than what we’ve given.”

Inviting international students into your life is a way to share the Gospel, starting by living out Christ’s love. Plus, holidays can be very lonely for students who often cannot return to their home country during breaks.

But, Christians can invite them into their homes. So, with Christmas on the way, will you invite a student into your home? It’s a chance to help change the world and join the mission field from your own dining room tables.

How to Pray

Please pray for these students too. Pray fervently for the work among international students, for them to have open hearts to the Gospel, and for it to impact their lives.

Also, pray for the social and political climate in the US to be more welcoming to students and financially viable. Finally, pray for churches and ministries working with international students to continue to be generous and faithful as they share the Gospel with clarity.

Find out how to connect with international students here!

Just click Department/Ministry and choose International Student Ministry from the drop-down menu. Then finish filling in the rest of the information to contact InterVarsity about connecting with an International Student.

Of all the international students who study in the US, about 70 percent never set foot in an American home. They don’t experience what it’s like to join a typical American family for a night. They don’t even get to experience a traditional Thanksgiving meal in the home. However, if you’ll extend your table to include just one or two more people, this could change.

Alone During the Holidays

(Photo courtesy of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship).

“International students come to this country to study an oftentimes to do more. To meet Americans, to understand American culture and society, and they are people who have deep interests in what the United States is, including the faith of the United States,” InterVarsity Christian Fellowship’s Director of International Student Ministries Marc Papai shares.

“It is a great opportunity for us to be able to share our lives in honest ways with those from outside the country. And we get a chance to cross cultures without leaving our dining room table.”

Furthermore, Papai says there have been many students who’ve come to faith through InterVarsity’s ministry and connecting with Christian families.

Plus, these students are already used to crossing cultures. After all, navigating such things comes with the territory of studying in another country. And while being invited into an American home may be a new experience, any cultural differences they’d face won’t be. Rather, it will be a chance for them to learn more about the country they’re living in and connect with people outside of the typical college setting.

As anyone who has studied in college knows, sometimes having that break from the world of academia can be some much needed fresh air. But, with nowhere to go during the holidays, these students don’t get that break. They just get empty classrooms, quiet dorms, and a bit too much time spent alone on campus.

Opening Up The Home

Or, instead, these students could be spending what would be one of their loneliest times in the country growing in friendships with local families.

“I think the opportunity for us to be able to build these kinds of friendships will not only help international students, but will help us to understand the richness of culture and the richness of the Gospel as it applies in the culture. So, we’ve seen many actually longer term friendships develop out of simply inviting an international student to one’s home,” Papai says.

(Photo courtesy of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship)

Most families stay in contact with the international students they meet and have over for dinner. In fact, these families open up and kind of gain a new member of the group. They’ll often invite their international students to family events, athletic events, concerts, and more. And as these relationships evolve, grow, and become stronger the opportunities to share one’s faith open-up

For this type of relationship to be built this time of year is really quite fitting. That’s because the American Thanksgiving is about inclusion, sharing, and teaching others the ropes of an unknown land. So this Thanksgiving, and the rest of this holiday season, will you consider doing just that?

Get in Touch With an International Student

Don’t know where to start? Well, begin by getting in touch with your church and finding out if they have any students needing a family this holiday. Also, reach out to local colleges and universities to see if they can put you in contact with students who’d be interested in spending a day with an American family. And finally, contact InterVarsity about getting in touch with the international students the ministry serves

Find out how to connect with International Students through InterVarsity here!

Just click Department/Ministry and choose International Student Ministry from the drop-down menu. Then finish filling in the rest of the information to contact InterVarsity about connecting with an International Student.

InterVarsity’s International Student Ministry seeks to make international students feel welcome (Photo by InterVarsity)

USA (MNN) — International Missions don’t always mean you have to travel– nor do they always require remote involvement through financial aid.

In the United States we have a unique opportunity to reach the world through a group living right under our nose.

According to a report by Open Doors, the year of 2014 saw a record high of international students at colleges and universities. The number was 886,052 students from other countries.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship says this makes up a little more than four percent of all undergraduate and graduate schools. Mark Papai, Director of the International Student Ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship says, “It is the highest number ever recorded and so it says to us, again, just how many guests are here among us in U.S. colleges and universities that we have an enormous opportunity to influence.”

