Mission Frontiers

July-August 2016:

International Students

Contents:

International Students A Historic Opportunity to Reach the Nations

by Rick Wood

International Students

The Seeds of Disciple-Making Movements

by Hua Mulan & Glen Egilson

The Sounds of Love and Global Transformation

Forty Years of Reaching International Students

by Wichit & Miriam Maneewone with Anjuli Paschall

Discovery Bible Study

Equipping International Students to Share Biblical Truth Around the Globe

by Rich Mendola

The M:28 Strategy

by Derrah Jackson

Getting Unstuck from Service Land

from Service-Oriented Ministries to Disciple-Making Movements

by Christopher Sneller

Discipleship Lessons Learned

by Tyler Barron

How Ambassadors for Christ Also Serve the Cause of Diplomacy

by George and Shary Frahm

Christian Students Grow the Kingdom of God in China

by Stacey Bieler

Being a World Missionary at Home

A Mission Pastor’s Perspective

by Tom Thomas

The Global International Student Ministry Movement via the Lausanne Movement

An Insider’s Perspective

by Leiton Chinn

Representing Jesus Faithfully to Refugees

by Darrell Dorr

Biblical Content for a Movement

by Steve Smith

A Generational Model for ISM Expansion

by Bill Perry

“They Did Business With You Because of Your Great Wealth of Goods”

The Tragic Repercussions of Materialism and Consumerism in Missions

by Jean Johnson

A Common Approach that Often Fails

by greg.parsons@frontierventures.org

Editorial

International Students A Historic Opportunity to Reach the Nations

by Rick Wood

Is there a purpose to history? Is history just a random series of events where various empires rise and fall as they fight each other over land, possessions or pride? Or is God orchestrating events to achieve some mysterious purpose? If you understand what God’s ultimate purpose is, and so very few in the church actually do, then the seemingly random events of history begin to make more sense and we can even find our place in God’s purpose for history and mankind.

From the time of the Fall, God has been working to reconcile a lost world to Himself according to the promise He made to Abraham when He said, “and through you all peoples on earth will be blessed.” Gen. 12:3. We see the ultimate fulfillment of this promise to Abraham in Rev. 5:9 and 7:9 when Jesus is given the worship He deserves from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.  In the new heavens and new earth that God will one day create, every people group of humanity will be there worshipping God in all of their uniqueness. The kingdoms of this earth will have become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus and the glory of God will cover the earth as the waters cover the seas.

Throughout history God has been working to accomplish this promised vision of the future. He has been working to bring the gospel from where it isn’t to where it needs to go to bless all peoples. God’s people have most often been unwilling to go to the nations to bring the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to every person, tribe and tongue. As a result, God has had to use involuntary means throughout history to get the gospel to those who have no access to it. We can see this in the invasions of the Roman Empire; the colonization of the North and South America and numerous other examples.

Today, more people are traveling more widely and freely than ever before. Never in history has it been easier to communicate the gospel to those from unreached people groups. Hundreds of unreached peoples reside in our cities, both large and small, where the church and its people already live. God has brought these peoples here so we can easily reach them. This trend is only accelerating. The mission field is at our doorsteps. The question is whether we will open our doors, welcome them in, and share the good news of Jesus Christ with them.

International Students: An Opportunity to Change History

One of the most strategically important of these human migrations is that of international students. There are currently around 750,000 international students in the U.S. and they come from nearly every country in the world, many of which missionaries cannot enter. These students are the best and brightest the nations of the world have to offer and these countries are choosing to send them to us at their expense. These students will return to their host country to become the future leaders and influencers in their society. This is a God-ordained opportunity for us to reach the peoples of the world through these students.

This historic opportunity can either be a blessing or a curse. If we ignore these people, wish they weren’t here or even treat them poorly then these future leaders could go back to become our future adversaries rather than friends.

One international student by the name of Sayyid Qutb came to the U.S. in 1948. Instead of experiencing friendship, hospitality and the love of Christ, he experienced racial prejudice and a culturally insensitive church. He returned to his home country of Egypt more anti-western and radicalized than before. Sayyid Qutb went on to develop the ideological foundation for Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood. Osama bin Laden was an avid student of Qutb’s works and they were the basis for bin Laden’s creation of Al Qaeda.

Could well-trained Jesus followers reaching out to Sayyid with love, respect and the gospel of Jesus Christ have made a difference in the direction of Sayyid’s life and ours? Maybe not. But we do know what happened to his life when they did not.

Far too many international students come to the United States and return home never having been invited into an American’s home. This is truly tragic and a terrible loss for God’s kingdom purposes when it happens. The consequences can be very long lasting indeed.

But if instead we welcome them into our homes, show them love, hospitality and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, then we have the tremendous possibility of building bridges of friendship and understanding between cultures while bringing the gospel to those peoples who currently do not have access. See the article starting on page 10 for a great story of how hospitality and love can transform lives for eternity. In this issue we have a number of great stories of how ministry to international students is transforming lives and raising up workers to go back to their home country to begin the process of initiating disciple making movements.

We have all been called to live on mission with God. Reaching out to international students with hospitality and the gospel is an easy way that we can have a dramatically significant impact for the kingdom of God around the world. Most of us should be able to invite international students into our home for dinner and show them the love of Christ. We don’t need a seminary degree to do that. If you would like to get involved in this kind of ministry, please go to isionline.org and ask them for help in getting started.

Raising Up Movement Catalysts

In the last issue of Mission Frontiers, I stated that completing world evangelization is all about movements now. It is all about initiating and fostering movements of discipleship and church planting within the unreached peoples until there is no place left for the gospel to spread—everyone will have access to the gospel in a way that is culturally and linguistically understandable. But this will require the training and deploying of movement catalysts who are able to go to every people group and corner of the world and start these movements.

Those involved in ministry to international students have begun to realize that international students have the ability to be great movement catalysts since they already have an intimate understanding of the language and culture of the people group they come from. All that needs to happen is to get them saved, trained and deployed to go back home to start a movement in a language and culture they already know.

International Students Inc. is using its own specialized approach to Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) training. It is adapted from David Watson’s Discover Bible Study Method. After a time of trial and error testing they developed an approach they call M:28. They have begun to train their entire staff in this discipleship process.

Derrah Jackson reports on page 17 what they discovered in the process of implementing their M:28 strategy. “When we began working with people of peace, we found that they used their existing social networks, and, unsurprisingly, we saw multiplication. The multiplication was typically just one generation, but in one case to the third and, in another, to the fourth generation. A university graduate from that fourth generation group relocated to a large city because of a job offer, and today she is working to start DMM groups and to reach university students in her new home city.”

They are still early in the process of implementing this strategy, but the early results provide hope that international students will be a key factor in fostering movements of discipleship around the world.

About The Author

Rick Wood

Back to Table of Contents

Feature

International Students

The Seeds of Disciple-Making Movements

by Hua Mulan & Glen Egilson

“I’m afraid, Hua. Everyone will be looking at me.”

We were on a campus in China. We were about to enter a Muslim canteen to find students from the unreached Muslim group that we had targeted, and Xiao was suddenly having a case of stage fright.

Xiao, an international student to Canada from China, was on a short-term mission trip back to her home country, to a people group that is mistrustful and even hostile towards Han Chinese.  Within a couple of months of arriving in Canada, she had gone from atheist to Jesus follower. And now, six months later, she was on a short-term mission back home.

Our church loves international students!  For the past 15 years we have boldly reached out to thousands of them on four campuses in our city. Many have come to Christ. We waste no time in discipling them.

Establish

We follow the T4T process in which every new believer is immediately discipled by the person that led them to Christ. To do this, we have created simple (ESL-friendly) materials called ESTABLISH. You don’t have to be an expert to lead someone through these materials – either one-on-one or in a small group. Even a new believer can lead another newer believer.

Through these seven lessons, every international student who comes to Christ learns the non-negotiables of following Jesus. They are mentored towards obeying Jesus – and reaching out to others.

Empower

The next stage is Empower. These 10 lessons focus on persons of peace, gospel bridges, DMM’s (disciple-making movements) and generational multiplication. Our international students are not taught in a classroom, but meet in small groups where they have weekly accountability and do outreach “homework” together.

Our end goal is DMM’s on our campuses. Honestly, we are not there yet, though we have seen some generational multiplication. We have found the harvest to be extremely ripe and we are seeing international students come to Christ all the time, everywhere. On the campus, at parties, in coffee shops. Our students are bold, and they pass that bold DNA down to those that they lead to Jesus.

Unreached People Groups

Our church has selected a Muslim group in China, and we give our international students a vision for this. Our goal is to raise up missionaries, and this involves taking the students on short-term mission trips to our target people. Back to the story of Xiao…

“I was afraid our conversations might cause conflicts. As a Chinese citizen, I was fearful of being sent to prison. My fears started to disappear when I heard God say, ‘Don’t think too much. Just go and love them.’ The more I love them, the more I feel sad for them. They are all struggling on a wrong path without being aware of it. They need to hear the truth.”

On our last day, three of Xiao’s new Muslim girlfriends came for a very tearful goodbye. Love had broken down walls of hostility. Enemies had become friends. We have discovered that international students need two things:

1. To clearly hear the vision

2. To come close to lost peoples and engage with them.

On another mission trip, an international student named Jessica shadowed me as I met with various Muslim students, asking them questions. Like Xiao, Jessica was also only 6-months old in the Lord. When she took a turn at asking questions, I was stunned by her insightful questions! There is just no substitute for personally mentoring our international students.

In the West, we think that it’s more effective to gather 500 people in a room and teach them. We are discovering that small groups and personal mentoring is far more fruitful!

Where We’re Headed

We believe that mobilizing international students to launch DMMs is strategic. They have language and cultural advantages, and they are part of a generation that is being trained to enter into the international marketplace, which makes them versatile. I don’t know if there is a more effective way to do this, but we are convinced that God is giving us an international army to train.

At this point we have a number of former international students who are planning on going, at some point, as long-term missionaries to our unreached people group. The first one will be sent this year.

Let me conclude with this. Our priority is relationships. We are not a campus club or para-church group. We are a church, and so every international student that we lead to Jesus, is immediately enfolded into our church family.

We are walking along a discipleship path with our international students – establishing them and empowering them. Our DNA to launch DMMs becomes their DNA. We haven’t got this all figured out yet, and we’re certainly not doing it perfectly, but we love our students deeply – and we love following Jesus together to the nations.

About The Author

Hua Mulan and her husband have led International Student Ministry in Vancouver, BC for 15 years. This is a church-based ministry, mobilizing both students and families to reach and disciple international students. Hua is on staff at Every Nation Vancouver – a church that is committed to disciple-making movements.

website: http://www.isionline.org

Back to Table of Contents

Feature

The Sounds of Love and Global Transformation

Forty Years of Reaching International Students

by Wichit & Miriam Maneewone with Anjuli Paschall

Conferences, seminaries, mission organizations and even degrees have been established around one idea: How do we reach the lost? Organizations, books, and church programs are geared to learn how we can best share the good news of the gospel, both here and abroad.  For over 40 years, our commitment has been to just keep doing the next right thing, while working with international students whom God has brought to the San Diego area.

Our stories start here.

While we were both raised in Asia, God was already at work weaving in our hearts an expansive worldview. Our culture shaped us to see beyond race and religion. When studying in the United States as a college student, Wichit came to know Christ through campus missionaries. Miriam’s faith and commitment to Christ had solidified while growing up as a missionary kid.

