ISM

God Still Hits Home Runs

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 26 Nov 2019 14:34:14 +0000

Gordon Govier

God Still Hits Home Runs

God spoke to Steve Tengan with a baseball analogy. An alumnus of ��ñ�� at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Steve was working full-time (40 hours) at an engineering job and volunteering with ��ñ�� almost full-time (30 hours). “I really liked being an ��ñ�� volunteer, but I knew it wasn’t sustainable to do both," he said.

He also felt strongly about justice ministry, particularly helping inner-city kids, and wondered if that was the kind of ministry he should be doing. Should he continue volunteering with ��ñ�� or was God calling him to another ministry?

As Steve prayed and pondered, he was reminded that campus ministry offered a unique window of opportunity: to be able to help redirect the lives of students who were being called by God to live a life of purpose, to redirect their lives as his had been. He realized that sometimes new circumstances meant changed priorities. God gave him the analogy of giving up the Giants to become a Dodgers fan when moving from the Bay area to Los Angeles. He left his engineering job and joined ��ñ�� full-time as a Campus Staff Minister.

A Miserable Failure

Steve met ��ñ�� his first day on campus at UCLA when student volunteers helped him unload the family minivan and then invited him to a Bible study. But for his first two years on campus he was apathetic and drifted spiritually. As his sophomore year wrapped up, he vowed to turn his life around, but realized he had failed miserably by the end of that summer.

“If I hadn’t known that I could get forgiveness from God and, with his guidance, make better decisions, I would have considered suicide,” he said. “It was very clear to me in that moment, I didn’t want to mess around anymore.”

Living in community with other Christians, beginning in his junior year, and helping with outreach for a Bible study on his floor, brought focus to Steve’s spiritual life. He was no longer living the double life that made him weary. “I went from ‘having fun’ and neglecting class to doing ministry,” he said.

As he approached graduation, Steve was thankful for how God had redirected his life. He wanted to follow the other five UCLA ��ñ�� students who were joining ��ñ�� staff, but to honor his parents he took an engineering job instead. However, he stayed involved as a volunteer until, through the baseball analogy, God called him to full-time campus ministry.

God continued to speak to Steve through circumstances about priorities. He met his wife Sherilyn on campus—she worked for another ministry—and they were married in 2003. At the time, he still felt that God might eventually call him to inner city ministry. But Sherilyn was drawn to ministry overseas and prayed God would also call Steve to overseas ministry instead.

One day, as he met with colleagues to talk about the challenge of supporting a ministry plant in a country in the Middle East, God revealed to Steve that missions was a social justice issue. “I’m all about the margins and now I'm on a campus with 40 Christian groups,” he thought. “Why not go to a country with less than that many churches?”

It took several years of discernment and preparation until finally, in 2007, Steve and Sherilyn moved to Paraguay as part of ��ñ�� Link. “It was good for my soul but hard to adapt to,” he said later, about their time in Paraguay. The first challenge was learning the language. Then came the challenge of replanting a campus ministry. By the time they left in 2014 there was a healthy and growing student movement.

From Paraguay to Portland

Steve and Sherilyn figured they would return to southern California after leaving Paraguay but were encouraged instead to check with Pauline Fong, who was then Regional Director for the Northwest. As Pauline explained the unique opportunity available in the position of International Student Ministry Area Director in Portland and how living there contrasted with living in L.A., both Steve and Sherilyn were on board.

International Student Ministry (ISM) has a long and rich history in the Portland area but it was time for some restructuring. Two of the top issues Steve is wrestling with are preparing converts for re-entry to their home country, so that their faith remains strong, and building stronger connections between ISM chapters and multiethnic chapters, to help international students develop more Christian friendships.

“I’m excited about God's expanding vision for us,” Steve said, citing successes such as an African student who has blossomed in leadership in a variety of contexts, including with African American students. However, some staff transitions away from ISM have slowed advances.

“We’re not in a big season of harvest right now but we are seeing noticeable differences,” Steve said. “Everybody who has stayed with us for the last five years owns the vision and is excited by it.”

