By Grace Thornton
The Alabama Baptist
The minute the college student got to his family’s home, Chris Mills knew he was going to have to help her.
“We were having a party at our house and on the way there she got in a fender bender,” he said of the student, who had come to the U.S. from a different country to study. “She didn’t know what she was supposed to do so she left the scene.”
Mills had the opportunity to come alongside her and help her navigate that situation, calling the police and figuring out what she needed to do next.
“She was very appreciative of that but it also gave me the opportunity to be a part of her life in a different way,” he said.
She began to attend Mills’ Sunday School class.
“A couple of days before she was going to fly back to her country we filled up the baptistry and baptized her on a weekday,” he said. “I believe hospitality was something that helped her to be more open to the gospel than perhaps she would’ve been otherwise.”
And Mills, state missionary with a focus on collegiate ministry for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said she represents a massive influx of students into the U.S. from hard-to-reach countries — students who have likely never heard about the hope Christ offers.
The number of international students at U.S. colleges and universities recently topped 1 million for the first time, according to the 2016 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange.
Simultaneously Saudi Arabia rose to the third largest sending country, beating out South Korea to earn its spot in the top three behind China and India. Of Saudi Arabia’s 27 people groups, 26 are unreached, according to J.D. Payne, pastor of church multiplication at The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham.
Not only that but “India is home to the largest number of unreached people groups in the world. China is No. 2,” he writes on his blog at jdpayne.org. “Do we see the possibilities? Will we be wise stewards in this moment? The Divine Maestro orchestrates the movement of the peoples.”
Mills said it’s an unprecedented opportunity.
“God is certainly bringing the nations to our doorstep and He’s bringing them from places that are often extremely difficult to get Westerners into, not to mention that it would be at great financial cost,” he said. “The fact that God has brought these people to us here, a place where we can easily have spiritual conversations with them — it’s mind blowing.”
And not only are doors wide open here to share — students who put their faith in Christ while here are taking the gospel back to their country, Mills said.
“We have a unique opportunity to see God work and see the Great Commission being fulfilled by Americans reaching international students who are calling America home for a season and then are going back to their homeland — to places we can’t get to,” he said.
Chance to make a difference
Brad Bensinger, Baptist campus minister for Troy University, said he sees that as a tremendous chance to make a difference.
“Many students and scholars come to Alabama universities each year to study and teach. They will then return home and share all that they have learned,” he said. “Our prayer and responsibility is that they have had the opportunity to hear the gospel and a chance to receive salvation.”
Troy itself is at the forefront of that opportunity — it ranked No. 33 on the list of Top 40 Master’s Colleges and Universities Hosting International Students compiled by Open Doors data.
“Connecting with one student can open the door to encounter their friends,” Bensinger said.
‘Love on them’
He told the story of Charles and Ruth Walker, members of First Baptist Church, Troy, who have done “a tremendous job” over the years of connecting with one student and then slowly bringing in their friends.
“They invite them to their home, feed them, take them places and just continually love on them,” Bensinger said. “They are also involved with the ESL class that First Baptist started this school year that meets at the Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM).”
BCM also tries to provide a lunch each year for the incoming class of internationals at Troy. The Walkers participate and have connected with students through this event, he said.
Mills said those are all great examples of how to grab hold of the opportunities God has brought to Alabama’s doorstep.
“God has really opened up some doors and we’re not sure how long they’re going to be open, but when we are faithful to enter them He is revealing Himself to these students and they are coming to know Him as Lord and Savior,” he said.
Hospitality key to reaching internationals
Reaching international students with the gospel can be summed up in one word — hospitality.
That’s what Chris Mills, state missionary with a focus on collegiate ministry for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, says.
Looking for ways to do that? He and Brad Bensinger, Baptist campus minister at Troy University, offer some suggestions:
Open your home.
“As Southerners and Christians, hospitality is something that we’re pretty good at,” Mills said. “We can take that and extend it toward the international students around us by hosting them for normal meals or even holiday parties.”
When Americans live in other countries for longer than just a tourism trip, “we want to do life there and do the things that the people there do,” he said. “You learn so much more about a culture by doing life with them and we can offer that same opportunity to them here.”
Help them meet basic needs.
Students need many things when they first arrive, Bensinger said, “so trips to Walmart, to the bank and other places can be very helpful.”
Helping them learn English, either through one-on-one conversation or teaching English as a Second Language classes can be useful too, he said.
Be their hosts in the community.
Do you live in the Florence area? Take that University of North Alabama student to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Live near the coast? Take a student at one of the area colleges or universities to the beach, Mills said.
“Do the things with them that you would do with your family,” he said. “In my opinion that’s the best way to do international student ministry — to love them and let them know you are their close friends and family here.” (TAB)
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