We didn’t have money, seminary degrees or a mission statement, but what we did have was a love for God and for the lost. With limited resources and a wealth of love, we felt the call that God placed on our lives was to love international college students.

Love can be a huge word watered down to have little meaning. But for us, love is specific: It is a sound. Every Friday night for over 40 years in our little farmhouse on the top of a hill, our home has sounded like love: dishes clinging, pots simmering with curry, cymbals clanging, voices chattering (in English and every foreign language imaginable), pockets of laughter erupting and bare feet smacking against tile floors.

One sound you will never hear is a doorbell. On the rare occasion that the doorbell rings, people stop and exchange uneasy eye contact because it is such a rarity. Why would people ring a doorbell when they come home? They don’t. They walk right in. And that’s what we have done to reach the lost. We have given them a home.

At first, our Friday evening Bible study grew to 100, so that over the years thousands of international students have been reached. It also grew into Sunday lunches after church and one-on-one discipleship between college classes. It grew into a church plant geared to train and equip international students to share the gospel when they return home. It grew to overseas ministries and new missionaries. It grew into countries with high concentrations of unreached people groups like Japan, other Pacific Rim countries, India, Myanmar, Tibet, Thailand, Malaysia, China, pockets in the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America. For years, the majestic sounds of these students have echoed throughout our home, churches, cities and around the world until we have now touched well over 115 countries. The sound of coming home grew until it wrapped the world with the good news of the Gospel.

Consider these examples of international students transformed by Christ.

Students like Ivan, Jyap and Young Tak are among the many international students that found Christ while attending our home Bible study. Ivan was 16 years old from Singapore and studying to become a doctor when he was invited to our home on a Friday night. This young, brilliant teenager made a commitment to Christ. Instead of pursuing medicine, he went on to get his doctorate in missions and returned to Singapore to serve as the mission pastor in a church there. Currently, he is transitioning to ministry in a “closed” country.

Jyap, a devoted Thai Buddhist, came to the States to learn English and get her Masters in Business Administration. Instead, Christ radically changed her life. After spending years in our home where she experienced real love, she returned to Thailand to serve the local church and missionaries.

Young Tak, a charismatic 19-year-old Korean, came to our home one day and eventually accepted Christ as his Savior. He left several years later to plant a church in China and in Los Angeles.

The stories are endless, and the lives changed are countless.

It’s really not rocket science. It’s simple. It’s about Jesus. Reaching the lost for Christ means doing what Jesus did, meeting physical needs, crossing cultural boundaries, reaching into the hearts of all who came across His path and inviting them into a life far more rich and real and radiant than the one they were living. We invite international college students into our home where we feed, teach and tell them about Jesus.

Over the years, hundreds, if not thousands, of students have accepted Christ as their Savior and then returned home and shared their faith with family and friends.  The gospel has spread like water in dry lands desperate for life.

These are students who already have passports, instant access into their home countries, speak the language and know the culture are leaders in their communities. They have already established relationships and have automatic influence to reach the lost in their home countries. Some of the work that takes foreign missionaries years to accomplish is instant for an international student returning home.

Is it easy? Yes and no. Christianity is a call to die. It is a call to lay down your life in order to find it. Have
struggles and trials nearly halted our ministry? Yes. Is having people in your home, day in and day out, hard? Yes. Is following the story that God has written inside of you rewarding and entirely life changing? Absolutely!  When you are following the call that Christ has on your life, you accept the hard with the good because that brings the most glory to God. Our call has always been to keep taking small steps of faith that are mighty big for the kingdom of God.

So even as we are into our seventies, the glorious sound of love echoes from our land perched high enough for us to see, not just the surrounding mountains, but eternity.

Photo Credit: Melissa Vacek

About The Author

Wichit and Miriam Maneevone have four daughters and eight grandchildren. They have served with ISI since 1974, reaching the international collegians in the San Diego area through “Lifestyle Discipleship.” They started the original ICF (International Christian Fellowship) in May of 1983. Love, relationship, discipleship and empowering student leadership are keys to this “family-style” ministry. Most students from ICF return home, so nurturing returnees is significant to the vitality of ICF.

Website: http://wichitandmiriammaneevone.weebly.com
Email: mmaneevone@gmail.com

Back to Table of Contents

Feature

Discovery Bible Study

Equipping International Students to Share Biblical Truth Around the Globe

by Rich Mendola

As her family gathers on Saturday morning in China, Lihua shares with them the Bible story she has just discussed at International Friendships’ Friday night Discovery Bible Study in the United States.  The first thing she does when she returns home is call them, and they are eager to hear the story.  Lihua is practicing Discovery Bible Study’s principle of reproduction and multiplication by sharing the stories that she learns with someone else.  Lihua’s family is open and interested in the Bible and are the most natural people to whom she can pass the story.  As an international student studying in Columbus, Ohio, she is one of the 1.1 million international students from almost every nation under heaven who are part of a network of relationships, not only in the cities where they study, but also in the nations of this world.  Lihua has recently become a follower of Jesus through the Bible discussion group of which she is a part.

Lihua’s friend Yoa first invited her to the Bible discussion group. Yao was introduced to our ministry as a result of a former international student who returned to China with his wife.  During his time in the United States, he grew in his faith and gained a vision to return to China to share the gospel.  His wife leads classes in China for students who are preparing to go abroad to study, and when she learned that Yao was coming to Columbus, Ohio, she contacted me.  Because of this contact, I was able to meet Yao upon her arrival in Columbus.  She immediately joined the Discovery Bible Study group.  Although she came with no religious background, Yao was open to learning.  Because she enjoyed the stories that she was learning, she invited her friend Rachel also to join the group.

Another student, Chen, has also become a believer through the group.  Each week, God’s Word speaks to him as we look at questions about the stories and how this effects the way that we think about God and live our lives.  He is passing on what he has learned to his girlfriend in Pittsburgh.  His girlfriend is thankful for the changes that she sees in Chen’s life as a result of his application of the Word of God.  As a result she, too, wants to know about Jesus.

These stories illustrate how quickly the gospel can spread among international students’ natural family and other relationships.  These relational networks extend to other international students studying in the United States and to family members and friends who are back in their country of origin.  Not only are students learning to pass on the Bible stories that they are learning, but they are also learning that discussing the Bible is less daunting than they thought before they began.  They are learning a reproducible method that they can envision themselves practicing.  In fact, students are given the opportunity to facilitate the discussion so that they can see that they are also able to discover the truth in the passage, and that they can help others to do the same.  They use the same set of questions on a weekly basis so that, after several weeks, students become very familiar with these questions.

The Discovery Bible Study begins with a time of sharing where internationals share what they are thankful for or what difficulties they have experienced during the week.  This provides a great opportunity for sharing joys and sorrows with one another.  This sharing also becomes the basis for what they reflect back to God in prayer.  In addition, students share how they applied what they learned from last week’s study.  While not everyone shares, those who are actively seeking God and are experiencing Him through the Word share stories that illustrate the power of His Word.

As we read and review the passages together, students learn the story well enough so that they can easily repeat it to others.  Then, as we focus on the main point of the story and learn to focus on obedience-based discipleship, the Word of God becomes alive.  It is no longer merely a set of principles or philosophy that seekers are learning, but they understand that God is personal and truth is something for everyone.  Through this method, international students not only quickly grow in Christ and pass along what they are learning, but they also quickly move into roles where they can facilitate similar groups.  There is no longer the “expert mentality” in place, which is quite common in cultures that are knowledge-based. This is one of the biggest hindrances to leading a classic Bible study where one teacher prepares and shares a lesson.  Once this barrier is removed, the pressure is reduced and allows for a person who is younger in their faith to immediately serve and share and be able to facilitate other groups.

Two of the students in our international discovery group have already launched a Discovery Bible Study group with a group of Chinese scholars.  Although these facilitators are younger than the scholars in their group, they are accepted because they are learning together.  If they were operating from the “expert” model, it would be difficult to gain the respect necessary to facilitate a discussion about the Bible.

International student ministry has the potential to multiply disciples among many peoples of the world as international students scatter upon return (or move elsewhere).  Because they know the language, are culturally adaptive, and already have a built-in series of relationships, they can be some of the most effective catalysts in seeing the gospel spread among the nations.  In addition, because of their academic training, many will be in positions of influence where they can impact the course of their nations’ histories.

Dr. Billy Kim, the renowned Korean evangelist, who has been used mightily by God, came to know Christ as an international student in the United States.  Bakht Singh, who helped to plant nearly 1,000 churches in India, came to Christ as an international student in Canada.  John Sung, known as the flaming evangelist of China, came to the USA as an international student.  Here he encountered Christ in a fresh way that motivated him to return to China to share the gospel.  As a result of his ministry, thousands came to follow Christ.  The impact of his life continues to affect the church of China.

These are just a few of the stories that illustrate the potential of establishing Church-Planting Movements through returning internationals. Current stories are being written in New Delhi, Shanghai, and Tokyo through internationals who have returned and are leading Discovery Bible Studies among their people.  They teach in universities where they are professors, in the business world where they are working and in research facilities where they are employed.

In order for the potential of impacting nations through returning internationals to be realized, we need to move away from the teacher-centered approaches that have been a staple of international student Bible studies for many years.  Studies that emphasize that internationals correctly understanding the Word of God and the person of Christ can be helpful in evangelism, but are not effective in raising up internationals who are confident and capable of engaging others in the Word of God.

The strength of Discovery Bible Study is that internationals learn together with others, confident that God’s Spirit is available to all who actively seek truth.  They discover that God speaks to them in a clear way when they repent and follow Him.  By sharing what they are learning with one another, they become accountable for putting it into practice.  The discipleship process does not wait until internationals become fully devoted followers of Christ but begins as soon as they begin to respond to God’s Word.  In addition, they learn that simple obedience is more important than a lot of knowledge about who God is.  As international students practice here what they will do in their home countries and are given opportunities to facilitate the Bible discovery process, they are more likely to be fruitful and multiply when they return home.

Thus, through the Discovery Bible Study process the gospel will spread quickly among the nations because of disciples following the pattern of those in Acts who were “scattered and preached the Word wherever they went.” (Acts 8:4, NIV)  Some will return to their countries in the pattern of Acts 11:19, and others will become cross-cultural workers in the pattern of Acts 11:20.  God is accelerating the completion of the Great Commission by sending the nations to us and then sending them among the nations.

Photo Credit: Melissa Vacek

About The Author

Rich Mendola has been working among international students for the past 36 years. He is currently the Executive Director of International Friendships, Inc. (IFI) based in Columbus, OH. He regularly shares the vision of impacting the nations through serving internationals and partnering with them at conferences and churches. He is the author of the “I AM” bible study series.

Email: rmendola@ifiusa.org
Website: http://www.ifipartners.org

Back to Table of Contents

Feature

The M:28 Strategy

by Derrah Jackson

Five years ago, International Students, Inc. (ISI) began implementing a Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) strategy they call M:28. President Dr. Doug Shaw had invited David Watson to be a keynote speaker at the 2006 National Conference in Seattle where David introduced Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) to the ISI field staff.

The Dallas-Ft.Worth staff team was intrigued and began experimenting using DBS with the international students with whom they were working. There were great successes and great failures. Trying to switch existing Bible studies to the DBS format failed in particular because there was no commitment to obedience.

Starting new DBS studies with students who were not people of peace had mixed success. The students liked the discovery format, but again had little commitment to obedience.  A few multiplied, but most did not. Most of these studies were comprised of isolated students who had few previous social connections with one another, much less deep relationships. As always there were a few exceptions.