What enlivens Steve most of all is being able to see students transformed by the power of the Gospel. Mark Camp, where students spend the whole week studying the Gospel of Mark, is his favorite week of the year, one of the times when he has the most contact with students. His family staffed the Tacoma Urban Program last summer and he praised God for the spiritual growth he saw in students’ lives. “I haven’t experienced seeing that quick and drastic transformation elsewhere,” he said.

Through it all, Steve’s reminded that God still hits home runs. “I’ve learned that I’m not as important as I think I am,” he said. “I can have all these plans but ultimately it’s not me, it’s God.”

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International Student Ministry Opportunities Continue to Grow

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 20:20:02 +0000

Press Room

International Student Ministry Opportunities Continue to Grow

For Immediate Release

(Madison, WI) --- The 1,095,299 international students studying in the US during the 2018-2019 academic year set a new record. Last year was the fourth consecutive year that this group of students surpassed one million, according to the 2019 Open Doors report of the Institute of International Education.

“��ñ�� has been promoting friendships with international students as a part of our ministry since we began, 78 years ago,” said Marc Papai, Director of International Student Ministry (ISM). In the mid-1950s, staff were inviting international students to International Houseparties, a chance to get away from campus during holiday vacations. Houseparties were held at many different locations, particularly at ��ñ�� camps, like Cedar Campus. And the tradition still continues.

In 1959, ��ñ�� published a Guide to International Friendships by then ISM director Paul Little. It reported that the US international student population at the time was 90,000. Today’s Friendships with International Students booklet carries on this legacy of encouraging and equipping students and volunteers to connect across cultures.

“Today ��ñ��’s 2030 Calling is focused on calling ‘every corner of every campus to follow Jesus,’” Papai said. “That includes international students, who are now a part of the student body at the majority of US campuses.”

At some campuses, ISM is the only ��ñ�� presence. “Part of our ministry is to help US students gain a deeper appreciation for God’s people of every international ethnicity and for God’s purposes in the world,” he said.

During the 2018-2019 school year, 3,846 international students were regularly involved in 499 ��ñ�� undergraduate and graduate fellowships. Sixty of those fellowships were specifically for international students.

The IIE Open Doors report also announced that the number of US students studying abroad continues to increase. During the 2017-2018 academic year numbers were up 2.7 percent over the previous year.

��ñ��’s Study Abroad ministry, now in its seventh year, helps students get involved with Christian community in other countries, connecting them to local campus ministry, discipling them through video conferencing, and challenging them through short pilgrimage experiences. Study Abroad also offers semester-long justice-focused programs in Rwanda and Ecuador. Last year 620 students participated in ��ñ�� Study Abroad, and another 125 engaged with Study Abroad resources.

Another long-standing ��ñ�� tradition encourages local community members to invite international students into their home for Thanksgiving Dinner. Students get to learn about and experience a traditional American holiday, making new family connections while they are a long way from home.

��ñ�� Christian Fellowship has 1,119 student and faculty chapters on 772 campuses across the US, from the Ivy League to community colleges. ��ñ�� is a founding member of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students and a charter member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.

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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.”

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Ohio State University

ISM

International Student Ministry

Remembering Lu Lingzi

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Fri, 03 May 2013 13:54:32 +0000

News

Alec Hill, President of ��ñ��

Remembering Lu Lingzi

Boston Bombing

Two days after the Boston Marathon bombing, the media released the name of the third victim, Lu Lingzi, a Chinese student. As I read several articles, my heart stopped: I recognized the background of many of her photos—Toah Nipi, our camp in New Hampshire. This tragic story had suddenly become very personal.

Lingzi came to Boston University (BU) last fall as a graduate student in statistics. Her roommate, another Chinese student, was a Christian involved in our International Student Ministry (ISM) graduate student chapter. As roommates often do, she invited Lingzi to come to a weekend conference. One of our staff at BU, Tim Leary, hosted a lunch to explain the nature of the retreat to Lingzi and others.

