Ohio State University

Hope and Healing at Ohio State University

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 19:46:34 +0000

Gordon Govier

Hope and Healing at Ohio State University

The day after an angry man crashed his car into a building on the Ohio State University (OSU) campus and attacked students with a knife, ��ñ�� students mobilized a compassionate response. They erected a “Wailing Wall” on campus that offered fellow students an opportunity to lament and express their fears and hopes. Students also prayed with those who wanted prayer.

The man, Abdul Razak Ali Artan, was shot and killed by a responding police officer. Eleven students and faculty members were injured in the attack. The campus was on lockdown for just over an hour and classes were called off for the rest of the day.

“When it was revealed that the attacker was an OSU freshman, ethnically Somali, and religiously Muslim, the level of fear on campus rose palpably,” said ��ñ�� area director Rachel Bobbitt. “Somali and Muslim students feared retaliation with racism or violence. So it was deeply meaningful when a Muslim woman came to our wall on Tuesday and shared her thoughts.” Ohio State University president Michael Drake also stopped by and expressed his support for what the ��ñ�� students were doing.

The Muslim woman who came to the wall stayed for three hours, and even helped bring other people to the wall. She was already friends with some of the ��ñ�� students and had participated in some previous ��ñ�� activities.

“The campus was seeing Christians and Muslims reconciled together, right before their eyes, which is a unity and trust rarely seen,” Rachel said. “This was not just a symbolic action; important spiritual work was done and lives were changed.”

The “Wailing Wall” came out of an extended time of prayer shared by ��ñ�� staff and students the afternoon after the attack, as they considered how to respond. They chose an expression similar to Proxe Stations—artistic displays that are often used to open up dialogue about spiritual issues with students. Students from all five of the ��ñ�� chapters at OSU participated when the wall was set up on the day after the tragedy, dialoguing and praying with fellow students who stopped to share their concerns.

Some of the ��ñ�� students shared about their experiences as they helped lead the campus in a response to the crisis:

“One girl in particular said she grew up around Christians but trust was broken and she was unsure of what she believed. She thanked us for being there and said that her faith in the Christian community was a little bit more restored because of what we were doing and how she saw people being encouraged. I feel like God was using our response to spread the gospel on campus.”

“Our mural actually exceeded my expectations. I have bad allergies right now and yesterday may have been really tiring for me but I knew I needed to be at that wall. Lots of students wanted to say something but didn’t know how to put it into words, so I’m glad we were there to offer encouragement and ‘be the light’ on campus. I’m proud of what God did yesterday and that he was able to use us.”

“I think God really showered everyone with warmth. Every person that came wrote or drew something encouraging. Some people were compelled to have conversation or stick around. One or two people decided to hug us as well. We saw so much kindness yesterday in contrast to the violence of Monday.”

��ñ��’s vision is to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed.

News Keywords

Renewing the Campus

Prayer

Ohio State University

Muslims

Lamentations

The Challenge and the Opportunity

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 15:18:57 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

The Challenge and the Opportunity

For the first time ever, more than one million college students from abroad are studying on U.S. campuses. The Institute of International Education’s Open Doors 2016 Report says the international students come from 219 countries in all, but most are from China and India.

Marc Papai, ��ñ��’s director of International Student Ministry (ISM), observed that international students offer an opportunity to reach the whole world. “It’s hard to point to a demographic that’s more important or more strategic,” he said.

International students have been part of Marc’s work on campus from the beginning, although not always his main focus. He started an international student outreach as part of his first ��ñ�� assignment at Kent State University 29 years ago. Over the years he’s observed the proportion of undergraduates to graduate students gradually increasing in the international student ranks, and has seen steady growth in numbers as globalization continues to open the door to more and more students from other countries.

Marc first connected with ��ñ�� before he became a student at Ohio State University (OSU). As a fairly new believer, he benefited from a weeklong retreat at ��ñ��’s Cedar Campus the week before classes started. “My entire vocational life and values, the shape of who I am, was profoundly impacted that week by ��ñ��,” he recalled. “I remember realizing that Christianity was not something I was adding to my life; it was going to be my life.”