The M:28 strategy that later ultimately resulted from this trial and error process is a slightly simplified version of the original Watson DBS. When we began working with people of peace, we found that they used their existing social networks, and, unsurprisingly, we saw multiplication. The multiplication was typically just one generation, but in one case to the third and, in another, to the fourth generation. A university graduate from that fourth generation group relocated to a large city because of a job offer, and today she is working to start DMM groups and to reach university students in her new home city.

The transient nature of students is both positive and negative. It can be positive (as in the example above) when one student takes DMM to another location. On the negative side, stressful study schedules and heavy academic loads in a second or third language make scheduling small group meetings difficult. And some graduate students who do work-study are only available nine months before moving.

With the field experience gained in Dallas-Ft Worth, ISI began teaching DMM to all of the staff. The vision of International Students, Inc. is that every international student in the U.S. would have the opportunity to hear the gospel. Despite a staff of more than 380, supplemented by 24,000 volunteers, the only way to realize the vision is for international students themselves to take the gospel into labs, small group meetings on campus, residence halls, and apartment complexes where students live. One of ISI’s key strategies involves international students themselves beginning DMM in all of the countries that send students to the U.S. for university training.

Conservatively, International Students, Inc. has had the privilege of sharing M:28 with more than 100,000 people. The most rapid multiplication is happening outside the U.S., thanks to the number of returned former students who are learning it and sharing it. In 2015, we had the privilege of meeting with 60 returnees in China who wanted to learn DMM. Results in India are, likewise, very encouraging. Using a translator, one of our staff trained a small group in China via Skype. One of those trainees went to the local university, found a person of peace and began a study with that person. He invited his friends and the entire group became believers after several months. One of the students in that group began another group through a friend. This is the heart and promise of DMM!

About The Author

Derrah Jackson and his wife Pam have served with International Students, Inc. for 28 years as campus minister, training director, regional and national field director, and now as National Director of Research and Innovation. Prior to ministry with ISI, he served as a psychologist with the State of Texas and as Pastor of Counseling and Education for a decade at a large church in Austin.

Email: djackson@isionline.org
Website: http://www.isim28.org/

Back to Table of Contents

Feature

Getting Unstuck from Service Land

from Service-Oriented Ministries to Disciple-Making Movements

by Christopher Sneller

International student ministries (ISMs) often get stuck in the land of welcoming and serving students. Hard-working ISM staff and volunteers pick students up from the airport, help them find furniture, teach them English, and organize trips across the nation. None of these activities, in and of themselves, are wrong. The problem comes when service sidelines evangelism and discipleship.

What can ISMs do to turn their service-oriented ministries into disciple-making movements? How can we fulfill our vision of reaching the nations here so that our international graduates go into the world committed to Church-Planting Movements (CPMs) and Disciple-Making Movements (DMMs)? This article explores these questions, probing what must and must not change in ISM, while also providing an example of how an international student ministry got “unstuck.”

The fundamental issue at the heart of Christian discipleship today is no different than two-thousand years ago. Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24). He asks the same piercing question to His would-be followers around the world today. All international student ministries, staff workers, and volunteers must honestly ask: Are we committed to self-denying, cross-bearing, Christ-following discipleship? Once genuinely answered, we can then address the “What-next?” question. While Christ’s call to follow Him remains unchanged, the context differs in the early 21st century.

International students today live in a world shaped by consumerism, technology, and globalism. A preoccupation with stuff is not new to the twenty-first century. However, when combined with globalism and technology, consumerism becomes a virus in students’ souls. Sown globally by the internet, it works in the opposite direction of self-denial and deceives us into thinking the good-life—true peace—is just one purchase away. Students might be curious about the things of God, but the latest phone, gaming system, or car seem much more real and satisfying.

When ISM is stuck in “service land,” students become customers or, even worse, mere consumers of our goods. Rather than cooperating for the good of the kingdom of God, we compete with each other for the greatest market share on campus. International students leave our ministry when they find another one offering a better spring break trip, better English teacher, or better water bottle. Students might indicate decisions for Christ, but any commitment fades once persecution or suffering threatens an abundant, peaceful life. The gospel-seed of Matthew 13 cannot thrive in the rocky soil of consumerism.

I do not want to demean all technology. Digital tools present unique opportunities, such as discipling students in Asia over Skype, sending links of the Magdalena film to former students in the Middle East, and connecting to students before they arrive here. We must train our students to fight against the scourge of internet pornography and time-guzzling video games. Most importantly, however, we must re-orient our ministries away from “service land” and toward disciple-making movements.

David and Paul Watson have advocated for the benefits of “contagious disciple making.”[1] In a November 2012 Mission Frontiers article, they explore how small groups can engender movements of Christ-loving disciples.[2] They describe the benefits of groups—replicating more often than individuals, protecting against heresy, self-correcting, and keeping individuals accountable—then push for small groups along existing social networks. Through action and repetition, effective groups incorporate prayer, intercession, ministry, replication, obedience, accountability, worship, and Scripture. The biblical premise of the priesthood of all believers (I Pet. 2:9) drives such groups.

In our consumer driven world, what must ISMs do to engage international students in DMMs that will equip them to be part of CPMs when they return home?

1. Disciple-making movements vs. service-oriented ministries. ISMs should serve international students and meet their needs. But if we stop there, we will enable a consumeristic, “what’s-in-it-for-me?” mindset. We need to point students to Christ, disciple them to serve, and empower them to lead.

2. Student-led vs. staff-led. ISM workers must constantly empower students to lead: from small tasks like emceeing a Christmas party and cooking food for a student social to bigger challenges, such as leading a small group and running a leadership team. We must avoid the temptation to do the best parts of ministry ourselves so we can have all the best stories for our prayer letters.

3. Groups vs. individuals. Jesus ministered to individuals, but with some exceptions, He discipled in groups: the three, twelve, and seventy-two. ISMs need to avoid the individualistic tendency to sequester students into one-on-one settings. Many students come from collectivistic cultures; they should be discipled in groups.

4. Simple vs. complex. Too often our materials for evangelism and discipleship require a leader with experience, theological training, and access to particular resources. Simple tools, though, are transferable across cultures and time. ISM tools should be simplified to the point that anyone can lead, even brand-new Christians or, dare I say, non-Christians. God’s Word is living and active (Heb. 4:12) so let’s empower students with simple, Bible-based tools.

With all four points in mind, International Students Inc. in Dallas-Fort Worth developed the M:28 evangelistic Bible studies based on David Watson’s contagious disciple-making principles. Bridges International adapted M:28 to create a simple, clear discipleship curriculum called the Profile of a Discipled Student (PODS). Both M:28 and PODS provide a simple tool that engender disciple-making movements led by students in a group setting.

Making changes like incorporating M:28 and PODS will either thrill or terrify ISM workers. It is scary: We must give up control. We must surrender our right to be the center of our campus ministries. We must empower international students in groups to lead our ministries to become disciple-making movements.

I personally have wrestled with these realities in North American and Western European  ministry contexts. From 2004-10, I served with Bridges International, Cru’s ISM, in Houston. One day a colleague and I took a Chinese student from Rice University to lunch. As we munched on Caesar salads and breadsticks, we asked our friend if he would consider leading a Bible study next semester. He responded: “Why should I lead the Bible study? It’s your job, isn’t it?” Clearly, we needed sharper focus on student-leadership.

When I moved to London in 2010 to launch a new ministry, I re-thought my approach. We would rely on students to lead. I might suggest a weekly prayer time or new outreach activity, but the students must own it. Student leadership pervaded our tiny but fruitful ministry at King’s College London. Three years later, when we returned to Texas, we left a team of six student leaders composed of several new believers. Yes, we made mistakes. As any campus minister knows, student-leadership is strewn with tears, filled with disappointment, and plagued with frustration.

Two years ago the Bridges International team in Chicago decided to focus on student leadership. “We are not going to get anywhere if we just have a bunch of relationships and are always doing things to help students,” noted the team leader. “When they return home, we want them to walk with the Lord for a lifetime.”

Without constant focus on student-leadership, ISM will default to staff-led service-land. And without students leading our ISMs here, will they deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus back home?

Internationals Among Us

BY NEAL PIROLO

Editor’s note: Internationals come in very diverse categories, as you will see in this article, but all represent very accessible mission fields for the gospel.

More people travel internationally today than ever before. Political, economic, educational, social and religious factors have led to unprecedented movements of people. Most of us can expect to be exposed to new comers in increasing ways. I want to invite you to open your eyes to seven specific types of internationals living among us.

International Students: At any given time, over one million international students from 181 countries study in the United States. Within a decade, most will be in positions of leadership in their home country. Your involvement can be as simple inviting them to a meal in your home or as involved as having one living with you for a semester.

Refugees: Fleeing war, famine and deprivation, refugees are flooding our borders. Sponsorship of a family can help them overcome the trauma of their flight to freedom and introduce them to the One who offers true freedom.

International Business People: International business people visit the U.S. briefly for economic reasons, but Christians have unique opportunities to speak Truth into their lives.

Ethnic Communities: Internationals cluster in communities of their own kind for security and feelings of their home culture. They offer you a targeted opportunity to build relationships and tell them about our Savior.

Undocumented Aliens: Likely more than ten million people live in the U.S. without documents. Among many difficult issues associated with this, Christians find ample opportunity for the gospel.

International Visitors: America is an attraction for millions of international visitors. The window is open briefly, but what an opportunity to show true Christianity.

Missionary Kids: Children of career missionaries may return to life in the U.S. having lived in their new home culture for no more than three years. They may appear to be Americans, but they need mentoring as internationals among us.

The frontiers of world evangelization are not only in Tibet, Saudi Arabia, and China. The frontiers of unreached people groups are also in your community. God has brought the internationals of the world to the doorstep of every church in America. Let’s do world missions at home.

Photo Credit: Melissa Vacek

[1] Contagious Disciple Making: Leading Others on a  Journey of Discovery (Thomas Nelson, 2014).

[2] Missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/small-groups-that-have-the-dna-of-a-disciple-making-movement

About The Author

Christopher Sneller (Ph.D., King’s College London) serves as the National Field Director for Bridges International. Over the past 18 years, he has worked with students in Asia, North America, and Western Europe. His doctoral thesis explored how a seminary in New York City impacted Chinese Christianity. Chris resides in Houston, TX, with his wife and five children.

Email: csneller@bridgesinternational.com
Website: http://www.bridgesinternational.com

Back to Table of Contents

Feature

Discipleship Lessons Learned

by Tyler Barron

Two years ago, I joined a community of people who committed together to engaging with international students on our university campus, sharing the gospel with them and inviting them to discover Jesus. I had determined that I wanted to be a cross-cultural missionary, but until that year I had not made a single international friend. This group was challenging me to leave my comfort zone and begin to develop meaningful relationships with people who looked, spoke, and acted differently from me. The following are nine lessons I have learned.

1. Don't Go Alone

I was nervous about meeting international students, and so I asked my friend Andrew, who was in the group with me, if we could make plans to do it together. We heard about a harvest festival that the Chinese student organization on campus was organizing, and so we decided to go and meet some people there. When we showed up, it was one of the first times in my life that I truly felt like a minority.

2. Establish Yourself as a Spiritual Person

One of the goals of our group is to share our testimony and/or the gospel within the first three encounters.

[I believe it was also helpful that we established our identity as spiritual people from our first encounter, rather than waiting until we had been friends for a long time before trying awkwardly to bring up our faith.]