By all accounts, Lingzi had a wonderful time that weekend. Her Facebook photos show a smiling, engaged student soaking up her surroundings. In the photo above, Lingzi is in the center (in white), with her friends at Toah Nipi last fall

Fast-forward to the night after the bombing. When Lingzi failed to return to her dorm, her roommate went from hospital to hospital. In another attempt to find Lingzi, Tim posted a prayer request for her on Facebook.

As a result of that posting, Tim received a flood of media requests to identify the third victim. Out of respect for Lingzi’s family in China — they initially had requested that her name not be made public — Tim refused to disclose her name.

In the days that followed, Tim and his wife, Sarah — also on staff — ministered to international students at BU. Sarah was particularly close to Lingzi’s roommate. Reflecting on those difficult days, Tim observed, “It was an honor to minister to students in the midst of pain.”

BU held a ceremony honoring Lingzi and her family, 1200 people participated. As a recognized BU chaplain, Tim was asked to read from the book of Revelation. By all accounts, the most moving aspect of the event was a eulogy given by Lu Jun, Lingzi’s father. Of his only child, he lamented, “She was the joy of our lives.” Afterwards, Tim handed him photos of Lingzi from the fall retreat (see below) as well as a Chinese/English New Testament.

Personal Reflections

First, as the father of two daughters who are about Lingzi’s age, my initial response has been to deeply grieve for her parents. I simply cannot imagine their pain. A month before the Boston Marathon, my eldest ran a similar event in Washington DC. Her fiancée was standing at the finish line with flowers. Had she run in Boston, her time would have put both of them very near the blasts.

Second, as president of ��ñ��, I am incredibly proud for our BU staff. Not only have they been missional in engaging international students with the Gospel, but they have also demonstrated high character by protecting a grieving family. Rather than draw media attention to themselves, they chose to honor others.

Lingzi is the face of so many Chinese students today — bright, engaging, and open. Currently, nearly 200,000 Chinese are studying in America (out of a total of 750,000 international students). Our State Department estimates that 25 percent of all of the world’s future leaders are studying in the United States right now.

International students are a very high priority for ��ñ��. One out of every nine of our students comes from abroad. As our ISM Director Lisa Espineli Chinn says, our motto is “First to Welcome.” We want all students to be recipients of our hospitality and love.

I am so thankful that our community has been part of Lingzi’s story. In her memory, may we redouble our efforts to minister to internationals through student leaders, volunteers and staff.

Additional Photos of Lingzi at Toah Nipi

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International Student Ministry

Boston University

From Atheist to Chapter Planter

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:45:30 +0000

News

Sharon Messmore

From Atheist to Chapter Planter

When Pranny Xie and her family moved to the United States from China, she had no interest in religion. A Buddhist grandmother and non-religious parents never impressed on her the importance of faith. When a friend invited her to come along to a meeting of International Christian Fellowship (ICF), Pranny initially turned it down. Out of a desire to avoid religion Pranny also avoided social situations until she was unable to stand feeling lonely and isolated anymore.

Finally, after six months of rejecting her friend’s invitations, Pranny attended an ICF meeting. She didn’t like the Bible study and wasn’t interested in the worship service, but she liked the people in the group. That kept her coming back. Their interest in her, their friendliness, and their love surrounded her. Pranny became curious about these people, and about Jesus.

While Pranny enjoyed spending time with ICF, she still wasn’t convinced about their faith. “I thought Christians were fake and that they were nice to me because they had some purpose for me," she said. Eventually she began meeting and talking with ICF staff worker, Eric Wu, about Christianity.

She confronted him directly with her doubts. She still remembers Eric’s answer, “Hey, Pranny. I’m a Christian and I feel blessed by having God in my life and I think it’s a great thing. So now I just want to share this blessing with you. Even though I have this purpose for you, do you think that’s bad?”

A New Journey of Faith

These conversations resonated with her. In 2007, one year after she started going to ICF, Pranny accepted Christ and began a new journey of faith. She met with her friend Angela every week to pray, growing in her devotion and trust in God. She learned more about her new faith in Bible studies of Mark's Gospel, saying they greatly impacted her spiritual growth.