InterVarsity’s International Student Ministry is actively involved in establishing contact with these students as they travel overseas to the United States.

The countries most heavily represented by these students are China, India, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia in order from greatest to least amount of students sent.

What kind of welcome do they receive?

(Photo by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship)

While these students are here, one might wonder what they’re learning from the American culture, and what they think of us. You may be wondering how they’re being impacted and if anyone is introducing them to Christ.

Papai says, “One of the disheartening things that we often hear, the numbers again vary, but greater than 50%, at least, of international students that come here never actually see the inside of an American home.”

He continues to explain that sometimes these percentages even reach 80%. That same number is the number of international students who desire to become friends with an American family.

So what happens when the rest of the student body leaves for holidays to spend time with their families? If they’re staying on campus, what kind of opportunities are we missing?

Many of the students come from different religious backgrounds– they’re coming from homelands that receive thousands of American missionaries on a regular basis.

Take Saudi Arabia for instance. This Islamic country sends nearly 100,000 students to the United States a year. The King has signed a scholarship agreement until 2020 to allow citizens to get educated in the United States.

As the country begins to entertain the idea of allowing outside influences, there are possibilities that have never existed before.

What better time to introduce these individuals to Christ than when they’re right here, ready to be ministered to? And what better time than when we’re getting ready to celebrate our Savior’s birth?

“The holiday season is a tremendous opportunity for families to get in contact with the local colleges, with InterVarsity representatives, with many other organizations doing international ministry and get a name or make a contact that they would be able to have to invite one or more of these international students, and they literally are from all over the world, to come into their home and just share their life together,” Papai says.

Papai stresses that families who do this should only do what they normally do for Christmas and to extend love, care, and welcome to these students who take great interest at learning our customs.

This hospitality will be a foundation to discuss what Christmas is all about.

Papai says of those who would like to help: “I would like them to pray for us and all international ministries. Again it is an incredible opportunity and open door right now for international work and to think about the many conflicts in the world, we have an opportunity to make a real difference by these guests who learn our language, who are the cream of the crop from overseas, who come to study in our universities.”

To learn about opportunities with InterVarsity’s International Student Ministry, click here.

(Graphic credit InterVarsity)

USA (ICF/MNN) — A quarter-million international students are stepping onto U.S. college campuses for the first time this fall. InterVarsity Christian Fellowship says whether they know it or not, these freshmen are looking for two things: friendship and abundant life.

The campus ministry explains why’s and how’s in the blog below, taken verbatim from InterVarsity’s Web site:

This fall, a quarter-million international students have stepped onto U.S. college campuses for the first time.

They arrived on planes from Saudi Arabia, China, Indonesia, Iran, and everywhere else.

These young men and women are the best minds of their home countries. They are inquisitive, eager, hard-working, and just plain smart.

Looking for a Friend

As they arrive for their first year of college in the U.S., they are looking for two things, whether they know it or not. First, they are looking for friends. And second, they are looking for abundant life.

They find both when they connect with InterVarsity’s International Student Ministry.

(Photo credit InterVarsity)

Their arrival provides InterVarsity with the wonderful opportunity to welcome these students to our country and the campus. We give tours of cities, teach and play new sports, go on retreats, invite them home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. And we have the privilege of learning about their homes and lives, too.

But ministering to international students is not only fun: it’s also effective and strategic. The students usually already know English and are eager to understand U.S. culture, so we can connect with internationals from dozens of countries without having to learn dozens of languages. Plus, we can much more easily minister to those from closed countries while they’re on U.S. campuses and more open to learning new things.

While some students will remain in the U.S. after graduation, many of them will use their degrees to become academic, business, and government leaders in their home countries. And students who’ve been transformed by Jesus during college will influence their home countries in other ways, as well.

The welcome and experiences international students receive in the U.S., especially during their first few weeks of cultural transition, have a long-term impact on their lives and views of both Christianity and America. As internationals reach positions of leadership, that impact is multiplied considerably.