3. Filter for Spiritually Interested People

Because we were some of the only Americans at this party, we quickly attracted a group of Chinese guys around us. Andrew and I had recently received some basic evangelism training, and so we began to tee each other up to share testimonies, answered prayer stories, and simple Bible stories.

As we shared, something interesting happened. About half of the guys in the circle leaned in, fascinated by the stories we told about God’s work in our lives. The other half leaned back, checked their phones, or even found another conversation to join. There were some guys in that circle whom God was already preparing with a desire for spiritual truth, and the more we shared, the more clearly those guys stood out from the rest. They asked questions about our stories, they asked if we could pray for their needs, and they asked about what the Bible said.

4. Keep the Conversation Going

Toward the end of the evening, we asked the guys in the circle if any of them would be interested in meeting together weekly to read God’s Word and learn more about what it had to say. Two of them, Tony and Tommy, said they were available, and we set a time to meet later that week in the university library to read together. Inviting them to read the Bible created an environment where it would be natural for us to discuss spiritual things. It also opened the door to friendship beyond that meeting time, because we had a relationship here we would naturally spend time together each week. We ate meals, went to parties, and watched football games together. Tony and Tommy quickly became two of my best friends!

5. Keep it Simple

When we met with Tony and Tommy to read together, we followed a simple method for an inductive, participative Bible study called a Discovery Bible Study (DBS). Each week we followed the same pattern:

- Ask: “What are you thankful for this week? What are you anxious about?”

- Ask: “How did it go with your goals from last week to obey the Bible story we read and to share the story with someone else?”

- Read the next Bible story twice. Have someone summarize the story in their own words.

- Ask: What does the story say about God?

- Ask: What does the story say about people?

- Ask: Is there an example to follow, or a command to obey?

- Ask: How will we obey the story in our lives this week?

- Ask: With whom will we share the story this week?

- Pray together to close.

By following this simple structure, we were able to read through passages from both the Old and New Testaments, giving room for Tony and Tommy to make their own discoveries from the Word. Within a few weeks, they began to take turns being the “question-asker” and facilitating the conversation themselves!

6. Share the Gospel Early and Often

After meeting for a few weeks, I shared the gospel with Tony and Tommy using a simple illustration and asked them if they wanted to turn and follow Jesus. They were not ready to receive Jesus, but they loved the illustration and began to share it with their Chinese friends. These not-yet-believers were already developing a habit of sharing the gospel! Having the story laid out also helped them understand the significance of the Bible stories we were reading, and put the invitation on the table so that they could begin to count the cost of following Jesus.

7. Persevere

After a few months of meeting weekly, I began to wonder if these guys were ever going to believe. Maybe I was just wasting my time. There were seasons where they seemed less interested, or shared doubts that threatened to discourage them from continuing to seek Jesus. There were weeks that all I wanted to do was hang out with my friends, and almost blew off meeting with them. But I knew that God was calling me to be faithful, and so we kept going.

And then, after nearly six months and 25 Bible studies, we reached the story of Jesus’ resurrection. After we discussed the story, the Holy Spirit injected some extra boldness into me, and I looked at my friends and said, “Guys, you know the whole story now. We could keep meeting, but I believe you know what you need to know in order to make a decision. So will you follow Jesus or not?”

Tony and Tommy looked at each other, and then looked back at me. Tommy spoke first. “We have talked about this…and we are ready to follow Jesus.” Praise God! We prayed together and celebrated their profession of faith.

8. Discipleship Happens on Both Sides of the Conversation

Toward the end of that conversation, Tommy asked me, “What do we do now?” It almost seemed like he was expecting me to pull out a second Bible! I said, “Well, what have we been doing so far? We meet together with others to pray and read God’s Word, we obey it in our daily lives, and we share it with others. Welcome to the Christian life! You’ve already started living it!”

9. Pump Disciples Full of Vision

The most dramatic shift in my relationship with them after that day was that I began to share with them about the state of the world, especially the reality that in their own home country there were millions of people who had never heard the gospel, who knew no Christians, and who probably wouldn’t even be able to find access to Jesus if they tried. When I first shared this with them, Tommy pulled out a piece of paper and quickly drew a map of China freehand (very impressive!). He began circling different regions of the country. “You are right! Here are the Buddhists, and the Daoists, and the Muslims,” he said, pointing at the circles. “What if,” he suggested, “Christians from my hometown were trained to be missionaries and we went to these areas to tell them about Jesus?”

He looked at me, and then he looked down and wrote next to the map, “Things Need to Change.”

The Story Since Then

Soon after placing their faith in Jesus, Tony and Tommy became connected to a healthy Chinese church in the city, led primarily by university professors. They were baptized, and through that fellowship they continued to grow, serve, and worship God in community. Tommy now regularly leads Bible studies for new Chinese students that have recently arrived to America, and trains his Christian friends how to share their faith.

Recently, Tommy and I sat down for lunch. He told me that God had been changing his vision for his life. Rather than pursuing a well-paying job as an industrial designer in his hometown, he feels that God is calling him to become a professor and move to a part of his country where there is a large population of unreached peoples. He wants to use his influence as a professor to share the gospel with students and start Bible studies where they can discover Jesus the same way that he did when he was a university student in America.

We may not feel like investing in international students is as powerful or exciting as packing our bags and moving overseas, but what God has shown me through my relationships with these two guys is that if we will be obedient to the call to make disciples of all nations no matter where we are, he has to power to cause a ripple effect through those relationships that can echo all the way around the world!

Photo Credit: Melissa Vacek

About The Author

Tyler is a trainer and disciple-maker based in Austin, Texas, committed to the vision of seeing No Place Left in Austin, in the US, and in the world without the good news of Jesus in our lifetime.

Email: tylerbarronNPL@gmail.com

Back to Table of Contents

Web Only

How Ambassadors for Christ Also Serve the Cause of Diplomacy

by George and Shary Frahm

Formerly actively involved with a Michigan-based ministry to international students, George and Shary Frahm (currently serving Christ in Cambodia) recently had a unique opportunity to meet a kindly gentleman from Malaysia. He had clearly experienced the generosity of the American people during his stay while pursuing a PhD at Georgetown University. Through conversation with him, the Frahms learned again that we, as ambassadors for Christ, can dramatically impact those who come to our shores during their university years. What follows is a summary of their conversation with him.

Today we were sitting in a local restaurant sipping on a coffee shake and doing some much needed catch up after a grueling week on the road outside the city. About midday a kindly gentleman approached us and asked where we were from (not an uncommon question when we are out most days). He introduced himself to us, speaking perfect English as if we were neighbors from all the years gone by in the US, but his obvious appearance told us that he was not from Cambodia nor the US. He hailed from Malaysia, just a plane flight of 1 ½ hours away.

His smile was so genuine and his heart clearly showed in conversation. He is currently teaching at the university across the street from where we sat at that point, teaching International Business Relations. He is 77 years young he told us. He looked very healthy and not at all showed the years in numbers listed here. His spirit spoke of a younger self inside, full of enthusiasm and frankness that was refreshing.

Dean received his PhD from Georgetown University in Washington DC. He studied in 1968-70, way back when we were still in college ourselves. We didn't go to Woodstock in 1969, but he did. We didn't walk thru Arlington National Cemetery and see the burial of so many men who died for a cause that the US was engaged in. But He did. So much seemed to impact his time in the US during those years when he was studying for his PhD.

“The real America isn't in Washington DC you know,” he said. “The real heart of America is in its people outside the DC area. I have learned that the American people are the most generous people in the world and the only ones on this earth who will die for others in the world outside their own country. I've experienced the love of people in America, the Thanksgiving of turkey, the love of football, the stamina of golf.” With a beaming smile he engaged us in conversation that so many others need to hear in the global international community who have ministered to international students coming to our shores of the United States to study and experience the American dream. Yes y'all, you and we do make a difference, perhaps many years after we would think it would be possible.

“America has it all,” he said. “You have democracy that is unparalleled in this world. Now you have elections that are a tight neck and neck race to your White House. In Malaysia the same people have been in power for 60 years. It may be called democracy there, but we all know what we see and what we hear about America is the best and it's in the people who live there. They are the kindest people anywhere, and until I die with my boots on, I will always know this in my heart.”

Our hearts were touched deeply by the conversation with this kind man, who took the time and came to us to talk. We could have easily missed his passing as we sipped that cold drink and did some catch-up on our computers. But a mighty God brought another one of His to us to hear some positive note about our important job as Americans. I am sure that Dean knew we were Christians, as do most internationals view Americans these days. That's good.

We are hoping to spend more time with this man, to listen to his life story tucked into chapters as he has gone thru life just like we have. He is associate dean and adjunct professor specializing in technical government and international relations at The University of Cambodia, teaching to PhD students and being not their teacher, but their 'coach' as he calls himself. These students are so blessed to have him in their midst, and I truly hope that they realize that.

About The Author

George and Shary Frahm are currently serving the local church body of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cambodia. Under the umbrella of Global Lutheran Outreach, we are on our third overseas international mission station, with Indonesia and Cambodia as the first two. Additionally, we initiated and headed up an international ministry to university students from 1994-2008 with and for Hopevale Church, Saginaw, MI and Saginaw Valley State University. While overseas, we have continued to be actively involved with ACMI and hold membership status with this amazing group.

Email: smf.s.mail@gmail.com
Website: http://globallutheranoutreach.com/blog/frahm/

Back to Table of Contents

Feature

Christian Students Grow the Kingdom of God in China

by Stacey Bieler

Editor’s note: As missiologists and mission professionals develop 21st century strategies for church planting and disciple-making movements around the world, we have to simultaneously keep an eye on what God has done in the past.  His past work, in this case amongst Chinese students who studied in the USA over 100 years ago, ought to be fuel for our imagination and our desire to see His kingdom established.

One hundred years ago Chinese students were returning from America to China after getting professional degrees abroad. Their experiences overseas helped them to grow in their own faith and to desire that their countrymen become Christians. Some learned leadership skills in Christian student organizations, often inspired by the ideals and activities of the YMCA. They took these lessons back to China where they discipled believers while serving as professors in Christian colleges, editors of Christian journals, evangelists, pastors, and board members of Christian charities or youth organizations, such as the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), that first entered China in 1885 and became a powerful force for changing lives and reforming society.

It was not an easy time to live in China. The Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1911 and then the new Republic disintegrated in 1916. During the next ten years, the Chinese Communist Party was founded and an Anti-Christian Movement began. Even though the Nationalist government began to rule in 1927, the fear of war with Japan became a reality in 1937. After eight years, often struggling as war refugees or exiles, weary people trekked home and began to rebuild the country.

Profiles in Transformation

Tang Guo’an was one of the first hundred students to go to the United States with the Chinese Education Mission (1873). He had only studied one year at Yale College when the Mission was cancelled in 1881. He first worked for a mining and engineering company in China, was a lay preacher for the YMCA in Shanghai, and then in 1907 he joined the Foreign Office. In 1909 he became president of the new Tsinghua College in Beijing, a preparatory school for students going to study in the U.S. He encouraged the YMCA to establish a group on campus that became the most active YMCA in Beijing. He also served on the YMCA’s national board that gave direction and support to the organization.

Kuang Fuzhou went to the US to be a farmworker in 1882. The family whom he was staying with encouraged him to learn English and to go to church. After working several years with the Salvation Army, he was given a scholarship to go to college. After getting his bachelors degree he transferred to Columbia University, where he got a MA in education in 1906.  Besides working as an editor for a publisher, Kuang helped establish a Cantonese church in Shanghai, worked with the YMCA as editor of the YMCA’s English magazine, China’s Young Men, and served on the national board for thirty years, ten as President.