The following week when he arrived on the OSU campus as a freshman he immediately connected with the ��ñ�� chapter and then held several leadership positions as a student, serving as chapter president his senior year. Following graduation, he worked as a chemical engineer for a consulting firm for eight years, but then returned to campus to join ��ñ��’s ministry. He has been with ��ñ�� ever since, serving most recently as Ohio division director, before becoming ISM director two years ago.

While more than 100 ��ñ�� staff ministers primarily focus on ISM, and 50 fellowships exist specifically for international students, more than half of the international students involved in ��ñ�� are not in ISM-specific chapters. Marc and his team are developing new resources, including a new booklet called Starting International Small Groups. Marc said, “We hope to see every chapter in the U.S. have at least one international small group. There’s no reason why they can’t.”

Hospitality has always been a high value in international student ministry; to help newcomers adapt to an often strange culture and offer a friendly person to talk with. Marc encourages those who have never befriended an international student to seek out opportunities. “The gospel is intrinsically cross-cultural,” he said. “Reaching across cultures seems to be close to the heart of God.”

And while hospitality is a good starting place for anyone, especially during the holiday season, he encourages Christians to avoid being pushy about their faith while at the same time not avoiding talking about it when the right opportunity comes. “[International students] come from different perspectives but there is a lot of curiosity about Jesus,” he said.

One of the most unique aspects of ministry to international students on many campuses is the unusually high level of cooperation among staff working for different organizations. “It’s one of the most pleasant discoveries I made since becoming director,” Marc said. “The degree of partnership in international student ministry exceeds significantly the partnership I experienced when I was a division director, working with American students.”

Other ISM tools that are being developed include resources to help internationals in student leadership development and resources to help students grow in their faith following their return to their home country. One of the most challenging ISM issues is the large attrition rate among students who begin following Christ in the U.S. A group of eight international student leaders is currently involved in a project designed to reveal more of the dynamics of returning students. They are receiving extra training in discipleship practices and cross-cultural leadership skills.

��ñ�� has one further important ISM resource: a partner movement—affiliates of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students—in 168 countries. Marc is working on building relationships with IFES, including developing an exchange program with the German movement. He’s looking forward to learning how international student ministry is done in other countries.

“We have a unique opportunity in history to influence the world through international students,” Marc said. “I don’t know how long this window will be open. The best and the brightest are coming to the U.S. above any other country. We cannot be indifferent to this opportunity.”

News Keywords

Ohio State University

ISM

International Student Ministry

Prayer Leads to Peace

webteam@intervarsity.org — Fri, 27 Jun 2003 05:00:00 +0000

News

Teresa Buschur

Prayer Leads to Peace

In both Scripture and their lives, students at Ohio State University are finding that they can’t have peaceful relationships with others without prayer. As Kathy tried to mediate conflicts among members of ��ñ��’s leadership team, she often prayed that God would allow the students to understand each other’s opinions and let go of some of their own stubbornness and work together to find solutions.

Kathy often stopped the students in the middle of their discussions to have them pray as a group for God’s voice and guidance in solving the conflicts.

Kathy often stopped the students in the middle of their discussions to have them pray as a group for God’s voice and guidance in solving the conflicts. She has seen the Holy Spirit work in many students’ hearts, through their relationships with each other, personal prayer, and Scripture study. As students worked to resolve their conflicts, they were able to forgive, apologize, and reconcile.

Through studying the Bible passage James 3:16-4:8 together, ��ñ�� students have discovered how powerful prayer can be. They have found that in order to have peaceful relationships with others, they need to experience personal peace, which only God can give. As students seek God’s peace and guidance for their lives and ministry through prayer, they realize that God will provide everything they really need in life. Students can have peaceful relationships with others as they use the power of prayer to rely on God’s power to provide their needs.

News Keywords

Ohio State University