A Future World Leader

(Photo credit InterVarsity)

Here’s one example: on a transatlantic flight some years ago, a businessman chatted with a new student from a closed country. He realized the student had no one to pick him up when his connecting flight arrived in the U.S. As the plane touched down, he thought of a way to help this student.

He called InterVarsity.

A staff member volunteered to meet the student at the airport, offered him a guestroom for the night, drove the young man around town, and showed him stores where he could find the things he needed at good prices.

That young man eventually graduated and later became prime minister of his country. When the two men reconnected this year through Facebook, the former student (and prime minister) said, “I have never forgotten your generosity and help.”

There are over 800,000 international students on campuses across the country. Imagine if every one of them experienced kindness like this!

Your Role

You can be part of welcoming international students. Invite them to join you in fun activities, meals, or shopping trips with your friends. This brief video provides several other ideas.

And this article includes tips for building friendships with international students.

May tens of thousands of international students experience the great love of Jesus Christ this fall through His people!

Since it can be very difficult for international students to get home
on Christmas break, they appreciate the opportunity to relax, discuss the
claims of the Bible, and have some fun. They enjoy activities such as broom ball, ice skating, talent shows, and dinner
with local American families. 

Some students at the Michigan house party also choose to jump into Lake
Huron through a hole in the ice after steaming in a Finnish sauna! InterVarsity staff member Terrell Smith
recalls one particular student who really enjoyed that experience.

"He says, ‘Terrell, I come from Indonesia. I would never be able to do this in my whole
life," Smith said. 

Another highlight is the yearly New Year's Eve international dinner. InterVarsity staff use grocery lists provided
by the students to get all the ingredients together. Then the students spend a full day together preparing
dishes from their home countries for everyone to eat. 

"All afternoon they're cooking," Smith says. "The entire dining room turns into a
kitchen. They're making Chinese dumplings;
they're making Indian dishes; they're making salads. They're doing it together with people from
their own country, and they're doing it with people who are not from their own
country. It's a huge international undertaking
and lots and lots of fun." 

One feature of the house parties is daily small group Bible studies and
speakers who discuss the Christian faith. The students' home countries represent the distribution of international
students in American colleges and universities. The largest groups are from
China and India. 

"I believe more and more students come because they have questions,"
says Smith. "There has been a change, especially
among the mainland Chinese." 

In the past, Chinese students were cautious about attending the house
parties, because showing too much interest in Christianity could be dangerous. Today, however, the dynamic has changed. Instead of asking whether any other Chinese are
coming, students typically ask if they may bring a friend. 

Students often come because they know little about Christianity and
want to learn more, or because they feel spiritual need in their lives. Many of them have come to the United States with
expectations about Christianity and American culture.

"Asian students have the preconceived notion that everybody here is a Christian
and that this is a Christian nation," Smith explains. They have a lot of questions when they find
that American behavior does not always follow Christian teaching. 

Smith loves being a part of informal conversations throughout the week,
when many students experience breakthroughs in their understanding of the Bible's
teaching.

"It could be during a question-and-answer session. It could be sitting at a meal. It could be at a Bible study. It could be on a walk. It's like scales fall off of their eyes: suddenly a smile comes on their face, and you
can see something has just happened to them. That to me is what makes it so fun and exciting," Smith says. 

When Mary Newman, a missionary from World Gospel Mission realized this, she knew she had to help them. She was studying Spanish at RGBI at the time and decided to put together packages for the young women there. 

Newman and her mother prepared bags filled with shampoo, toothpaste, detergent, lotions, first aid supplies, and other things. Then, the young women were all invited to a party where the bags were distributed. 

Last year, stuffed animals were a big hit with the girls. Denise Love, RGBI professor who
hosted that party, said, "I dumped the whole bag on the floor…They all ran and screamed to grab an animal. They were so thrilled. It gave each one something very special to hold while they were so far away from their families."

Today, volunteers help provide all these "practical gifts of love." The project has grown so that young men and married students can receive gifts as well. They are all very thankful for the items which they cannot get on their own.