After Shi Meiyu graduated from the University of Michigan in 1896 as one of the first Chinese women to obtain a medical degree, she became a doctor in inland China. In 1939 she and Jennie Hughes, an American missionary, moved to Shanghai and established the Bethel Mission, a combination of Bible school, hospital and nursing school. The Bible school sent out groups of young evangelists, called Bethel Bands, to preach throughout China.

One member of the Bethel Band was Song Shangjie (John Sung). After receiving a PhD in chemistry from the University of Ohio in 1926, he went to Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He returned to China in 1927. As part of a Bethel Band he made trips to both north and south China for four years before becoming a powerful preacher throughout Southeast Asia from 1935 to 1944.

The YMCA in the US sponsored the Committee for Friendly Relations Among Foreign Students (CFR). Since the Chinese students were the largest number of students on American campuses (just like today!), CFR staff encouraged the students to create the Chinese Students Christian Association (CSCA) in 1909. A group of twenty-four Chinese students and eight Americans signed the charter. The goals were mutual encouragement in Christian living, fellowship, and service. The students in CSCA began to publish a quarterly magazine, start campus groups and hold annual conferences.

One of the six students on the first executive committee of the CSCA was Yu Rizhang, who was studying education at Harvard University. Five years after he returned to China in 1910, he became the second Chinese director of the YMCA in China. He served in that position for twenty years.

While studying for a PhD in social sciences at Columbia University, Zhu Youyu was president of the CSCA from 1910-11.  Later, he was again in the U.S. in 1920 beginning graduate work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. While studying he served as a travelling staff member for the CSCA for three years, encouraging student groups on campuses and going to student conferences. When he arrived in Beijing in 1924, he became director of the department of religious work at the Peking Union Medical College. He counseled students and preached weekly at the college’s Sunday service until 1933. After becoming a bishop in the Anglican Church in 1940, he began serving as pastor of a church in Kunming, where his congregation included students from Beijing University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University who had fled south from the coastal war zones to study at the National Southwest Associated University.

Liu Tingfang served as president of CSCA one year and an editor for the CSCA quarterly journal, Liu Mei Qingnian. He received a divinity degree as well as a PhD from Columbia in psychology. He returned to China in 1920 to become a professor of religion at Yanjing University in Beijing, the most prestigious Christian university in China. As a founding member of Life Fellowship, a group who wanted to introduce the truth and power of Christianity to academic circles throughout the country, he served as the first editor-in-chief of the Fellowship’s magazine, Truth and Life.

An educator in Tianjin, Zhang Boling became a Christian in 1908 through his friendships with American YMCA men. Since he wanted to learn more about American higher education, he came to study at Columbia University for one year in 1917. The next year he welcomed students to the new Nankai University. He also started the first Chinese Christian Church in North China, which spawned 42 churches in other Chinese cities. He served on the Tianjin YMCA board of trustees from twenty-six years and on the YMCA’s national board of directors for several years.

Zeng Baosun was the great granddaughter of the Viceroy Zeng Guofan, whose army ended the Taiping Rebellion in 1865. She studied biology at Westfield College for women at London University.  After returning to China in 1917, she and her cousin established Yifang Girls’ Middle School in Changsha. In 1935 the YMCA asked her to be part of a team to give evangelistic lectures in twelve cities across China. After the talks, she led discussion groups and met with students for personal interviews. After the lecture series was finished, she wrote an article that closed: “May God bless us in our humble efforts to further his Kingdom on earth, and lead us all, old and young alike, to the path of light and peace, and grant us strength and wisdom to face the national and international crises that beset and distract us today.”

These are only some of the returned students who served in China and beyond. Besides  evangelizing and disciple-making, they worked in international churches and founded Chinese churches. Many worked with the YMCA at city and national levels, as lecturers, directors, and editors of publications. These men and women are great models of long and faithful years of service to extend God’s kingdom in China despite internal turmoil and external threat.

About The Author

Stacey Bieler is author of “Patriots” or “Traitors”? A History of American-Educated Chinese Students and co-editor of three volumes of Salt and Light: Lives of Faith that Shaped Modern China. To learn more about these Chinese Christians and others, please look for Salt and Light on Amazon, and look at the Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Christianity at bdcconline.net.

Email: jstaceybieler@gmail.com

Back to Table of Contents

Feature

Being a World Missionary at Home

A Mission Pastor’s Perspective

by Tom Thomas

As the director of missions at our church, I’ve seen missionary candidates encounter extreme challenges in raising their needed financial support.  I have also seen them struggle with the idea of leaving behind parents and family, learning second languages, living in countries with completely different cultures and customs, working within mission agencies, and getting along with fellow missionaries on the field. Because of these realities, many fail in their attempt to be world missionaries. Yet, as it says in Matthew 28, Jesus tells us to go into the entire world to make disciples, baptizing and producing reproducing believers.

For those who cannot go to the mission field, who have come back because of problems on the mission field, or who are missionaries who have reached the maximum age to serve as agency-sponsored missionaries, there is a ready-made option for continuing as world missionaries: reaching those who come to study, work, or travel in one’s home country.  In this type of mission, one doesn’t have to learn a second language but can still be an effective missionary with people from all over the world. Likewise, for those in their empty nest years or who have retired and live on fixed incomes, the Lord wants us to be productive in our autumn as well as early years. The following story is about a couple in my church unveils their efforts to reach people for Christ who have come from all over the world.

It all started in 1988 when friends invited us to their home for a special international military student reception. Marcia worked at a school for international military students who had come from all parts of the world to learn the English language in programs lasting a few months to as long as a year. After training in our city, international military students went on for more training at bases throughout the United States.

Marcia told us about a program that introduces international military students to Americans and their way of life: “At this reception we hope that you will become friends with a few students!”  We did just that and invited students from Honduras, Korea and Guinea to our home for dinner the next Friday.

In the subsequent 28 years we have befriended and served as family for over 1500 military students from over 60 countries. We meet the students at receptions arranged by the school, and invite them to our home for dinner, take them shopping, while also going on picnics and tours of South Texas.  We also visit them in their quarters on base, just like any family would do.

On one occasion, Nelson, a Navy SEAL from Honduras, asked if he could come to Sunday school and church with us. That started what has become a long chain of students who have come to church with us on Sunday mornings. Eager to experience anything they consider part of American life, many have come from every imaginable cultural and spiritual background.

God has worked in the lives of these students. One Albanian man, Izmir, heard Ephesians 2:8-9 at a Sunday school class on assurance of salvation. That afternoon he told us, “It is wonderful that God wants me in heaven and made a way for me to be there that is all from Him, not by me.” That day he became a believer in Jesus Christ. A young Mongolian military doctor was so inspired by a church Christmas musical (and accompanying gospel message) that he became a believer several weeks later.  Ilir of Albania received Christ in the car on the way to church one Sunday morning and joyfully announced it in Sunday school. A Taiwanese Navy officer, after having many conversations about Jesus and salvation with us, attended a friend’s Chinese evangelistic meeting one weekend and became a believer.

Frederik, a pilot from Albania, came to the U.S. an atheist. During his time here, there was a terrible uprising in his country, and he was terrified of what would happen to his family. He came to believe in Jesus Christ and held onto Him for comfort during that awful time. He is today a bold witness to the power of God in his life.

In recent years we have been “dad and mom” to nearly 600 students from a south Asian country, and have seen Him do wondrous things in some of them.  Nelson, who started the “church chain,” received the Lord in our kitchen in January 1991, and is today another active follower of Jesus.

As God has worked in many of these students’ lives, our part has been to befriend them and share our life and our Savior with them.  The stories above are but a few of the many births into God’s family we have seen over these nearly three decades.  These students, both male and female, are far away from home and lonely for their families and friends and their customs, and are open to hear God’s truth.  They represent their countries’ future and present leadership.  How important it is for them to, at the very least, form a good impression of America and Christianity and, at the best, to believe in Jesus for eternal salvation.

How can you become involved with international students, many from closed countries, at your local college or military base?  Contact the international student advisor, and tell them that your family would like to start a friendship by hosting a student in your home for dinner. You and your family will benefit from meeting such students, and the Lord may use you/your church for their salvation. It will be an exciting time for your family as you befriend a student and learn about a different country and its customs. For the student, God can use the friendship with you to change his or her eternal destination and life. And you can have the joy and satisfaction that you are participating in God’s work – planting seeds and even harvesting eternal fruit.

As our world rapidly globalizes, God is bringing people from all over the world to us. Are we open to reaching out to them, becoming their friends, and possibly sharing God’s salvation with them? It is exciting to know that God is allowing us to be His missionaries to internationals right in our own neighborhoods, and that we can share His good news with them so that they can become reproducing disciples back in their home societies. This couple’s story is an exciting new option for us in missions!

Photo Credit: Melissa Vacek

About The Author

Tom Thomas worked as a scientist for the Air Force for 35 years. Retiring from that he joined the staff of Northeast Bible EFC in San Antonio, TX as the Pastor of Missions. In that job he developed a robust missions program at the church and led dozens of church missions trip teams to places all around the world. Retiring from that Tom and his wife Karin now have a ministry to international military.

Email: t610thomas@gmail.com
Website: http://www.dlielc.edu

Back to Table of Contents

Web Only

The Global International Student Ministry Movement via the Lausanne Movement

An Insider’s Perspective

by Leiton Chinn

The International Student Ministry Movement

The gradual growth and multiplication of ministries among international students as an emergent movement began in the 1950’s in the United States through independent agencies such as International Students Inc (ISI) and campus ministries like Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. In some European countries, the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) recognized similar opportunities.

The next two decades saw steady expansion with additional ISMs birthed primarily by various campus or para-church ministries, and some denominations. The 80’s ushered in two significant elements to the growth and diversification of the movement: the launch of a North American regional ISM network called the Association of Christian Ministries to Internationals (ACMI) and the development of a national ISM in Canada (ISM Canada) and in the United Kingdom (International Students Christian Services, now called Friends International).  These developments were catalyzed by staff from ISI.

ACMI was the product of the vision of Dr. Jack Burke, the International Student Services  Director at the University of Houston who called together the first North American ISM consultation hosted by ISI in 1981.  ISI’s former president, Dr. Hal Guffey, was the visionary who sent two staff couples to Canada and the U.K. to encourage the expansion of ISMs that would equip their churches to engage in ministry among students from abroad.  As an ISI staff member in the 80’s, it was a privilege to be at the consultation that launched ACMI, and to know the couples that went to Canada and England.

Since the 90’s, while the ISM movement has progressed nationally and regionally in North America and Europe, the Asia Pacific region saw ISM growth in a few countries, most notably Australia and New Zealand.  In fact, the Overseas Christian Fellowship began during the late 50s in Australia with students from Malaysia and Singapore, and has sustained an admirable nation-wide ISM movement till this day.

As we entered the new millennia, there was no global ISM network until the Lausanne Movement included ISM in its agenda at a global event in 2004.