Pranny visited a church and experienced the Spirit of God filling her – the first time she spoke in tongues she was overcome by the reality of God! The more she felt the presence of God the bolder she became in inviting classmates to attend church or studies with her.

One thing Pranny found helpful in discovering more of God was telling other people about Him. This caused her to reflect on God’s person and consider what He means to the world.

At a conference for Chinese Christians, Pranny learned more about obedience to God and how to effectively spend time with Him. She began to have a regular Quiet Time to build her relationship with God. She continued to meet weekly with both Angela and Eric, who discipled her during her time in school.

Invited to Join ��ñ�� Staff

Eventually, Eric asked Pranny if she would consider going on ��ñ�� staff after graduation. She was shocked! Staff was for the wise Christians, she thought, the ones who did everything at a high level, not for her.

After others continued to encourage her, Pranny decided to fill out an application. Almost immediately she began to be discouraged again. She felt more disqualified for the position with every page she filled out.

Then she felt God speaking to her one Sunday at church. Just as Jesus could feed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, so too could He use her resources, no matter how small, to do His work. Pranny prayed that God would use her – and she was accepted on staff.

Before beginning her work on campus, Pranny needed to have 80% of her financial support raised, as is common with ��ñ�� field staff. She knew that meeting students early would be vital in planting a new chapter, so her prayer request was to be fully funded by September when the students arrived on campus. However, international students coming from non-Christian backgrounds often find it difficult to develop enough partnerships, much less to do so quickly.

Building a Team for Campus Ministry

She began building her team in April, finding friends, co-workers, ICF alumni, and church members to pray for her. She sent weekly updates to her prayer team, informing them of her progress and her prayer requests. Pranny says her church was a great resource at this time, supporting her and covering her with their prayers. She met with Eric and the pastor of her church to practice development talks. She reached full funding in September, just before the students arrived.

Pranny began planting an ISM chapter at Cal Poly Pomona right away. Her first step was to take a walk around campus, praying for students and for the school year. She and her supervisor, Tim Hsieh, ran information tables at the beginning of the year, and she started a Bible study in the library during the first quarter.

Even with everything beginning well, Pranny had times where she felt underqualified for staff work. She was still a Chinese woman placed in American culture. Every so often she became frustrated with attempting to explain what she meant to others using a language still somewhat foreign to her. Sometimes she struggled with accepting her identity in contrast to those around her.

Speaking at Urbana 12

Transitioning from student to staff also required a pespective shift that didn’t always come naturally. As a student, Pranny would attend conferences intending to receive and be filled. Now she thinks about what the new students will receive and how it will impact them. She is also taking a greater role in leading and planning than she did before entering staff, which included speaking at the Urbana 12 International Students Track (listen to the audio of her talk.)

For the second quarter, the international chapter had a small team running the information tables and grew to two Bible studies meeting weekly. Pranny had invited students to her non-Christian study, but was struggling and feeling self-doubt at the beginning of the term.

��ñ�� staff were led one particular week to pray about conversions. The power of prayer was revealed as one Bible study participant accepted Jesus, the first new Christian of the young chapter! “It’s about God’s timing,” Pranny said, “Not about what you can do.” God’s Spirit worked unseen, revealing itself when Pranny was disheartened.

The majority of the Cal Poly Pomona ICF chapter is from China, but Pranny hopes to add more diversity to the group. She continues to pray for her students and for God’s call to be heard and followed in their lives.

News Keywords

ISM

International Student Ministry

Cal Poly Pomona

ISM

God Still Hits Home Runs

God Still Hits Home Runs

A Miserable Failure

From Paraguay to Portland

International Student Ministry Opportunities Continue to Grow

International Student Ministry Opportunities Continue to Grow

The Challenge and the Opportunity

The Challenge and the Opportunity

Remembering Lu Lingzi

Remembering Lu Lingzi

Boston Bombing

Personal Reflections

Additional Photos of Lingzi at Toah Nipi

From Atheist to Chapter Planter

From Atheist to Chapter Planter

A New Journey of Faith

Invited to Join ��ñ���� Staff

Building a Team for Campus Ministry

Speaking at Urbana 12

Invited to Join ��ñ�� Staff