The Lausanne Movement’s Global ISM Network

In 2001, while I was serving as the president of ACMI, I received a survey from Dr. Peter Brierley, Lausanne Senior Associate for Research, requesting recommendations for strategic kinds of ministries that could be considered as issue topics for the upcoming global Lausanne Forum to be held in Thailand in 2004. Up to that time, ministry among international students had never been on the program agenda of global or regional events sponsored by Lausanne.  I sent a proposal for ministry among “Diaspora” peoples and ISM, and in 2003 I was asked to be the Convener for the Issue Group on ISM. It was comprised of 33 people from 15 countries, and together with the Diaspora Group, compiled the Lausanne Occasional Paper # 55: Diasporas and International Students: The New People Next Door, which is freely downloadable from the Lausanne website: http://www.lausanne.org

(Several members of the ISM Issue Group)

Establishment of the Lausanne ISM Special Interest Committee

While still serving as ACMI president in 2007, I was invited to join the Lausanne International Leaders Conference in Budapest where the International Student Ministries Special Interest Committee (SIC) was inaugurated, and I was asked to serve as its Chair.  An initial goal was to establish a global network of ISM leaders, and I invited ISM leaders from New Zealand, South Africa, Japan, Singapore, India, Australia, Korea, Poland, and Englandto consider being part of the SIC. From among the ISM SIC, Richard Weston, the former national director of Friends International (U.K), agreed to serve as coordinator for networking ISMs in Europe, while Terry McGrath, the founding director of ISM New Zealand, served as coordinator for the Asia-Pacific region.

Lausanne Regional ISM Leaders Consultations

Another goal of the ISM SIC was to host regional ISM Leaders consultations in 2009 as part of the preparation for the 3rd Lausanne worldwide congress, Lausanne III: Cape Town 2010.  Each regional consultation identified and addressed ISM issues that were relevant to each region’s context.

Until now, three regions of the world have developed ISM ministries: North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.  In North America, for 35 years ACMI has held an annual national conference.  Europe has had sporadic regional or national ISM staff conferences for over 30 years as well, hosted by the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES) and/or Friends International.

Richard Weston directed the 2009 Lausanne Greater Europe Regional ISM Leaders Consultation that was held in Amsterdam, Holland.  About 30 participants came from nearly 15 countries.  An IFES group of participants from Poland later convened a European IFES ISM consultation in 2010 in Poland, and its “fruit” has resulted in an increase of ISM engagement among various European IFES movements. Another regional ISM Consultation was held in Berlin in 2014 and the Czech Republic will be the site for a 2016 gathering.

The Asia-Pacific region had not had a regional ISM Leaders consultation until the 2009 Lausanne Asia-Pacific Regional ISM Leaders Consultation was held in Singapore, under the leadership of Terry McGrath, in collaboration with the Fellowship of Evangelical Students of Singapore.  About 60 ISM leaders and workers from over 15 countries participated.  The second Lausanne Asia-Pacific Regional ISM Leaders gathering was also held in Singapore, in 2015.

Regional ISM Dialogue Sessions at Lausanne III: Cape Town 2010

Several of the ISM leaders who participated in the 2009 regional consultations were asked to report on the ISM movement in their countries at the Cape Town 2010 congress, which had 4,000 evangelical leaders.  The presentations were part of 4 Dialogue Sessions (seminars) on ISM in Europe, Asia-Pacific, North America, and South Africa.  Ministry among International students is included in the Cape Town Commitment.

Reorganization:  Chairs of Special Interest Committees become Lausanne Senior Associates, and now, “Catalysts”

In 2012 the position or title of “Chair” of SICs was replaced by “Senior Associate,” which has recently been modified to “Catalyst.”  The use of “SIC” was discontinued and has been converted into an ISM Global Leadership Network.  Some of the functions of the Catalyst for ISM include:  advocating for the Cape Town Commitment and its calls to action in relation to ISM; coordinating a global team of ISM leaders/advisors; encouraging emerging younger leaders in ISM (and mentoring 1-2); stimulating biblical and strategic reflection, discussion, and action for ISM; convening ISM international meetings in consultation with other Lausanne leaders; engaging in periodic conference/Skype calls with ISM leaders; and meeting at least bi-annually with other Facilitation Team (Steering Committee) members of the ISM Global Leadership Network.  The purpose of the Lausanne ISM Global Leadership Network is to catalyze ISM development in strategic locations where none exists and to enhance existing ISMs through networking.

Near Future Goals for ISM Globally

2016:  In addition to meetings with European ISM leaders and staff in the Czech Republic, several Lausanne ISM Facilitation Team members will be mentors at the Lausanne Younger Leaders Gathering in Jakarta in August, and then with the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission in Panama City in October. The Lausanne ISM Global Leadership Network is an official network of the WEA-MC.  A Lausanne ISM Ghana/West Africa Consultation was held on April 16th with 15 representatives of churches, mission agencies, and academia to explore ISM initiatives.  Plans for a similar consultation are underway for Kenya in 2016.

2017:  The first Lausanne Global ISM Leaders Forum will be held in Charlotte, NC, September 11-16.

About The Author

Leiton Chinn has been mobilizing the Church for outreach among International Students for 39 years and currently serves as the Lausanne Movement Catalyst for ISM.  He also advocates for ISM globally as a member of the World Evangelical Alliance Mission Commission and in North America as part of the national teams of the Mission America Coalition and Ethnic America Network.

Email:  lechinn@aol.com

Website:  https://www.lausanne.org/networks/issues/international-students

Back to Table of Contents

Other

Representing Jesus Faithfully to Refugees

by Darrell Dorr

Ralph and Roberta Winter, the founders of Frontier Ventures, often taught about four Go-Come “mission mechanisms” at work in the Bible and history: (1) the people of God going voluntarily to bless the nations; (2) going involuntary without missionary intent; (3) the peoples coming voluntarily, attracted by God’s blessing-relationship with His people; and (4) the peoples coming involuntarily, as is happening now with the refugees arriving in Europe and North America.

In a season of heated political debate about refugees and immigrants, Frontier Ventures members around the U.S. and the world are making observations and contributing to creative new attempts to represent Jesus faithfully to the stranger.

Antioch Network Seeks to “Engage the Crisis”

In June a team from the Pasadena community of Frontier Ventures participated in a broad effort led by The Antioch Movement to “Engage the Crisis” in Europe. This team had the opportunity to love, encourage and provide assistance to refugees in Berlin and to boost similar efforts initiated by churches and other organizations in Germany. To read about this team’s experiences and the stories of the people they met, go to http://www.frontierventures.org/blog
.
Gainesville Churches Survey Munich for Syrian Refugee Ministry

Frontier Ventures member Jeff Moody reports from Gainesville, Florida, that he has been working for months with a group of church leaders in Gainesville to pray and plan for a collective “Church of Gainesville” response to the Syrian refugee crisis in Europe. Seven churches are presently involved, monthly team meetings are underway, and an investigative team went to three cities in Germany in April, visiting refugee camps, offices for social work, and Bible studies for seekers.

Missions Fest Seattle Asks, “Global Disruption: Problem or Opportunity?”

Frontier Ventures and the Perspectives Study Program will be participating in the October 2016 Missions Fest Seattle, with this year’s emphasis “Global Disruption: Problem or Opportunity?” World Relief Seattle is helping to shape this year’s program, asking two prominent churches (Quest Church and Overlake Christian Church) to present their responses. Dan Samuelson, director of World Relief Seattle, comments, “The mission field is now on our doorstep. ‘Missions’ is undergoing a sea change.” For further information, see http://missionsfestseattle.org/
.
World Renew Campaign Presents Immigrants as “Blessing, Not Burden”

World Relief and World Renew are two organizations active in the Evangelical Immigration Table (http://evangelicalimmigrationtable.com/). See http://www.blessingnotburden.org/ to read about World Renew’s campaign to change the public conversation about immigrants inside and outside the North American churches.

New Developments in Joshua Project

1. Updated Joshua Project Progress Scale: In the past Joshua Project has used a three-color scale to indicate the level of church-planting progress among a people group.  Joshua Project is now shifting to a five-color scale in order to more clearly highlight peoples with many “Christian adherents” but very few Evangelicals.

2. New South Asia Peoples Website: Joshua Project has extensive people group data for South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan), the world region with the greatest complexity of peoples. Data on people groups, languages and religions is available at regional, national, state and district levels.  This data is partially viewable on the main Joshua Project website but is often overlooked or difficult to find. Therefore, Joshua Project is developing a user-friendly, stand-alone South Asia website to provide better access to this valuable information.

3. Photo Gathering Mobile App: Putting a face to data makes it much more compelling.  Joshua Project is continually seeking quality, non-copyrighted photos of unreached peopls.  A group of college students used their spring break to develop a mobile app for Joshua Project that will greatly assist in gathering unreached people photos.  The app allows the user to take a photo and then either tag it with GPS coordinates (if available) or select a country and people group name from dropdown lists.  Users can add comments and email the photo and attached information to Joshua Project. website: joshuaproject.net

About The Author

Darrell Dorr

Back to Table of Contents

Kingdom Kernels

Biblical Content for a Movement

by Steve Smith

My first two visits to a small group that was trying to multiply disciples in a diverse international city were filled with anticipation. My heart thrilled to see them organize their time into looking back for worship, encouragement, celebration and accountability and looking ahead to be purposeful in their mission. But to my dismay, I discovered that their meeting structure included most of the essential elements of reproducing groups, except for one: the content. They left out looking up to hear from the Father through His Word—the Bible!

We can so assume that groups will study the Word of God together that we forget to emphasize the centrality of the Word. In three and a half decades of ministry, I have learned to never assume that any basic expectations are in place – daily devotional life, personal holiness, loving relationships, etc. Now I add this: never assume that studying the Word of God is in place.

Forgetting the Basics of a Meeting

In order to help small group meetings adequately prepare believers to make disciples, we often emphasize elements that lead to reproduction:

- Loving accountability – Does the group lovingly and mutually help one another live out what God has been putting on their hearts in previous meetings?

- Vision-casting, encouraging and inspiring – Does the group try to build a sense of God’s heart and encourage disciples to keep believing God for His promises?

- Practice – Does the group adequately practice what they have learned that week so that they have confidence and competence to share it with others?

- Setting goals with prayer – Does the group help believers hear from God and make plans to obey what He has said? Does the group pray for Him to empower them in their faithfulness?

These are basic elements of a meeting that enable disciples to move from being inspired, fed and cared for to inspiring, feeding and caring for others. They help us give life to others.

Our assumption is that the group will worship the Lord in their praises, listen to and personally care for each other (body life) and study the Word of God. These are the basics of almost every small group meeting and church worship service. They have been in place for centuries because they give life to us spiritually.

But beware of assuming that even these most basic life-giving elements are in place—especially the Word of God.

Values of a Movement: Obedience to the Word of God

In Church-Planting Movements (CPMs), one of the most misunderstood aspects of weekly discipleship is the role of the Bible and how to rightly handle it. Perhaps the central tenet of why CPMs emerge is that they emphasize returning to biblical norms of discipleship.

15If you love me, you will keep my commandments…. 21Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him…. 23If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
(John 14:15, 21, 23, ESV)

A central characteristic of movements is the radical abandon of disciples to love their Master through doing whatever He says. Such love overcomes old sinful lifestyles, extra-biblical traditions and movement-threatening persecution. Jesus made it clear: if we love Him, we will obey Him. This is not a slavish works-based religion, but obedience empowered by the grace of God and inspired by gratitude that we are loved. When believers lovingly obey Jesus’ commands, the promise is that the presence of God will be palpably real. Obedient disciples experience Jesus.

The corollary of Jesus’ statement is this: If we don’t obey Jesus, we demonstrate that we don’t love Him! And the result is that we fail to sense His presence. Could this be why many churches have so many lifeless Christians? We have members who know the Word but fail to obey it.

Content for a Movement: Delivering the Word of God so that it can be obeyed and passed on

Movements of God emerge from disciples surrendered to the Word. To foster that, we have to equip them to obey it in a manageable and systematic way and then to help others do the same.

We want to help believers learn how to be doers of the Word, not hearers only (James 1:22). The Word of God obeyed by disciples is the core of a movement.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matt. 7:24, ESV, emphasis added)

Building on the Word inappropriately can cripple a budding movement. Building on it appropriately, however, can engender a movement that lasts. One of the core ingredients of the Wesleyan revival was the emphasis small groups made on radically obeying the Word of God in a methodical way.

Catalyzing a movement involves building a pathway of biblical content for the path the movement to travel along. In the January-February 2016 issue of Mission Frontiers, I outlined a path that disciples learn to walk generation by generation: 1) finding God-prepared people, 2) reproducing evangelism, 3) reproducing discipleship (short term and long term), and 4) reproducing churches.[1] Each of these areas must be built on biblical content that can be applied and passed on.

When new believers know how to obey the Word in an orderly way and train other newer believers to do the same, a movement spreads from generation to generation. Digestible biblical content tied together in an orderly way is foundational to Spirit-empowered disciples.

As you build the content for a healthy movement, you must pay attention to three intertwined characteristics: Complete, Contextual and Can-do.

COMPLETE

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
(Matt. 13:44, ESV)

I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.
(Psa. 119:162, ESV)

A hallmark of movements is that believers discover the value of the King and His kingdom and joyfully give up all to have Him.  The foundation is that the content comes from the Word of God. It is all too easy to pass on extra-biblical ideas or cultural assumptions in our training rather than what the Word actually says. This was a danger Jesus warned against with the religious legalists of His day (Matt. 15:3-9).

We must point believers to the authority of the Bible to enable them to discover its richness and apply it to their lives afresh. Believers must find the completeness of the whole Word of God to transform their lives.

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. (Eph. 3:8, ESV)

One mistake made in building biblical content is that it is biblical, but just not complete in its scope. It fails to reveal the unsearchable riches of Christ. For example, a gospel presentation may explain the good news in its essence – Jesus lived a perfect life, died to pay for sin, rose on the third day and provides forgiveness for all who repent (Luke 24:45ff). But if the hearer in his culture does not have enough context to understand the richness of what this means, the treasure of Christ is diminished in his mind. His response may be a shallow one.

Instead, biblical content must show the amazing value of Christ and His Word. It must elevate the King and call for joyful, surrendered responses to His Lordship. Until the treasure is understood, responses remain half-hearted.

As you build content, ask yourself if the way a Bible study or lesson is crafted gives a complete enough understanding to call for a complete and appropriate response. When the content is complete enough, the response is like that of the amazing love and devotion of a five-hundred denarii sinner:

Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.
(Luke 7:47, ESV)

CONTEXTUAL

Not only must the content be biblical, but the manner in which it is passed on must enable a believer from that context to grow in Christlikeness.

First, evangelism and discipleship content must address the context or culture adequately to call for a five-hundred denarii response. This is especially true in the first few months. Each culture has its unique worldview, problematic false gods, and particular sin strongholds. Rather than skirt around these, the gospel and short-term discipleship must address these so that real life transformation takes place.

A co-worker in an Arab context grieved that unforgiveness and bitterness drove wedges between relationships. It was endemic to the culture. His short-term discipleship of eight or ten biblical lessons dealt with the basic milk of helping a new-born Christian grow (1 Cor. 3:2). Yet a major sin stronghold was preventing believers from growing in Christ. To correct this, he added a lesson on forgiveness to the early discipleship curriculum. In his context, it was essential content for the early Christian life.

What manner of presenting the gospel and what eight to ten short-term discipleship lessons would most help believers in your context surrender to the King and grow in their love for Him?

Second, content must be passed on in a contextually-appropriate way. The content of CPM training must be passed on in a way that our target audience learns best not the ways we prefer. If people need oral methods, use them. If they need literate methods, use them. If they need stories, use them. If they need linear reasoning approaches, use them.

A great mistake we make is using the methods we prefer rather than the ones that are most essential. We must adapt our ways to our audience and not vice versa. Find the model of learning in your context which is most effective and use that. Do not change the content of the Bible, just the manner of passing it on.

Appropriate short-term biblical content is essential to help new believers grow in Christ-likeness and be able to help others do the same. Keep in mind that this content is not all of the Bible they will get during the first few months. They will be reading or listening to it each day in their devotional time. In addition, after the eight to ten short-term lessons/studies, you will guide believers to study the Bible for the long-term so that they can eventually get through the whole counsel of God’s Word.

When building short-term discipleship lessons for CPMs strive for a being and doing balance. It is easy to skew all 8-10 short-term lessons or applications to be evangelistic in nature. A very important balance must be achieved between the following Jesus (growing in Christlikeness) and fishing for men (outward focus) aspects of the discipleship walk (Mark 1:17).

CAN DO

A final characteristic of effective CPM content is that it is reproducing—third or fourth generation new believers can do it. If a new believer three generations out cannot share the gospel, apply the discipleship lessons and pass them on to others, then the content is too difficult, and a movement cannot proceed generation by generation.

The content we build for a movement may be something we can reproduce due to our education and longevity in the Christian faith. But can a new third generation believer do it? If so, then fourth generation disciples and beyond will likely emerge, which is a key marker of Church- Planting Movements.

A colleague of mine held up a Bible and asked a group of missionaries how they could fit it through a drinking straw. It was obviously impossible. But then he took a sheet of paper, tore off a small piece, rolled it up and sent it down the straw. He declared, “You can fit the whole Bible down through a movement, but you have to send it down in very small bits.”

The law of the straw is an essential discipline to building reproducing biblical content for movements. The most effective content is simple to learn, obey and pass on. Each lesson has one or two applications, not five. Five application points are too difficult for most people to obey. The content of a lesson is from a short passage or short list of verses, not several chapters or a catalog of Bible verses. As you help believers learn how to study the Bible for the long term, they can eventually work their way through learning and obeying all of God’s Word a little bit at a time.

In movements, remember that discipling and training relationships last for a long time. You continue to have opportunities to help them grow just as Jesus did with His disciples over three years. So use the law of the straw and trust God’s Word to begin bringing life transformation in the months and years that follow. You will find that disciples will actually obey more when they receive a little at a time and can concentrate on it, than when they receive a lot. As you build biblical lessons that are reproducible and connected, then disciple-makers know how to take each new step in following Jesus and discipling others to follow Jesus.

Movements are built upon the shoulders of men and women who are radically surrendered in their love for the King and His Word. Let’s help them get the Word in a manner that they can understand, obey and pass on. Such a movement, founded on the rock of the Word, can never be shaken by the storms that will assault it.

[1] Steve Smith, Kingdom Kernels, Mission Frontiers, January-February 2016, p. 38

About The Author

Steve Smith

Steve Smith planted a church in Los Angeles and then helped initiate a church planting movement (CPM) among an unreached people group in East Asia. The last ten years he has trained believers in CPM and currently oversees the work of the International Mission Board (SBC) in reaching Southeast Asian Peoples.

Back to Table of Contents

Web Only

A Generational Model for ISM Expansion

by Bill Perry

International student ministry (ISM) in the US didn’t exactly have an auspicious beginning. One of America’s first foreign students was Francisco de Miranda, a visionary-revolutionary from South America. He studied at Yale University in 1784 and later fought in the French Revolution and with Simon Bolivar against Napoleon Bonaparte for independence of Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador. Perhaps the first international student to trust Christ for salvation was Henry Obookiah of the Sandwich (now Hawaiian) Islands. Timothy Dwight IV, Yale’s eighth president, gave him a room in his home, tutored him and led him to Christ. Obookiah was instrumental in marshaling efforts to evangelize his native homeland. Very little data is available on ISM throughout the 19th century, although several notable international students graduated from American schools and returned home during that time.

The number of international students gradually increased in the first half of the 20th Century. YMCA leader John R. Mott, cofounder in 1895 of the World Student Christian Federation, spearheaded the effort. But the big explosion followed World War II. In 1953 there were 33,647 such students in the US. Twenty years later there were 179,000. By 2001 there were over half a million. Last year (2014-15) their numbers topped 1 million for the first time.

In the latter half of the 20th Century God brought about the formation of many ISM agencies, both denominational and independent. Most of them were created by the Builder Generation (born 1901-1925). Boomers (born 1946-1964) generally inherited leadership in them and maintained similar structures, policies and procedures. Since 2001 some changes have occurred in methodology and practice as Gen Xer’s (born 1965-1979) launched newer versions of ISM agencies with their particular understanding of how to reach the ever-rising tide of international students. In light of the massively growing numbers of international students, the primary question that needs to be asked in ISM is this: How can we reach them all? What has been done in the past? And what should be done in the future?

Virtually all ISM efforts depend on support from churches, those communities of believers that overwhelmingly meet off campus. I firmly accept this starting point. In the church we find cross-generational members and, ideally, cross-ethnic members as well. What better group of people demonstrates our hope and forecasts a picture of the Kingdom of God that includes “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9) with Jesus at the center? The nations will be around the throne then; they are gathered on the campus now. The church is obviously a major player in this picture. But are there enough churches to reach all the international students in North America? Do enough understand the opportunity? Are they ready to reach out? Sadly, the evidence of the last century indicates that contemporary churches in the West cannot reach a significant portion of international students, at least with existing strategies.

Another question seldom asked is this:  What about the “church” on campus? By this I mean the believers that live and move within the circuit of the classroom, cafeteria, library and dorm. With all the bad news about how many Christian students fall out of the church after going to college, here is possibly the best news: For every international studying in the US, there is an equal or greater number of Christian students who are not losing their faith! In other words, nationally there is a 1-to-1 ratio of believers living and studying together with their international peers. God has everyone right where they need to be: the spiritually needy (in this case, international students) and his witnesses. “Each one reach one” was never truer than now. What is needed then is a strategy to help these witnesses address this opportunity.

Over the last 10 years I have proposed, promoted and developed the Generational Model (GM) for ISM. Starting with Millennials (born 1980-2000/02), this new 21st Century peer-driven model is meant to augment, not replace, on-going models of ISM. Like all models, components are necessary. The GM includes a training curriculum, student and mentor networks, and free online resources. Let’s look at them.

The curriculum is designed for high school juniors and seniors in any educational venue: private Christian and home schools as well as church youth groups for public school students. Life moves like a stream, so we go upstream to cast vision among and train high school students because they are tomorrow’s college students. Training them into a growing dynamic force for redemption after they arrive at college is simply too late.

Elements in the curriculum include identity in Christ, apologetics, hearing God’s voice through Scripture, evangelism techniques and strategies, worldview frameworks and analysis, campus outreach and networking strategies, and exponentially reproducing small groups not unlike both church planting and disciple making movements (CPMs and DMMs, respectively). Small groups of 2-3 grow exponentially by adding one student per semester. When they reach 4 members they subdivide and continue the process. In only 10 years each small group of 2 that subdivides every year turns into 1,024 Christian students all meeting weekly for prayer, accountability and Bible discussion while extending their personal outreach to international students. There are very few things that could completely stop this from happening on every campus simultaneously. Can someone say “revival”?

The online networks follow. Once students finish their training and are accepted by their schools of choice, they can go on our website and find their schools listed in our student network. Whenever they sign on they will begin to find other GM trained students linked at their schools. In essence they can form virtual small groups even before they get to campus! No longer does any college-bound young person need to attend a college and not know any Christians there. Mentors can sign onto the mentor network, fill out a background form and link themselves to a nearby college/university. When Christian students want to find mentors, they go into the mentor network, go to schools and click on their school. They should find a list of mentors signed up waiting for contact. Both networks are free.

Resources are numerous on the GM website. One offers links to various ministries ranging from apologetics, Christian philosophy, prolife, persecution ministries, etc. Hundreds of devotionals, a quotes page and statement of faith are ready for reading. Video lessons are posted, and others are in development. Students must know they’re not alone and are well supported as they expand God’s Kingdom on campus. You can find it at http://www.reconweb.com where we utilize the military milieu for graphics. We are now working on the next brand for Generation Z (Homelanders or iGen, born 2000/02-~2025).

This model deliberately keeps Christ and his Kingdom front and center. No other name but Jesus is lifted up. We intend to see God’s “will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Everything we need is ready and everyone is currently in place.

Even though the nontraditional Generational Model is strategic for ISM expansion, has numbers in its favor, and costs very little, the response from the Body of Christ has been underwhelming. But, I am hopeful.  When the Church sees more clearly God’s destiny for her, ISM should finish its task better than it began and be central in global outreach until Jesus returns in Kingdom glory and all the nations are around his throne.

About The Author

Bill Perry is Chief of Staff and Director of Training Materials of InterFACE Ministries doing international college student/scholar ministry (ISM). He and Jenni are parents of 7 and grandparents of 22. Bill pioneered the chronological and interactive biblical storytelling models for ISM. His 7 books are in over 110 countries. He is a gifted educator, communicator and cross-cultural resource specialist who loves living in sunny South Florida.

Email: billperrytv@gmail.com

Website: http://www.KingdomServants.com

Back to Table of Contents

Raising Local Resources

“They Did Business With You Because of Your Great Wealth of Goods”

The Tragic Repercussions of Materialism and Consumerism in Missions

by Jean Johnson

Jean Johnson is the author of We Are Not The Hero: A Missionary’s Guide for Sharing Christ, Not  a Culture of Dependency. Jean served as a missionary with the Assemblies of God in Cambodia for 16 years in the areas of pioneer church planting, on-the-job leadership training, and oral strategies. She is currently a co-director of World Mission Associates and teaches and coaches on church sustainability and multiplication.

The moment has never left my mind. As I prepared to address the missionary body of a particular organization, praying and meditating on God’s Word for the assignment, a Bible verse stared back at me:

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, take up a lament concerning Tyre. Say to Tyre, situated at the gateway to the sea, merchant of peoples on many coasts, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:  . . . Tarshish did business with you because of your great wealth of goods; they exchanged silver, iron, tin and lead for your merchandise.’” (Ezekiel 27:2–3, 12, NIV)

I read it several times and sensed the Holy Spirit wanted me to insert the phrase “spiritual business” and apply the passage to missions from the West to the Rest. So I read the verse many times with the inserted phrase:

Tarshish did spiritual business with you because of your great wealth of goods.

The meaning was clear! Many nations around the world do spiritual business with Western Christians because of the wealth of goods we bring and send in the name of the gospel. In other words, too few people are having conversations around their cooking pots about our abundant faith, willingness to deny ourselves, prayer vigils, and ability to endure persecution.

As background information, Tyre was a city that operated from a status of prosperity, grandeur, and pride, and it was known for its vast trading with other nations. Tyre was capable of being a worldwide leader in trade because it was advantageously surrounded by water. Likewise, the Western church is unusually capable of doing spiritual business around the world because of our wealth. As a matter of comparison, very few Christians from the so-called developing world come our direction to plant churches, preach in our existing churches, open non-government organizations, and solve our social issues. We have a Tyre-like capacity to send, go, bring, and give en masse, and many times in the same places, over and over again. Darren Carlson puts this reality into perspective: “I have seen with my own eyes or know of houses in Latin America that have been painted 20 times by 20 different short-term mission teams.”[1] If I were to begin merely listing the amount of money spent overseas per Western church denomination, church, and organization, we might feel nauseous.

Still, some of us might wonder why this is a bad thing. What is the downside to economic abundance and the capacity to pass it on in high quantities as part of the Western mission modus operandi?

Simply this: when people do spiritual business with us because they sense that our affluence and wealth will dramatically improve their material and social status, something goes terribly wrong with the spread of the gospel and discipleship.

Alan Hirsch recently made this comment in an online training program offered by Verge: “Someone said that ‘what you win them with you win them to,’ which means, if you win people by entertaining them into the kingdom, you have to keep on entertaining them.”[2]

Relating to our context, if you win people through providing material benefits and social perks, you will have to keep on providing these things for them. Hirsh goes on to explain that if, as a point of entry to a relationship with Jesus, we use perks or give the sense that responding to the gospel leads to personal and social economic improvement, we end up with a bait and switch. We eventually have to inform people that following Jesus involves a life of sacrifice, denial, discipline, giving, loving, forgiving, living blamelessly, and ultimately becoming like Jesus. All of a sudden the switch doesn’t make being a Christian sound so good after all.

Furthermore, when we win people through material benefits, we cloud Jesus’s paradigm of “counting the cost of discipleship” with Western consumerism and materialism. Media and business in the Western world thrive on baiting consumers and making them disciples of consumerism. Continuing with Hirsch’s line of thinking:

Anyone who comes to Jesus in a Western context is already a well-discipled consumer. It’s a religion. Consumerism is being defined by what we consume. It is, like I said, the search for meaning, identity, purpose, and belonging tied to the consumption of products. The problem is that consumerism is the alternative religion of our day. Without a doubt, it is the secular religion of our day. There is no such religious force in the West as powerful as consumerism....

You cannot build a church on consumers. They will desert you at a moment’s notice because they have no commitments beyond their own needs. You can’t build them. Jesus is quite wise in this. You can take his advice quite seriously, quite literally: die. Jesus can take 12, and by extension the 70, and build a movement that changes the world on disciples. He could never have done that on consumers. You’ve got people who are willing to pay the price. They’ve already died to their own agendas. They are now living through the Lordship of Jesus. With that, you can build movements.[3]

Let’s return to Ezekiel 27:17 with the added emphasis: “Tarshish did spiritual business with you because of your great wealth of goods.” Is it possible that a part of the world is doing spiritual business with us because of our great wealth? If yes, the repercussions will show up later when the world is filled with Christian consumers rather than those ready to live as Jesus lived. “Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6, NIV).

With brutal honesty, I can tell you that when people talk about Western Christians around their cooking pots, in their tea shops, and in their churches, it is more about how to connect to our wealth of material goods than it is about how to connect to our wealth of faith. In this case, what is the solution? How do we create conversations around the world about our faith, our prayer lives, our perseverance, and our Jesus? How do we transform the constant conversations about missions and money in the same sentence? From my perspective, Western missionaries must prayerfully and dutifully consider what it will take to protect our mission ethos and practice from materialism and consumerism and recommit to Jesus’s paradigm.

I leave us with this challenge. Read the gospels, the book of Acts, and the epistles. Write down Jesus’ paradigm of making disciples (both in word and in action). Then, let us prayerfully realign our paradigm. I have a feeling there will be a lot less materialism and consumerism in our paradigms when we are truly aligned with Jesus’s model.

[1] Alan Hirsch, “Consumerism: Cancerous Barrier to Effective Disciplemaking ,” Verge: Discipleship Making Blueprint.

[2] Alan Hirsch, “Babying Consumers vs. Sending Disciples,” Verge: Discipleship Making Blueprint.

[3] Darren Carlson, “Why You Should You Consider Canceling Your Short-Term Mission Trips” The Gospel Coalition, June 18, 2012.

About The Author

Jean Johnson is the author of We Are Not The Hero: A Missionary’s Guide for Sharing Christ, Not a Culture of Dependency. Jean served as a missionary with the Assemblies of God in Cambodia for 16 years in the areas of pioneer church planting, on-the-job leadership training, and oral strategies. She is currently a co-director of World Mission Associates and teaches and coaches on church sustainability and multiplication.

Email: jean@wmausa.org

Back to Table of Contents

Further Reflections

A Common Approach that Often Fails

by greg.parsons@frontierventures.org

This story is about a working young woman but it could have been the story of many international students who come to the U.S.[1]

An unmarried Indian Hindu girl in her late 20s obtained a good job, which took her away from home to live in a major city outside of India. Though still not married, her new income relieved some of the family responsibility for her. She is most likely sending money home. Her father and mother were also excited and relieved about this new job because, before she left, she was in a relationship with a young Muslim man near her home.

After she was there a while, she comes to Christ and begins attending a local Christian church. Those in the church are excited about her new faith and her growth. Naturally, she is growing related to what she learns from the Bible, but without realizing it, she is also growing in how that particular Christian church interprets the Bible—especially as it relates to Hinduism, family, honor, and culture. These things may not have been mentioned in specific words, but were communicated, likely with a firm sense of authority. Everyone seems excited that she can now reach her family. So, without asking her father, she decides to quit her job and return home.

Back in India, she is now under her family’s responsibility again. She is not able to contribute to the household until she gets a new job, which she cannot easily find. And, there is a new pattern in her life which was not the case when she left: she goes to a Christian church nearby—which the people back in her first church certainly instructed her was crucial for her growth in Christ.

Now, her father is encouraging her to marry that young Muslim man she was interested in earlier. She was probably told by her Christian friends that she should never marry a non-Christian, no matter what her family said.[2]

This story, or one like it, has played out over and over in India for 100 years. Donald McGavran—third generational missionary to India—called this: “One by one against the family.” He saw it all over India.

Naturally, it raises several questions which impact the spread of the gospel there:

What would make a Hindu father encourage her daughter to marry a Muslim?

Clearly, in this situation, it brings less shame on the family to marry a Muslim than a Christian. Experts believe that this is because the Christian community—perhaps without realizing it and based on a Western view of Christianity—ends up encouraging individual converts to sever ties with their family that they had hoped to reach. To the Hindu, the Christians, who are supposed to be people of faith and love, seem to have no room to consider others’ views on these crucial, deep, family, community and cultural issues.

Who should she obey, the Christians or her father?

This may not be quite as clear as many Christians think. Was Paul mainly commanding something about the choice of marriage partners in 2 Cor 6:14?[3] I believe this should be the norm whenever possible, and it may create grief in the long run for the believing Christian should they marry a non-Christian. More importantly it seems—especially around the world in shame/honor cultures—how do we reconcile 2 Cor 6:14 with Exo. 20:12 “Honor your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land”? Jesus repeats this, as does Paul in Ephesians 6—just after talking about marriage! Perhaps, first, we should ask how someone like this woman might live out both these truths by faith through God’s mercy and grace?

Perhaps the Christians where she first believed could have said: “Do not come to our church again! We will meet with you in a small fellowship to help lead you to God’s truth in his Word in a way that will honor your family and see the gospel spread.”

We don’t know what happened next with her. This is current. As we reach out to those from other cultures and traditions, we must be able to think about what is heard and understood when we are trying to communicate truth with them.

[1] This is a true story; some details are assumed based on information from those on the ground.

[2] It is rare for a family to want their Hindu daughter to marry a Muslim more than a Christian. That may speak to how the Christian community in the family’s home area is viewed.

[3] It should be noted that marriage is not mentioned in the entire book of 2 Corinthians. I realize that most commentators take Paul’s reference here to refer to marriage or business partnerships.

About The Author

Garrett

Greg has been on the staff of Frontier Ventures (formerly USCWM) since 1982. He and his wife, Kathleen, have two children and one grandchild.

Back to Table of Contents